Virtual Voices 127th Edition Virtual Voices The Video E-Newsletter of Mount Royal United Church for Friday January 20th 2023 Welcome to our one-hundredth and twenty-seventh edition of the Mount Royal United Church Video E-Newsletter. You will find the video at the bottom of this message. If you have any news items or information you think we should be including in an upcoming e-newsletter, please send your suggestion to newsletters@mountroyaluc.ca
we will do our very best to put it on for you. A quick reminder that our Sunday Service is live streamed from the sanctuary beginning at 10:30 AM and can also be watched later on the church website. The Prelude will begin at 10:05 AM with music and the announcement slides before the service begins
with Rev. Stuart. This video will be produced and sent out weekly on Friday morning with all the important things from our faith community. We plan to keep them short so you have time to drink a cup of tea or coffee while you watch. We hope you have a very good day today. Best Regards, Newsletter Committee Message from the Chair of Council - Susan Fowler HI. Hope your week is going well. Personally, I’m a bit melancholy this week. Remember hearing Joni Mitchell singing the lyrics to Big Yellow Taxi? The part of the refrain that sticks in my mind is: “Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone…” I have been thinking about that a lot over the past while because of things that have happened to several people I know. At least two people’s lives have changed forever because of an accident. Another friend is repeatedly misunderstood and neither appreciated nor respected for his considerable and varied talents and contributions. Several people I knew died recently and at least a couple left quite an impression on me. We said goodbye to Helen Ellis last week, a member of Mt Royal who lived a long and full life. I enjoyed meeting her family and hearing stories of their Mom and Grandmother. Helen was 99 and though her family was no doubt prepared for her death, I am certain they will miss her greatly. Helen didn’t seem to ever complain; she seemed truly happy, when I talked to her, about her life and experiences. We should all be so positive about life. A link to Helen's obituary is here. Two others, amongst several I know that passed away recently, were a couple of the finest, most giving gentlemen I have ever met. Thanks to June Horsman for letting me know about the first. Peter Sawyer, a man many people in Moncton knew or knew of, set out to make a change for the better in the lives of a few people by trying to improve their literacy skills. He ended up touching thousands of people along the road of what became his mission; learners, tutors, trainers and other volunteers. Although I stopped when Covid arrived in NB and I haven’t made time to get back to it, for many years I was a tutor with the Moncton Regional Learning Council. Peter Sawyer inspired me to become a tutor and help improve adult literacy. When I was at a loss to know how to proceed in a tricky situation with a learner, more than once Peter offered advice in a warm yet pragmatic way. He showed me how it was ok to set boundaries with people you are trying to help. And when Peter smiled, he could light up a room because his passion was so apparent. My sympathies go out to his wife, Margaret and family. Peter's obituary can be found here with this link. The other man, Bob Hersh, was one who I met in 2010 when Moncton hosted the World Junior Track and Field Championships. I instantly became long distance friends with he and his wife Louise. I have only seen them in person maybe a half dozen times; a few days in Moncton on two occasions, once off and on over a week together in Monaco and dinner together in NYC but each time his passion for track and field, and more significantly to make a difference in a sport he dearly loved, was so apparent. He was a rock star in USA Track and Field and on the world stage of athletics but to me, even though our lives rarely intersected, he was someone with whom I could pick up the phone and say “Hi Bob” and it was like we met up for coffee every month. He travelled the world and met some very important people, politicians and royalty, but he always asked how I was and how my family was doing. There is something incredibly touching to be with someone who reached the pinnacle of his beloved sport and yet who could make the time for a few of us from Moncton he met in 2010. He will be very missed by his family and his partner in life, love and athletics, Louise. You can read some more about Bob's life here. As people and things disappear from our lives, sometimes we realize too late how much better things were before such a change. I hope you feel fortunate and from time to time think about those things in your life that made a difference. Maybe for a few minutes, you can give thanks for those things and people that made or make your life easier, brighter, and special in many different ways. …Cause sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone… Have a good week. Check out the appeal from M&P for people to offer feedback on MRUC staff before February 1st.  |
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