God, you hear our prayers, and you always respond with loving compassion,
leading us always on the pathway to new life.
As we come to you in prayer this day, our hearts are heavy
with grief from the violent attack on our Muslim brothers and sisters.
At a time such as this, we see all too clearly the failure
of our society, a society of which we are all a part.
We have failed to speak out against injustice,
and we have failed in that we say that we want to build a society
in which ALL are valued and included,
but in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways,
we have allowed prejudice and fear to continue.
Give us a voice to speak out for the voiceless,
and speak to us words of healing,
that we may be a source of healing and compassion
for those whom our society has failed…

The printed text is from the Revised Standard Version.

“See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil.
If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,
I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live,
loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Read by Ruth Crabb

But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready,
for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?
For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men?
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth.
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

A Wake-Up Call

A Heartsong Blessing

Words based on the poem "Resolution Blessing"
by Mattie J.T. 7 years,
Music by Joseph M. Martin.

Later that afternoon about ten from the Summerlea congregation joined a small rally (between 30 and 40 including children) at the war memorial at 45th. Avenue in support of our Muslim brothers and sisters.
The gathering was organized by local resident Pierre Coté who had visited the various churches (including the Islamic centre Lachine Musalla on Rue Notre Dame) of Lachine.
Several of our Muslim neighbours joined us in talk and song and all were moved by the experience.

The above photo from the event was scanned from the Montreal Gazette front page of the next day (Monday, February 6).