Walking along Kingston’s Inner Harbour near our home, Béatrice and I pass the returning geese and swans, the ducks and loons … and this monument to the over one thousand labourers who died building the Rideau Canal (mainly from malaria!) to protect Upper Canada from the Americans.
My mind crossed the ocean to the ancient high crosses of the Celts, and how they continue to speak so beautifully of the Christian faith. These weeks of May we will listen as …. the elongated central shafts of these crosses declare how Christ has brought together heaven and earth, Holy One and humanity; the wonderful knots and biblical scenes tell of God at work in human history; the distinctive circle points to the Holy One, the Three in One, binding all together; and the location outside, under the open sky, reminds us that this whole world is a beloved creation of a loving Creator.
Being the first of the month, this Sunday we will also celebrate Holy Communion, so you are invited to prepare with bread and cup. The worship service will available Sunday morning as Video at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEy41z3sqfRm8X_lLfKGUA
and as Podcast at
http://Podcast – https://anchor.fm/st-andrews-presbyterian-church-kingston
Thanks to Thee, O God, that I have arisen today,
to the rising of this life itself;
May it be to Thine own glory, O God of every gift,
and to the glory of my soul likewise.
O great God, aid Thou my soul
with the aiding of Thine own mercy;
Even as I clothe my body with wool,
cover Thou my soul with the shadow of Thy wing.
Help me to avoid every sin,
and the source of every sin to forsake;
And as the mist scatters on the crest of the hills,
may each ill haze clear from my soul, O God.
(From Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica)