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THE ORIOLE support of our worship experiences. I am also grateful for your trust
in my leadership.
I am looking forward to the start of our second year together and the
Oriole-York Mills United Church Newsletter June 2012 opportunity to provide pastoral care support to you as well. Please
know you are always welcome to contact me at any time at the
In this issue: church, at home or on-the-go.
Message from Rev. Cyndy
Message from Rev. Cyndy Dear Members and Friends of OYM, I know both of our congregations are in a time of transition and
.……………………..….....…..1 discernment. I hope that over the next year we will have
Farewell Rev Val. …………... 3
Can you believe it? We have almost opportunities to discuss possibilities for the future of OYM. For
completed a full year of worshipping some people transitions are easy and for others change is more
50th Anniversary Celebration together with CJUC. It was a busy and I difficult. In most cases the harder we struggle to discern, the
Reminiscences .................. 3 hope fulfilling year that seemed to move stronger and better able we become to face the future.
The Meeting Place and the from one special service to the next. We
Bentwood Box .….……….. 6 went from the Memorial service, to the There is a story about a man who found a butterfly cocoon in his
Expression of Reconciliation amalgamation of TJUC with CJUC, to backyard. One day he noticed a small opening and he sat and
………..……………………....... 7 the Black History service to the series watched as the butterfly struggled for several hours to force its body
Butterflies and Videos …......9 reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer. The through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any
highlight was the 50th Anniversary progress. It appeared as if it could go no further. So the man
Did You Know? …….…….....9 decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped
celebration on April 29th. Great thanks
Butterfly Word Search …....10 off the remaining bit of cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
go to the planning team extraordinaire of
Summer …..…………………..11 Carol MacLean, Moira Mancer and Don But it had a swollen body and small shrivelled wings. The man
Thanks to Contributors …..11 Worth. Thanks to all of you at OYM for continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any
making the day such a wonderful moment, the wings would enlarge and the body shrink. Neither
Ways to Save Trees
and Money …………..….....12 celebration! happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling
around on the ground. It was never able to fly.
Contributions and
Suggestions …..….………..12
Over the year I have enjoyed getting to
know many of you and I am very What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that
Your OYM Calendar .…...…12 the restrictive cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to
thankful for your commitment and
Contact OYM .……..….…..…12 get through the tiny opening were God’s way of pushing fluid from

2. 3 4
the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for Oriole-York Mills United Church celebrated its 50th Anniversary on
flight. Sunday April 29th and indeed there was a cake. Our thanks to
Elaine Bremer for that delicious carrot cake. Before the cake, there
Whether a particular transition is easy or difficult, we can trust that was a fitting message for the anniversary from the pulpit, thanks to
our journey ahead will be valuable in itself and God will surround us Rev. Bruce Misener, a former OYM minister.
with love and care.
Other former ministers in attendance were Chris Miller (with
May you have a blessed summer! Margaret) and Rev. Glenn Mattinson (with Sarah). Sarah Mattinson
With Joy and Gratitude, brought with her from Peterborborough a quilt, bearing the names of
many OYMers from the Mattinson era.
Cyndy Cooper Glenna Hilborn and sons Nicholas and Adam were in attendance.
They placed flowers in the sanctuary in memory of Rev. John.
_____________________________________________________________________
It was such a pleasure to see so many former members in the pews,
Farewell Rev. Val including the following:
 Paul Amos, son of Rev. Donald Amos, the first OYM minister –
Everyone at OYM thanks Rev. Val Noakes for the good-hearted
service she has put into pastoral care for the OYM congregation and more about Paul later.
 Betty Billes and daughter Debbie. John and Betty now reside
her contributions to worship services over the past five years. There
are doubtless those who have a particular reason to thank Rev. Val in the Newmarket area.
 Jean Aston, with daughter-in-law Barbara, and Jean’s
for the time she spent with them or the care she took arranging and
leading a funeral for a loved one. granddaughters. Jean was a charter member. Bob was also a
loyal Sunday School teacher.
____________________________________________________________________  Don and Sue Comish – now members at Lawrence Park
United.
50th Anniversary Celebration Reminiscences  Ken and Mary Hutcheson and daughter Cathy - now members
of Brooklin United. Ken was Chairman of the Official Board
The older we get the more time to spend preparing for and enjoying
 Phil and Jean Locke – now members of Timothy Eaton United.
our anniversaries. Whether it’s the birthday of a family member or
Phil conducted several services at OYM during their time with
the landmark birthday of a friend, or you wedding anniversary, you
us.
can almost be certain that there’ll be cake.
 Joan MacTavish brought several family members, including
Dana.

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 Wayne and Sue Musselman – now at a downtown United … Lynn Watts provides further news of living in right relations with
Church. Sue sang in the choir. Wayne was chairman of the First Nations, Iniut and Metis people …
Official Board.
 Allan and Marlene Parker – Allan, son of Fred and Hilda The Meeting Place and the Bentwood Box
Parker, now attends a downtown United Church – more of
Allan later. A Bentwood Box is one that is made from a single piece of wood
which has been steamed and then bent to create a box with perfect
Yes, from start to finish, it was a fitting recognition of our 50th corners. It is an art form of Indigenous Peoples from the northwest
anniversary. Jack Junkin, Chair of the OYM Trustees got it started coast of British Columbia.
as he carried the historic 1874 bible from the Oriole Wesley
Methodist Church up the aisle to the communion table. Moira The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada commissioned
Mancer then related the histories and significance of the three 50 Coast Salish artist Luke Marston to create such a box which would
year-old Shepherd’s staffs as they were carried and escorted in by a travel across Canada to each of the seven national Truth and
contingent of our young people. Andrew Maclean, Alison and Jill Reconciliation events where it would play a central role. The
Aston carried the staffs and were escorted by Andy Noakes, Bentwood Box holds offerings which commemorate the personal
Rebecca and Quinn Sondermeyer, and Heather and Peter Hall. journeys of the residential school survivors and their descendants,
as well as expressions of reconciliation by others, including
Paul Amos and Allan Parker added nicely to the luncheon’s churches.
atmosphere by giving us some insight on the architecture of the
building (Paul) and the nature of the York Mills community in the The Truth and Reconciliation Bentwood Box, made from red cedar,
early 1960s (Allan). During the lunch, many also viewed photos of has carved panels which represent the distinct cultures of the First
OYM folk over the years, which had been collected by Joan and Nations, Inuit and Metis students who attended the residential
Jack Bennett. schools. Its carvings also memorialize the artist’s grandmother who
was a student at a residential school on Kuper Island off the coast of
Well, that will be it for special OYM anniversaries until the 60th rolls British Columbia.
around in 2022.
The Toronto Truth and Reconciliation event, The Meeting Place,
God’s Grace, was honoured to have the Bentwood Box at the centre of the
ceremonies, May 31, June 1 and June 2, 2012. It stood as a
Don Worth witness to survivors’ testimony and paid silent but potent tribute to
Membership Relations and Communications their loss and resilience. It also carried with it a promise of hope for
_____________________________________________________________________ the future.

4. 7 8
What follows is an expression of reconciliation from the Living Into be coffee and juice and maybe something extra for a treat. We
Right Relations Circle (Toronto Conference). It was read during the open and close our Circles by observing both Aboriginal and
closing ceremony and then placed in the Bentwood Box to stand as Christian spiritual practices and, in between, we talk, listen and learn
a pledge of continued commitment to the path of reconciliation. about the circumstances and events in the lives of each one of us.
Expression of Reconciliation There are also times when we extend ourselves beyond our
immediate Circle to do such things as raise awareness of the terms
The Living Into Right Relations Circle (Toronto of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Conference) Peoples or raise funds to supply schoolbooks to a northern
United Church of Canada community whose school had burned down.
The Meeting Place – A Truth and Reconciliation Event But the conversation in our Circle led us to the conclusion that the
Toronto, May 31, June 1, June 2, 2012 way that we could be most effective was through offering
opportunities for learning to the wider community. With this goal in
The Interim Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of mind, we offered four events for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
Canada cautions us that the Commission cannot, by itself, bring people to come together to hear presentations on the impact of
about reconciliation and advises Canadians to find ways of making colonialism and the residential school system and Aboriginal
their own contributions. It says that churches, in particular, must spirituality and traditional wisdom. As part of the presentation on
define their role in this process. traditional wisdom, we learned about the important role that humour
Toronto Conference, of the United Church of Canada, has found plays in the day to day life of Aboriginal people. In one workshop,
definition for its role through the Living Into Right Relations Circle. we were given about twenty minutes to think of a joke which we
This group of about twenty people has existed for the last four years would then tell to the whole group. The lesson here, for some of us
and is a successor to a group which existed for ten years before at least, was that our material and delivery needed work.
that. We are a group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation
we come from Alliston, Christian Island, Georgina Island, Jackson’s Commission of Canada, has said,
Point, Newmarket, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Sutton and Toronto. “The road we travel is equal in importance to the destination we
The way we work centres around our coming together, face to face, seek. There are no shortcuts. When it comes to truth and
to get to know one another. Every month, from September to June, reconciliation, we are all forced to go the distance.”
we set a date to meet. On that day, we pack a lunch and travel to For the Living Into Right Relations Circle, our expression of
one of the communities that are central to those people attending. reconciliation must be our record of commitment. Through our
Travel can be by car, ferry or hovercraft. When we arrive, there will

5. 9 10
commitment, we are learning that reconciliation is indeed a step by Butterfly Word Search
step journey, that no step can be left out and each step must be
given its due. Words in this word search are in a straight line in all directions,
forwards and backwards.
And, as we continue to come together, for nearly fourteen years
now, we are growing into, our version of, long distance runners. L X X N R E T T U L F
N C Y R P H T C M M D
____________________________________________________________________
P B O C H F F E M K K
Butterflies and Videos K Z T L R L G S I T S
M E Q Y O X P N G O G
Rev. Cindy’s writes about a butterfly emerging from a cocoon in her L K E W M R O I R D N
message for this edition of The Oriole (page 1). Continuing the W H E W L O S A A B I
butterfly theme, there are videos of a Monarch butterfly breaking out X R R D C N N M T N W
of its cocoon at: S R V O T G R B E F E
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/kids/animal-facts/monarch_butterfly.asp Y M C N E R A T C E N
You can also watch a video of a caterpillar as it begins to make its C A T E R P I L L A R
cocoon.
Young people (and older) check these videos out! Caterpillar Flutter Nectar
___________________________________________________________________________ Cocoon Insect Orange
Colors Migrate Wings
Did You Know? Flowers
Monarch butterflies have the longest and
Source:
largest insect migration in North America,
traveling up to8,000 km per year. http://www.familyfunshop.com/butterflywordsearch.pdf
(Wes Fessler)
Their average wingspan for that journey is 93-
____________________________________________________________________________
105 mm.
___________________________________________________________________________

6. 11 12
Summer Ways to Save Trees and Money
by Joan Adams Burchell Ways to save trees and save OYM money at the same time continues by
reading ‘The Oriole’ online at OYM’s website <www.oymunitedchurch.net>,
Colour has exploded under ‘About OYM’. The older way, but still a good way, to save trees and
save OYM money at the same time is to receive ‘The Oriole’ in pdf format.
everywhere the eye can see; For either option, please send an email to ‘The Oriole
<oymoriole@gmail.com>' specifying your choice.
Summer is smiling down on us
If not going the online or pdf route, you can help to save some trees by
wherever we may be. leaving Oriole envelopes for re-use for the next edition of ‘The Oriole’.
__________________________________________________________________________
Gentle breezes, refreshing rain,
and the dancing sun take part Contributions and Suggestions
Contributions and suggestion for future issues of ‘The Oriole’ are always
In giving earth the summer touch - welcome.
tonic for the heart.
Please send an email, leave a message at OYM or talk to Moira Mancer if
you have contributions and suggestions for ‘The Oriole’.
http://alongpoetryroad.com/summer.html _____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Your OYM Calendar
Thanks to Contributors Coming Sunday Worship Services and Events
Sundays in July and August Worship services at 11 am, as usual
Thanks to the following for contributions for this issue:
Sunday September 23rd Welcome Back Luncheon
Rev. Cyndy Message to members and friends after Worship Service
(page 1) Wednesday September 26th Council Meeting in narthex at 7 pm
Don Worth 50th Anniversary Celebration
Reminiscences (page 3)
Contact OYM: Oriole-York Mills United Church
Lynn Watt The Meeting Place and the Bentwood
2609 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M2L 1B5
Box (page 6) and Expression of
Phone: 416-447-5941 Email: orioleyorkmills@rogers.com
Reconciliation (page 7) Website address: www.oymunitedchurch.net