I have heard from folks outside our church, asking what the heck is going on in the United Church of Canada. Colleagues in this presbytery have received angry, harassing phone messages on their voice mail. These people have heard via the media that the United Church is turning its back on “the only democracy in the Middle East.”
From what I can gather, some of the criticism comes from those who defend Israel’s decisions regardless of the consequences for the Palestinian people. But some of the criticism comes from a misunderstanding of the United Church’s position over the years. For the sake of the average citizen who reads the newspaper editorials or listens to angry talk-radio, we need to do a better job of getting our views out there.
This year’s General Council is certainly doing its best to communicate the latest information from Kelowna. I have signed up for the daily updates and you can do that in less than a minute by going to the United Church website and clicking on “General Council.” If you prefer video, you can watch the daily video feed featuring Royal Orr. And if you have the time, you can watch livestreaming.
This means that any United church member with access to a computer can stay on top of the daily Council agenda. With the latest direct information, we all can participate in an informed discussion of the important issues that are being discussed this week. What an opportunity to let those around us know about the important issues that we care about as a faith community!
Peter
You may also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will make sure they are posted.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Michael Jackson and God
Some years ago Beliefnet reported that when Michael Jackson was a child garnering attention in the Jackson Five, he longed for time to play. The Sabbath Day offered a respite from the pressures of the stage. Fellow members of the Jehovah Witness church treated him like the rest of the congregation despite his stardom.
Jackson wistfully mused, “I miss the sense of community that I felt there. I miss the friends and the people who treated me like I was simply one of them. Simply human. Sharing a day with God.”
When I think of Michael Jackson, I think of the odd character who was depicted as a freak by the media. It’s easy to forget that before all the attention and money allowed him to fulfill all his fantasies, he was a little boy running around with the other children after services, wanting to be like everyone else, sharing a day with God.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Making Hospitality A Deeper Part Of Our Own Faith
Two months ago, over 100 Mennonite ordained and lay ministers sent a letter to the Mennonite Church USA, calling on their church to offer a full welcome to gay and lesbian people.
That may come as a surprise. For the average citizen these days, the word Mennonite conjures up straw hats and horse-drawn buggies. Mennonites are perceived as very traditional and conservative. But in fact their communities contain a fascinating mix of conservative and prophetic Christians.
On Palm/Passion Sunday of this year, this letter went out, expressing distress at the exclusion of sisters and brothers who are are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT). Their hope is for a Church guided by the radical hospitality and extravagant love of Jesus.
Our United Church congregations also have considerable variety in their belief systems. There are Christians who fall all along the theological spectrum. But when we gather as a General Council to set our direction, as we will again this summer, we seem to choose to be inclusive, welcoming and hospitable. Over the years we have said yes to gay and lesbian Christians seeking to be ministers and to congregations having the right to perform same-sex marriages.
This letter from our denominational cousins challenges us to make this hospitality a deeper part of our own faith. “We believe that all people are invited to faithful fellowship in this Body, blessing for our deepest relationships of love and care, a spiritual home for ourselves and our children, and an opportunity to fully express the gifts for ministry that God has given to us.”
Amen and amen.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted.
That may come as a surprise. For the average citizen these days, the word Mennonite conjures up straw hats and horse-drawn buggies. Mennonites are perceived as very traditional and conservative. But in fact their communities contain a fascinating mix of conservative and prophetic Christians.
On Palm/Passion Sunday of this year, this letter went out, expressing distress at the exclusion of sisters and brothers who are are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT). Their hope is for a Church guided by the radical hospitality and extravagant love of Jesus.
Our United Church congregations also have considerable variety in their belief systems. There are Christians who fall all along the theological spectrum. But when we gather as a General Council to set our direction, as we will again this summer, we seem to choose to be inclusive, welcoming and hospitable. Over the years we have said yes to gay and lesbian Christians seeking to be ministers and to congregations having the right to perform same-sex marriages.
This letter from our denominational cousins challenges us to make this hospitality a deeper part of our own faith. “We believe that all people are invited to faithful fellowship in this Body, blessing for our deepest relationships of love and care, a spiritual home for ourselves and our children, and an opportunity to fully express the gifts for ministry that God has given to us.”
Amen and amen.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Father's Day
What a Father’s Day gift, to be able to listen to my father offering his reflections on fathers, family and faith with the Emmanuel community on Sunday. There was plenty of laughter and nodding of heads as he shared his memories and testimony.
He had asked me how long to speak. i suggested 15 minutes. He countered with 20. At 23 minuts he looked down at his watch and realized he had only convered one of his three points. My mother had warned him not to ramble. So he decided to wrap up it up on the spot. Mother knows best. At the door there were requests that he come back next week and continue on.
I caught a fragment of a radio show this week, asking, “If you could ask your father one question , what would it be?” Intriguing. After church we had a father’s day lunch and my sister asked my father, “Who taught you to dance?” And I learned another little piece of his life’s story.
We all have family members who are no longer with us to ask those questions. But there are members of your family or your church family or friends who are here and who have stories worth listening to and honouring.
Carpe Deum. Seize the day. Ask. Listen. Treasure.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
He had asked me how long to speak. i suggested 15 minutes. He countered with 20. At 23 minuts he looked down at his watch and realized he had only convered one of his three points. My mother had warned him not to ramble. So he decided to wrap up it up on the spot. Mother knows best. At the door there were requests that he come back next week and continue on.
I caught a fragment of a radio show this week, asking, “If you could ask your father one question , what would it be?” Intriguing. After church we had a father’s day lunch and my sister asked my father, “Who taught you to dance?” And I learned another little piece of his life’s story.
We all have family members who are no longer with us to ask those questions. But there are members of your family or your church family or friends who are here and who have stories worth listening to and honouring.
Carpe Deum. Seize the day. Ask. Listen. Treasure.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
Monday, June 15, 2009
People, Planet and Profits
It didn’t get a lot of attention in the present economic climate but a couple of months ago, eleven banks joined to form an alliance called The Global Alliance for banking on Values.
Their hope is to provide an alternative to the current crisis in the global financial system. They are promoting the long term sustainable thinking and new forms of ownership and cooperation. The member banks hold assets of over 11 billion dollars Canadian and serve seven million customers in 20 countries.
At the launch Mr Peter Blum, CEO of Tridos Bank said the banks saw themselves as forces of change who stuck to simple core banking services that balance ‘people, planet and profits.’
One of the banks, ShoreBank Corporation, recently arranged for a $68 million loan fund that will help Bangladesh’s BRAC Bank, the world’s largest microfinance institution, making thousands of loans to the poor in Tanzania, Uganda and southern Sudan.
Here’s a group that is willing to risk investing in the poor. Good News in tough economic times.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
Their hope is to provide an alternative to the current crisis in the global financial system. They are promoting the long term sustainable thinking and new forms of ownership and cooperation. The member banks hold assets of over 11 billion dollars Canadian and serve seven million customers in 20 countries.
At the launch Mr Peter Blum, CEO of Tridos Bank said the banks saw themselves as forces of change who stuck to simple core banking services that balance ‘people, planet and profits.’
One of the banks, ShoreBank Corporation, recently arranged for a $68 million loan fund that will help Bangladesh’s BRAC Bank, the world’s largest microfinance institution, making thousands of loans to the poor in Tanzania, Uganda and southern Sudan.
Here’s a group that is willing to risk investing in the poor. Good News in tough economic times.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Community - People Helping People
This morning, after the worship service in the church hall, there was a crowd of people circled around a couple of large posters. The invitation was to put a sticky next to the fund-raising idea that you would be willing to support. I wondered how this very busy and active group would respond when faced with a host of new volunteer activities, either offering a service or purchasing one.
Last month a cover story in Newsweek announced “The End of Christian America.” A Lutheran minister responded, acknowledging the decline in attendance at Sunday services but also commending those who do manage to make time to participate in faith communities.
He writes, “ There are still many families and individuals who are committed; they still manage to make it to worship on most Sunday mornings, they juggle their schedules so their kids can attend Sunday school and youth-group meetings while still playing sports or taking violin lessons, they make quilts for Africa, build homes for habitat for Humanity, service in local soup kitchens or food banks and spend their own money to go on mission trips.”
That sounds a lot like our community. Pretty hopeful stuff.
Peter
with thanks to Newsweek and Rev. John W. Futterer
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
Last month a cover story in Newsweek announced “The End of Christian America.” A Lutheran minister responded, acknowledging the decline in attendance at Sunday services but also commending those who do manage to make time to participate in faith communities.
He writes, “ There are still many families and individuals who are committed; they still manage to make it to worship on most Sunday mornings, they juggle their schedules so their kids can attend Sunday school and youth-group meetings while still playing sports or taking violin lessons, they make quilts for Africa, build homes for habitat for Humanity, service in local soup kitchens or food banks and spend their own money to go on mission trips.”
That sounds a lot like our community. Pretty hopeful stuff.
Peter
with thanks to Newsweek and Rev. John W. Futterer
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
United For Peace
This morning our worship service celebrated the United for Peace Campaign of the United Church of Canada. I always feel more engaged in these international programs when there is an opportunity for a face to face encounter with key players.
That happened already not long ago when we heard about Susan’s time of accompaniment in Palestine and Israel at an Emmanuel Cafe evening. The ecumenical accompaniers had some fascinating insight into life on the other side of the Wall in the West Bank.
This morning we were able to hear from Lilia Solano and her perspectives on Canada’s relationship with Columbia. Lilia has serious misgivings about our government’s mantra that Canada’s free trade agreement will be beneficial to her people. she challenged us over these last couple fo weeks to consider the consequences of the business choices we make in our country. Lilia encouraged us to embrace and express the voice of the Church. A letter from a church in Canada can make a huge difference to a Colombian village facing exploitation or violence.
Our connection to United for Peace has one further dimension. We remembered in prayer two young people form our congregation who are travelling to Palestine. Meghan and Jesse are being commissioned in a Toronto church today and will soon be immersed in communities a world away from our experience. Our prayers accompany them and we eagerly await their return and their learnings and challenge to us.
Our engagement with the church around the world deeply enriches our community’s journey of faith. Being involved with such genuinely caring people, how can we be other than grateful.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
That happened already not long ago when we heard about Susan’s time of accompaniment in Palestine and Israel at an Emmanuel Cafe evening. The ecumenical accompaniers had some fascinating insight into life on the other side of the Wall in the West Bank.
This morning we were able to hear from Lilia Solano and her perspectives on Canada’s relationship with Columbia. Lilia has serious misgivings about our government’s mantra that Canada’s free trade agreement will be beneficial to her people. she challenged us over these last couple fo weeks to consider the consequences of the business choices we make in our country. Lilia encouraged us to embrace and express the voice of the Church. A letter from a church in Canada can make a huge difference to a Colombian village facing exploitation or violence.
Our connection to United for Peace has one further dimension. We remembered in prayer two young people form our congregation who are travelling to Palestine. Meghan and Jesse are being commissioned in a Toronto church today and will soon be immersed in communities a world away from our experience. Our prayers accompany them and we eagerly await their return and their learnings and challenge to us.
Our engagement with the church around the world deeply enriches our community’s journey of faith. Being involved with such genuinely caring people, how can we be other than grateful.
Peter
You may also submit your comments to the assistant webmaster, assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca and I will ensure they are posted
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