Rev. Dave C. Kettle, who is on the rolls at the Presbytery of Ottawa, was named Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces in August, making him the first Presbyterian to hold the title. In July Col. Kettle had also been named Brigadier General.
To all those readers who were surprised and offended in any way to receive a recent mailing from an insurance company in a Presbyterian Record envelope, my profound apology for not having adequately explained the circumstances.
September 21, 2008:Exodus 16:2-15Matthew 20:1-16
MY HEART started to beat a little faster as I sat in the meeting listening to the presenter. I could feel beads of sweat forming on my brow and flashes of me updating my resume and cleaning out my desk at national offices crossed my mind. The topic of discussion: Why short team mission trips don't matter. Being the Youth in Mission Co-ordinator for the Presbyterian Church in Canada and a person whose livelihood is based around sending short-term mission teams, you can forgive my nervousness and desire to yell "heresy" at the presenter. Even though I had always had nagging suspicions in the back of my mind whether what I was doing was really having a lasting impact, I could always point to a few success stories to ease my conscience.
THE MISSION to Gautier, Mississippi was the most amazing experience. Those 10 days were the most challenging, yet rewarding of my life. I cannot even begin to describe the overwhelming emotion I felt when visiting the coast or talking with the homeowners of the house we were working in. For them everyday is a constant reminder of what they lost and the pain they endured. Sometimes living in a trailer in your backyard for two years can cause you to lose hope.
ENI – The Roman Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe has called for a transitional authority to allow for a process of national healing, political reconciliation and economic rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to have "a happy, united, just and prosperous Zimbabwe regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, religion and any other considerations."
An additional one-time $5 million to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank will provide temporary help to the agency in light of increasing food prices around the world, says executive director Jim Cornelius. "Our early estimates were that the rising cost of food would reduce our food aid programming by at least 25 per cent in the coming year – and probably much more." The subsidy announced in April by Beverley Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, will "help us address the shortfall."
I REMEMBER watching my sister pack for camp: bathing suit, sleeping bag and flashlight all disappearing inside her suitcase. I was too shy to attend camp and was not fond of the dark or anything creepy crawly, but I always regretted not going. So imagine my surprise when at 25 I found myself packing my own suitcase for camp! While my artistic abilities are limited to googly eyes and glitter and my nature abilities include a keen knack for getting lost, the new Missions Animator position at Camp Geddie was an exciting prospect because a Youth in Mission trip to Nicaragua in 1999 had begun a lifelong passion for travel and volunteering.
Throughout my Moderator year, I'd like to encourage and challenge you with two topics – to change, and to heal and reconcile. I talked about the first one in last month issue and now I'd like to share with you about the second topic – to heal and reconcile.
Canadian Presbyterians name churches after John Calvin and claim to be his theological descendants, so it is worth asking: Who was John Calvin?
Youth should be and are actively involved in HIV and AIDS work, and this message was carried to Mexico City by young adults from several faith and cultural backgrounds.
When they said, Repent, Repent, Repent/I wonder what they meant?The Future, Leonard Cohen
There are many ways to get involved in mission locally and abroad. Hear are some quick suggestions. Find out what your local congregation is doing […]
ENI – Rev. Ina Ngefar-Bara Pa of the Timor Evangelical Christian Church says she had to grapple with a "macho" society and a conservative congregation when she wanted to establish a program to support women's rights in her congregation in Indonesia's West Timor province.
ENI – The patriarchs of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches have issued calls for peace as military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into the first war between countries with Orthodox Christian majorities in modern history.
I've always wanted to write something that would last forever, so I signed a mortgage. We were told that building a house would not only sink our bank account, it would stifle our marriage. But one of the reasons both are still intact is that Ramona has never been one to ask for the moon. In fact, as it turned out, I was usually the one saying, "Honey, let's put a marble staircase here," and she would say, "Phil, have you looked at our chequing account lately? We can't even afford marbles."
Canada faces a shocking threat to Medicare's existence and Canada's traditional way of life. The battle is being waged by a mindset featuring an evil ideology, highly organized and supported by big money. On the other side are millions of disorganized citizens who, for the most part, are oblivious to the danger facing them in the joust.
As someone who actually gets excited about General Assemblies, attending the annual gahering of the PC(USA) in San Jose this June was like a rock fan going to a U2 concert, a tennis novice attending Wimbledon or a law student stepping into the Supreme Court. You cannot help, as a Canadian Presbyterian, being struck by how big everything is. The display area is 50,000 square feet; most days had 20 or more events taking place; the Assembly Hall is equipped with four camera angles, a 30-metre JumboTron, a full video, light and audio live production facility complete with an off-duty ESPN producer firing the motions and amendments onto the screen faster than football stats at the Super Bowl. There were 750 voting commissioners and 225 advisory delegates seated on the Assembly floor, each one equipped with a laptop computer (a requirement, partly since the business binder, if printed, would be about eight inches thick). Behind commissioners are rows of press, ecumenical visitors, guests, and observers
Ann Calahan (far left) and Josephine Monkman were close friends at Birtle Residential School but hadn't seen each other in 50 years till they picked up their friendship again outside Central Block, Parliament Hill, on June 11, 2008. The lost time had no affect and they rebonded "like sisters."
How far back in the Bible do we need to go to find the idea of evangelism? Perhaps the first moment of evangelism in the Bible can be found in Genesis 3:9. There we find God calling out to the human, "Where are you?" God's search for us, like for the hiding humans in this story, does not always seem like good news! Yet, there is no better news than God the Creator seeking us out despite our destructive tendencies. Over the last two months we looked at some of the new insights that developed on the theme of mission in the 20th-century, particularly the idea that mission is in the first place God's activity, or The Mission of God-Missio Dei. Last month we looked at definitions of mission and learned how our mission joins God's mission of peace and justice as the church crosses frontiers in humility and service and looks for the new things God is doing. Mission is the church joining the reign of God that is coming to us in Jesus Christ. In joining God's reign, working in faith for peace and