Speaking Truth in Love: Start with Respect
Respect is a biblical issue, as well as a moral one.
Authorafaiz
Speaking Truth in Love: Question and Answer Session
At the conclusion of the Speaking Truth in Love event held by the Hamilton presbytery, all five speakers responded to questions from those in attendance.
A Little Guarded
Two stalwart members walked by and one said to the other, “I think I’ll sit beside you today, somebody’s sitting in my pew.” I could see the couples’ shoulders tense.
Discipleship and Soil
Andrew Faiz talks with Revs. David Moody and Alex Douglas about their vision and call to “replant” Heritage Green Presbyterian Church.
Green Fields
Congregations want change without changing; they want young members without making room for them. More than one clerical career has crashed against lazy and desperate congregational expectations. So, the best way to revitalize a church is to start from the beginning.
The Wide Boulevard
Letter One: “I did not know that the Presbyterian Record and staff are supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada by having political articles in there [sic] magazine.”
Ahlan Wa Sahlan
The Canadian Forces flight 3129 landed around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 10th last year.
Counting Contradictions
“If you come to Hungary, do not take our jobs,” the government billboards scream—in Hungarian—a language Syrians cannot read. “If you come to Hungary, obey our laws.” No outsiders welcome; at least not at the cost of the insiders.
Be Joyful in Hope
Some quote Matthew 25:35-40 to prove we have a biblical responsibility to care for and shelter the “other,” the “stranger.”
Faith, Works, Praise
Two flash portraits of two of the most interesting people I met in Hungary—and a really quick note:
On the Road: Meeting refugees as they search for their future
She asks me to call her Mahad. That’s not her name. She’s afraid for her family in Syria. Like so many others I meet, she wants very much to tell her story. Her story is all she has right now.
The Long Goodbye
We are living longer. Over the course of 50 years, the average lifespan has increased in Canada by a decade. But … a longer life is not necessarily a better life.
Vote With Vision
Chasing public opinion leads to the bottom. A politician can always find broad public favour in the lowest common denominator.
Human Connections
Hungary has been running a billboard campaign—in Hungarian, which the refugees couldn’t possibly understand—with slogans like, “If you come to Hungary, don’t take the jobs of Hungarians,” and, “If you come to Hungary, you have to keep our laws.”
Why Now?
The reigning theory seems to be that it started in Turkey.
Faces on the Road
A small small handful say “no photo” or “camera no.” But the vast majority pose for the photos and if you ask them they are eager to talk to you. You approach a person, they don’t speak English, but they call out to one in their group who does.
Reza has been on the move for 17 days
Reza, 24, has been on the move for 17 days, starting in Afghanistan, then Iran, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, on a train through Hungary, to Austria. I walked with him a little while from train to border.
She told me to call her Mahad
She told me to call her Mahad. I walked with her from the Masonmagyarovar train station to the Heigyeshalom border crossing about three kilometres away, on a windy and chilly September afternoon today.
Video: Anna and David Pandy-Szekeres
Here’s a glimpse of some of the people and communities touched by the work of church workers Anna and David Pandy-Szekeres in Hungary and Ukraine.
Photos from the Moderator’s Trip to Eastern Europe
The moderator of the 141st General Assembly, Rev. Karen Horst, is in Hungary for two weeks to visit mission partners. She is travelling with her […]