Practical concerns like making the building wheelchair-accessible, offering hearing aids, seat cushions and large-print Bibles and hymn books and providing free transportation to and from Sunday worship and church events are no-brainers, but there are other things that can be done to help seniors feel valued, involved and welcomed.
My wife, Irene and I (and two young children) returned to Canada in 1960, having lived and worked in India for five years. Not the mystic land of Rimski-Korsakoff's "Song of India" but village India, hot, dry, just one monsoon failure away from famine. The barren hills on the north side of the Narboda river are the home of tribesmen known as Bhils: Rudyard Kipling knew them as wild and independent people of the forest. They were our neighbours, our seat mates at church, our nursing and technical staff and our patients.
It was a dark, wet and lonely night. The taillights winked at us from the creek bottom deep in the canyon as we wound our way along the road above. There was no road down there. It didn't look good. I was terrified, but as we eventually drove our pickup truck along the Salmo-Creston highway to a point directly above those little twinkling lights, I knew I was going to have to go down there and look. I stopped, got out of the pickup and weakly asked Linda to pray. I could see the skid marks on the pavement. I gingerly clawed my way down the deep canyon. The trail of destruction left by whatever had gone over the edge was awful. I could see the red taillights and eventually I was able to scale the cliff down to what was left of a pickup truck. The body of a teenage girl lay in the shallow water of the creek, some of her clothes and both of her shoes torn off from impact. A teenage boy was holding another male teenager beside the truck. The boy was dead in the arms of his weeping brother, who had a broken hip. The two dead bodies in the beam of my flashlight unnerved me, but oddly they did not freak me out. In fact, they seemed to capture my attention. Eventually the weeping and groaning of the lone survivor shocked me into action. I found some articles of clothing, covered the bodies as best I could, especially their faces, and went to work trying to help the survivor. Thank God an ambulance arrived sometime after that to take charge.
ENI – Church leaders in Malawi, disturbed at the rate of domestic violence underlined by the recent case of a wife having both arms chopped off by her husband, are joining hands across denominational lines to find ways to halt the scourge for their society.
Congregations, individuals, study group leaders and educators have a new resource thanks to a website launched in February. The site offers more than 50 adult study units on topics ranging from The DaVinci Code to same-sex marriage to stem cell research. See www.TheThoughtfulChristian.com.
Jack, 80, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease three years ago. His 75-year-old wife, Agnes, is finding it increasingly difficult to care for him. He is starting to get his days and nights reversed, sleeping during the day and remaining wide awake at night. He slipped out of the house on one occasion and couldn't find his way home; Agnes had to call the police to help find him. She can no longer leave Jack alone for even a short time.
Kenneth Kim will be the new director of Presbyterian World Service and Development. He succeeds Rev. Rick Fee, who became the general secretary of the Life and Mission Agency last year. Kim will officially assume the position on Aug. 1. Kim said he is looking forward to working with the staff and "contributing to one of the most dynamic programs within the church."
Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical peace centre sponsored by the Canadian Council of Churches and based in Waterloo, Ont., is accepting applications for six-month internships with peace and security non-governmental organizations around the world.
I remember one year in Sunday school we made a papier-maché tomb with a stone that covered the entrance. It stood in the corner of the room for a few weeks in Lent as a reminder of what was to come. On Easter Sunday we were stopped in our tracks as we observed the stone pushed away from the entrance and the empty tomb exposed for our viewing. I don't remember the lesson that day – but I'm pretty sure what it was. What I do remember is the stone rolled away. Like the angels at Jesus' tomb, our teacher had come early in the morning to roll away the stone.
Economic and technological globalization has made it easier for strangers to talk as neighbours but is creating profound new challenges for the Christian church, said the moderator of the World Council of Churches at its ninth assembly in February in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The ability to communicate — readily, at great distances, in robes of light — is so crucial and coveted that in the Bible it is embodied only in angels. When anyone can transmit any amount of information … at any time, instantaneously … the resulting transformation becomes a transfiguration.– George Gilder
Many natural disasters occur far away, but that was not the case with the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina off the Gulf Coast. Under the guidance of Rev. Terry Hastings, two teams of grunt workers, from Knox and St. Andrew's, both in Stratford, Ont., and other local churches, left in the wee hours one November night last year on a two-day drive to Orange Grove Camp in Gulfport, Mississippi. The eye of Katrina directly hit Gulfport on the night of Aug. 28, 2005. Orange Grove volunteer village was hastily set up after Katrina by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). PWS&D, which sanctioned our group, works closely with PDA to co-ordinate volunteer groups from Canada.
ENI – The general synod of the Church of England has voted for pulling funds from companies profiting from the "illegal occupation" of Palestinian territories. The synod said it was heeding "the call from our sister church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, for morally responsible investment in the Palestinian occupied territories and, in particular, to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation."
Do not be afraid of hard work for Christ; a terrible reckoning awaits those who have an easy time in the ministry, but a great reward is in reserve for those who endure things for the elect's sake.– Charles Spurgeon
Let me ask you a question. It's been on my mind since a friend asked it during our bi-weekly gathering of the Circle of Six. If you haven't heard of us yet, allow me to explain that we are six handsome middle-aged men who get together every other Wednesday to sample chocolate cheesecakes and consider deep questions such as, "I wonder if we should go on a diet?"
Dorothy Henderson, associate secretary for Christian education and ministry with children, youth and families, is also a member of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. She believes strongly in intergenerational programs as a means of promoting education and community, and breaking down barriers and stereotypes. In the Advocate, APCE's quarterly publication, she lists things that churches can do to encourage such learning:
Canada's three Presbyterian colleges have announced the dates for their spring convocations. The schedules are as follows:
"Creating Caring Communities" is the mantra at the Bethany Care Society, the non-profit organization serving more than 3,400 Alberta seniors and people with disabilities. Using a holistic approach that emphasizes dignity and respect, Bethany has been providing care, housing and community services for such people and their families for 60 years. Founded by five men — two of them ministers — Bethany has grown to include 1,250 staff and 950 volunteers, with six care centres, three independent-living properties, a home-care program and a response service for medical or personal needs.
On behalf of the elders and congregation of St. Paul's, Ingersoll, Ont., thank you for including the delightful picture of Marion Wilson and David Moyer in February. The motorcycle excursion was a visible incarnation of the adventurous spirits of the leaders of our faith family.
Forget the demise of the church. Look closer. Our ministers, according to a new study, are spiritually exhausted, stressed out, have few friends and little support. In short, Christian ministry in Canada is, in the words of the author of a recent report, “in crisis.”