This summer NDP MPs Charlie Angus and Joe Comartin claimed to have been deeply hurt by the Roman Catholic Church. The first was told that he could not receive communion. The latter has been prevented from teaching marriage classes in his local church.
The Montreal Chinese Presbyterian Church has a very special organist. She is over 90 years of age and although she does not speak or understand Chinese, Sunday by Sunday, she plays for the services — unpaid!
How do we love others? That's the question we at Knox, Wallaceburg, Ont., asked ourselves. Motivated by our church's mission statement of Here We Grow In Christ, we were challenged by our minister's recent proclamation that church is "all about relationships — relationship with God, His Son, the Holy Spirit and other people." We informally adopted this new commandment, reflecting Jesus' thoughts on the most important call for Christians. Through this call to serve others, Christ opened our understanding to the truth that loving God and others is what gives life its purpose.
The tantur ecumenical institute is situated on a hilltop overlooking Bethlehem, the road to Jerusalem, the Arab village Beit Safafa and the Jewish settlement Gilo. From its roof the security barrier being constructed by the Israeli government can be traced winding in and out around Bethlehem. Tantur is an ideal spot for Christians to come to learn about this land that is holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. Tantur sponsors such ecumenical and inter faith studies, and I attended a panel discussion there in June where a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim together discussed current efforts for peace in the Middle East.
Azucena Zelaya Antunez doesn't think of nutrition as only a health issue, but also a political force. In developing countries, like her native Nicaragua, good nutrition can give women the energy to take charge and assume a leadership role in their communities. "We're already seeing changes!" she said during a visit to church offices in May. "Many women are making their own decisions and growing new foods, giving them an income."
Nigerian churches, amongst them the Presbyterian, urged the country's government to immediately suspend its membership of the Islamic Development Bank. Christian Council of Nigeria said in a statement that the issue is "explosive, corrosive and suggestive of a subterranean move to Islamise Nigeria."
The attitude the letter displayed, reminds me of two young men who once attended worship in the congregation where I choose to worship. One member made it clear to them that "we do not want your kind here." Now we are all being told in print, by the writer of the letter, that he is obliged to speak on behalf of Almighty God, in order to set the church straight. How presumptuous to state that he is doing this before it is too late.
James Wing is my grandfather and the senior elder of the congregation, who came to Canada in 1923 at the age of 11. He was compelled by the Canadian government to pay a head tax of $500 in order to stay in the country, as were most Chinese people.
Presbyterians are helping raise money for starving families in Niger, where drought and a locust plague have left the West African country in a severe state of famine. Presbyterian World Service & Development is supporting a major relief effort through Action by Churches Together. ACT members Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS) and Lutheran World Relief have already distributed more than 1,000 tonnes of food to about 60,000 people.
Marion Boyd "did not find any evidence to suggest that women are being systematically discriminated against as a result of arbitration of family law issues." She believes that arbitration should continue to be allowed in family law cases, and that the Arbitration Act should continue to allow arbitrations using religious law — both of which would be subject to the safeguards she recommends in her report. Some of these safeguards include:
I have just returned from an exciting weekend with Knox, Sundridge, Ont., on the occasion of their 125th Anniversary. The sanctuary was overflowing with people, and also with faith, hope and love. From my vantage point in the chancel, the scope of ministry at Knox, and throughout our denomination, was dramatically portrayed by the baby, weeks old, on the far right of the front pew and a senior member of the congregation in her wheelchair on the far left. It is a symbol of the church* the very young and the very old glorifying and enjoying God.
"We do not want the same to happen here as is happening in Nigeria and Sudan because of religious laws," said David Githii, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, on behalf of Kenyan church leaders responding to proposed laws that they fear will legalize Sharia or Islamic law.
A minister of the Reformed Church in America was found guilty and punished for presiding over the marriage of his daughter to another woman. Rev. Dr. Norman Kansfield, 65, was tried at the RCA's General Synod in June and was fired from his teaching post and suspended from the office of minister until he repents for his actions.
Loving thy neighbour comes with strings attached. Jesus taught Christians to forgive the person who wronged them; trading anger and retaliation for trust, tenderness and a rebuilt relationship. Of course, these instructions are easier said than done. The sobering reality upsets Rev. Leonel Narvaez, a Roman Catholic missionary priest from Colombia. "It causes me great sadness how we Christians know so little about forgiveness and reconciliation — especially when these things are at the core of our faith."
Reluctantly, we are acknowledging that our time in Napier New Zealand is too quickly coming to an end. This is our second Ministry Exchange experience, and as before, it has been a tremendous blessing to our family and to our ministry.
From February to August, two Presbyterian ministers from opposite sides of the world journeyed to each other's church and home. Rev. Shaun Seaman of Trinity, Kanata, Ont., and Rev. Colin English of St. Paul's, New Zealand, participated in a exchange where one assumes the other's role in church. Homes and vehicles are also exchanged.
Well, I finally did it. After years of checking out prices, I finally talked myself into buying one. After years of admiring those tiny leaves and gnarled branches, I mustered up the courage to bring one home. It sits in my living room window now. Soaking up the sun's rays. Reaching out for moisture. And growing… ever so slowly.
The man on the train from Tbilisi to Yerevan chatted away busily on his cell phone. He then turned with equal devotion to a laptop computer. But, when we struck up a conversation he was, like most Armenians, quick to define his country's identity in terms of the past rather than some high-tech future. "Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world," he announced with pride.
Government questions surrounding the application of Muslim or Sharia law in legal family arbitration has women's groups calling for the removal of such practices from the 1991 Arbitration Act. The Canadian Council of Muslim Women is leading the dispute, saying all Ontarians should be under one law (in this case, the Family Law Act), and that allowing Sharia law will infringe upon women's equality in custody battles, property disputes and other marriage separation matters.
In Chinese culture there is great reverence for old age. The Jewish commandment, "Honour your father and your mother" finds special resonance here.