posted on May 30, 2011 in Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table

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I am sure that you have heard about the Toronto family that is keeping the sex of their 4-month baby a secret. It seems that the story is popping up everywhere. And people are taking sides.

posted on May 30, 2011 in Columns, Patricia Schneider

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The racking sobs stopped and insidiously guilt showed its nasty head. There were so many things I should have done. So many things I shouldn’t have done. How could I ever forgive myself?

posted on May 23, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table

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I had a beautiful moment this past week. I was talking with a family about an upcoming funeral, through ideas for hymns, scripture readings and the rest. Their elderly mother had died, and the three adult offspring and I were working together to compile a service that reflected her faith. One of them mentioned that their mother used to recite scripture with them at bedtime, and together they started to remember it aloud.

posted on May 23, 2011 in Columns, Patricia Schneider

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I sit quietly and gaze around at my little house … everything is exactly as I had planned it and it pleases me.

posted on May 16, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table

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Last week, I mentioned Stephen Cherry’s book Barefoot Disciple, and I want to share a bit more about it this week. The book itself came into my hands quite serendipitously. I had read a blurb about it while preparing my Lenten reading list, and at that stage, had entered in on my Goodreads account as a book I wanted to read. Then, of course, I forgot about it.

posted on May 16, 2011 in Columns, Patricia Schneider

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Will I still cry as time goes by
Will my heart never heal?

posted on May 14, 2011 in Called to Wonder

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Fighting with your brothers and sisters is no fun.  Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could just get along?  I found a great website (check it out) that has some helpful tips for getting along and other topics including:

• Taming your Temper
• Getting along with your parents
• Talking about your Feelings

posted on May 9, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table

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Twice recently I’ve flubbed the question. On two separate occasions, interested, intelligent and childless friends have asked me how I fill my time with a two year old. As if it might be difficult. Or, perhaps more to the point, boring.

posted on May 9, 2011 in Columns, Patricia Schneider

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I look across the street and see my neighbour’s fir tree. It has been there for years guarding the front entry. The top is laden with cones … it has born much fruit. Its branches spread wide and it is a haven for the small birds that visit there. A terrible wind storm attacked the tree one day.

posted on May 5, 2011 in Called to Wonder

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Some say sibling rivalry (conflict among brothers and sisters) is caused by jealousy.   Do you often fight with your brother or sister?  Check out this video of Bart & Lisa Simpson.  Do you think their conflict is caused by jealousy?

posted on May 2, 2011 in In Song

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With some regret, and some words of thanks, I take my leave, and take on a new challenge as a missionary for the United Methodist Church, U.S.A., to the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

posted on May 2, 2011 in Columns, The Messy Table

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As the Record’s London correspondent, I suppose it would be remiss to ignore the royal wedding. It would also be a little tricky, given the household were I spent my time.

posted on May 2, 2011 in Columns, Patricia Schneider

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“Mom, come down for Christmas, we want you here,” entreats my oldest daughter. “Stay for the wedding. It would mean so much to Mike.”

So I start something new … travelling alone.

posted on May 1, 2011 in Letters

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Stepping Up to the Plate, by Michael Millar, Barrie, Ont.

Mother Comments, by Lorna, Online

No Attendance Requirement, by Reg McMillan, Online

Infallible Rules, by Gary Brooks, King City, Ont.

Churchianity, by Stuart Coles, Toronto

posted on May 1, 2011 in Community News, News

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Record Columnist to Become WCC Worship Consultant
Andrew Donaldson, author of the Record’s online In Song column, has been appointed worship consultant for the World Council of Churches.

The position, which is formally called “missionary (consultant) in the area of spirituality and worship in the context of 21st – century ecumenism,” will involve preparation and worship leadership in a number of areas including chapel services at WCC headquarters in Geneva and at international conferences.

“The idea is: you think globally and you work locally and vice versa. My job is to be invisible in one sense. My job is to get people excited and knowledgeable about ecumenical possibilities, then get them involved in practical ways. Leading worship, writing music, writing liturgies.”

Donaldson has been involved in the Hymn Society for many years, was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Canada task force that created the 1997 Book of Praise, and until late last year served as music director at Trafalgar in Oakville, Ont. His new position is funded by the United Methodist Church (U.S.A.), but he says his Presbyterian background should serve him well.

“Presbyterians love dialogue, and as a Presbyterian I’ll be listening to different voices and trying to give them a place both in worship and planning meetings.”

Donaldson’s final In Song column will appear on presbyterianrecord.ca on May 1. ¦ —C.Purvis

LMA Looks for New H&R Staff
A new employee will continue the work of healing and reconciliation animator Lori Ransom after she returns to her position with the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, the Life and Mission Agency agreed at their March meeting.

“We have worked out a budget that is manageable within existing funds,” said Rick Fee, general secretary of the LMA. He stressed that no funding would be needed from Presbyterians Sharing, the national church’s main mission and ministry fund. The full – time contract position, which can extend to a maximum of two years, will draw on funds originally set aside for a number of related purposes including aboriginal dispute resolution and work related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The new staffer is expected to begin in August. Ransom, who was hired on a one – year contract in September 2006, had her contract extended for four additional years and plans to return to her position with the government this September.

“It’s a pleasure to work with her and we’re really going to miss her,” said Stephen Allen, associate secretary of Justice Ministries. ¦ —C.Purvis

Rights for Indigenous Peoples
Kairos is asking its partner churches to participate in a banner – making campaign in support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was endorsed by Canada in November 2010.

The project is part of Kairos’ 2010 – 2011 campaign called, “The Land, Our Life,” which looks at the impact extractive industries have on indigenous communities in Canada and around the world and ask Canadians to sign a petition encouraging the Government of Canada to implement the UN Declaration. The campaign concludes with a public event on June 20 in Ottawa. 

Banners will be carried by train across Canada to Ottawa, and used in the June event. Local Kairos groups and church groups will meet the “Banner Train” as it goes through their communities, and add their banners to the train.

Visit kairoscanada.org for a resource to assist congregations in banner making. ¦ —PCC and Kairos

Nunavut Teens Combat Hunger??
Grade – nine students from Tusarvik School in Repulse Bay, Nunavut, put their baking talents to good use on March 18. The class of 13 students raised nearly $400 for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank by baking and selling cinnamon buns, buns, cupcakes and tarts in their school’s kitchen.

“It is the Inuit way to share,” said Pauline Kridluar, a grade nine student who helped to bake and sell the goods. “Cooking today was like that.”

The students are used to cooking for their community, selling baked goods to raise money for their school’s extra curricular activities, and cooking lunch for the community’s elders. But this year, the students have been learning about people around the world who don’t have enough to eat.

Mary Ellen Cain, the grade – nine teacher, is impressed with her students’ willingness to respond.

“I see how generous the people here are with others in the region, and how they send char and caribou to other communities,” she said. ”This bake sale is another reflection of this generosity—they see a need and they respond to it.”

Repulse Bay is a community of about 900 people situated on the Arctic Circle. It is only accessible by air most of the year, and by barge for a short time during the summer. The steep price of food at the community’s two stores is in stark contrast to community attitudes around “country food,” such as caribou, arctic char, whale, and ptarmigan, which neighbours freely share with one another. ¦ —CFGB

New Books Released
Two new books by Presbyterians are available this month. Rev. Dr. William Klempa’s Exploring the Faith will be launched during the convocation celebrations at the Presbyterian College, Montreal on May 10; and Janet Stark’s Final Scenes—Bedside Tales at End of Life is available through the WMS Book Room.

Exploring the Faith is the second volume of the college’s Studies in Theology and Ministry collection. Klempa’s collection of essays spans four decades of theological developments, and provides snapshots on various aspects of the history and theology of the Reformed tradition from a uniquely Canadian perspective.

Most of the essays were written while Klempa served as principal of the college between 1978 and 1998. The book is available through the college.

The 80 short and true stories in Final Scenes by Janet Stark were composed though years of pastoral care given to those dealing with serious illnesses. The stories are about comfort, hope and healing.

Stark is the spiritual care director and chaplain at the Brockville General Hospital, and an elder at St. Paul’s, Kemptville, Ont. She hopes the book will be a resource to healthcare chaplains, healthcare professionals, clergy, and pastoral care volunteers.

And her book has garnered praise from Klempa. In an official endorsement, Klempa said, “Final Scenes is a valuable teaching tool for professionals and equally instructive for family members and friends who seek to comfort, help and minister to the dying.”

In addition to the WMS Book Room, the book is available through the author for $15. Email jstark9@cogeco.ca ¦ —Joel Coppieters and AM

Trio Prepare for Bike Trip
In the name of peace in Israel – Palestine, three young women from Kitchener – Waterloo are planning to don bike helmets and embark on a cross – Canada speaking tour this summer.

Although the idea of a cross – country trip came from Julia Heyens, the cause that will drive it is one that has been important to her fellow biker, Hannah Carter, since she attended the Sabeel Centre youth conference in Jerusalem.

“It totally changed my life,” said the photographer and member of Knox, Waterloo. After attending the 2009 conference with funding from the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Carter returned impassioned to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians in Israel. That Christmas, she headed to Cairo to join the Gaza Freedom March, which brought together 1,300 people from 40 countries in an unsuccessful attempt to walk into Gaza.

Carolyn Gray, the third member of the team, will not be cycling but blogging about the journey. She attended a conference at the Sabeel Centre from Feb. 23 – 28.

The journey, which is planned to begin June 1, aims to raise enough money to sponsor two homes to be built by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and to encourage Canadians to learn more about Israel – Palestine and grassroots peace efforts.

The team plans to make presentations in cities along the route, and is hoping to billet with members of local churches and receive help from volunteer drivers. For more information about the trip, booking a speaking engagement or assisting the team, visit becausewecan.ca or email because.we.can@live.ca. ¦ —C.Purvis

No Strike for AST Faculty
Although full – time faculty and librarians at the Atlantic School of Theology were poised to strike in late March, an 11th hour agreement reached on March 21 kept them from the picket lines.

The faculty association, which had been recognized as a union in 2010, had been negotiating their first collective agreement with the Halifax university’s board of governors since April of the same year. Salaries proved to be the main stumbling block in negotiations.

An agreement was endorsed by 70 per cent of unionized staff, and ratified on March 23.

The ecumenical university employs eight full – time faculty and three professional librarians, and has about 150 students registered in its degree and certificate programs. ¦ —C.Purvis

Ribbon – cutting at Crieff Hills
“The Pines” at Crieff Hills Retreat and Conference Centre will officially open on May 14. The special day will feature a demonstration on bird banding, guided nature walks, a high ropes challenge and refreshments. The day will culminate with a ribbon – cutting ceremony at 2:00.
The new building is part of Crieff’s renovation and expansion project, made possible through donations. Visit crieffhills.com for more. ¦ —AM

Undies for Evangelism
Trafalgar Presbyterian in Oakville, Ont., held a slightly different sort of fundraiser in March, asking for donations of undergarments for Toronto’s Evangel Hall Mission.

The congregation responded with “an avalanche” of underwear, according to Rev. Kristine O’Brien, which was collected during a special service. The church’s confirmation class of grade seven and eight students then went on a trip to Evangel Hall to deliver the items.

“The response from the congregation was really great—both fun and generous. And Evangel Hall thought this was a good item to have lots of,” said O’Brien.
Missions like Evangel Hall are often in need of undergarments, as donors rarely think of these items when donating clothing. Donations must be new and in original packaging. ¦ —AM

No Funding Gap for PWS&D
The Canadian International Development Agency is providing a six – month extension in funding for the church’s relief and development arm, ensuring there will be no gap in government funding between the end of one five – year agreement and the assessment of a new application.

Following the rejection of one proposal in December 2010, Presbyterian World Service and Development crafted a new application and submitted it at the end of March. If accepted by CIDA, the new program should begin October 1. In the interim, CIDA will continue to fund PWS&D’s programs in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Malawi, Tanzania and India. ?¦ —C.Purvis

posted on May 1, 2011 in Letters

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When the tsunami struck Indonesia, Presbyterian World Service and Development was all over it seeking donations. When the earthquake struck Haiti, PWS&D was all over it seeking donations. When the monsoon floods hit Pakistan, PWS&D was all over it seeking donations. New Zealand has been hit with two devastating earthquakes recently and PWS&D is nowhere, apparently. Why? Are our brothers and sisters in New Zealand no more deserving of our support than our brothers and sisters in Indonesia, Haiti and Pakistan? PWS&D needs to step up to the plate and give us some answers as to why they didn’t immediately call for donations for New Zealand, as they did for the other three named places.

Ken Kim, director of PWS&D, responds:
Thank you for your question. When there is a request for help or an international appeal for an emergency, PWS&D does all that it can to respond. PWS&D is a mechanism of the church to respond to emergencies, conflict and poverty. Churches, presbyteries and the PWS&D committee can also initiate an appeal for an emergency response. However, in the case of the New Zealand earthquake, the country did not seek international support in the aftermath of the disaster. PWS&D also did not receive any funds to respond to this disaster from the constituency. 

All disasters are tragic, from local disasters in Canada to those experienced by countries like Haiti, Pakistan and New Zealand. The fact that New Zealand is a highly developed country with good governance and resources to respond was evident. Countries such as Indonesia, Haiti and Pakistan are characterized by high levels of poverty, and national governments were unable to deal with the disasters adequately. Our local partners in those countries requested international support following those emergencies, and we responded.

PWS&D can send financial support in response to an emergency situation almost anywhere in the world through the ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together), including to New Zealand should designated donations be received. We do our very best with a small staff team based in Toronto to respond to many needs in this world with limited resources and funds, working with local partners who communicate their needs and priorities to us.

posted on May 1, 2011 in News, Youth

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I woke ON my first morning in Mulanje to the blasting of country and gospel music. The flats where I am staying are for the single nursing and clinician residents — a bunch of 20 – somethings living in one place. Everyone knows what everyone is doing at all times, there is zero privacy (thank goodness I grew up in a big family and am used to this) and it’s just a big party. We all have our doors open in the evenings and greet each other as we pass by.

During my first two weeks here, I had no running water. I had to walk down the road to a manual water pump and stand in line with a group of Malawian women. When I tried to walk away with my water they all laughed at me because I couldn’t carry it on my head. I was so grateful when my water was finally fixed.

posted on May 1, 2011 in Features

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Love me tender, love me true… scratch that.

How about: “When a ma – an loves a wo – man …” Never mind.

Can an article exploring love between man and woman begin with anything other than clichéd lyrics? And a related question: Is there anything new to be said about love between these two? Well, let me venture something on the subject and do so by turning, strangely perhaps, to the logic of sexual difference.
Ours is a culture that celebrates difference. (Or, does it? Actually, our culture celebrates only those differences it finds compelling, which suggests that its ‘celebration of difference’ is at the same time an underhanded attempt to marginalize certain other differences. But I digress, perhaps.) In any case, notwithstanding this wider celebration of difference, past decades have seen a steady and serious erosion of respect for the notion of sexual difference.

At some level this erosion is entirely understandable. Historically, woman’s essence and identity have been defined in terms of the essence and identity of man. She is his helper, his opposite or his complement. The sexes have been defined, furthermore, according to the following logic and associations, with woman generally getting the short end of the stick:
male / female
reason / instinct
spiritual / natural
active / passive
public / private
As is apparent, this framework cuts woman off from full access to civil, political and religious contexts. It largely relegates her to the domestic sphere.

In attempting to overturn this centuries – old diminishment of woman, the logic of difference has been displaced in favour of the logic of equality. But as some have pointed out, with this emphasis on equality, women have simply exchanged being not – men for being like – men. The French feminist Luce Irigaray puts it like this: “The demand to be equal presupposes a point of comparison. To whom or what do women want to be equalized? To men? To a salary? To a public office? To what standard? Why not to themselves?”

For those who believe that the creation narratives of Genesis make some kind of authoritative statement about the human, the question of sexual difference cannot be ignored. Yet a question hangs over text and tradition: If we preserve the logic of sexual difference, won’t we inevitably take man as woman’s measure, diminishing her in the process?

Perhaps not. It turns out that the best account of sexual difference is not one that defines the distinct natures of woman and man. Rather, the best account of sexual difference is one that focuses on how woman and man relate in the face of their undefinable difference—how they relate to one another in view of the fact that each is fundamentally a mystery to the other. This brings us back to where we started since what we’re really talking about is the love expressed between (a) man and (a) woman.

This idea of sexual difference can be defended and clarified by way of appeal to Genesis 2:23. In that text the earth creature (the mud man) stands before the one just formed from his rib and makes this wondering declaration: “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘isha’ (woman) for out of ‘ish’ (man) this one was taken.”

These poetic words highlight both sameness and difference. Regarding sameness the man perceives woman as one who is suitable to him in a way that the animals were not. When the human consisted of the earth creature alone in the garden, the human was incomplete—but with the creation of woman is the creation and fullness of the human, as two. They are suitable to one another, meaning that between them is the possibility (at last!) of meaningful conversation and companionship. But notice that this emphasis on sameness doesn’t license us to say anything substantial about what it is to be man or woman.

It is equally important to notice that in Genesis 2:23 the man does not name the woman. In fact, man’s naming of woman (parallel to the naming of the animals) only happens when human self – alienation from God enters the picture and begins to be felt also in the relationship between woman and man. It is only in Genesis 3:20 that we read: “The man named his wife Eve …” Prior to human alienation, man does not define woman or determine her place. Rather, in astonished wonder he merely affirms her difference from him (he is ish, she isha), a difference that does not preclude the possibility of companionship between them.

We cannot, then, set out the substantive difference between woman and man—neither one can be finally pinned down as ‘this’ or ‘that’. Rather, sexual difference is a dynamic, relational reality that comes to expression as man and woman ‘mind the gap’—when they relate to one another in ways that acknowledge the fundamental mystery of the other.

It is helpful to bring in the notion of wonder here. In speaking of sexual difference as dynamic encounter, Irigaray writes: “This other, male or female, should surprise us again and again, appear to us as new, very different from what we knew or what we thought he or she should be.” For me (mud man version 9.23, with software glitches all his own), to encounter a woman is to encounter someone who is other than me—one who resists my every attempt to define her in terms of my ideas and identity. Before her I can only express astonished joy. The challenge is to cultivate this sense of wonder and allow it to come to expression in very concrete ways—my wife can vouch for the fact that I sometimes (often!) find this a challenge.

All of this sits fairly well within the context of the church, where we continue to wrestle with the question of what it means be woman and man—what it means to live the human as two. While we confess our unity in the Body of Christ—our oneness in Christ—this insistence on unity/oneness cannot translate into a denial of sexual difference or into an insistence on sameness (which is a refusal of God’s gift of creation). To live the reality of sexual difference in the context of the church requires an acknowledgment of the other’s mystery—it also requires a stepping back so that she is set free to become fully alive in relation to Christ, in the exercise of Spirit – given gifts, and in the shared life of the worshipping, missional community that is the church.

Micheal O’Siadhail’s poem, Roofing sounds just the right note in relation to all of this:
A roof is framing
our slanted intimacy.
Unless each of these
matching couples
Beds snugly down into
opposite walls,
The timbers sag.
Somehow we’re stronger
In separateness;
this slopping encounter
Our braced ridge,
our tie of ecstasy.

posted on May 1, 2011 in News

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Community News

Loving Life, by Elleana Hoekstra

A Threat to Peace – Letter from Sudan, by John Lewis

Responding in Japan

World News

Horst Sole Candidate, by Connie Purvis

posted on May 1, 2011 in Called to Wonder

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Called to Wonder