Keystone Kops at the ‘Sourdough Rendezvous’

The Sourdough Rendezvous is our winter carnival and it’s happening this weekend.  There’s lots of fun with all kinds of outdoor events, including flour packing, dog team races, chain saw throwing, etc. We also have our world famous snow carvers creating awesome sculptures.  And then there’s the crowning of our Rendezvous Queen.

A great time to get out and take in the excitement, especially when the weather has been cooperating as it has.

But, you have to ‘get with the program’ and wear something that proves you’re in the spirit of things.  Otherwise, you might get ‘arrested’ by the Keystone Kops.

Guess who was their latest target?

Oh, Oh, Reverend Bev doesn’t have her Rendezvous Button.

However, she is wearing the traditional Rendezvous garter!! Ha, Ha.

So, all’s well that ends well.

Posted by Hank

Lead, Kindly Light

While convelescing from my recent surgery, I decided to do some reading.

A couple of weeks ago I had, therefore, stopped in at Well-Read Books to find some 'new' reading material - looking for something that might be a bit different from what I would normally read.

One of the books I took away was Lead, Kindly Light - Gandhi & the Way to Peace by Vincent Sheean (Random House 1949). The book's summary on the inside of the dustcover got my attention ...

Though this book is in some sense an attempt to reveal the meaning of Mahatma Gandhi's power and life and teaching, it is, in a more important sense the author's eloquent testament of belief in Ghadhi's mission. Vincent Sheean went to India to ask Gandhi many questions. It was a quest brought on by the failure of every other human institution to supply hope for the future. What he learned there, from Gandhi and others, is of immense, immediate importance to all people everywhere and to the future of humanity.

In the early part of the book, it's clear that for author Sheean a huge mind shift was necessary. Here's some information from his bio, also on the book's dustcover ...

He was a foreign correspondent at the time of Mussolini's march on Rome, he was present in Vienna when Hitler moved into Austria and in Prague when he took Czechoslovakia. And was in Paris when France fell; in England during the Blitz; and left the central pacific Wake Island just one plane ahead of the Japanese attack. He also served in the United States Air Forces in North Africa, Sicily and Italy; in the China-Burma-India Theater, and later in Austria and Germany.

This sets the context for the following comment by Sheean:

... the armature of a child of the century, born in a materialist society in the age of scientific supremacy, was not easily penetrated. We absorb the assumptions of the time and place, almost without knowing it, and find ourselves equipped with weapons we have never bought. It takes years to learn how to throw them all away and go, defenseless and undefending, toward whatever the truth may be.

This observation was made 60 years ago. I can't help but wonder just how many years Sheean contemplated it might take for us, as a society, to learn how to take this different approach. Considering the conflict in the Middle East, in Iraq and Afghanistan, we're not there yet.

Which makes me think the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative is a step in the right direction.

Posted by Hank

Valentine’s Day

The children from our Joyful Noise Sunday School led this morning’s worship service.

The service included ‘The Story Of St. Valentine’, beautifully narrated by Rebecca Pollard.

Here it is:

The story of Valentine’s Day begins in the 3rd century, with an oppressive Roman emperor and a humble Christian martyr. The Christian’s name was Valentinus.

Claudius, the emperor, had ordered all Romans to worship 12 gods, and he made it a crime to associate with Christians. Anyone caught being friends with a Christian could be put to death!

But Valentinus decided that was not fair. He was determined to follow in the way of Jesus, who taught that we should be friends with everyone. Not even the threat of death could keep him from following his faith. Because of this, he was arrested and sent to prison. He stayed there for the rest of his life. It was horrible.

During the last weeks of his life, while he was in prison, an amazing thing happened. The jailer had come to know Valentinus during the time he was in prison. He saw that Valentinus was a kind man and that he knew a great deal. He asked if he could bring his daughter Julia to Valentinus so she could learn from him.

Julia was a smart girl with a quick mind. She came to the jail, where Valentinus gave her lessons about science and math. He taught her to read, and told her about God. She learned so much from him.

The day came when Valentinus was going to killed for his faith. The evening before his death, Valentinus wrote a little note to Julia, urging her to keep learning and to stay close to God. He signed it, “from your Valentine”.

His death sentence was carried out the next day, February 14th, in the year 270, near a gate later named Porta Valentini in his memory. He was buried in Rome.

It is said that Julia herself planted a pink blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains as a symbol of abiding love and friendship.

On each February 14th, messages of love are exchanged all around the world, because of this brave man and his friend Julia.

Posted by Hank

Happy Australia Day mates!

As I write this it's Australia Day, Jan 26th. From Nov 2007 to April 2008 I was in Australia doing a pulpit exchange there, and so I feel very close to that place and those people. I have to say that going to Australia was NOT a life long dream; the opportunity presented itself and I just said "why not?". I am so glad I did that. I was prepared to have a good time because I tend to have a good time wherever I go, but I was certainly not prepared for the way the people and that land got into my being. I traded churches with a woman from there; she came to New Brunswick and served my church while I went there and served hers. The Australian parish I served was made up of five little churches in the towns/villages of Ouyen, Walpeup, Underbool, Speed and Patchewollock. I LOVE THOSE PEOPLE!!! They were so kind to me,and so understanding as I somtimes struggled to understand what was being said. My first week there I had to ask for help so that I could decipher the messages on my answering machine! I'm usually good with accents but not that time.
The church was a cooperative parish between the Anglican church and the Uniting Church of Australia (the very same union as our United Church of Canada: the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist churches. Our union happened in 1925 and theirs 50 years later it was fascinating to see a younger version of the union at work)
I lived in Ouyen, which is in Victoria State, 5 hours from Melbourne. It is wheat growing/sheep farming country and they were (and still are) in the midst of a debilitating drought.
It is an experience i will never every forget. I'll tell you more if you want to know! I can speak for a loooooong time about that.

Posted by Bev

Haitian Disaster Relief - United Church Response

In response to the humanitarian crisis provoked in Haiti by the serious earthquake on Tuesday, January 12th, the United Church of Canada is appealing for donations to support relief and reconstruction efforts. The Church as already committed $20,000 to relief efforts by partners in the region.

Members of ACT Alliance (the network of churches and Christian aid agencies that enables global responses to emergencies) are already in place, assisting those affected by the earthquake. In response to the disaster, Canada initially pledged $5 million in humanitarian aid to Haiti and deployed the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team, known as DART. The Prime Minister has more recently announced that the $5 million cap would be raised.

How United Church People Can Help

• Pray: Thoughts and prayers from the General Council Office go out to our sisters and brothers who have been affected by the earthquake. United Church members across Canada are urged also to pray for the people who live in affected communities.
• Donate: You may make a donation in either of two ways:
• Support the Emergency Response Fund of the United Church of Canada
• Designate a gift for the "Haiti Appeal". Funds collected will be shared directly with networks in the region.

Cheques and online donations should be made payable to the United Church of Canada and marked 'Haiti Appeal'. The funds will be treated as 'designated gifts'. Please note: Designated gifts cannot be counted as M&S Fund credits. However, they are eligible for tax receipts.

Congregational treasurers may receive and receipt individual cheques and then forward one congregational cheque to the United Church of Canada. Cheque donations made through our local congregation should be made payable to Whitehorse United Church, and marked 'Haiti Appeal'.

At our Annual Financial Meeting yesterday, a motion was passed to contribute the net proceeds of this year's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper to the Haiti Appeal.

A Prayer Suggestion

Let us call upon our churches to pray and to respond to this devastation, to bow and unite our hearts, praying for:

• those who lost loved ones
• those who are missing
• those who lost their homes, church buildings, and businesses
• first responders, rescue workers, relief agencies, church aid workers
• hospitals, doctors, and nurses
• all those evacuated

(Posted by Hank - with material from Sunday's Church bulletin and the UCC web site)

Haitian Disaster Relief Effort

The United Church of Canada has today issued a press release on how the Church will respond, as part of the worldwide church community, to the results of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

The press release can be found on the UCC web site at www.united-church.ca.

The United Church of Canada is also making an appeal to local church congregations to turn their minds to how we can contribute.

I’m making this blog entry for the purpose of turning our minds to this urgent need. Comments are invited.

Posted by Hank

The December 27, 2009 Church Bulletin

For those who may not have seen the bulletin for Sunday, December 27th., the cover featured another one of Harris Cox’s photos.

The photo is a winter scene from McIntyre Creek in Whitehorse.

Here it is:

Nice job, Harris! What a great way to end 2009 with your photo on all the Sunday service bulletins in United Churches across Canada - and to share a bit of our corner of the country with all those congregations at the same time.

Posted by Hank