elizbit's Xanga

love and despair...

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:27:04 GMT

"How can a person seriously believe that God is love and has given himself up for us on the cross, because he has loved and chosen us from all eternity and has predestined us for an eternity of bliss in his presence -- how can anyone seriously believe this "to be true" and at the same time refuse to love God in return or despair of God's love.

Prayer by Hans Urs von Balthasar

...and yet so often i find myself in this predicament.

May Easter come and deliver us from despair.

vancouver furniture

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:44:34 GMT

leaving vancouver...

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:35:20 GMT

it's been a slow and agonizing decision making process, but for matters of finances and relationship, i've decided to move back to NYC.

i'll be finishing up in NYC and looking for places to housesit while i write my thesis. if you know of any places to housesit, do pass on the word!

goodbye vancouver.

An Apology on why the 28 is "bothersome" ... or the pretense of growth and maturity that don the 28.

Thu, 24 May 2007 00:20:17 GMT

i implore you to examine the number 28. the "2" is promising, with a jump from Top-Left that convexes Heaven; it swings around, lunges tangentially down to make a sharp left and dismounts with a 10.0; it's ready to make the next leap, when then comes the problem... the intractable "8." how can the "2" move to the "8"? there's no opening -- no entry in/no exit out. the self-absorbed "8" winds within its circuitous route, same barnacled questions and baggage, same seemingly irredeemable self. the terrain threadbare. the should-be sage with its infinity-esque potential is in truth a stricture proscribing those who travail within to collapse back to the same-old same-old.

yes, 8 is hell. quite. a bothersome hell.

my dears AHawk and MColen-- that is why.

welcome Luke Jr!!!

Sun, 13 May 2007 20:56:50 GMT

less than a year ago i had seen Mary and Luke walk down the aisle, and now the two becoming one has turned to three! sad that Luke Jr. held out to stay in his mum's womb till i left Kissena. but, worry not Jr, auntie liz will be coming home soon to feed you some coffee and peanuts and read to you into the wee hours of the night! ;) (mkoh, don't think you've found a way out from our midnight meetups. you'll be up anyway, so might as well have the company!)

congrats Mary, Luke and halmuhni!

look at all that HAIR!!!

may the Lord's blessings be on that child.

NB: mary will only have 2 months maternity leave, which is really good compared with others in the States; however, the length of maternity leave is *pathetic* compared to Canada. under the Canadian BC healthcare, women have one year paid maternity leave. AND (!) pre-birthing lessons, basic baby supplies, weekly nurse home-visits, AND and an optional midwife during the pregnancy are all included. sigh, we in the States are sorely behind.

... Love, the unfamiliar Name

Sat, 12 May 2007 15:57:22 GMT

...
The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre --
To be redeemed from fire by fire

Who then devised the torment? Love
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.

- T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, IV

"home"

Wed, 09 May 2007 12:58:20 GMT

began with Morning Lauds and Petition with PJ-ed housemates and the vancouver sunrise, followed by sharing a breakfast of Vector cereal, honey, dates, pears and apples over a discussion of Gandhi, partition, human rights, colonialism, the theology of martyrdom, the spiritual status of the West and Ratzinger... as you can imagine, I love this house!

i had my doubts about my May in vancouver -- so much had changed in our house and life at Regent and still so much more to do. and yet, this House of 3920 has embodied (and is a reminder of the importance of) God's hospitality. communal morning and evening prayers help infuse the tasks for the day (like running silly errands or marking more papers!) with a Christological end. when I leave here come June, i will miss this rhythm.

Hmmm… maybe I am called to a monastic life! (or at least a monastic spiritual habit!) =) that would solve numerous questions regarding my next steps and quiet my biological clock!

repivoting...

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:39:15 GMT

i returned to vancouver late last night, more weary and confused, and perhaps for that reason more excited and willing to yield, than when i left for a human rights meeting two weeks ago. In my Pond of Questions the silhouettes of vocations, familial responsibilities, relationships, "calling," immediate next steps, and “translatability” (of bridging presuppositional intellectual, philosophical and theological divides), none which were ever quite clear, seemed to have been further muddied. it’s hard to tell if this trip has merely irritated the smaller sediments sitting on the steadfast queries below or if it has done its part to fundamentally change the contours beneath the water. Dad’s health is doing well, but their financial circumstances may be more dire than I had imagined;* certain relationships seemed to have unwittingly dug deeper unwarranted emotional roots than I had expected (whether they are weeds or budding plants is beyond me); desires to teach and research theology and ethics are confounded from conversations at the ny human rights meeting. I continue to struggle with questions over how academia should be incorporated with my commitments to human rights and justice (e.g. is the latter to be the center of my studies, a “lay” ministry or a separate and primary profession?). Since I’m good at thinking about the possibilities but not deciding, couldn’t someone just tell me what to do? ;) Summer plans are already changing, most likely with my return to nyc for longer than planned, and i struggle to know what faithfulness means amidst applications, thesis research, papers, family responsibilities, friendships and a job.

so within the muddle, I am blessed to return to my community house that holds daily morning and evening Lauds and Prayers. I am grateful to participate with the words and "common" prayers of more humble saints, to be reminded of Christ and the larger needs of the friends and communities around. our house’s Habit allows me to see my present minor but no less real travails within the larger redemptive plans and essence of the I Am. It is not so much of what I do in the end than how I respond to the tasks at hand, and the two weeks have shown me how much i have to grow in sanctification (I know some of you smile since this should be obvious even to a buffoon – so thank you friends for bearing with me!).

*i know many have been praying for some of matters going on at home, so thank you thank you! i'll send out an email update shortly.

RyanN once shared that no matter how varied the topic or passage, a theme can often be found through ones writings, sermons and messages. Of the few messages I’ve given, the theme of letting go, of reappropriating misappropriated views, theologies, past narratives and dreams, is prominent. This message I gave sometime ago is for me more suggestive today than when I had prepared it. I long to live the words I speak, and speak the words of hope in line with Christ. (NB: i post this piece it since TL et al. chided me for not posting my own thoughts on this blog (!) and it provides some biblical context.)

.......

Tex: John 14:1-11**

I want to start with Langston Hughes’ “Dream Differed”

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

How do you generally deal with dreams deferred? Having a tendency to dream, this poem has resonated with some of my own struggles of what I do with hopes that have gone awry.

In fact, the poem’s images of a deferred dream that can “fester like a sore” or “sag like a heavy load” may have been experienced by the disciples as they heard Jesus, whom they believed would be the means for their liberation, speak of departure and saw him criminalized, jailed, and hung on the cross. All the hope they had placed on this Messiah… what was going on?

In John 14:1-11, part of the larger narrative in the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet and broke bread, three movements can be noted: an incorrect anticipation, the inherent anxiety and misunderstanding of the disciples and third, the hope and challenge of the “I am.” This passage also reminds us that without having a relationship with the “I am” and without letting Christ challenge and transform our myopic dreams, we are only part alive and less-human.

Why the incorrect hope and anticipation? The Lord’s Supper’s narrative echoes in many ways to the Exodus narrative. In Deut, Moses gives his final speech and exhortation to the Israelites before they enter the promise land, and Jesus gives his last lengthy discourse to his disciples. So, it may seem like Jesus’ discourse should lead to a physical promise land. Also, this supper – in John’s narrative –is the night before the Passover, whose meaning is seeped with God’s salvation. For generations Israel commemorated the Passover, where God liberated Israel from Egyptian enslavement. Jesus and the disciples find themselves in a similar state, of political and economic oppression, where Israel was no longer a united state, but an oppressed marginalized people group that had long forgotten its days of glory. The Roman Empire is in charge and prophesies by Isaiah of a restored Israel after its Babylonian exile had yet to be fulfilled. Attempted revolts to free Israel had failed and many, though not all, Israelites waited for a religious-social-AND-political Messiah who would provide an earthly revolution and restore the glory of Israel. For the disciples Jesus would be that fulfillment. can you imagine being one of the Israelites, one of the disciples, having been marginalized for centuries, longing for liberation and then meeting Jesus?
The second reason for the incorrect anticipation is that the preceding 12 chapters in John focus on “the mighty deeds of Jesus.” He has done signs and wonders: fed thousands, walked on water, healed many and just a chapter back raised Lazarus from the dead. And the narrator tells us that before John 13, even with all these amazing acts, Jesus’ hour had not yet come. From the beginning of John 13 and the Lord’s Supper, we are told, “Jesus knew his hour had come.” something far greater would surely happen. And yet when the fulfillment should occur, Jesus provides a complete twist to their plans.

During such an auspicious evening where the disciples have placed so much hope and expectation, we see the second movement: the inherent anxiety and misunderstanding of the disciples.

Jesus cryptically says that something will take place so that the disciples will finally believe that “I am he” (13:19)…what is this “something” and what does Jesus mean by “finally believe” – don’t the disciples already believe? Jesus is said to be in “turmoil” and declares that one of them will betray him, and that Peter himself would deny Christ three times before the next morning! Jesus announces that he will leave them to a place that neither the Jews nor even his own disciples could find or follow. It may seem encouraging that Jesus says that He is returning to the Father and will return for them, but the fact is Jesus is leaving… he’s not supposed to be leaving, and if he is leaving surely they should leave with him.

We also see numerous misunderstandings in this passage: Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and they don’t understand, so much so that Peter who first refused to have his feet washed only obliges because Jesus says “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Jesus says that the disciples know where his is going, but Thomas replies, “we don’t know where you are going.” Once Jesus clarifies the answer, still Philip says that the answer is not enough.

There is mutual frustration, with the disciples been deeply troubled by Jesus’ statements and Jesus’ response, “have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?”

I wonder if with the goals that we have of academic or vocational success, our financial targets, views on politics, desires in relationships, schools, friendships, bible studies, sermons or even desires of God and Christianity… if Jesus isn’t saying to us “Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?”

Haven’t you found yourselves in a similar situation with the disciples? This is one of my own great struggles. Things may seem to be in the up and up and then a twist. A most annoying or unmanageable twist. “Why LORD, is this occurring?” Maybe we don’t even ask God. We try to fix things accordingly so that we’re soon “back” on the general track. Or perhaps other times we are completely defeated that all we see is darkness, failure and hopelessness and we may enter a state of worthlessness and immense shame. Or we may rather live in such denial of this state that we attempt to preoccupy our time with things that won’t disappoint us. Or maybe we are just so absorbed in our agenda of what things “should be” that we can’t even hear Christ’s question. So when something breaks, we’re completely shattered, …probably like what the disciples may have felt.

I had worked in the human rights arena, and I don’t know how to explain the immense distaste, anger and despair that would overwhelm me when sorting through cases of continual rape and torture committed by police officers, or of persecution of marginalized groups or when I peek into my own selfish myopic soul or the brokenness of my relationships. I couldn’t help but wonder “what O God is going on, why are you so far? why do you not move according to a plan that is more obvious, more in line with what should be?” “Where’s your justice?” “Do you not care?” My concerns were genuine, but my underlying gripe had to deal with God not moving along what I deemed to be right. So, perhaps I am not too different from the disciples. Jesus said his hour had come, but it wasn’t for their expected revolution.

It is into this situation that we see the third movement: the hope and challenge of the “I am.” When Thomas asks for the way, Jesus declares, “I am the way the truth and life.” We’ve heard it so often, that perhaps it has lost its meaning.

The statement “I am” brings us back to Moses and the burning bush, where God declares himself to be “I am who I am” ... tell them that “I am” sent you,” and it is the “I am” who brought deliverance.
It is this same “I AM” that John wants to emphasize is Jesus himself. John has at least 7 statements where Jesus elaborates on his “I am”-ness: I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep pen, the true vine, the resurrection, and finally I am the way the truth and life.

But what does “the way” mean? “The way” does not refer to the OT view which speaks of way as in the moral aspects, where one follows creeds, codes and laws. Rather Jesus is the way in three aspects. “I am the way the truth and life. No one comes to the Father except through me” He is first the only means for salvation, there is no other way to the Father. Second, He is purpose and life itself. John 10:8 exhorts that Jesus came to give men life, life that is to the full. Jesus is not the means to happiness or peace, He is our end. Third, we see that the way is inherently relational. The way is not some a location, direction or a movement but the person of Christ himself.

Jesus as “I am” is the way. Instead of a set of Christian principles, He calls us into active relationship with Him. Christ is relational and He calls for our walks with Him to be personal, dynamic, relational. Later on in the passage, He promises the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, again this emphasis on God’s immediate relational presence in our lives. Before Christ, before the journey, we are only part alive, the un-human, … our goals, our dreams, our agendas, our ideologies, our beings is not life, itself. Only in Christ is life and fullness of Life.

So Jesus’ message is that amidst anxiety, desires, frustrations, and preconceived perspective of where and how Jesus fits into our plan, He interrupts, not in an act of malevolence, but with a desire liberate from our myopic constructs and to call us to become alive. “Do not let your hearts be troubled…I am the way, the truth and life.”
We may have been in the Christian faith for numerous years and know the Christian lingo, but that doesn’t mean all our dreams have been entirely in line with Christ. Often our dreams are very skewed, and we incorporate Christ to fit into our plan. We don’t know Christ beyond the definitions we place on Him, and that is precisely what this passage challenges. He may be saying “your Christianity is not what I am my gospel is about.”

The disciples ate, walked, chatted with and sat at Christ’s feet for three years but the disciples dreams were deferred because they were fundamentally flawed and inaccurate, so that Jesus at the end had to ask “have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?”

Perhaps we should redirect that question to ourselves:

“have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?”
What are the aspects in your life that you insist is “your way?”
Is the “I am “the way” or are there are other competing factors?
Jesus does not dismiss the reality of our anxiety, He knows and he recognizes them, but he does challenge our paradigms of our dreams our ways, of what is normative of who we try to make him be in our lives and our worlds.
will we choose the “I am”? will we yield our skewed dreams, anxieties, and distorted perspectives so that they will be molded and transformed and put in its proper place or will these aspects that are so fleeting dominate, cloud and fester our lives?

The question for us remains “have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me?”

** John 14"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going." 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." 9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

homeless in vancouver...

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:44:17 GMT

i realize that many of you do not know the issues of the "Eastside" in vancouver and the devastating effects caused by the olympics. it may help some businesses, but those who are on the economic, social and political margins are being further harmed. many landlords in the "poorer" areas are tearing down units to build condos to be rented out for the olympics. gentrification and homelessness are likewise "booming." "it's the nature of the invisible hand and it should not be checked," i've heard some say.* i find such an argument problematic, but ridiculous when it is made by someone who professes to be a Christian who reads scripture. where is our allegiance? scripture gives a clear ethical vision to love our neighbor and that should come first before stuffing our wallets with more greens. surely "working" solutions are far from easy, but the ethic of love and our larger telos should continuously check whatever "-ism" or system in which we find ourselves.

* in response to a comment by satira (aka my most venerated thorn since '97), i want to clarify that i am not saying that this comment is sound economics. Far from it, as satira notes "There are far too many people out there (and I daresay that many are conservative Republicans) that only learned enough economics to apply it poorly." and I agree with satira that "it's totally possible to uphold Christian principles and "economic" ones, or at least in this case. Though I do agree with you that "Kingdom values" (as JTW likes to call them) should always trump whatever -ism we find ourselves in. -thorn" i do miss the purple valley.

it's encouraging to read about what some are doing in response to the gospel, but there is such a long way to go for the larger church to "get it." even though i'm presently glued to a book or an idea, it's a challenge and a call i do not want to forget.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/031127homeless

The homeless you have with you always . . .

CanadianChristianity.com begins a special three-part series on various approaches evangelicals are taking to the issue of homelessness.

By David F. Dawes

THE HOMELESS are everywhere these days, it seems, and some Christians are vigorously grappling with the phenomenon.

In the eyes of some, the problem was worsened by the B.C. government's November 13 announcement that it will be shutting down 26 welfare offices across the province.

The reason given was that the welfare caseload has dropped by 80,000. Anti-poverty groups are concerned that the cuts will cause more hardship for the homeless.

"The effect of the cutback of staff will be an immediate reduction of service," says Robert Kissner, president of the B.C. Association of Social Workers, and a member of West Vancouver Baptist Church. "People will be delayed in being served, and these are people who cannot literally afford a delay. So they will be hurt."

Loren Balisky, an evangelical who works with the Salsbury Community Society to provide temporary housing for people in transition, points out that people seeking welfare already wait anywhere from three to five weeks to receive help; he emphasizes that "they are homeless for all those weeks." He says the proposed closures "will put extra demand on those offices that remain," potentially keeping these people homeless for longer periods.

"If there are 80,000 less welfare cases in B.C., it is because the B.C. government has ordered the Ministry of Human Resources to cut its welfare roster in order to reduce the province's social spending obligations, not because 80,000 people have suddenly found a way to live independently," says Gordon Wiebe, an ordained Pentecostal minister who works in Vancouver with Community Builders, an international organization.

'Reckless and callous'

Terming the government's policies "reckless" and "callous," Wiebe is convinced they will "have a tragic effect on homelessness. To put it bluntly, I believe that the present government's market idolatry will be responsible for the deaths of a number of homeless Canadians."

Ruth Wright is senior pastor of First United Church, which works with the First United Church Social Housing Society. The recent cutbacks, she believes, "will have a devastating effect on the homeless. It is currently difficult for the employees working with them now to cope with the caseloads they have, for the homeless to travel to appropriate offices . . . and for the particularities of the needs of the homeless to be addressed in the short period of time available to workers."

"With the recent changes in welfare," concurs Sister Nancy Brown, pastoral counsellor at Covenant House Vancouver, "we may probably witness in the near future greater poverty -- which could lead to an increase of violence in our society, an increase in illness due to malnutrition and thus, more homelessness and crime on our streets."

"We have seen the results of previous cutbacks," says Judy Graves, coordinator of the low income housing program for the City of Vancouver. "More people are literally without shelter, living in the streets. We see aggressive panhandling and theft by people who are hungry, tired and isolated; filth in streets and alleys because increasing numbers of homeless cannot access washrooms; tent cities, and demonstrations; women who had left the streets returning to prostitution so they can feed their children. We have every reason to believe that the recent round of cutbacks will have the same impact."

Unfortunately, the behaviour of a minority of 'squatters' has possibly hardened some people against the plight of the homeless. A year ago, a tent city outside the Woodwards building was dismantled, and the squatters were offered shelter at the Dominion Hotel. Things went well at first, but some of the new residents did serious damage to their accommodations -- much to the consternation of the hotel's owners, Nasser Nabahat and Claudia Launhardt. Nevertheless, the couple have continued with their efforts to help low-income people. (CC.com will profile their recent efforts next week.)

While the Dominion incident dismayed some observers, activists insist that such things must not cloud our judgment on this issue.

"We have produced a society that has no work for too many people," asserts Kissner. "Blaming the product of our failure masks its cause." Regardless of bad behaviour on the part of some squatters, many evangelicals are showing a continuing willingness to help them.

"With government cutbacks and offices closing," says Brown, "it seems as if the responsibility to serve the poor has shifted totally to the Christian community. There are a variety of ways that churches are addressing these needs. Some churches have opened their doors; some have food banks; some provide hot meals and clothing, while others donate financially."

Social gospel

Some Christians have been slow to respond to poverty-related issues, dismissing such concerns as 'the social gospel' of churches which water down the salvation message.

"Historically, all Christian churches have been social gospel churches," responds Wiebe. "However, since evangelical churches adopted a premillennial theology in the last century, a surprising shift has taken place. For the first time in the history of the church, it has been okay to focus on an escape to heaven and adopt the thinking that the world is going to hell in a hand basket."

"The evangelical church concerns itself too much with getting souls saved and into heaven," agrees Balisky, "and in so doing has lost touch with its true evangelical roots. Perhaps we should abandon a good amount of the preaching we hear in our evangelical churches, and listen to the words of Menno Simons from 1539: 'The true evangelical faith cannot lie dormant: it clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all men.'" Evangelicals, he concludes, "have radical roots and a radical calling; the change for good which the evangelical church could bring to the world might be remarkable."

Annie McKitrick, executive director of Surrey Social Futures, believes some conservative evangelicals need to re-examine their priorities.

"It is not the same-sex marriage bill that threatens the family," she says. "It is the lack of jobs, the lack of substance abuse programs . . .

the lack of community support for children and their parents." Evangelism, she says, must be put into perspective. "Frankly, a hungry, homeless, addicted person is in no position to make a decision to follow Christ."

Some evangelicals, says Wright, need to remember that Jesus "emphasized walking with the poor, widows, orphans, sat with the distraught, walked with the social outcast, and reminded all that economic prosperity is given as a means of helping the poor -- not as an indication of 'just desserts.'"

"There are many evangelical Christians who have a real heart for people," says Kissner. "One can be critical of those evangelicals who wed their religious faith to a conservative ideology. If we understand and apply the whole scripture -- and what God has taught us of how to respond to the poor -- then compassionate conservatism evaporates. Ideas that sound good melt in the light of the harsh reality of the poor. I would encourage anyone who thinks that all the poor lack is effort and will to spend a day with someone who is poor. They will find out that effort is tied in large part to the resources that each of us has."

Evangelicals are increasingly confronting these concerns. "Poverty and homelessness are complex issues that defy a single, simple solution. Families or individuals of any age can become poor or homeless, temporarily or permanently, for a variety of reasons." says a statement issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, which recently appointed a new committee focused on homelessness.

While groups such as Union Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army are widely respected for their work with the poor, mainstream churches are becoming more involved in providing direct help to the homeless. A key part of this movement is strategy.

Reach Out 2003, subtitled 'Poverty: From Charity to Justice,' was held at Shaughnessy Heights United Church in Vancouver November 14 -15. Keynote speaker Ross Olivier, general secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, drew upon Acts 3:1-10 in his presentation.

"We are told of a person utterly disempowered . . . reduced to beggary, stripped of his dignity -- living a dehumanizing existence, descriptive of all people who have been marginalized, caught up in the cycle of poverty." The beggar, he said, was "placed just outside the church door, at the 'Beautiful Gate.' He's not inside; he doesn't get to be part of us . . .

How is it that we in the church are so blind to the need on our doorstep?"

Like Peter, he said, "the God whom we follow causes us to give this response: 'Such as I have, I give.'" He then said Christians need to develop "a movement which fundamentally alters the circumstances of people who need it most."

Some churches are doing just that, through alliances with non-Christian initiatives. In New Westminster, according to activist Rhoda Kaellis, the need for affordable housing is being addressed by asking churches "to explore the possibilities of the use of church property . . . as the base for non-market housing, along with partnering with social organizations, government funders, foundation and private funders, and developers."

Direct action

Some evangelical churches are also taking direct action. "In Vancouver," says Wiebe, "the First Baptist Church and the Grandview Calvary Baptist Church have opened their doors once a week to offer their neighbours a good meal and a place to sleep."

Dan Nicholson, a pastor at Johnston Heights Church in Surrey, says God "has been raising our awareness of the social needs of the city, and challenging us to step up and be involved in a more proactive way."

He has worked with Surrey's Extreme Weather Homelessness Task Force, and his church is coordinating with St. Helen's Anglican Church and People's Full Gospel to provide facilities for the homeless when the weather gets particularly harsh.

Another form of help is being offered by the Gather and Give Charitable Foundation, which is financed by a member of Granville Chapel. "There are many fantastic organizations in the Lower Mainland that are doing a great job," says executive director Jennifer Legare, "so rather than start something similar, our goal is to find out what services could make their jobs a little easier and make that happen." Her group picks up and re-distributes supplies for various groups.

"The issue of poverty does not have easy answers," says Legare. "But as children of God, we are called to look after those in God's family. Even if financial aid is something you are unable to offer, volunteer service and prayer are just as integral to this ministry."

"Advent and Christmas are a good time to reflect on homelessness, poverty, and the people who need our care," says Graves, who attends St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church.

"At Christmas we remember that we dreamed that our Saviour would be a powerful king who would rescue us from adversity. Instead, God gave us a baby who needed care, whose family fled as refugees to save his life."

more depth...

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:28:13 GMT

i stand corrected.

my classical music instructor JG (aka eph music nerd) encouraged that i listen to something with more depth -- specifically Bach's Concerto For Harpsichord & Strings In F Minor, BWV 1056 - 2. Largo.

"so simple, but so gorgeous," says our expert, and i would have to agree.

yawn. ...back to work. only a few more days left.

Kandiah, can't wait to see you! ...and them caramel chocolate covered mcvities! ;)