Jesus was not a sheep Kenya Kids Can 'Do it afraid ... · News. Clues. Kingdom views. Next Time...

I’ll know the names of all of the birdsand flowers, and not only that, I’lltell you the name of the piano playerI’m hearing right now on the kitchenradio, but I won’t be in the kitchen,

I’ll be walking a street inNew York or London, aboutto enter a coffee shop where peopleare reading or working on theirlaptops. They’ll look up and smile.

Next time I won’t waste my hearton anger; I won’t care aboutbeing right. I’ll be willing to bewrong about everything and toconcentrate on giving myself away.

Next time, I’ll rush up to people I love,look into their eyes, and kiss them, quick.I’ll give everyone a poem I didn’t write,one specially chosen for that person.They’ll hold it up and see a newworld. We’ll sing the morning in,

and I will keep in touch with friends,writing long letters when I wake froma dream where they appear on theOrient Express. “Meet me in Istanbul,”I’ll say, and they will.

Joyce Sutphen

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News. Clues. Kingdom views.

Next Time

Tja! You have turned my weeping about death, You have turned it around for me [Lord] into dancing!You have undone my sackcloth of mourning, and girded me with gladness!so that my deepest insides may wing and play music for You, and I not be devastedly stilled –O Lord God, my God, I will give You thanks forever and ever and ever.

Psalm 30:11-12, C. Seerveld, translation 1982. From Biblical Studies & Wisdom for Living (Dordt College Press, 2014).

ChriStiAn CouriEr

News

J. Cameron Fraseron September 18, in what has been

called an impressive exercise in democracy thanks to high voter turnout, residents of Scotland aged 16 and over rejected separa-tion from the rest of the united Kingdom (uK). the margin of victory for the “Bet-ter together” campaign, slightly over 10 percent, was more decisive than expected.

in the days leading up to the referen-dum, polls suggested the vote was too close to call and the British government showed signs of panic, with Prime Minister David Cameron offering greater powers to Scot-land if it rejected separation, powers he had initially refused to consider.

north Americans often seem confused about the relationship between the con-stituent nations of the uK. England, Wales and Scotland comprise Great Britain. to-gether with northern ireland they form the united Kingdom of Great Britain and

Scotland’s referendum

A victory of head over heart

Page 1 poem“next time” by Joyce Sutphen is

taken from After Words (red Drag-onfly Press, 2013) and used here with permission.

Joyce Sutphen grew up on a farm in Min-n e s o t a . She cur-rently teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College and serves as Minnesota’s Poet Laureate. Find out more about her work at reddragonflypress.org.

northern ireland. (the republic of ireland to the south broke away from British rule in 1922.) A frequent irritant for non-Eng-lish citizens of the uK is when England is equated with Britain and the queen is referred to as Queen of England.

the Scottish referendum took place 700 hundred years after robert the Bruce com-pleted the task begun by William Wallace of Braveheart fame and led an outnumbered army of Scots to victory over the Eng-lish at the Battle of Bannockburn, so win-ning freedom from an oppressive English domination. A more peaceable relationship developed in subsequent centuries, and in 1603 James Vi of Scotland became James i of England and ireland (which was under English control). in 1707 the parliaments of Scotland and England (then including Wales) merged, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Scots in general see themselves as Scot-

tish first and British second. there has always been an independence movement and it gained strength in the latter part of the 20th century with the growing conviction that the discovery of North Sea oil finally made it feasible to go it alone. Scotland also sees itself as being more socially progres-sive than its larger neighbour to the south.

Road to referendumIn 1996 a significant development took

place with the return to Scotland of the Stone of Scone (or Destiny) on which Scot-tish kings had been crowned. King Edward i of England had captured the stone in 1296 and taken it back to England, where it was fitted into a wooden chair in Westminster Abbey. Further attempts by the British parliament to appease growing nationalist sentiment in Scotland led in 1999 to the re-establishment of a Scottish parliament, with limited powers.

rather than dampening the indepen-dence movement, these gestures fuelled it. the Scottish national Party (SnP) came to power for the first time in 2007, gaining an outright majority in 2011. two years later it gained royal assent for a referendum on separation to take place this year. British, Commonwealth and European union citi-zens living in Scotland were permitted to vote, but Scots living elsewhere in the uK or abroad were not.

Both sides looked to Canada’s province of Quebec as an example of what not to do. one result of studying Quebec’s ref-erendum history was the articulation of a straightforward question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” reporters frequently commented on the cordial nature of debate. the ability of the “yes” side to attract immigrants was also noted.

Canada’s Prime Minister opined recently that “from a Canadian perspective . . . a strong, united united Kingdom is an over-whelmingly positive force in the world.” however, what that will look like in the fu-ture remains uncertain. With greater powers having been offered to Scotland, Cameron has now made similar commitments to the other parts of the uK. But with a general election only eight months away and con-siderable dissent within his own Conserva-tive party, it is an open question whether any of these promises will be realized.

For some, the referendum results were a source of relief, for others of heartbreak, and for many more, a victory of head over heart. Meanwhile, Christian Scots at home and abroad are reminded that our ultimate loyalty is not to any earthly power or mon-arch, but to the kingdom of God comprising people from every nation, tribe, people and language.

J. Cameron Fraser is a proud Scots-Canadian,

who is British but not Eng-lish. He lives and works

for the kingdom of God in Lethbridge, Alberta.

The animal dilemma: What do YOU think?Last spring, we asked our readers to submit tough questions about the reformed faith for our new series, redemptive Win-

dows, and you came through in spades. Christian reformed Campus Ministers from across Canada chose from your list of questions and will engage individually on

some of the trickiest topics of today. You may have seen the first two, namely “Do miracles still happen today?” (July 28, CC) and “Why do kids get cancer?” (Aug. 25, CC). the back page of this issue features our third installment, “Do i need to be part of a church and go every Sunday?”

not all of the questions, however, could be covered by the ministers (there were too many). one unanswered submission in particular comes from a long-time CC reader who would greatly appreciate insight into her dilemma. So we’re opening the floor to you, our readership, to see who will tackle this topic – going, perhaps, where campus ministers fear to tread.

Please send your answer of 400 words or less to [email protected]’s the question.

“i know that we’re supposed to be stewards of our land and animals. however, we have a large hunting dog that costs a lot. We need to get rid of him, but the local animal shelter is full and we can’t find anyone else to take him. Is it more stewardly to drop him off at the side of the road, have him put down or keep wasting our family resources on feeding him?”

With this referendum, Scotland was on the cusp of history once again.

oCtoBEr 13, 2014

Columns

Scotland’s decision

Toddlers to TeensDenise Dykstra

Christ @ CultureLloyd Rang

My Window SeatMendelt Hoekstra

Principalities& PowersDavid Koyzis

Technically SpeakingDerek Schuurman

Intangible ThingsHeidi Vander Slikke

Country Living

Everyday ChristianCathy Smith

Getting UnstuckArlene Van Hove

Flowers and Thistles

The Public SquareHarry Antonides

From the 11thProvinceMarian Van Til

From the LabRudy Eikelboom

Words fromWild HorsesWarkentins

Patchwork Words Our World TodayBert Hielema

Curt Gesch

Meindert Vander Galien

SU MO TU WE TH FR SA

Melissa Kuipers

Centuries ago Scotland made the short list of predominantly Calvinist nations in Europe and north America. Although the Lutheran reformation was somewhat more homogenizing in its influence on Germany and the Scandinavian countries (everyone everywhere followed the Augsburg Confession), the non-Lutheran reformers allowed for considerably more diversity with respect to confessions, liturgy and even polity.

however, despite their obvious differences, these nations’ respective political cultures are remarkably similar. First, while the Lutheran countries generally had strong monarchical governments and favoured church establishments, predominantly Calvinist countries early embraced constitutional government in which the authority of the supreme magistrate was legally limited by that of lower magistrates with whom he or she shared power. Second, Calvinist countries developed representative government, based on a notion of the state as a political community of participating citizens and not just an assortment of subjects. Eventually this would lead to modern constitutional democracy as we know it today.

third, Calvinist countries became known for valuing their political inde-pendence from the imperial powers of the era. Some 700 years ago the ter-ritories that became Switzerland fought for freedom from the holy roman Empire. the Dutch fought 80 years for their liberation from Spain. Americans fought to sever their links to the British crown in the 18th century. And Af-rikaners struggled against 19th-century British imperialism.

Wide-reaching influenceScotland, on the other hand, is the odd man out. no one can doubt the

influence on that ancient kingdom of Calvinism as mediated primarily by John Knox and his followers. the Church of Scotland was and remains a presbyterian church. the Scottish Psalter of 1650, however inelegant its ef-fort at poetry, remained the standard for centuries within English-speaking Presbyterian churches around the world.

But if it lost its formal independence 300 years ago, Scotland has neverthe-less had an inordinate cultural and political influence well beyond its borders. this is what sets it apart from other Calvinist countries. Although centuries of warfare had marred the relationship between England and Scotland, the two countries eventually came together under a single crown in 1603. Just over a century later, in 1707, the two countries united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain with a single parliament. Although England was more populous than Scotland, the union became a vehicle for the extension of Scottish influence around the globe.

By 1897, when Queen Victoria was celebrating 60 years on the throne, Scots, far from seeking their independence, had played a major role, along with the English, in building and extending the British Empire, sending regiments as far away as india and Canada. it is appropriate that Ken McGoogan should have written a book called How the Scots Invented Canada (2011), given their disproportionate influence on this country from the earliest decades. From Sir John A. Macdonald and “Plain Sandy” Mackenzie to John Buchan (“Lord tweedsmuir”) and tommy Douglas, Scots have left their mark on Canada.

Between 1707 and 1999 Scotland was ruled directly from London. But that changed with Prime Minister tony Blair’s constitutional reforms at the end of the last century. A Scottish Parliament was re-established with the pro-independence Scottish national Party eventually coming to power in Edinburgh, setting the stage for last month’s referendum. Would the Scots reclaim their independence if offered the opportunity?

in the end Scots said no. Severing the union with England would be an unnerving step into the unknown. Would an independent Scotland use the pound sterling, the euro or a new currency as its own? Would Scotland still be part of nAto and the European union? Would it have to raise a Scottish army to defend itself? What about public pensions and the welfare state?

Yet even apart from such considerations, it may be that Scots simply de-cided that independence was unnecessary. With a Scottish parliament likely to assume even greater powers from London in the near future, perhaps Scots simply judged that they are already “maîtres chez nous,” that is, “masters in our own house,” to borrow a phrase from the pages of Canada’s history.

By now Scotland has many of the advantages of independence, with few, if any, of the disadvantages. At the moment this seems to be enough for the Scots.

David T. Koyzis teaches politics at Redeemer University College and is the author of Visões e ilusões políticas (Vida Nova, 2014), the newly published

Portuguese translation of his Political Visions and illusions.

on my first business trip to China, while we were out for dinner in Beijing, my boss asked me: “So, what do you think of China?”

i paused for a moment and said: “i remember when i was a

kid, i used to try to dig to China. it sounded exotic and mysterious. these days, if you dug to China, you’d probably find yourself in a Starbucks.”

When i was growing up, China was closed, communist and agricultural. today, it’s more open, more capitalist and the most industrial place on the planet.

Brands like KFC, 7-11, Pizza Hut – and even Justin Bieber – are not only firmly established in the marketplace, but engrained in the culture as well. in fact no matter where in the world you travel these days – India or Israel, Holland or Honduras, Brazil or Britain – you will see the same stores and the same products. We’ve become a world of global brands. the Big Mac and the Grande Latte are everywhere. We don’t need to buy the world a Coke like the old song said – the world can buy its own Coke, anywhere it wants, any time it wants.

it wasn’t always this way. in fact, everything changed not all that long ago.

Going globalin the early 90s, two things were happening

at the same time. on the one hand, China was getting set to join the World trade organization. President Bill Clinton said at the time that the opening of China’s borders would lead to freer trade, more democracy for China and more wealth for Americans. Around the same time, anti-globalization protestors in Seattle were arguing that increased global trade would make the poor poorer and the rich richer, and decimate the American middle class.

in 1992, the American political scientist Ben-jamin Barber wrote an article for the Atlantic called “Jihad versus McWorld.” in my opinion, it’s probably the most prophetic and important piece of social theory since Marshall McLuhan.

Barber’s thesis is that there are two compet-ing forces in the world. on the one hand you have “McWorld:” which means the tendency towards economic and political international-ism. For example, it means that production is located in one country, a head office is located in another and the same products are available to consumers everywhere. But it’s bigger than just economics. it’s also about the forces that compel countries to work together on common issues, whether that’s space exploration (think of the International Space Station) or fighting climate change. it boils down to the fact that all over the world, people are dressing and thinking and buying and behaving more alike.

At the exact same time, there is “Jihad.” By this Barber doesn’t only mean religious move-ments. he also means the tendency of people to highlight their cultural or economic or national-istic or religious differences. So, at the time of his writing, he illustrated the idea by pointing out that Quebec nationalism was rearing its head at exactly the same time that world leaders were

inking new deals in economic cooperation. But 1992 was a lifetime ago. in the end, most

people would say – if you look at economic trade and the way the world has changed – globaliza-tion won. one of the top north American songs in the last few years was “Gangnam Style,” for heaven’s sake: sung almost entirely in Korean. the united States elected a black liberal ha-waiian with a Kenyan name as President. the internet is everywhere.

But hang on a second.

Circling the wagonsLook around the world today. At the very

same time that russian and American Space agencies are cooperating to send people to the international Space Station, they’re close to an actual territorial war in ukraine. At the same time that you can sip a Coke in Syria, iSiS is beheading foreign journalists there. At the same time that vaccines are saving millions of lives, bobbleheaded celebrities like Jenny McCarthy are spreading suspicion about them. in fact, you could even say that forces of Jihad have grown stronger since 1992.

Scotland just came very close to seceding from the uK. the taliban is close to taking over in Afghanistan again. in America, we’ve seen the rise of the tea Party and the birthers and citizen militias. All of these movements are about “us” versus “them,” our small group versus the larger group, about holding on to tradition against the forces of change.

Even though you could dig to nanjing and wind up in a Starbucks, globalization hasn’t won yet. if anything, Barber’s thesis is more true today than it was in 1992.

What Globalization promised – more jobs, more wealth, more freedom for everyone, ev-erywhere – hasn’t been delivered. i may be free to eat a box of KFC in tiananmen Square, but i can’t unfurl a sign protesting how they treat their chickens. i can buy pants for under $10 dollars in a Wal-Mart in Buffalo, but they’ll support jobs in indonesia instead of indiana.

Meanwhile, the promises of Jihad are ever more seductive: the idea that even though every-one else, everywhere else is the same, we who wear kilts, or crosses, or burkas or call ourselves Ford nation are different, set apart and special.

We haven’t seen the last of Jihad versus Mc-World.

not by a long shot. Lloyd Rang is communications director at the faculty of Medicine at the U of Toronto and a

member of Rehoboth CRC in Bowmanville, Ont.

Jihad versus McWorld: 22 years later







Country Living









Curt Gesch



Melissa Kuipers

"Us" vs "them" usually means holding onto tradition against the forces of change.

ChriStiAn CouriEr

Editorials

Michael Bumait was both saddening

and shameful to see the editor of The Banner (the official publication of the Christian reformed Church), rev. robert De-

Moor, publically castigated on the floor of Synod for printing two slightly controversial articles (see crcna.org “Synod laments Ban-ner articles”). the troubling conclusion that i can’t help but draw is that many people within the denomination feel threatened – perhaps even terrified – by ideas that seem to contradict their own beliefs, however slightly and peripherally. (Also, when did we come to see Banner articles as the reformed equivalent of a papal bull?)

in light of this latest controversy, i’ve been thinking about the divisions that continue to trouble the denomination. the theory i’ve come to is that the contentious issues we can’t seem to get much traction on – women in of-fice, the age of the earth, the place of LGBT folks in church communities, etc. – are actu-ally symptomatic of a larger misalignment over how we understand the coexistence of literal and figurative truth within scripture.

i was teaching “introduction to Fiction” at redeemer university College a few years back, when a lecture on morality in The Picture of Dorian Gray took an interesting turn: one of my students claimed to be a strict literalist in his reading of the Bible. Somewhat surprised, i asked if anyone else shared this view, and approximately 25 percent of the class raised their hands.

Sensing a teachable moment, i asked these students if they thought Jesus was a sheep.

Because the Gospel of John describes Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” anyone who takes a strict literalist position should neces-sarily believe that the historical Jesus was a quadrupedal ruminant mammal with wool and hooves. And yet none of my students were willing to commit to this belief, at least not publically. the point i was trying to make, of course, is that reading the Bible in a strictly literal sense is to ignore the ways in which the Bible functions figuratively as well. God’s word makes use of a great many literary devices, both elemental and technical. (Side question: if Jesus is compared to a lamb, why do some of us behave more like rottweilers during congregational meetings?)

Continued on page 8

Angela Reitsma Bick“right now, each of

you has an ‘F,’” Professor Lee Sheldon tells his stu-dents at the start of every new semester at rensse-laer Polytechnic institute.

Slouching students slump even lower at the news.

“But,” Sheldon continues, “you can level up.”

his use of the gaming term, which means acting to improve your situation, gets everyone’s attention. Students morph from unengaged to hyper-alert, looking at their teacher as if to say, Bring it on.

this methodology is part of a new trend in education called gamification, or game-based learning. it replaces the “sage on a stage” lecture with student-driven scholarship that makes use of intrinsic awards, not letter grades. instead of research, students go on “quests,” and every exam, presentation and problem solved will win you the “XP” (ex-perience points) necessary to pass the course.

his students, Sheldon claims, become more aware and self-sufficient, and gradu-ate able to use game techniques to solve real-world problems.

“We now have a gamer culture,” he says, “like it or not. So why not use it?”

Other worldsi snap the radio off and consider the

implications of what Professor Sheldon is saying. Are we living in a culture of games? Can we be defined by our consumption of a particular medium? i’m not sure. it’s an area i don’t know much about. i remember being surprised to hear, on an episode of CBC radio’s Spark, that gaming commu-nities now include not only players but

virtual spectators. twitch, a website for watching other people play video games, is the fourth-highest trafficked site in the U.S. after Netflix, Google and Apple. Forty-five million people will watch 13 billion minutes of gaming on twitch this month.

then my nine-year-old comes home and utters these previously unheard-of instructions from her teacher: “i need to play a game on your computer! For my homework!” if video games have moved beyond being products for consumption to a kind of shared cultural experience, i have some catching up to do. So i give myself a quest: investigate trends in gaming and look for Christians in the field, working to transform it.

An article in World magazine is the first clue – a glimpse of Christians who see gamer culture as a unique mission field. In July, the annual Anime Expo in LA hosted a booth by Gamechurch, catching participants’ at-tention with a large image of Jesus gripping an Xbox controller. Volunteers passed out buttons and postcards with the words “Jesus loves gamers” and 2,000 copies of the book of John re-written with a new audience in mind: “And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it” (John 1:5). it’s a ministry based on developing relationships and translating the good news into contemporary gaming language.

Culture makingWhat about the video games them-

selves? Are any developers making games with a Christian worldview? A rise in “em-pathy” games is the second clue i come across. indie developers, not necessarily religious, have moved beyond first-person shooter and fantasy games to this new type, which allows users to virtually experi-

Video games

Minefield or mission field?Jesus was not a sheepThoughts on how we read scripture

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ence what it’s like to live with alcoholism, for example, or homeless-ness. in a game called Auti-Sim, your charac-ter is on a playground full of children. Going too far into the crowd results in painful static, shifting volume levels and visual impairments,

which only decrease once you pull back and find a quiet spot. Playing this game may help neurotypical kids understand the behaviours associated with autism.

My third and final clue proves that any-thing can be a vehicle for the gospel.

It ends the way I began – by listening to a professor talk about video games. Every pilgrim needs a guide, right? i decide to call Kevin Schut, author of Of Games and God: A Christian Exploration of Video Game Culture (reviewed in CC). Schut teaches at trinity Western university and has clearly spent more time thinking about this topic than me.

i ask him to name a video game that conveys a Christian worldview.

“the best one hasn’t been released yet,” he says, “but i have never seen press for a video game like it. it’s called That Dragon, Cancer, a highly narrative game [about] raising a kid with terminal cancer. it’s tremendously mov-ing, probably not that fun [to play].”

Ryan Green, co-creator, lost his five-year-old son Joel to cancer this past summer. Joel was diagnosed at age one. Despite that seem-ingly tragic ending, That Dragon, Cancer is a game about hope, “a hope that extends past death,” Schut says, “which is a noble and powerful goal. not everyone will get it, but that’s the nature of difficult texts.” Ryan Green describes the game as his testimony.

i stand amazed at the strength and fortitude of these Christian developers, tackling one part of culture just as desperate for transfor-mation as everywhere else. i’m grateful for the gift of imagination, for the reminder that, as Shauna niequist, says, “there are a whole lot of ways to tell the same story.”

Angela Reitsma Bick is Editor of Chris-tian Courier, which carries a regular column

by Derek Schuurman that explores technol-ogy through the eyes of faith. On page 15,

Schuurman looks at the pitfalls and potential of computers in the classroom.

To read the Bible literally is to ignore the ways in which it functions figuratively.

Its creator calls that Dragon, Cancer an adventure game about hope in the face of death, a story about raising a son and a parable of grace.

oCtoBEr 13, 2014

Letters

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i am curious about the demands of the Canadian doctors and nurses for refugees (“Canadian doctors and nurses fight for refugees’ right to health care,” July 28, CC). it is good that they can be here in a safe and free society, but vision, dental and other benefits are not extended to the rest of us either.

Peter AdemaActon, ont.

Author responds:Health care cuts affect basic benefits & urgent needs

Peter’s question is a good one, and there are no doubt others who are wondering similar things.

to clarify, what the healthcare practitioners are ask-ing for is essentially the restoration of the basic benefits that resemble the benefits received by most Canadians through our provincial/territorial healthcare coverage (and the benefits received by certain categories of per-sons such as “Government Assisted refugees”). For example, the Medical Services Plan (MSP) in British Columbia covers “medically required eye examina-tions provided by an ophthalmologist or optometrist; diagnostic services . . . provided at approved diagnostic facilities, when ordered by a registered . . . dental sur-geon; dental and oral surgery, when medically required to be performed in hospital; and orthodontic services related to severe congenital facial abnormalities.” it is these types of treatment that the cuts have affected for certain groups of people (refugee claimants & certain privately sponsored refugees, for example). Even prior to the cuts, those qualifying for the interim Federal health Care Program (iFhP) were only receiv-ing “limited dental and vision care,” according to the Federal government.

Those on the front lines who have first contact with newcomers say that what makes the situation more urgent is that many refugees, certainly including those who are affected by the cuts, arrive in Canada with complicated health conditions resulting from poor/non-existent treatment in their countries of origin or the refugee camps in which they might have been living for years. they don’t simply need a new pair of glasses; instead, they need treatment for chronic eye diseases, severe tooth and gum infections and so on. the cuts also affect prescription drugs, prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs, all of which can potentially be an urgent need for someone arriving from a conflict zone or refugee camp.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that as the Canadian government states, iFh coverage is meant to be “limited” and “temporary,” covering people usually only up to one year and only until they can qualify for provincial/territorial healthcare coverage, which hope-fully coincides with approval for a work permit – upon working and receiving provincial coverage, they would begin paying into the system like you or i.

What complicates things further is that some of these persons are eligible immediately for provincial/territorial coverage, others are not, and they are also not immediately eligible for work permits. When they first arrive they often have no money and as they are not allowed to work, they are unable to pay for treatment. Akberet Beyene, the woman from Eritrea interviewed for the story (July 28, CC), arrived illegally in Canada, escaping from a desperate situation. Because she was initially only a “refugee claimant,” the cuts mean she would not have qualified for treatment for any urgent dental or vision needs or prescription drugs unless her condition qualified as a “public health or safety risk,”

Reader asks:Better health care for refugees than the rest of us?

For the recordin deference to my wife and

a concern that many people are imagining that my own marriage may be in trouble, i would like to correct the wise and wonderful Bert Witvoet who recently wrote an article after interviewing me (“Greater independence for the CrC in Canada, new Director hopes,” August 25, 2014).

the correction is this: i am not married to a Deborah nor am i looking for a marriage to a Deborah. instead, i am happily married to a woman named Beverly who is kinder, sweeter and more beautiful than any Deborah i know. My apologies to any Deborah that may read this.

rev. Darren roordaCanadian Ministries Director

CrCnA

For the record IIour new Director of Cana-

dian Ministries was interviewed (“Greater independence, . .” August 25) and honoured me by quoting me. he emphasized the uniqueness of the Christian reformed Church in Canada but admitted that there was also a likeness between the Canadian and the uSA part: “At a personal level, to quote Andrew Kuyven-hoven, we are all damned sinners.” i don’t know where or when he caught that drop of wisdom from me. But now that i have laid down the pen and left the pulpit i wish brother roorda had heard me say something more encouraging than “damned sinners.” i believe the commonality of church-members north and South is that we are all “forgiven sinners.”

Andrew KuyvenhovenGrand rapids, Mich.

For most major newspapers, subscription fees account for less than 30 percent, and sometimes as low as 15 percent, of total revenue. Advertising is typically the engine that drives production, making the bulk of revenue – between 70 and 85 percent – for the average daily paper.

Christian Courier is the opposite. We carry fewer ads than most publications and have a very high word count for our size. our revenue is made up of roughly 10 percent donations, 30 percent advertising and 60 percent subscriptions.

that’s one reason why we’re starting this month with our biennial subscription drive. From now until January 31, 2015, our goal is 200 new sub-scribers. And not just because those dollars pay our freelancers, columnists, editors, proofreaders and layout staff; we think that you know 100 households – and more! – across Canada already curious about the new Christian Courier. Don’t just pass on your copy. help us make them subscribers.

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which is unlikely. in her case, even once she received a positive legal decision, she had to apply for a work permit and provincial/territorial health coverage. how-ever, if the applications for both were not approved before iFh coverage ended, it could have resulted in temporarily lapsed coverage, a situation that most front line workers have seen at some point. As one nurse said, “you just hope nothing happens during that time.” Additionally, persons fitting in a number of the catego-ries would not qualify for the low-income assistance programs through which most impoverished Canadi-ans receive further health care benefits. Altogether, it is a complicated system, with the cuts and the resulting un-certainties leaving increasing numbers of patients and health care practitioners scrambling to understand when and what can be treated, and at what cost to whom. You can check out this summary chart to learn more: cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/out-side/summary-ifhp.asp.

ultimately, health practitio-ners point out that restoration of the benefits will not be giv-ing refugees any kind of “gold standard” health care, contrary to what some government of-ficials have claimed.

Dena nicolaiVancouver, B.C.

ChriStiAn CouriEr

News

orAnGE, California (CnA) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of orange in southern California an-nounced in late September a new design plan for the former Crystal Cathedral. now called Christ Cathe-dral, the famous massive church – for many years seen weekly on tV during preacher robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power” – will be trans-formed into a space that is “liturgi-cally and intrinsically Catholic.”

“through this innovative de-sign process an insightful plan has emerged that will establish Christ Cathedral as a place for involve-ment in the sacraments, a place to hear the Word of God proclaimed and a place for personal prayer and devotion,” Bishop Kevin Vann of orange said on September 24. “it will be a holy place, where God dwells among us.”

the Diocese of orange pur-chased the Crystal Cathedral in February of 2012 from the evan-gelical Protestants who founded it. the building was sold after Schul-ler’s group filed for bankruptcy in october 2010, when some of its

creditors sued for payment. robert Schuller had approved the original designs for the church building, and it was he who gave it the name Crystal Cathedral in the late 1970s.

the building is 120 feet tall, 141 feet long and 207 feet wide, cover-ing an area of 78,397 square feet. it is made entirely of glass and steel. the revamped cathedral will have a seating capacity of 2,000.

Altar is central

the new design aims to support the centrality of the Eucharist, to provide a “solemn and prayerful experience,” and to meet the needs of a 10,000-member parish, the diocese said in a statement. the altar’s central placement was de-signed taking into account Catholic liturgy, the massive space and the presence of the hazel Wright or-gan, the fourth largest church organ in the world. the altar’s design is part of an “antiphonal” layout, with the altar placed at the build-ing’s centre. one altar design photo shows a large crucifix suspended from the ceiling above the altar.

Monsignor Christopher Smith, Christ Cathedral’s rector, noted the ancient Christian image of the porta coeli, Latin for “gateway to heaven.” Smith said, “A cathe-dral, such as the Christ Cathedral when completed, lifts the mind, heart and soul of believers – and perhaps even others – to the love of God and the hope that God has promised.” the design plan aims

to build “a deeper unity of pur-pose and mission among Catholics within our local Church” in addi-tion to “a renewed commitment to permeating the world with the love of Christ.”

the first phase of the project concerns the cathedral itself, its courtyard and a reflection garden that will house the campus’ exist-ing statuary and bronze replicas of

the 1,800 “Walk of Faith” stones currently on the 34-acre campus. the campus will be used as a cen-tre for evangelization, arts and cul-ture, inter-religious dialogue and outreach to the poor. the second phase will include the expansion of the cathedral’s lower level, the expansion of the cathedral’s cem-etery, and the redesign of the rest of the campus grounds.

the structure’s well-known fa-çade of more than 10,000 panes of mirrored glass posed challenges in-volving heat transfer, excess light, and acoustics. in response, the de-sign team has designed “petals” to cover each piece of glass. the petals will open to control light and heat transfer as well as acoustics.

Bishop Vann said the design plan respects Schuller’s “faithful witness and architectural legacy” while creating “a contemplative and prayerful space that embodies the solemnity and reverence of the Catholic tradition.”

the cathedral will reopen after renovations and a formal dedica-tion scheduled for 2017.

Marian Van Til, with files from BTGMI

PALOS HEIGHTS, Illinois – if you’ve been a member of the Christian reformed Church in north America for any length of time you’re no doubt aware that the denomination has a “media ministry.” But you may not know that that ministry began 75 years ago – on December 17, 1939, with one radio broadcast in one north American city.

Back to God Ministries interna-tional (BtGMi) is currently calling

attention to that milestone anniver-sary with various cross-continent events “to help churches and others take part in the celebration.”

As early as 1920, discussions among a handful of CrC leaders would lay the foundation for a Christian radio program. By 1927, the “Vesper hour” could be heard locally in Grand rapids, Michi-gan, where the denominations north American headquarters were located. (they still are, but now there are also Canadian head-quarters in Burlington, ont.). the “Vesper hour” was organized by three CrC ministers: r.B. Kuiper, henry Verduin and James Ghy-sels. it got off to a good start, but a few years later the 1929 stock

market crash halted the program.it wasn’t until almost a decade

later that the CrC synod appointed an official, “permanent” radio com-mittee. the first program put to-gether as a result aired on Dec. 17, 1939, on WJJD in Chicago, with a message delivered by Calvin Col-lege professor William Schultze. that was considered the start of the denomination’s radio ministry, the Back to God hour.

it took another seven years for a full-time radio minister to be appointed. he was rev. Peter El-dersveld, described by BtGMi as “a man of intense dedication and conviction of the reformed faith.” Eldersveld was widely acknowl-edged as a superb communicator.

he had to be: the programs were broadcast live. to enhance them, a choir was formed and added to the mix. Called the Calvin radio Choir, it provided music – also live – for seven years, 52 weeks a year (later it pre-recorded its mu-sic). By 1948 some 250 stations carried the Back to God hour.

response to the program was very positive and by 1948 the mail received was “overwhelming,” with 60 percent of it coming from people outside the CrC.

Gradually, the ministry ex-panded to other genres, including print and television, and then to languages besides English. in 1950 the free devotional booklet “the Family Altar” began, and in 1953 the first English-language TV pro-gram aired. By 1955 the first con-tinuous foreign broadcast began in Quito, Ecuador. three years later, Arabic broadcasts began, led by rev. Bassam Madany, himself a Syrian convert from islam. By 1965 a full-time Spanish radio minister, Juan Boonstra, joined the Back to God hour team. A year later, after the death of Eldersveld, Dr. Joel nederhood was appointed English-language radio minister, a position he held for just short of three de-cades, until his retirement in 1995.

in the ensuing years, radio and

tV programs and other media resources were added in many languages, including French, Portuguese, indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, russian and hindi. Most recently the advent of internet, so-cial media and smart phone apps have multiplied the ways BtGMi uses media to share the Gospel – especially in remote regions and places hostile to the Christian faith.

in 1977 a permanent head-quarters and broadcast centre for BtGMi opened in Palos heights, illinois, adjacent to the campus of trinity Christian College (a liberal arts college founded by CrC members).

BtGMi has developed special web pages on its site (backtogod.net/75) that outline the ministry’s history, and that BtGMi hopes will give “people a chance to share how they have been touched by the ministry over the years.”

in introducing that history, the ministry makes clear its impor-tant mission, and that it has not changed in 75 years: “Since Back to God Ministries international started 75 years ago, our mission has been to proclaim that Jesus is Lord, to help those who want to follow Jesus know him better, and to strengthen the church.”

CRC media ministry celebrates 75 years

Crystal Cathedral overhaul gets ready for Catholics

Many in the church grew up hearing Eldersveld over the airwaves.

Nederhood and Boonstra joined the Back to God hour team in 1965/66.

Cathedrals should lift the minds, hearts and souls of believers to the hope that God has promised, rector says.

oCtoBEr 13, 2014

News

Marian Van Til, with files from CCBFST. CATHARINES, Ontario – The Canadian Christian

Business Federation (CCBF) will hold the first of a series of regional conferences beginning in early november.

the 30-year-old organization is made up of some 4,000 Christian businessmen and women from “virtually every denomination in the country,” says CCBF director Keith Knight. Members also cover the work spectrum “from CEo of a multinational corporation to the solitary handyman or struggling artist.”

once those diverse members understand “the connection between Sunday faith and Monday work,” their natural ques-tion is, “What’s next?” says Knight. “now that they realize that their businesses belong to God, what does that mean?” the upcoming conferences will address those questions.

The first regional conference will be held in the Niagara region on november 6 at the ramada inn in Jordan, ontario, just west of St. Catharines. it will be launched with a theme that will recur in the subsequent conferences: “Influence to impact . . . Your Faith, Your Business, Your Community.”

the conferences are aimed to help members who realize that “it’s tough to balance selfishness and servanthood, profit and generosity,” Knight says. Christian business people who join CCBF “approach their business and their revenue stream differently.” they have begun to ask themselves how they should give back to their communities and what responsibility they have for their neighbour.

At the niagara conference mem-bers will hear Dr. Derrick Muel-ler, a niagara-based author, mo-tivational speaker and consultant, talk about “The Influence Factor: the art of growing and mentoring others.” in addition, David Mac-farlane of the Billy Graham Evan-gelistic Association hopes to get members to ask themselves: “Does your business reflect your faith?”

then Alice Klamer of Blue Sky nursery in Beamsville, ontario, will give a kind of personal testimony called “When you suddenly find yourself in busi-ness.” And Alastair Davis, CEo of habitat for humanity niagara, will focus on the “giving back to the community” aspect of the conference. he will speak on the need for af-fordable housing for the poor, and the opportunity for busi-ness leaders to raise funds to build a habitat house.

Dovetailing with Davis’s presentation, CCBF will chal-lenge niagara’s Christian business community, with its six CCBF chapters, to raise $100,000 in cash or services to build a habitat for humanity house in 2015.

Knight notes that there is interest among Christian busi-ness people to create new CCBF chapters across the country. “Four years ago, there were seven chapters – local groups meeting monthly over breakfast,” he says. “today there are 35, and six new ones [were] created in September.”

the impetus for these new chapters has come from business leaders nationwide. their requests have a com-mon refrain, asserts Knight. “they want to connect with other Christians to talk about the connection between faith and business. they recognize that, as Christians, they need to approach business issues differently – issues such as courage and risk-taking, stress management, use of power and influence, and even balancing their corpor-ate long range plan with the will of God.”

throughout its 30 years, CCBF has focused primarily on leadership development, making available to members a five-year curriculum of material that helps business leaders connect their faith to the daily issues they face in the business world.

KYIV, Ukraine (CNA) – Since April this year, ukraine’s eastern provinces have experienced continual military confrontation, with government forces on one side and pro-russian separatists and russian forces on the other. More than 3,200 people have been killed. Ac-companying the soldiers at the front are priests, both Catholic and orthodox, as well as Protestant chaplains.

Vasyl Derkach, 23, recently returned to Lviv, in ukraine’s west, to recover after his rotation in ukraine’s military in the eastern conflict zone. “Can you imagine, i have slept for seven days on clean sheets? i did not sleep on sheets for five months,” Vasyl told CNA in a recent interview. “have you ever really thanked God for sleeping in a warm bed?”

Vasyl continued, “in my team, no one believed in God. i asked my friend with whom i always stayed on the post: ‘Do you believe in God?’ he told me, ‘no, i have faith in myself.’ But when he was wounded, the first thing he said to me in the hospital, was ‘Vasyl, i prayed! Can you believe me, i prayed!’ At war there are no atheists. When they start to shoot, everyone begins to make the sign of the cross.”

Before joining the military, Vasyl was a miner, then edited a local newspaper for miners. he belongs to an evangeli-cal community called the Embassy of God. there, he said, “i really met the living God. i realized that God is the true miracle.” he added, sadly, “My parents are still not believers.”

Vasyl did not take part in the Maidan p r o t e s t s i n Kyiv, which led to a change o f g o v e r n -ment in the nation, draw-ing it closer to the West and straining its relations with

russia. When did he arrive in Kyiv, he stood in a pool of blood shortly after the shooting of many activists. “i joined the military for patriotic reasons: i was mo-bilized, and i knew that i had to defend my land. i don’t want to go back to that hell, but i do not regret that i was there. My church taught me: ‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword.’”

he continued, “Many soldiers turned to drink. Guys reduced stress with vodka. . . . i don’t drink at all, that’s why the situation was very dif-ficult for my psyche. Sometimes i dream that i am killing somebody or somebody has killed me. Even now i can’t stay alone – depression comes. . . . there is such an atmosphere: if you don’t drink, you will be crazy. i

prayed. You sit in a trench and pray, and nothing more can be done.”

Diverse chaplains ‘going alone’ukraine’s soldiers have been as-

sisted by chaplains from the numerous Christian confessions in the country: ukrainian Greek Catholics, roman Catholics; ukrainian orthodox (both Moscow and Kyiv Patriarchates) and Protestant communities.

“there is no one ecumenical centre for military chaplains for ukraine’s armed forces. We don’t have any leg-islation which allows priests to work in conflict zones,” explained Fr. Lubomyr Yavorskiy of the ukrainian Greek Cath-olic Church’s office, which organizes military chaplains. “There is no official cooperation with the orthodox in the case of military pastoral care,” he said.

“For now, everyone is going alone, as we work in an undeclared war. there have been instances in which the Greek Catholic priests asked the orthodox bishops of the Moscow Pa-triarchate to help in the liberation of prisoners, and it did help. But there has been no further cooperation.” “there exists a kind of wall between us, when at the front we meet priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate,” said Fr. Yavorskiy. “A mil-itary doctor upbraided me once for being

a Greek Catholic priest. i responded, ‘While at war, let us both call God our Father rather than focusing on the divide between Catholic and orthodox.’” Afraid of the Word

Mihailo ivanyak spent two weeks as a chaplain in eastern ukraine. he sur-mised: “they [the pro-russian forces] are just afraid of the Word – of priests in the army smoothing conflicts!”

in a September 10 appeal, the synod of bishops of the ukrainian Greek Cath-olic Church wrote that “we especially call for responsible action from those whom the Lord has given authority, to take the necessary decisions at the political level in order to restore peace and security in Europe.”

Vasyl reflected on the harsh conditions of being at war. “it is easy to say that you are not afraid to die, when you sit in church or your kitchen. But when you are at war, you would like to live very much. Being at war was the first time I started to appreciate the value of life.”

he concluded, “i would like to leave here. i protected this country for five months, and every day in that time i could have died, but i don’t want to live here. i regret, because my family, my mom, my church, are here. i met God here. But i really don’t want to back to that hell.”

Canadian Christian business-people to confer re: how their faith and work coincide

Ukraine: Chaplain tells of ‘God in the trenches’

Mcfarlane works for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associa-tion of Canada.

“At war there are no atheists,” Vasyl says.

Priests of different faiths pray during clashes between protestors and police.

Ukrainian priest blesses a protestor in Kiev.

ChriStiAn CouriEr

Columns

Impoverished readingi don’t blame my students for losing sight of the Bible’s

literary aspects, since i’m often guilty of this myself. in fact, i think the default mode for many of us when consum-ing scripture is to lapse into an instinctive literalism. this way of reading can be dangerous because it leads toward profound oversimplifications when we contemplate the ap-plication of particular texts to contentious issues, but also because it impoverishes our experience of scripture. Failure to move beyond surface-level literalism to a more subtle and substantive appreciation of literary richness puts us at risk of reducing God’s word to a series of rote banalities; as Martin Amis memorably put it, good literature invariably participates in the “war against cliché.” it should be noted, for the record, that such a reading of scripture by no means calls into question the Bible’s inerrancy or ultimate truth.

take, for example, the names of naomi’s sons Mahlon and Killian in the book of ruth. My pastor recently men-tioned in a sermon on the topic that these names translate as “death” and “pestilence,” which of course foreshadows the fate of these characters in Moab. What he didn’t mention, explicitly at least, is that this detail probably also signals that we’re dealing with a fictional story here rather than a factual re-telling of real events. After all, who names their kids Death and Pestilence?

If the possibility that Ruth is fictional rather than histori-cal bothers you, ask yourself again whether this actually matters. Would this contingency in any way diminish the book’s profound thematic message of love, faithfulness

and devotion? Jesus himself often used stories to teach in exactly this way.

Molecules reknit?What keeps many people from entertaining such literary

readings of the Bible, i think, is the slippery slope conun-drum they present in regards to Jesus’ death and resurrec-tion. Everything depends on the fact that the Word literally was made flesh, actually died for our sins and bodily rose again. As John updike puts it in “Seven Stanzas at Easter,”

Make no mistake: if he rose at allit was as his body;if the cell’s dissolution did not reverse,

the molecule reknit,the amino acids rekindle,the Church will fall.So how do we sort this out? What is figurative and

what is literal in scripture and how do these two modes of understanding align to deliver God’s truth? Probably the best way to answer these questions in earnest is to make such figurative readings of the Bible an active priority in our churches – part of the every-Sunday explication that our pastors undertake in their sermons. Because of cultural differences, ancient generic conventions that are lost on contemporary readers, translation issues, lack of literary training and potentially a host of other complications, many of us aren’t positioned very well to recognize the Bible’s more opaque figurative and literary elements. We need to be taught, and it is our pastors who have the training and

pulpit (literally) from which to do this. there are probably a number of reasons why this isn’t

happening to a far greater extent than it is, but i will focus on one. i have been told the reason we don’t get more of this sort of teaching from CrC pulpits is that aspiring pastors at Calvin Seminary are instructed not to preach on the textual history of the Bible because this subject has the potential to destroy people’s faith. if you accept this premise, the same could surely be said of figurative approaches toward scripture. to me, however, this seems rather short-sighted. if it is possible for someone to believe that an omniscient and immortal member of the Godhead became human and died to remit for all eternity their personal culpability for sin, surely it isn’t a stretch to believe that this all-powerful and beneficent God might sometimes speak in poetry.

And so, again, i would challenge pastors to make a point of preaching and teaching in ways that regularly incorpo-rate the Bible’s literary and figurative aspects. Thinking this way about scripture may lead us, denominationally speaking, to an increased engagement with new ideas and interpretations, some of which may challenge what we think we know and some of which, in my opinion, should continue to be published in The Banner.

Michael Buma is an analyst at an IT research firm in Lon-don, Ont. and Contributing Editor of Christian Courier.

Last month when school started i was touched by a story from Saskatoon of a First nations boy with braids. Seven-year-old Quannah Duquette has long braided hair that signifies strength in his culture. he wants to wear his hair long, but people mistake him for a girl and

sometimes he is teased. the good news is that his school now allows students to make their own decisions about hair. But it doesn’t get easier from there; gender is actually much more complicated than many of us were taught. Quannah Duquette is a boy, happy being a boy, but at times mistaken for a girl. there are many other people, however, who are born male or female and know their gender identity to be incorrect. others are born with genitalia that lack gender clarity and surgical decisions are made that may or may not match what the person actually is.

this may surprise you; it surprised me when i started to learn about it.

Gender dysphoria is a medical term that describes people who believe the sex they were assigned at birth does not match who they really are. Scientists tell us that this can oc-cur for a variety of reasons including genetics, the structure of the brain and prenatal exposure to hormones. We do not know with certainty how many people experience gender dysphoria but different studies say that it can be anywhere from one in 100 to one in 2,000. Furthermore, some evi-dence suggests that one percent of live births demonstrate atypical genitalia. One in fifteen hundred births results in some form of genital surgery to “normalize” appearance. though most of us were taught in high school biology that people have either XX or XY chromosomes, the truth is that some are born XXY or XXYY, which results in gender-nonconforming attributes. this means that thousands of

people live somewhere on the gender spectrum between two places; they live between what we might think of when we read Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

these matters are complicated but they deserve our thoughtful attention. Christians have to be willing to learn from those who experience sexual identity in ways that challenge our thinking. We must welcome these people into our community and encourage them to help us think through what it means to respond to God in all the differ-ent ways that we are made. Sadly, we are not doing a very good job at this.

A spectrumA year ago a theologian at a Christian university re-

vealed that he was transgender. he was celibate and had followed all of the university’s rules, but he was asked to leave. transgender students are not welcome at many Christian universities, and even when they are institutions really struggle to determine what sorts of housing and other facilities are best.

nonetheless, there are instructive examples. i recently got to know two sets of Christian parents raising gender-nonconforming children. in both cases the children are girls who are often perceived to be boys. When the children were very young they called themselves boys and the parents had to decide whether they should correct them or ignore it. today, largely because of their supportive parents, the girls are comfortable with themselves. they wear what they want to wear and they respond casually when people mistake them for boys. But the parents have also explained to me how traumatic it can be when teachers tell young children to line up by gender or when people in authority

chastise these children for using the girl’s bathroom. others chastise the parents of these girls for failing to dress their children in gender conforming clothes and the families have experienced trepidation in almost every new social encounter.

Gender and sexual identity raise complicated questions, and i don’t know the answers. i was 50 years old before i met an openly transgender person and i continue to learn more all the time. Christians uncomfortable with these top-ics insist that the Genesis story answers every question, but i think that fails to deal honestly with people’s pain and ex-perience. As i meet people in the midst of these challenges a different Biblical passage comes to mind and i repeat it often. it has special meaning to me in this thanksgiving season: “i will give thanks to you, for i am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14).

Julia Stronks ([email protected]) has practiced law and is the Edward B. Lindaman Chair

at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash.

Braids, bathrooms, gender identity and faith

Jesus was not a sheep continued from page 4

Duquette's long hair signifies strength in his culture.

oCtoBEr 13, 2014

Reviews

Q: What a weird idea. How did you ever come up with the idea for up the hill?

A: the theologian n.t. Wright, who knows much more than i do about the af-terlife, says quite unapologetically that he doesn’t have a clue what happens to us – to our souls, our essence – post-mortem. Is there a holding bay somewhere, full of the dead? And if we will, someday, exist in what the Bible calls “the new heavens and the new earth,” why couldn’t that holding bin be the local cemetery – where every-one’s a frequent flyer? And what about the new testament’s assertion that we are sur-rounded by “a cloud of witnesses?” really? these questions are a joy to entertain, and that’s what i’m up to in Up the Hill.

What is unique and/or important about your book?

i am, for better or for worse, a regular inspector of cemeteries. i have always liked them because there are so many stories. As i stood in the Doon, iowa, cemetery, early one morning, trying to take a photograph of the bronze look of dawn through the stones, i very much accidentally bumped into the grave of a woman who died at the age of 21 in 1920. in a moment, i knew her because of a novel by one of Minnesota’s finest old novelists, Frederick Manfred. that got me to thinking that the place was alive. one of the stories in this collection, the first one I wrote, is titled “January thaw,” the story i wrote after the incident.

After completing “January thaw,” i decided to try another, as if there were more souls alive and kickin’ in the Doon cemetery. Soon enough i decided on a narrator, an old newspaper man with a penchant for stories, a man who wishes, in the afterlife, that when he’d been alive in the town of highland he could have written better than he did.

These people are all, well, “saved.” Isn’t it difficult to write stories about people who are redeemed or glorified?

Yes, very much so. try it sometime. Stories are born out of conflict, and these folks abide in a place where there isn’t any, where every last story has a happy ending. that paradigm can get old really fast for a writer who is very much a citizen of the

here-and-now.

You’re a Christian believer yourself, aren’t you? How do you dare to do this?

Yep, i’m a Christian believer. But i’m far more certain of what i don’t know than what i do, and i guess that puts me on the far side of the river from those who believe Jesus speaks in their ears.

One thing that happens in these stories is that redeemed souls, after death and in some kind of glory, still learn things. That amazed me. If they’re in some kind of heav-enly perfection, how can that be?

The answer is easy and forever tough – grace. Let me put it in upper case: Grace. i don’t get it, and i’m not sure when i die i’ll get it, either. Besides, i rather like the idea that, even in heaven, we can learn things. i don’t know that i’d want to live in a place where learning stops. i think learning is a blessing.

To what extent are the stories “real?”the fact that the folks “up the hill” are

all glorified doesn’t rob them, or us (the ones down the hill), of our humanity. A kid commits suicide, a man plays a viola in the cemetery, an old redneck farmer dies and his sons fight over their inheritance, a woman who was the subject of a novel feels somehow degraded by how the writer used her – that’s all real stuff, real stories, many of which have prototypes in real life.

Do you think there is such a thing as “Christian” writing?

Of course there is – tons of it, and it sells. And then there’s lots of “Christian” writers – people like Larry Woiwode and Flannery o’Connor and C. S. Lewis, and tons more i’d name, but i’d likely bore you to death. i’d just as soon not use the phrase “Christian writer” that way. how about “writing done by Christian believers?” i’m quite sure most Christian writers i know and respect wouldn’t say that the stories they write are meant to lead some poor soul to heaven or even baptism. We all try to tell the truth in one way or another. that’s what i’m doing, as a believer, in Up the Hill.

Do you think this book will appeal at all to people who are Christians?

A: i don’t think i can answer that. We’ll see, i guess. i hope that its humour and intrigue will be a delight to tons of readers.

I bet you had fun.no kidding. Loads of it. once i discov-

ered the voice here – the old newspaper man trying to write the stories he couldn’t when he edited the Highland paper – it was a ball to bring him into all kinds of situations.

Excerpts from an interview by New Rivers Press in Moorhead, Minn.,

a not-for-profit literary press.

Cara DeHaanWe’ve all wondered about life after

death. Where do we go when we die? What does “resurrection of the body” mean? Can my loved ones dead and gone still see and hear me? Who will make it to heaven? What does it mean that God is creating a new heavens and a new earth?

James Schaap’s new book, Up the Hill, offers a delightfully imaginative response to such questions. Don’t take it as gospel truth, but it will provoke your thoughts in worthwhile, and at times entertaining, new directions.

Up the Hill is a collection of stories nar-rated by an old dead guy, Charlie, who lives with his equally dead wife and thousands of other ghosts at the cemetery “up the hill,” on a bluff about a mile west of highland, Iowa, a small, predominantly Dutch, fic-tional town in Schaap’s beloved Siouxland. As highland’s former newspaper editor, Charlie has a lifetime of stories to tell, and he is a humourous, quirky, lovable – though

rarely efficient – narrator. From his hilly perch, he has much to observe: “Let me just be sure to say that all of you are interesting, lest you think differently. i know this sounds discriminatory, but – even with our halos – some of you are just a bit more interesting than others.[. . .] From up here, the shows are extraordinary.” Each story introduces a new cast of characters, some dead, some still living, whose lives and deaths, pasts and presents, intertwine in sometimes poignant, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious ways.

Most of the ghosts up the hill are locals who have been buried in highland Cemetery and have chosen to stay. Schaap’s dead people have bodies, but with super powers: they are able to see and hear better, both literally and figuratively, and their ability to travel through physical space and even time is much less constrained since death. Death also grants them “generous wisdom,” as Charlie describes it: “You get a whole lot smarter when you die. You’ll see.” Spiritually, the ghosts are redeemed, sanctified, full of grace; they show more love, more truth, less fear, no anger. the epigraph, “next time” by Joyce Sutphen, puts it eloquently: “next time i won’t waste my heart / on anger; i won’t care about / being right. i’ll be willing to be / wrong about everything and to / concentrate on giving myself away.”

Yet the ghosts are still human. in a public radio interview (KWit), Schaap says that for him, the capacity to learn is central to being human, and he couldn’t give that up when creating the constraints for his ghost community. the ghosts also retain individual personalities; some are shy, even standoffish, while others, pranksters forever, still like to make a ruckus. their humanity makes for great variety in the collection: contrast, for ex-ample, Jennie’s quiet conversation with a cemetery newcomer in “January thaw” with the mischievous plot of Charlie and his cronies unfolded in “An intervention for Miss Pris.”

More than simply variety, the ghosts’ humanity brings to Schaap’s collection emotional depth and new insights. these are no boring, all-knowing, holier-than-thou angels. Says Charlie: “We’re a cloud of witnesses, just as the apostle said, sentries designed to hover implacably, but human enough not to have forgotten the frenzy of what you call ‘the human experience.’ We still care. Maybe more than ever.” in the title story, for example, a man up the hill grapples with the pain of watching his wife, still living, begin to love another. Learning takes on almost a catechetical quality in “the Lost Sheep,” as Charlie’s wife Sarah and a newcomer, surprised to find herself among the redeemed, explore the world of highland Cemetery. in “night of a thousand tears,” Charlie tells of “a divine reunion that goes beyond my finest words,” about a group beyond the grave who have learned to forgive. throughout the collection, Schaap’s characteristic wit comes through clearly as Charlie offers insights he’s gained since arriving at highland Cemetery on issues familiar to a Dutch, reformed audience in north America: from cleanliness and women in office to the German occupation of Holland in World War II and the Liberation.

A book about ghosts, deathbeds and funerals may not sound like your choice of literature. the premise of Up the Hill may sound too ridiculous to be done well. But Schaap has achieved an imagined world that is – once you get past the strangeness of listening to a ghost – amazingly believable and, though not facilely so, comfortingly uplifting.

Since taking Fiction Writing with Jim Schaap (at Dordt College, 2001), Cara DeHaan cannot read Schaap’s prose without hearing it in his

gravelly voice. She lives in Waterloo, Ontario, and has just begun the Distance Learning MDiv program at Calvin Seminary.

Q&A with James Calvin SchaapGenerous wisdom up the hill

Up the Hill by James Schaap (2014).Available on Amazon as an e-book.

Schaap on his cemetery habit, happy end-ings in the here-and-now and heaven as a place where learning never stops.

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Sonya VanderVeen Feddemarecently i read A Dream So Big: One Unlikely Journey

to End the Tears of Hunger. the book is steve Peifer’s memoir about how God led him and his wife nancy to found Kenya Kids can (KKc) in Kijabe, Kenya. My inter-est was piqued. i wanted to share his story with Christian Courier readers. While interviewing steve, he asked me to contact Mark Daubenmier, the current director of the program, since he and nancy moved back to the united states a year ago.

Steve, in your book, you share a pivotal family event that caused you to leave your job in the United States in 1998 and go to Kenya. What happened and how did God work through your circumstances?

Steve: one of my children died. My wife and i were struggling. i felt like the Lord said, “Make your wife’s dream come true.” she had always wanted to go to Africa. We had friends working at rift Valley Academy (rVA) in Kijabe, Kenya, and they invited us out for a year to be dorm parents. it ended up being 14 years. Africa can get a hold on you.

Upon arrival in Kenya, one of your e-mails to friends back home men-tioned that “the poverty here puts such tremendous pressure on folks” (33). What did you mean by that?

Steve: Most people in Kenya make a dollar a day. if a child grows out of shoes, there is no money to replace the shoes. if a child gets sick, there is no money to go to a doctor. Most Kenyans only eat one full meal a day. Every day brings pressure – the pressure to survive.

Once in Kenya, how did you begin your “unlikely journey to end the tears of hunger,” as your subtitle says?

Steve: Along with other rVA staff members, i was visit-ing a school during a drought and we had brought some food along. We went into a classroom and the kids were lying on the ground. There were dirt floors. The Kenyan schools are so strict they would normally beat a child for lying on the dirt floor. When I asked why the students were lying on the dirt floor, a teacher said, “It is Thursday. The children haven’t eaten since Monday. When they sit up straight, they faint.”

that changed everything for me. We got donations to start a lunch program at one school. At the end of the school year, the dropout rate went from 50 percent to less than one

percent. on the national exam, that school had always been at the bottom of their school zone. At the end of the year, they were first. The only difference was the food. The lunch program grew to almost 20,000 students at 34 schools, but i will defer to Mark who can clarify the latest numbers.

Mark: At one time there were 34 schools and 20,000 stu-dents. We are now focusing exclusively on primary schools (preschool to 8th grade) and are working in 25 schools with a little more than 16,000 children. We are grateful to God that we have been able to maintain the feeding program in these 25 schools for the last year despite higher food prices in the country right now due to the poor short-rain harvest.

one of the things i love about the feeding program is that it is a true partnership with the local community. the local community builds the kitchen, buys the pots, provides

a secure room to store the grain, hires the cooks and either buys the fuel for the fire or has each child bring a stick to school every day for the fire. They do what they can do, which are just the things we would not be able to do easily. KKc provides the maize, beans and cooking fat – items that are too expensive for the local com-munity. so by working together, we can accomplish something for the children that neither KKc nor the community could do on their own. Because of the community support, the cost of a hot lunch served to a child is only eight cents (u.s.).

Steve, besides the lunch program, you helped establish computer labs for students. How did God lead you to do that?

Steve: i was at a school, and the headmaster told me his goal was one book for every four students; presently, it was one book for every 14 students. When i left, the presidential caravan went by with 15 new Mercedes. i realized that aid to the country would never get to the school, and i spent the whole drive home hitting my fist on my steering wheel. By the time i got home, i believe God had given me the idea for a solar computer center. Watching kids who live in mud huts do spreadsheets has fed my soul in ways i can’t quite articulate, but it certainly has given them more hope for the future. Mark can give an update on what is happening today.

Mark: the tag line for KKc is “Feeding and teaching the World changers of tomorrow.” these children will not be able to be the future leaders in their communities, in Kenya, or in the world if they don’t know what a computer

is or how to use one. the world will simply pass them by.Providing a computer education to children who go to

a school where there is no power is a remarkable thing. in the last center we opened i asked an 8th grade girl what she knew about computers. she said, “We have heard of such things, but we have never seen one.” now she knows how to use one.

But the benefits do not stop there. One young girl told steve that she loves computer class because it makes her think. the education in our centers is inherently hands on and problem solving in nature. Another benefit is that we can essentially provide a library to the schools with computer centers. none of the national schools we work in have a library and the children don’t have things to read. We are now distributing the rAchEL project to our centers (rachel.worldpossible.org) which brings wikipedia, Kahn Academy and a host of other educational materials to the school in an offline format that can be used in our centers. not only is this great for students, teachers in the schools are especially excited about this because they now can come into the computer center to read about a topic that they will be presenting in class.

What are some of the long-range impacts of the two programs?

Steve: if we can get a generation through high school with good nutrition who learn computer skills and who know that it was Jesus who gave them the opportunity, i think the country will change.

Mark: “Look at these children,” a teacher said to me as he waved his hand broadly. i was standing in a school yard observing the students taking their lunch. since there is not a cafeteria, i thought he may have been referring to how they spread out over the school grounds to eat. “Look how they run and play. this is what children do when they have food.” he knows better than i what it was like before the feeding program came to the school. children were

Continued on page 19

Kenya Kids Can – Feeding and teaching the world changers of tomorrowAn interview with Steve Peifer and Mark Daubenmier

A group of girls enjoy a hot meal of githeri. With enough food, students now have energy to spare. Students work intently on donated laptops.

Students exuberantly welcome Mark Daubenmier.

octoBEr 13, 2014

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PAGE 11

To give thanks and to giveLisa Van Engen

on thanksgiving Day we feast. sometimes the thanks-givings are offered quickly to make way for leisure time. However, without finding a genuine posture of gratitude, giving becomes difficult. We clench our fists around what we have. if we are honest, most of us have more than enough. our God is a God who sees: “nothing in all cre-ation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (heb. 4:13). Any amount of abundance he knows completely. As his people, we are called to respond to God’s extravagant love by offering thanks and by giv-ing. the thanksgiving holiday carves out a space for us to pause. to inculcate gratitude. to do so, we need to open our eyes to the world around us.

What do you know of hunger? At Vacation Bible school this summer, i sat at the pre-

school table in a little chair. Eight preschoolers ate their snack on napkins, acquiring sticky hands and red juice moustaches. An extra fruit snack lay in the middle of the table. An elderly volunteer took the package and opened it carefully. “We didn’t have snacks like this when i was little. We didn’t have snacks at all.” she ate each piece slowly.

At the Fourth cup cafe Bible study i attend, an older man raised his hand. he sat hunched over and asked for prayer for a single mom who had just moved into the area. she had no furniture, no food. his voice broke and his eyes filled with tears. “I knew what it felt like to be hungry growing up. You don’t forget that feeling.” he passed away a few weeks later, but his words remain in my thoughts, like the memories of my grandpa who never forgot the Depression. he often told stories of how his neighbourhood friends brought mustard sandwiches to school in their tin pails.

nine hundred thousand canadians access food banks each month. second harvest Food rescue estimates one in eight canadian families struggles to put food on the table. forty percent of those needing food assistance are under the age of 18. Woman, children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the effects of poverty.

Globally 842 million people in the world do not have enough to eat (World Food Programme). Each year 3.1 million children die of causes related to poor nutrition or hunger. the leading causes of hunger globally are poverty, lack of agricultural investment, climate and weather, war, displacement and food wastage.

Different kinds of hungerFood insecurity occurs when families do not know when

or where they will find their next meal. Families may have food, but it‘s of low quality nutrition. With food prices increasing around the world, many families must purchase quantity over quality. Low-cost foods are often processed foods. in these situations families may have enough food to

curb hunger, but not enough food to provide the nutritional benefits needed for growing children and healthy adults. this type of hunger is prevalent, but often hidden.

the park close to my home hosts children all sum-mer. the public school food program arrives every day, Monday through Friday, to serve a free lunch even in July and August. For some kids it will be their first meal of the day, others their last. Most public schools offer breakfast in addition to free hot lunch programs. in almost every classroom you will also find a stash of nutritious snacks, because children’s ability to learn is greatly hindered by empty stomachs. in canada, Breakfast for Learning estab-lishes school lunch programs. students who sit beside our own children know hunger.

Hunger and biasEugene cho, pastor, author and founder of one Day’s

Wages spoke to a congregation in holland, Michigan re-cently about crushing their expectations of what is “fair.” Just this week i read a social media conversation that illus-trated his point. A cashier at a grocery store felt the need to call a mother to account for buying oreo cookies with

SNAP benefits (government food assistance in the United states). similarly, a recipient of Feeding America, a food ministry located on church parking lots, found himself buying a small coffee at Panera Bread after a work shift. A volunteer recognized him. she told him if she ever saw him buying coffee there again, he should not come back to the Feeding America program. the man told me that he was sometimes hungry, but would be too ashamed to go back to the church distribution. the factors that lead to hunger assistance in the world and in our neighbourhoods are deep and far-reaching. We would do well to dispense with our own concepts of what is “fair” and look through the eyes of our compassionate Jesus. the paths that deliver one to hunger are not glamorous or desirable. You do not know a person’s story until you hear it, and when you do, your perspective might be enlarged. in Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats (Matt.25), the correct response to “i am hungry” is to offer food. What would please the King? Food given with great love or with preconceptions and prejudice?

there is a place at the table for everyone and every person who has “enough” can make a difference. A docu-mentary by Bread for the World, "A Place at the table," is a great starting point for awareness. the story of “stone soup” from Food Bank canada begins with a hungry traveler turned away from multiple doors because the homeowners had only enough food for their own families. The traveler fills a pot with boiling water and throws in a stone, all that he has. soon a passerby throws in some carrots, another family a few potatoes, another person a few onions. A group gathers, everyone contributing a little extra. Where once there was hunger is now a life-giving soup.

community gardens provide extra produce for those in need. Even if you live in urban areas, there are options for growing your own food. Farmers Markets have led the charge in education and provision of nutritious options for hungry families. one-third of all food produced is wasted, so part of christian creation care includes awareness of our consumption habits. Learning to curb waste and encourage similar diligence in larger venues like schools, offices and restaurants can make a huge difference.

A number of organizations make getting involved in hunger awareness and relief efforts comparatively easy. canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of canadian churches and church-based agencies. through Foodgrains Bank you can watch the documentary Facing hunger, use their worship resources, eat a ration meal or view the Just Food Art Exhibit online. if you love to snap photos of your culinary skills or dining choices, load those photo-graphs onto instagram with the Feedie App and a meal is donated. students can study vocabulary through rice 2.0 and donate grain at the same time. check out a list of needs at your local food bank, go shopping and deliver the goods. Afterwards, sit down with your family and talk about sustainable food sources. heifer international has great resources like videos that explain their work close up. Meals on Wheels pounds the pavement to keep the elderly fed with nutritious meals on a daily basis.

Reading about hunger with the kidscitizen Kids Books, based out of canada, have two

stories that i highly recommend for families. “the Good Garden” takes us to the hills of honduras where we meet Maria Luz and her family. their food supply is running low. A teacher comes to town and educates the family on compost, terraces and selling the products at market. this new knowledge shared throughout the village allows the family and village to become self-sustaining. “one hen” brings readers to Ghana to meet Kojo, who survives with his mother by selling firewood. They are given a small loan to purchase a hen. soon there are eggs to sell and eat, gradually financing a poultry farm. Over time the farm is able to hire workers and benefit the entire village.

in the Book of revelation, we are given a picture of heaven, a place where “they will hunger no more and thirst no more.” this thanksgiving, pause to offer thanks. Pause to give. Extend your thanksgiving beyond the holiday.

A Thanksgiving PrayerThank you for your extravagant love. Help us respond to hunger with open hands that give

without expectation. Help us to offer what we have and give the best we

have. Amen.

Lisa Van Engen is a freelance writer from Holland, Mich. She writes at

aboutproximity.com.

LisA VAn EnGEnSometimes the choice is quantity over quality.

courtEsY oF cAnADiAn FooDGrAins BAnK

Ramatou, a widow and mother of 12, receives food in Niger.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank: working to end global hunger.courtEsY oF cAnADiAn FooDGrAins BAnK

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Elisabeth Geschsharing a holy meal is at the centre of our communal worship as christians. the fruit of

the spirit is organic. the water of life contains no lactose. the bread of life is gluten-free. in other words, there are no barriers that keep the free gift of God’s salvation from being joyfully consumed by everyone. there’s one problem, though: by our human shortcomings, we can contaminate the message of God’s love.

As anyone with a food allergy is all too aware of, no matter what the substance of a food is, if it has come into contact with a particular antigen, it may as well be the main ingredi-ent. When a child has a life-threatening peanut allergy, food they consume must be known to be manufactured in a peanut-free facility to prevent inadvertent contamination. For a person living with celiac disease, even a minute quantity of wheat can cause serious health repercussions, and careful procedures in the food preparation areas must be observed. For a person observing a strict diet for another reason, eating a restricted food may have health consequences or violate a set of personal values or goals. Your first reaction to this may be like mine: “how inconvenient!”

As inconvenient as the adjustments are, they are necessary for the life of a person liv-ing with food allergies. Later, i will give a few tips on how to manage this inconvenience and make hosting a person with special dietary needs easier. Did you ever think about how your hospitality preparations affect the health of your relationships?

Make it safe for your friendsAs a part of my preparation for this article, i interviewed a woman whose

two young sons have severe food allergies. she told me about her family’s experiences. she told me discouraging stories about the struggles of embar-rassment and stress her older son underwent as the only kid at a birthday parties with different food from everyone else, or the only kid at school with a picture of himself on the wall announcing his allergy. she recounted her frustrations at the lack of support from other parents at the school whose unwillingness to be inconvenienced in the planning of five lunches a week contrasted so absurdly with her family’s drastically-altered lifestyle. And she told me about the spectacular understanding and leadership from her sons’ young friends who are vigilant in reminding their parents about the preparations they must make in their homes to make it safe for their friends with allergies to visit. the friends who care enough to ensure that everything at their birthday parties is safe for her sons have fostered relationships that have survived the “inconvenience” of careful forethought, and have grown stronger.

to be honest, i have not always been as understanding as i am now learning to be on the issue of food allergies and intolerances. As has happened to me in so many circumstances before, it was only when i was confronted with real people who i cared about experiencing something that i had strong opinions on that i began to question my own attitudes and reac-tions. i get exasperated by the fad diets and pop “science” that lately has been leading so many people to eschew wheat or embrace smoothies for scientifically unproven reasons. Yet, when a friend of mine decided to try eating gluten-free to address her ongoing intestinal distress, i suddenly found myself combing the internet for new recipes and baking gluten-free bread for her. Why the abrupt change? Love.

Hospitality is love

What is hospitality if not a tangible expression of love? At the centre of hospitality is the sharing of food and drink. As christians, we are aware of how a common meal can bring unity. in addition to the charge to commemorate Christ’s sacrifice with bread and wine, there are many other examples in the Scriptures about eating and drinking together, and its significance for relation-ships. Jesus shared meals with tax collectors and other unsavoury members of society, and the religious leaders had no doubt about what it meant. Accepting hospitality and sharing food with someone was a sign of a relationship – one they didn’t approve of. Jesus accepted water

from a samaritan woman, and offered her the water of life in return. Jesus fed the five thousand in a mir-aculous display of hospital-ity, showing his love for the people who came to hear his message that day.

the relationships forged and developed in hospital-ity don’t merely rely on the host, however; the guest also plays an important role. once again, we can look to

christ for the standard for guests. A gracious guest, christ did not decline invitations from those who couldn’t advance his standing in society and there are no stories of him declining a certain dish for any reason (watch-ing his weight, dates aren’t really his favourite, etc...). rather, he gratefully accepted everything from a cup of water or a wedding feast to the anoint-ing of his feet with perfume. For those whose gifts are those of hospitality, the acceptance of this gift is a gift of love in return. We all know some-one who loves to feed people and we know that the rejection of this gift

can be disappointing and hurtful. Yet likelihood of this happening is becoming a greater concern in recent years where two phenomenons are making both offering and receiving hospitality more difficult than ever. The first challenge to the practice of hospi-tality is the near epidemic of food allergies in our society. this makes receiving hospitality (“eat what’s put in front of you”) potentially life-threatening for individuals living with food allergies, and unbearable for those with intoler-ances. the second challenge is the prevalence of specialized diets for a variety of non-allergy reasons, including diets restricting wheat, salt, processed sugar, meat, animal products or others. the reasons for these specialized diets are varied, including for health, fitness, religious or ethical reasons.

in both cases (allergy and non-allergy), the response of a caring host should include the following: care and love (rather than judgement or begrudging the extra considerations required), education and communication and a willingness to try new things. Although education and communication are second on the above list, the practice of these will lead both to an increased understanding of your guest and their needs, but also will challenge you to the third item: trying new things.

Stretch your hospitality musclesIt can be daunting at first to adapt one’s particular hosting habits and style to accom-

modate a guest with an unfamiliar set of food restrictions, but i’ve found a few principles to make it easier:

1. Focus on what is permitted, rather than what is excluded from the diet of your guest during the initial planning of your meal or baking project, and choose recipes which normally do not contain the ingredients you need to avoid, rather than trying to adapt an existing recipe. Instead of wondering how to bake a cake without flour, consider a fruit-based dessert, and

many more wheat-free options will be available.2. Make use of the many websites and cookbooks that are available and

designed for the particular dietary plan of your guest. A quick internet search can lead you to many websites that allow user reviews and ratings to help guide you in making selections as well as offering cooking tips.

3. Don’t forget to make use of the best resource of all: your guest! For many people with food allergies, the fear of the dangerous unknown may make them reluctant to accept an invitation, so communicating with your guest can not only help the host gather tips and recipes, but also reassure the guest that accepting your invitation won’t be dangerous to their health or compromise their diet.

4. start small. try hosting tea and dessert for your guest before attempting a three-course meal or ask your guest if they will contribute a dish to help you. in this way, with some minor preparations, the host and guest can get down to the real business of hospitality: spending time together.

this thanksgiving, stretch your hospitality muscles and hone your hosting skills by sharing a meal with someone new, trying a new recipe and giving thanks for God’s gift of good food together.

Elisabeth M. Gesch studies Pharmacy at Memorial University of New-foundland, but she’d rather dole out cookies than drugs. She likes to find new recipes online, and suggests mydarlingvegan.com if you’re looking

for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or raw food recipes.

Hospitality in the age of allergiesOr: All you need is love (and some new recipes)

Elisabeth Gesch stirs it up in the kitchen.

Serving gluten-free bread can be an act of love.

OctOber 13, 2014

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page 13

Artful Eye Moving firewood: A prayerThat hip you gave me has proved defective.It creaks and achesand brings the paindown to the kneeeven unto the shinand up to the shoulder to a stiff neck.

It’s under warranty:you promised to restore it. When?So far I’ve waited two years and three months for a free reliningof that ball-and-socketbut it’s happening in B.C.(and the clock isn’t runningbackwardsthough the medical systemseems to be running down).

I am reminded of restorationmost when I hurt,especiallywhen I cut woodor carry wood or split wood.

Ah, wood,a lovely creation.It grows well hereand in lodgepole formit dies well hereand when dryit burns well here.A surfeit of wood:all that’s lackingis the hip, the knee,

the shin, the back, the supple neck.

Being a possessor of a stiff neckmy joy is a mixed blessing at times.Joy–in cutting and carrying,stacking and splitting–has become a matter of joy now / pain later.(I thought it was supposedto be the opposite.)

Worth it it wasthis afternoon,however. And reminded I was of Mr. Hatfield:retired rancher, dedicated wood-scroungerwood cutterwood splitterwood stacker.His outside woodpileonly sixteen inches wideone rowand about one hundred metreslong.“Should be enough there to last a year or two.”(The row outlivedthe stacker, I remember.)

With aching hip and other sundry partstaking a hiatus

from attracting unwelcome loving concern and attention,I felt like a Hatfield,retired,though not a rancher, my woodpile with uneven sides and a dangerous list (not for a novice those longsinglerows).And I thought, “Should be enoughin the garagefor a week or two.”(Which will not outlive the stacker, I hope.)

Later,sore but sated with workfried potatoes(a rancher’s special)I wonder:when?does the pain begin?

Do we have the story wrong?Were the Gibeonitescursed to be hewers of woodand drawers of water?Or were theyblessedto be servantsof Godand his people?Did they smirk as they pretendedto groan, thinking,

“It worked.We tricked Joshua into granting us good news,great joy, mixed with moderate gall.”

“How wonderful, howmysterious!I carry fuel, I draw water.”

curt gesch (final couplet from P’ang Chu-shih)

recently, cbc posted an encore podcast of eleanor Wachtel’s conversation with Khushwant Singh, one of India’s most outspoken Sikh writers, who passed away in March at the age of 99. With trademark wit and grace, Singh responded directly to Wachtel’s challenging question about his criticism of India’s

varied laws regarding the killing of cows.While the common assumption is that the Hindu faith directly

informed the laws' creation, they in fact emerged to reduce poach-ing in times when beef was scarce. there are ancient texts, he said, that clearly show consuming beef as an acceptable Hindu practice. the laws, therefore, are more practical than spiritual concerns, so given where the world is now, there is little value in holding onto them.

Singh faced frequent criticism and outright hostility in response to his views from the Hindu majority, most notably from politicians and legislators: How can you possibly question a belief held for so long and by so many people? How dare you?

Uncomfortable questionsthis refrain is a common one for anyone

who lays claim to a religion with history. We have difficulty hearing criticism, even when a cherished belief or tenet’s origins might be

at odds with or irrelevant to today’s reality. In “I, Missiotourist,” my June 9 column, I raised the possibility that the value of Short term Missions is worth questioning, and some of the response to that piece has followed the familiar refrain.

Questioning missions makes a lot of christians uncomfort-able. Yet hearing Singh’s unapologetic stance against those outdated Indian cow laws and the response to my column makes me wonder whether missions might bear similar consideration. could it be that our mindset and approach to missions, extended and distinct from the biblical mandate, is a reflection of outdated values and understanding?

Like it or not, our faith institutions reflect the historical and cultural context from which they come. Hindus have their cow laws. Many of Islam’s most adhered-to beliefs as “revealed” to Mohammed can be aligned with his needs as a tactician and polit-ical leader. Christianity, too, began to find its strongest voice while enmeshed with the colonial aspirations of its protector states.

thankfully, the rather prosaic and strategic underpinnings of a faith’s revered tenets don’t necessarily devalue the faith as a whole. If they did, when faced with as many uncomfortable truths about itself as any other religion, Christianity would find itself in trouble. truths such as the possibility that our mindset when it comes to missions is a product of a colonial worldview and a profound misunderstanding of the cultures to which we send our people.

We have to help themto me, knowing this makes healthy criticism of our church’s

missions not only permissible, but essential as stewards of our

great mandate. In “Mum 2 Mum,” a story of mine appearing in the next Dalhousie Review, a church youth group runs a used-baby-stuff sale as a fundraiser. My main character, a pregnant, unwed mother, asks what the admission fee will be used for:

As though I’ve passed some test, her eyes light up. She intro-duces herself – she’s a Madison, of course – and launches into her spiel, punctuated by enthusiastic words she’s obviously been coached to say. The sale is a Longstanding Grace Youth Group Tradition, a Fundraiser for a Missions Trip to Uganda to Help The Africans.

I ask, And you’ll be going, too?It’s my third trip, she says. They can’t even build their own

wells or churches.Madison’s last words, while situated as a bit of ironic humour,

are those of a former student, and used verbatim. Unfortunately, the attitude behind them is not uncommon in our circles when we talk about sending missionaries – short and long term – to minister to those we think are most in need. they can’t do it. We have to help.

It has been asked whether this is news at all, and whether any of us might still be sleeping to the reality that our missional philosophies are worth questioning. the answer is, of course, yes, we are. all we have to do is scan the images we use to trumpet our success overseas – single, white faces surrounded by grateful, non-white throngs – to see that something is worth questioning, if not changing outright.

Keeping each other from asking difficult questions about an issue so fundamental as missions, even in a historical and cultural context that shows how outdated our approach might be, allows christ’s mandate to become just another sacred cow; a protected, lumbering animal that does little more than get in the way.

When beef was rare

Borderless

Brent van Staalduinen

Brent and his wife Rosalee live in the Westdale neigh-bourhood of Hamilton, Ont., with their first child. To find

out more about Brent and his writing, visit brentvans.com.At 99, Singh was still a witty critic of the status quo.

Curt Gesch is a Christian Courier columnist who lives in Telkwa, B.C.

Columns

christiAn couriEr

on a dismal saturday last winter our daughter and son-in-law arrived bear-ing freshly made Danishes. ordinarily i would have put the coffee on immedi-ately, but that morning

Jack had just discovered a flood in the barn. cleaning up the mess became top priority. Aaron helped Jack break up the ice and snow banks that caused the water to back up while stephanie and i shoveled away the sopping wet straw inside the barn.

After an hour or so we returned to the house. But Jack was nowhere to be seen. stephanie looked out the window impatiently and said, “What is he doing now?”

“He’ll be in soon,” I said, figuring she must be really hungry.

once we were all seated at the kitchen table, stephanie handed me a brightly col-oured gift bag. i looked at her curiously. “open it!” she said.

inside was a framed picture of a tiny pair of running shoes with a poem printed alongside announcing the news that stephanie and Aaron were expecting their first child. The morning’s flood frenzy now dissipated into excited hugs and chatter about this happy development. Baby smith was due on my birthday in August. i teased stephanie that i expected her to deliver on that promise.

in the months that followed we had many mother/daughter conversations. stephanie’s lifelong dream of motherhood was coming true. she emailed monthly pictures of her burgeon-ing baby bump, sent ultrasound images and a recording of the baby’s heartbeat. she kept me posted each week of the baby’s growth. According to an app on her smart phone, the baby progressed from the size of a grape to an apple to a grapefruit and a melon, etc. i called it the fruit of the womb report. As the due date approached, stephanie prefaced all her plans with the stipulation, “if i’m not in labour!”

AnticipationMy birthday passed without Baby smith’s

grand entrance. stephanie looked as if she were about to burst, but all remained quiet for a whole week. then one morning Aaron called. Labour had started and they were heading to the hospital. he kept us informed throughout the day by text messages. i had planned to do some bookkeeping, but as dis-tracted as i was with thoughts of stephanie and the baby, i decided to tackle something that required less concentration. cleaning is my default behaviour.

it was dark outside by the time i had the garage cleaned out and the Volkswagen vacuumed, dusted and washed. A band of thunderstorms had moved in, but hadn’t reduced the humidity one bit. Meanwhile, stephanie endured waves of contractions erupting like those thunderstorms, but the baby made no progress. At last Aaron called to

tell us that a caesarean section was necessary.the stormy weather kept Jack home, but i

headed to Kitchener. As much as i wanted my daughter to have privacy and breathing room as she gave birth, i needed to be nearby now that complications had arisen. By the time i reached the hospital the baby had arrived and stephanie was in recovery.

Aaron and his parents came into the wait-ing room. All three of them beamed. With a huge smile my son-in-law hugged me and said, “congratulations! You have a brand new, beautiful baby. . .” (he paused for dramatic effect and i thought i would pass out) “. . . granddaughter!”

A few minutes later i stood by the basinet and marveled at the sight of Abigail Grace Marie smith. Aaron gently stroked her cheek and she seemed to peer inquisitively into the dimly lit surroundings. they rolled stephanie, tired but elated, in on a gurney. Tears flowed from both of us.

Driving home in the middle of the night i thought of how the world has changed since stephanie was born. in 30 years we’ve seen incredible advances in technology and sci-ence. on the other hand we’ve experienced a shocking decline in morality. And yet, so much remains the same. it’s still a world of pain and suffering, calamity and wars. But it’s also a world filled with beauty, joy and wonder. Every sunrise testifies to the power and majesty of its creator, a reminder that this has always been and will forever be his world.

With that in mind it’s easy to see miracles for what they are. Like the one i had just held in my arms – a miracle named Abigail. A hundred trillion cells specifically organ-ized for a multitude of functions, each single strand of DnA containing 600,000 pages of information, uniquely created with a divine purpose to live in an ordained time and place, all wrapped up in one amazing nine pound, four ounce package.

Welcome to our Father’s world, little one. Wait until you see what miracles he has planned for you!

Looking for miracles







Country Living









Curt Gesch



Melissa Kuipers

Heidi Vander Slikke ([email protected]) lives in Harriston, Ont.

Abigail was born August 20, 2014.

As a rule, i am not much of a cry-er. there have been times i wished i could squeeze out a few drops, even just for effect, but it doesn’t typically happen. then, a few weeks ago, my emotions and tear ducts conspired to make an unwanted exception.

You know that mama standing outside the kindergarten room on the first day of school with mascara rings spreading under her eyes? the mom frantically trying to wipe the soggy off her face before the

wide-eyed preschooler beside her looks up? Yup, that was me at the end of August when i brought my daughter to her preschool open house. Fifteen minutes in, i had to leave her with her dad and step outside to try to control the sobs rising from that embarrass-ing cavern of my mama heart. i really didn’t expect to be the woman explaining, in a strangled voice, what was the matter to a gathering crowd of kind, Kleenex-bearing strangers. But there I was, red-faced, mortified and unable to stop.

i seriously could not stop. the tears bubbled up from some deep place, partly from that profound, bring-you-to-your-knees core of love you have for your children and partly – maybe just a touch less virtuously – a need to control every single breath my daughter takes. For two and half years i have mediated each interaction this little girl has had with the world. i’ve heard virtually every word she’s said, answered every ques-tion she’s asked (who knew there could be so many?) and planned pretty much each experience of her life. the idea of walking into that school, helping her hang her coat in the cubby marked “clare,” letting go of her hand and turning away from the little body in the new blue dress felt like more than i could bear. that Friday on the steps of the school, i seriously contemplated pulling the plug, quitting my job and keeping her home for another year. or 20.

‘Do it afraid’ As i look at it closely, i realize that underneath all this mommy love and protec-

tion is something else, something that has been lurking since the day i gave birth. it’s fear – slimy, choking, bald-faced fear, willing me not to move forward, willing me to hunker down and build a fortress around myself and those i love to keep out all the ugly. Fear coerces me into scrambling for control as i spend energy and make choices to manage things. the problem with having a child is that you are eventually forced to let your embodied heart out into the wild, unprotected. there’s love in that dilemma, but also terror. And if i choose to be motivated by the terror, it might keep my heart out of harm’s way, but it will also keep me from knowing and experiencing the radical, game-changing love of Jesus. it will keep me from any real relationship at all, even with my daughter.

For we are told there is no fear in love. in fact, perfect love drives out fear. it drives it out. the more real love there is in me, the less fear can be present. the areas where fear lives show me how much i don’t really love at all.

As much as i want to protect my daughter, i want her to live in love and freedom more. reminding myself this on the first day of school, i marched up those school steps, hugged my little girl tight against my heart and then let her go, knowing i might be forced to cry all the way to work. Every day of par-enting, in a million ways, i make myself “do it afraid” and then pray that perfect love will fill me up right to the brim, giving me the strength to do it all over again tomorrow. Love and fear can’t co-exist, so if this is what it comes down to, i choose love.

Emily Cramer lives in Barrie, Ont. with her husband and daughter and teaches in the Liberal Arts department at Georgian College. She just devoured the skystone by Jack Whyte and is not-so-patiently waiting for her brother-in-law to pass along the second

book in the series ([email protected]).

First dayRoots and WingsEmily Cramer

As much as I want to protect my daughter, I want her to live in love and freedom more.

octoBEr 13, 2014 PAGE 15

Columns

the emergence of port-able and affordable lap-tops in the 1990s was ac-companied by optimistic predictions about how this would transform educa-tion. Many early-adopters

of technology in education promoted “one-to-one computing” in schools where laptops were issued to every student. other schools moved towards the so-called “bring your own de-vice” (BYoD) model. one educational charity named the “one Laptop per child” (oLPc) organization set out to issue small laptops to millions of children in the developing world.

The benefits of equipping every student with computers have been the subject of live-ly debates among educators. Early on, one-to-one computing schools encountered many challenges such as capital costs, ongoing maintenance, support, licensing and security. rather than being a panacea for educators, recent educational research suggests that lap-tops may actually harm learning. the primary concern is the multitude of distractions that accompany laptops such as social network-ing, games and videos. i have observed many screens from the back of a classroom “tuned” to other tasks. this should not be surprising – the design of modern software coupled with ubiquitous wireless networks allows many programs to run simultaneously, each with its own alerts and updates. it seems as if these modern devices have been engineered for distraction. Gary small, author of iBrain, observes how our digital devices plunge us into a state of “continuous partial attention,” and attention is a valuable resource in the classroom. contrary to their own impressions, students cannot multi-task well.

A recent study published by the journal Computers and Education has demonstrated that laptops have an effect beyond their users to surrounding students, sometimes referred to as the “secondhand smoke effect.” Multitasking on laptops was shown to be “detrimental to comprehension of lecture content” for both the laptop users as well as nearby students. Moreover, students were unaware of the extent to which they were being distracted.

The pen is mightierEven for the disciplined student who resists

distractions, it seems laptops are less effective than handwritten notes. Another recent study

published in the Journal of Psychological Science titled “the Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard” compared longhand note taking with laptop note taking. the results showed that even when laptops were used strictly for taking notes, their use results in “shallower processing.” it seems that students process things more deeply when using longhand. the study discovered that students who took notes on laptops performed worse than students who took notes using longhand.

i teach computer science, so the notion of banning computers from my classes seems absurd. My approach has been to treat college students as adults; if they want to squander their time playing games and reading Facebook dur-ing class, it is their responsibility. however, as a teacher, i am also responsible to ensure that the activity of some students does not affect the learning environment for others. Furthermore, the culture of the classroom, including class discussions, can be impaired when students are distracted. For this reason, i have recently insisted on a “laptop contract” with my students. in this contract, students are encouraged to use longhand, but may use laptops on the condition that they disable their wi-fi connection (except when necessary to minimize distractions) and commit to using the laptop for class-related work only.

i have started discussing some of this re-search with my students. one of the concepts that i want students to appreciate is that all technologies have a bias, and that it often takes years before the true effects of technolo-gies are recognized. the studies about laptops in the classroom illustrate these points well.

Distractions aside, laptops in the class-room can enhance learning, and i have tried adding activities that make effective use

of my students‘ laptops. one of these activities involves stopping lectures to do hands-on comput-er exercises to illustrate a point in the lecture. Many computer science classes also include a practical lab component devoted to hands-on programming activ-ities. that being said, i still see value in engaging students in traditional “socratic” lectures and discussions.

What would an appropriate digital device which is designed to be well-suited to the classroom look like? it would be designed to minimize distractions, possess a simple interface, be lightweight with a long battery life and it would retrieve the advan-tages of longhand note taking. ironically, such a device may actually end up reproducing the look and feel of a pen and paper. until such a device arrives, students and teachers should recognize what we gain with laptops in the classroom as well as what we might lose.

Laptops and learning

Derek Schuurman is professor of computer science at Redeemer University College. He was distracted numerous times while

writing this column.







Country Living









Curt Gesch



Melissa Kuipers this is a great time of year for going on a tour through the countryside. there are so many wonderful and colourful sights, especially maple trees, around thanksgiving. Look at how the landscape changes from county to county.

A few miles outside of smith Falls, towards Brockville, ont. is a state-of-the-art split-rail fence, correctly called a patent fence. this fence is the length of a farm or two and was constructed in the last 10 years. the area has many such fences, but this particular one is outstanding. it’s built tall and solid.

A few weeks ago when i was driving through the area i stopped to examine and study the fence. the soil is rocky, thus there are no posts dug into the ground. Five thin posts standing up in a sort of tepee support five or six 20-ft-long rails. The rails are wired into the tepee and also to a bottom short piece of rail to keep the fence from being overturned. nails are not used in the construction. rocks can also be piled on the bottom rail to keep it upright in a storm.

these fences have a long history. Eastern white cedar, common in the area, makes great fence-building material because the wood is strong, insect- and rot-resistant and able to withstand the elements. Different styles of fencing were developed by the early settlers for sheep, cows and other livestock. When the immigrant settlers cleared land and built wooden fences, the term “patent rail fences” became popular because farmers were always trying to get a patent on their designs. these styles became known as Patent cedar Fences. the design allowed fences to be free standing, withstand heavy winds and take up less fence bottoms than the zigzag or snake fence models.

Durabilitycedar rails were usually prepared in the winter when frost was in the wood. straight

cedar trees “split like ribbon” while others with a twist to them were more of a challenge to the axe man. Five or six rails were used to make the fence “horse-high and bull-tight.”

the spaces between the rails could be made as wide or as narrow as required for sheep, cattle or horses. Many split-rail fences have lasted more than a century.

there is a fence-builder in the area who specializes in building this type of fence. i’m told if a vehicle crashes through the fence, he gets called to fix it. You can’t buy supplies at a hardware store for this job. it takes special split rails, which he stocks.

it’s interesting how counties have different types of fences. You don’t see the patent fence in renfrew county. You do see century-old rail or log fences, but they are not like the ones in Leeds and Lanark. the common rail fences that zigzag across rocky woodland are held together by two posts with wooden crosspieces nailed to the posts. the rails rest on the crosspieces. some are held together by wire.

Another aging wood fence seen in old pastures is the bunk or bottom block fence, built with logs notched at the ends. Each log is laid on a short log crosspiece or “bunk.” sometimes holes were augured in the bunks and wooden pegs were pounded in to hold the top bunk firmly in place.

Log and rail fences are ideal on rocky terrain, where you cannot set posts into the ground. these fences can also be built to varying heights.

it’s interesting to note that the “snake” or “zig-zag” split rail fence was often scorned by farm publications of its day. “they are unsightly, take up too much land and are harbourers of weeds. They should be replaced at the first opportunity,” claimed The Home and Farm Manual in 1884.

in 1890, the Farmer’s Advocate wrote that, “While the old rail fence was the best in its day, we need not mourn its departure, as its place is being taken by more satisfactory structure.”

could they have foreseen a day when most of the rail or log fences built now are only for looks – the old look?!

Meindert van der Galien is a Renfrew-area farmer. He doesn’t have log or rail fences and no electric fences on his property, but has sturdy page wire fences with cedar posts

that keep the livestock in.

‘Horse-high and bull-tight’







Country Living









Curt Gesch



Melissa Kuipers

Ineke MedcalfIn a few weeks I will be travelling to the

West Bank on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC). I’ll be participat-ing in a programme as an Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) to support and advocate for Palestinians and record human rights violations. I hope to write more about this during my three-month stay in the West Bank.

The conflict between Gaza and Israel was recently in the news. In conjunction with the training I’ve received from the WCC, I decided to look up some facts about the current situation in Gaza and the challenges faced by its people.

The Gaza strip is 41 kilometres long and between nine and 11 kilometres wide. It has a population of 1.8 million on an area only 360 kilometres squared. Since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In 2005, Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza. Yet the occupation continues in the form of a total blockade. The Israeli military controls all movement of goods and people by land, sea and air.

Gaza’s unemployment rate is nearly 40 percent. Over 52 percent of Gazans lack food access. This is due largely to re-strictions on farming in areas near Israel. The “buffer zone” has robbed Gazans of 30 percent of their agricultural land and

many of the water wells. Fishing is lim-ited to three nautical miles and the fish stocks in this area are largely depleted. The majority (an estimated 79 percent) of the population live in poverty, with many dependent on aid.

Continued blockadeIn 2010, an international flotilla carrying

aid supplies attempted to break the block-ade. It was stopped by Israel. The ensuing outcry from the international community, however, led Israel to announce a package of measures to “ease” the restrictions. This did not result in significant improvements, since there were many delays in receiving Israeli-approval for projects.

The blockade continued in spite of be-ing in violation of International Law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) states: “the whole of Gaza’s popu-lation is being punished for acts for which they bear not responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punish-ment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humani-tarian law.” Egypt has brokered agree-ments with Israel to maintain the block-ade on the Gaza-Egyptian border. Indeed, tunnels used to take goods in and out of Gaza under the Egyptian border have been largely destroyed by the recent fighting. However, the Egyptian public is sympa-

thetic towards the Palestinians and is put-ting pressure on their government to ease the blockade. It is no surprise, then, to find Egypt playing a role in the latest negotia-tions to broker a peaceful resolution.

Resolution?Now an interim agreement has been

reached. Sadly, 2,143 Palestinians and 69 Israelis were killed. Gaza would like the blockade totally lifted. Perhaps further talks will help bring that about.

For now, Israel must ease imports into Gaza, including aid and material for reconstruction. It has also agreed to ex-pand the fishing zone for Gaza fishermen from three to six nautical miles into the Mediterranean.

‘A Moment of Truth’The occupation of the West Bank takes

on different forms with separations, home demolitions, settlements, checkpoints and other difficulties. Despite the prom-ises of the Oslo accord of 1993 (the right of Palestinian return or compensation) and the UN resolutions declaring the oc-cupation as a violation of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Laws, the situation continues.

In 2009, Palestinian Church leaders put out a document entitled A Moment of

Truth: Kairos Palestine – A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering. You can find the document at kairospalestine.ps. It is a powerful cry to Western Churches and the international community.

Part of the document states, “The West sought to make amends for what Jews had endured in the countries of Europe, but it made amends on our account and in our land. They tried to correct an injustice and the result was a new injustice. […] We know that certain theologians in the West try to attach a biblical and theological legit-imacy to the infringement of our rights. Thus, the promises, according to their in-terpretation have become a menace to our very existence. The ‘good news’ in the Gospel itself has become ‘a harbinger of death’ for us. We call on these theologians to deepen their reflection on the Word of God and to rectify their interpretations so that they might see in The Word of God a source of life for all peoples.”

Ineke Medcalf is the admin-istrator at Christian Courier. She will travel to the West Bank to experience life under occupation and advo-cate for a just resolution.

PAGE 16

Opinion

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On my way to the West Bank:Reflections on the Gaza–Israeli conflict

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PAGE 17

Obituary

SMITHERS, B.C.– In an autumn day in September, I went to say goodbye to Frank Sawyer, my for-mer professor, colleague and close friend on behalf of the Sárospatak Reformed Theological Seminary and the Hungarian Reformed Church. I am truly grateful that God made it possible for me to be with Frank and his family in the last hours of his life.

Fear God and give him glory! The Sárospatak Reformed Theological

Seminary has proclaimed the direction taken from God’s Word for 484 years that can give sense to us all in our mission here on Earth. Frank had a decisive part in this mission by having taught nearly 300 pastors, hundreds of elders and students of catechetics who had a chance to know him and learn from him in the community of the Sárospatak Seminary.

He was not only a professor but a friend as well. We will always remem-ber the vast and rich spiritual heritage Frank left to us and which now be-comes the heritage of the Sárospatak Reformed Theological Seminary. His life and ministry, faithfulness and goodness have formed us and gave us a perspective in the past quarter-century, and still do in several ways.

I cannot be other but ever so thank-ful to God for the strong bond of friendship I, my wife and my family could have with Frank and his wife. They were always there for us espe-cially in the most important moments of our lives, and also comforted us in the midst of great difficulties. And now here I am standing by this coffin, shocked and with my heart filled with grief since what has happened is not normal. Death can never be normal. It can never be part of the life our Creator intended for us. The grace of our Almighty God revealed this to us when he conquered death by sacrificing his only Son in order to give us new

life. This hope is symbolized now by the pastoral robe laid on the coffin, in which robe Frank preached the good news of the Gospel.

May our Heavenly Father comfort us all in this community, heal our broken heart and strengthen our faith. And may the God of hope give us peace and bless us all.

Dr. Szilveszter Füsti-Molnár is the Rector of

the Sárospatak Reformed Theological Seminary.

'Fear God and give him glory!' (Rev. 14:7) At the funeral of Dr. Frank Sawyer

The Sawyers did mission work through Christian Reformed World Missions for 30 years, including their time at Sarospatak Reformed Theo-logical Seminary (1992-2014).

1924 – 2014

Klaas Willem BoodOn September 28, 2014, at the age of 89 years, Mr. Klaas W. Bood from St-Lazare passed away. Born in Medemblik, The Netherlands, to parents Maartje and Louwris Bood, Klaas was educated at the Haarlem MTS. He was an officer in the Royal Dutch Navy, a member of l’Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec and was an aircraft design engineer at Canadair Ltd. in Montreal.

Predeceased by his wife Ella Sellies, he is survived by his children Marijke (Doug), John (Suzanne - deceased), Tim, Daniel (Wen), grandchildren Anna (Tarek), Chantal, Heather (Trevor), Sarah (Eric), Denise (Dave), Jane (Jason), Rachel, Matisse, Hadiya, great-grandchildren Riley, Silas, Max, Theo, Fiona , Jase, William, Emeric, as well as Mickey Thong, Jennifer Thong, Kim-Na & Sitha Thong and their families.

Predeceased by brothers Louwris and Reindert, he is also survived by his brothers Willem, Marinus and sister Nel and their families as well as the many who lovingly called him “Opa".

Visitation was held at:F. Aubry & Fils Inc. Funeral Home

434 Main, Hudsonon Friday, October 3, 2014

www.aubryetfils.com

Friends could also visit with the family on Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 10 a.m. at the Christian Reformed Church located at 52 Joseph-Paiement in D.D.O., QC. A funeral service followed at 11:30 am.

Sarospatak Reformed Theological Seminary.

Job Opportunities

Seeking nominees and applicants for

DIRECTOR OF MINISTRIES AND ADMINISTRATIONResponsible for nurturing and implementing a shared and vibrant vision for God’s mission of the CRCNA as a member of the senior

leadership team and as reflected in the Ministry Plan of the Christian Reformed Church.

All nominees and applicants should possess a faithful, vibrant, personal faith, grounded in Scripture and shaped by the Reformed confessions and related CRCNA faith declarations and testimonies. He or she will demonstrate spiritual humility and moral integrity, welcoming challenges with professional maturity and leading others with a servant’s heart.

Reporting to the Executive Director of the CRCNA, he or she will lead collabora-tively among agency and specialized ministry directors and work cooperatively with the Canadian Ministries Director, cultivating understanding and commitment to the shared mission of the CRCNA throughout the world.

For more information visit www.crcna.org/DMAsearch

To apply send cover letter and resume to: Ms. Michelle DeBie, Director of Human Resourcesat [email protected] by November 28, 2014

Position to remain open until filled.

Inside Sales Representative Rosa Flora Limited is a grower and wholesaler of fresh cut flowers. A family owned, Christian organization, we are seeking an enthusiastic, ambitious and focused ap-plicant to join our sales team and help promote growth and customer sales.

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Ebenezer Christian Reformed ChurchCurrently has 2 new part-time Staff Positions

Faith Formation Coordinator Congregational Care Coordinator

Ebenezer CRC, situated on the beautiful Bay of Quinte, in Trenton, Ontario, is transitioning to a Staff Ministry. With the impending retirement of Pastor Jake Kuipers, Council has stepped out in faith and developed 2 new part-time staff posi-tions, adding to the current staff positions of Music Coordinator & Office Administrator.

The successful candidates will work with Pastor Nate Kuperus and existing staff to continue our Mission of "reaching up and out, together in love" and pursue a Vision that states "We will passionately celebrate becoming a spirit filled body of Christ that freely employs its gifts, gently ministers to the lost and hurt-ing and eagerly steps out in faith as it openly expresses God's love".

More information about the opportunities can be obtained from Employment Opportunities, as posted on the website of our church: www.ebenezercrc.ca

Applications for the position are to include a letter of interest and curriculum vitae. Nominations for the position are also wel-come. The posting of these positions will be open until Oct. 24, 2014.

Kindly direct applications and nominations to:

Chair of Search Committee: [email protected] Ebenezer CRC, 18 Fourth Ave. Trenton ON K8V 5N3

Appliance Repair - Lincoln/NiagaraAre you looking for someone to Install and Repair any appli-ance (fridge, oven, microwave, range, dishwasher, washer & dryer)?

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New position:Features EditorChristian Courier is now accepting applications for the part-time, permanent position of Features Editor. Cathy Smith will be stepping down from that role and staying on as contributing editor and columnist. This position takes approximately 15 hours per week, but allows for signi�cant �exibility and advance planning. The successful candidate will be familiar with CC's vision and readership. Creativity, time management, computer skills and wide-ranging interests are considerable assets. You will be responsible for the content of three and a half pages and will work closely with the Editor and layout sta�.

Questions and applications can be sent to Angela Reitsma Bick at [email protected] before Oct. 31.No applicants will be considered after this date.

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OCTOBER 13, 2014

impression of church folks; not everyone listens, encourages, or opens their wallet. Those judgy hypocrites are there too. Maybe that’s why the most profound moment in the liturgy for me is when I turn to them and say four simple words: “peace be with you.” That’s often the moment when the Gospel becomes more than an idea, and becomes true to me in a deeply formative way (and that truth cuts even deeper when I recognize that I’m the one who was the judgy hypocrite that week, and that my neighbour has shown Christ to me by passing me his peace).

C.S. Lewis said that the church exists to make people into “little Christs.” I’ve found that to be true; in spite of its messiness, the church it has been a deeply formative place for me, and for untold

generations of Christians. And it has been formative because of the mystery of the sacraments and the preaching of the word, but also because it surrounds me with people who love Jesus and want to share that love with me. They’re like a little tuft on that great cloud of witnesses. I bet you could be one of them! If you love Jesus, and your life bears the fruit of his Spirit, then your presence among us can be like a little Gospel. And in this broken down and busted up world (and church), Lord knows we need to hear it.

Brian Bork is CC’s Review Editor and a CRC chaplain at the Uni-

versity of Waterloo and Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

Events/Advertising

PAGE 19

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Ontario. Theme: Loving Your City. Verse: Jeremiah 29:7. See ad. Oct 19 Dutch Service will be held in the Ancaster Christian Reformed

Church at 3:00 p.m. Rev. Wieger DeJong preaching.Nov 7 Christian Festival Concert, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. See ad.Nov 13 The 21st Annual Church and Charity Law Seminar, PORTICO

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hungry. Hungry children don't run and play . . . or learn. Instead, they often leave school to look for food or don’t come in the first place.

It is hard for me to know the long-range impact of having children in school and learning, but I suspect it is large. It is also significant for them to know that people from around the world who love Jesus also love them enough to help their commun-ities provide a lunch so they can learn.

In your book, Steve, you discuss the challenges of providing aid, and ask, “How can you help with-out damaging what is precious in a culture?” (p. 153) How would you answer your own question?

Steve: It is a question that you have to ask often. So much aid can create dependency and run con-trary to what is important in that culture. We feel clear that our work is with students and providing them with tools to equip them to be successful as adults. We have had many opportunities to branch out, but we have stayed focused on our calling.

When I read A Dream So Big, I was particularly struck by one quote. In an e-mail to supporters,

you wrote, “There is a weird dichotomy in the Christian life: We are called to excellence, and to give it our all. And yet, at the end of the day, we know that it is all in God’s hands. Some Christians err on the side of not doing anything, and being presumptive of God’s will. Others feel like they need to do it all, and God becomes an afterthought to their effort” (pp. 290, 291). How have you dealt with that dichotomy as you’ve sought to feed hun-gry children?

Steve: When you are around huge need, it’s so easy to respond to need rather than to respond to God. For me, when I was called to something, I felt the freedom to give it my best shot, but realized that if God didn’t move, it would be an abject failure.

To learn more about the ongoing work of Kenya Kids Can, visit their website at KenyaKidsCan.org or contact them at [email protected].

Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a free-

lance writer living in St. Catharines, Ont.

Kenya Kids Can continued from page 10

Christmas Food ParcelsThe Committee Netherlands Bazaar is depending on your co-operation to successfully identify those families who will receive a Christmas food parcel. If you know of any family of Dutch heritage in Ontario, in extreme fi-nancial circumstances, we need to hear from you before Thursday, November 13, 2014.

If you would like to receive an application form to be completed, or have questions, please email us at: [email protected] or call: Ge Spaans 905-477-1243, Jannie Thomas 416-498-8706 or Carol Smith 905-955-4120.

Please mail all completed application forms by Thursday, November 13th, to Mrs. G. Spaans,

Committee “Netherlands Bazaar”, 15 Pavillion Street, Unionville ON L3R 1N8.

Your assistance in reaching these Ontario families in real need is very much appreciated. Thank you for your ongoing support and co-operation.

News

christiAn couriEr

Read moRe at

MyRedeemer.ca/Paul

Redeemer’s academic program has allowed me to explore both Music and Biology – the passions that God has gifted me.

Paul Naphtali, Mississauga, ON

a Christian University in Hamilton, ontario

This fall, Paul will begin graduate studies in Pharmacology at the University of Toronto

Brian Bork responds:Yes! Why? Let me dispense with the

cheeky answer first: the Bible refers to the church as Jesus’ “bride,” right? Now, im-agine your life is a party. You’d really like Jesus to come – he’s a spellbinding racon-teur, he has a charismatic, magnetic pres-ence and if he’s there, you’ll never have to worry about your wine cellar running dry. So you send him an invitation, but on the invite you write “your wife can’t come.” You think Jesus would show up?

Maybe you don’t find that little analogy as compelling as I do. In fact, I bet you could come up with all sorts of decent rea-sons why you’d like to keep some daylight between you and the church. Churches are crammed full of judgy hypocrites. They’re too conservative, or they’re too liberal. Preachers can’t figure out how to be rel-evant to our day-to-day lives, or some-times they try too hard to be too relevant. The music is often too fast and too loud, or it’s too ponderous and old-fashioned. Your church doesn’t serve wine at communion, or they don’t serve grape juice . . .

Or maybe your complaint isn’t that heavy at all, and you just recognize that Sunday morning is a lovely time to curl up with the New York Times, while at the foot of your bed your cat yawns and stretches

in the shafts of sunlight coming through the blinds.

I do wonder sometimes if the Protestant way of doing things has unwittingly en-couraged a less than en-thusiastic approach to church life. Protestants are big on a personal faith; we place a high im-portance on reading the scriptures for ourselves, we deploy phrases like “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” with a creedal solemnity and when we’ve found sig-nificant disagreements among each other, we’ve split and gone our own way. I can’t help but think that this may have en-couraged an individualist, DIY kind of Christianity. A christianity where having the right ideas is what matters, even more than the practice of doing life together.

God with usDon’t get me wrong; there’s a lot to be

said for individual conscience, a personal

relationship with Jesus, and that DIY men-tality. But those things can bring you to a really lonely place, too. We’re all prone to doubt, prone to misunderstand, prone

to stumble along the way. Faith is hard work, and it’s incredibly risky to think we can go it alone. I think this is one of the earliest insights we get from the Bible, from all the way back in Genesis where God says it’s not good for Adam to be by himself. So along comes Eve. And the rest of the communal nature of our existence blooms out from there. God establishes his coven-ant with Abraham – not just Abraham, mind, but with Abraham’s people, his descendants, his heirs. Those people – the nation

of Israel – are gathered to be a light to the rest of the nations, and out of that people comes Jesus, God in the flesh, in our midst, Immanuel, God with us.

And a particularly potent way that Jesus is Immanuel is through the church. Of course, Jesus is present to us in all sorts

of ways, but the church is a particularly intimate way. I think that’s one of the rea-sons why the Apostle Paul calls the church Jesus’ body. That body specializes in the potent practices that make Jesus’ presence known: the preaching of the word, the sharing of bread and wine, and the baptism of new members, to name just a few. All of those things are inherently communal; preaching requires a speaker and listeners, the Lord’s table requires a host and guests, and baptism . . . well, that’s obviously communal. The thought of baptizing your-self is just weird.

Built upMaybe you’re not all that sacramental,

so that strikes you as a bunch of mystical-sounding woo. That’s ok – Jesus’ presence in his church is manifest in so many ordin-ary, everyday ways, too. I honestly can’t articulate all the ways my faith is built up by folks who are good listeners, who of-fer words of encouragement, who believe when I doubt, who offered financial as-sistance when I needed help paying for school. And on, and on and on. And yes, I know that can sound like a rather rosy

This is the third question in our series on apologetics called Redemptive Windows, where Campus Ministers answer faith-challenging questions sent in by cc readers.

Q. 'Do I need to be part of a church and go every Sunday?'

Continued on page 19

We have encouraged a Christian-ity where having the right ideas matters more than doing life together.

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