eSpirit...weekly news from Beach United Church

SORRY FOR THE TECHNICAL GLITCH IN GETTING OUT THIS WEEK'S HEARTBEAT!

News item from USA Today via Jim Winn:
Up to 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests and monks swinging brooms clashed inside the Church of Nativity today in Bethlehem in a frenzied turf battle, the Associated Press reports. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics share the administration of the church, which often leads to jurisdictional disputes. The fighting broke out during cleaning of the West Bank church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas celebrations in early January, as each side jealously guards its territory. Palestinian police, using batons and shields, were called in to break up the fighting inside the basilica. "It was a trivial problem that . . . occurs every year," police Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled al-Tamimi tells Reuters. "Everything is all right and things have returned to normal.” He tells the news agency that there were no arrests "because all those involved were men of God."

I hope there are exemptions for ‘women of God’ too!

With news like this we at Beach United can celebrate our peaceful Christmas ecumenical services with St Aidan’s Anglican congregation. In addition, we are discovering a shared passion with St Aidan’s for serving food to those in our community who are hungry. In shared moments of worship and outreach we can see evidence of God’s love writ large.

And now we move from our Christmas season into our season of epiphany. Christmas gave us an opportunity to see God revealed in baby Jesus. Epiphany offers us 8 weeks to see God’s revelation even more clearly.

We begin looking for God revealed this Sunday when we hear about Jesus being baptized by his cousin John (Mark 1:4-11). Baptism plays an important part in our faith life because it is one of two sacraments, meaning a visible expression of God’s invisible grace. But what happens when we turn that grace into a wall that excludes others? Or when we turn our particular baptism ritual into the only way to enter heaven?

So this Sunday, let’s focus our spiritual eyes on an inclusive God as we revisit baptism. Oh, and prepare to get wet!
Shalom, Abigail

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The surprising things that you find in the bible!

There are some things that immediately connect us to the ancient biblical story – flocks of sheep, mountain top encounters, angel song.  However, if I mentioned “snow, frost and icicles” you are more likely to think of “Frosty the Snowman” than any of the books found in the bible.  I had no idea that such winter images were found in books that were written in much warmer parts of the world than Canada.  It was more from curiosity that I engaged in a “google” search, to see if snow was mentioned anywhere in the bible – I never expected anything to come up!  This is what I found - -- -

 Sirach 43 selected verses

The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven, a glittering array in the heights of God. God scatters the snow – the eye is dazzled by the beauty of its whiteness and the mind is amazed as it falls.  God pours frost over the earth like salt and icicles form like pointed thorns.  We could say more but could never say enough: let the final word be “God is all”.

Perhaps you have never come across the book of “Sirach” in your bible at home.  Most bibles are divided into the “Old Testament” [ Hebrew scriptures] and the “New Testament” [Christian scriptures].  In between those two sections you might find the books of the Apocrypha which includes 15 books, all but one of which are Jewish in origin and connect to the books of the Old Testament. These books are in a separate section in the Protestant Bible, or sometimes omitted entirely.  The Roman Catholic Bible includes 12 of these books as part of the canon.

Interestingly the term "apocrypha" comes from the Greek word meaning "hidden". Winter images in the biblical text are certainly well hidden but why was I looking in the first place?  Well, I was creating an experiential worship for the “Eat, Pray, Skate” event, which is being held on Sunday Jan 29^th at 6.30pm at Kew Gardens skating rink. I hope that you will come and join us and explore how the divine spark is embedded in all creation; including winter darkness, ice and snow.  There will be lots of movement, so that we can keep warm!

Blessings, Karen

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Have you met your local MPP?

On January 4, 2012 an Anglican-United  Church delegation of six visited their local MPP, Michael Prue, to discuss ways to address poverty and affordable housing issues in the province.  Lorraine Methven, Paul Dowling and myself were representing Beach United Church.  Flo Cook and Lucy Reid  were from St Aidan in the Beach, and Grace Stephens was from St Luke's Anglican Church in Scarborough. 

The group met with Michael Prue for one hour, and began by outlining what programmes their churches and denominations support to alleviate the effects of poverty (Out of the Cold, breakfast and lunch programmes, food banks, etc.). They then went on to ask Prue and the NDP to press for steps to be taken by the provincial government to begin to address some of the causes of poverty, by (i) increasing the minimum wage from $10.25 to $11 per hour; (ii) introducing a housing benefit for low-income tenants, and (iii) indexing social assistance rates to the rate of inflation.

A wide ranging discussion followed, which included the issue of tax reform.  Everyone around the table agreed that a review of taxation is crucial if poverty is to be addressed effectively. Prue told the delegation that the NDP will be asking for a freeze on corporate taxes, rather than the planned decrease; an increase in the taxation rate for the highest earners, and a capping of wages for senior levels in the public sector. This is in line with the call from many quarters, both Christian and secular, for a decrease in the gulf between the very rich and the impoverished in our province.

When the group asked Prue how churches and other concerned provincial citizens could be proactive in the work to end poverty, he said  “If you want something done, go and talk to the minister responsible. If it still doesn't happen, go and talk to the opposition.” He encouraged ordinary people to find their voice, to be critical when necessary, to tell the stories of their struggles to their MPPs, and to raise questions that can be presented at Question Time. 

For me it was encouraging to see what can happen when people and churches join together; our voice becomes stronger.  Working together is crucial if we want to be “change agents” within our communities and world.  This coming Saturday morning [ Jan 14], we have a different opportunity to come together and help each other out.  There is a mountain of treasures that need to be moved in preparation for the “Garage Sale from Heaven” on Sat Jan 21^st.  If you usually workout on Saturday morning, you might try a different kind of exercise, "BUC Bootcamp" – even 30 minutes would help! 

Blessings, Karen

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