So its time to write another introduction. Where did the last three months go? We really have no idea. What we do know is that somewhere in the craziness of it all, we managed to get a newsletter done– though just barely. We suddenly realized in mid-May that we had no articles, and that we hadn’t even started. So a mad flurry of writing began, we begged for a few articles from friends, and even got one emailed to us at the last second without us having to beg. So it all came together, and now it’s in your hands.
WHY is all about wondering. You may have gotten that from the name. Because no one has all the answers, we’re all stuck wondering about the could be’s and the maybe’s. And while we don’t have the answers either, we want to try to ask some of the questions. We want to inspire you to ask your own questions. What we really want though, is to create a newsletter than you can have a bunch of fun reading, while being inspired.
Make sure you check out our articles by super spectacular guest writers, “The Great I Am,” “The Trouble with Consumerism,” and “At the Edge,” along with all of our other articles, pictures, and content.
We hope you have a fantastic summer, whatever your plans may be. Be sure to watch for us again in early September 2007!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
THE TROUBLE WITH CONSUMERISM
As human beings, we are fundamentally shaped by our environments. It’s just the way we are, it is our nature as social animals to adapt our lives to varying social conditions. And as anyone who’s ever taken an anthropology class will attest, the social and cultural environment we find ourselves in affects not only what we do, but how we think. How we conceive of the world around us, the way that we see our lives, the concept of the human person is all moulded and shaped by the situations in which we find ourselves within society. And the environment that we share as Canadians in this 21st century is one that encourages mass consumption of goods.
We live in a consumerist environment, it’s true. If you live in an urban setting, just stepping out onto the street places you in the midst of a barrage of advertising, from billboards to bus stops. Even in if you dwell in the country, the simple act of flicking on the television, opening the newspaper or connecting to the internet exposes you to advertisement after advertisement, letting you know what stuff you should want and why. Every waking moment is seen as an opportunity to insinuate products into our lives. Mega department stores are everywhere, 24 hour shopping centres are the norm. Teenagers actually enjoy spending time at the mall- that epitome of the consumerist mindset, where seeing, wanting and buying fuse into one beautiful activity- shopping. See it. Want it. Buy it. See it. Want it. Buy it. And we do it all the time.
Now, there are many, many things wrong with this societal pressure to consume (and I’d love to go into them all, but that would make this an incredibly lengthy piece indeed). But I think the most harmful of its effects is the way in which a consumerist mindset encourages us to see ourselves.
First of all, everything that we buy is material. It is inanimate. It has no soul. We feel free to judge it, scrutinise it, compare it to the leading competitor. Everything is seen by its qualities, how it is useful to us, what makes it special, why we should buy it. We have become very savvy, us consumers, we know what is a good buy and what is a rip-off because we have been conditioned since the time of conscious thought that to do well in a consumerist environment, we need to be good choice-makers. This type of thought would be okay if it just applied to consumer products; the things that are 100% produced by and made for human beings. But that’s not the way it works. When you’ve been conditioned to number one: be a consumer and number two: be a smart consumer, and you mix that with an environment in which every activity from taking the bus to opening an email to communicating with friends involves some aspect of the consumer cycle, the culture of scrutiny is going to make the leap, and it has.
Within this type of environment, people become things. Persons are judged to be worthy or unworthy by specific qualities, by how useful they are to us, by what makes them special. Tragically, I saw this in High School all the time. I saw it in students liking teachers who gave them easy grades because good grades meant a good transcript, which was good for the student. I saw it at career fairs, where students were given tips on how to make themselves seem ‘marketable’, how to best ‘sell themselves’, like a product on a shelf. I saw it whenever a friend got a bad mark on a test, their sense of inadequacy reaching far beyond what was indicated by the test itself. The mark did not just indicate how much of the course material they had learned, it came to symbolise how worthy they were as human beings. It’s everywhere, people feeling like failures because they don’t measure up to some arbitrary standard: they don’t make enough money, aren’t muscular enough, don’t look like the women on the commercials, aren’t a perfect super-parent. Yes, indeed, the culture of scrutiny and comparison has made the leap.
As people of God, we know that this is not right. We are not products that
can be rated against each other. We do not gain or lose worthiness by how attractive we are, how high our GPA is, how fast we can run or how much money we make. Each individual is fashioned by God, made with tenderness and loved with a fiery passion that cannot be extinguished. We are not loved because of what we can do or cannot do, by what actions we have taken or failed to take, we are loved because we are. The worthiness of a living creature cannot be gauged by some standard set of measures; we cannot be told who is better and worse by how well they fit specific criteria. No, we are all loved simply for being, for being the wonderful, glorious, beautiful children of a benevolent God.
And so, I do not like malls. I don’t read advertisements. I don’t want another pair of jeans or an ipod or a gaming system, no matter how many new features it may have. I don’t allow my possessions to define me, and I do not want any more possessions. As a child of God I feel called to take pleasure in the life around me, to find fulfilment in the warm sunshine, the call of birds in the evening, the wonder of the human creatures around me. For these are the manifestations of God, the wonderful gifts that are valuable beyond measure, more beautiful than anything that can be bought or sold. Thanks be to God!
- Hannah Mang-Wooley
We live in a consumerist environment, it’s true. If you live in an urban setting, just stepping out onto the street places you in the midst of a barrage of advertising, from billboards to bus stops. Even in if you dwell in the country, the simple act of flicking on the television, opening the newspaper or connecting to the internet exposes you to advertisement after advertisement, letting you know what stuff you should want and why. Every waking moment is seen as an opportunity to insinuate products into our lives. Mega department stores are everywhere, 24 hour shopping centres are the norm. Teenagers actually enjoy spending time at the mall- that epitome of the consumerist mindset, where seeing, wanting and buying fuse into one beautiful activity- shopping. See it. Want it. Buy it. See it. Want it. Buy it. And we do it all the time.
Now, there are many, many things wrong with this societal pressure to consume (and I’d love to go into them all, but that would make this an incredibly lengthy piece indeed). But I think the most harmful of its effects is the way in which a consumerist mindset encourages us to see ourselves.
First of all, everything that we buy is material. It is inanimate. It has no soul. We feel free to judge it, scrutinise it, compare it to the leading competitor. Everything is seen by its qualities, how it is useful to us, what makes it special, why we should buy it. We have become very savvy, us consumers, we know what is a good buy and what is a rip-off because we have been conditioned since the time of conscious thought that to do well in a consumerist environment, we need to be good choice-makers. This type of thought would be okay if it just applied to consumer products; the things that are 100% produced by and made for human beings. But that’s not the way it works. When you’ve been conditioned to number one: be a consumer and number two: be a smart consumer, and you mix that with an environment in which every activity from taking the bus to opening an email to communicating with friends involves some aspect of the consumer cycle, the culture of scrutiny is going to make the leap, and it has.
Within this type of environment, people become things. Persons are judged to be worthy or unworthy by specific qualities, by how useful they are to us, by what makes them special. Tragically, I saw this in High School all the time. I saw it in students liking teachers who gave them easy grades because good grades meant a good transcript, which was good for the student. I saw it at career fairs, where students were given tips on how to make themselves seem ‘marketable’, how to best ‘sell themselves’, like a product on a shelf. I saw it whenever a friend got a bad mark on a test, their sense of inadequacy reaching far beyond what was indicated by the test itself. The mark did not just indicate how much of the course material they had learned, it came to symbolise how worthy they were as human beings. It’s everywhere, people feeling like failures because they don’t measure up to some arbitrary standard: they don’t make enough money, aren’t muscular enough, don’t look like the women on the commercials, aren’t a perfect super-parent. Yes, indeed, the culture of scrutiny and comparison has made the leap.
As people of God, we know that this is not right. We are not products that
can be rated against each other. We do not gain or lose worthiness by how attractive we are, how high our GPA is, how fast we can run or how much money we make. Each individual is fashioned by God, made with tenderness and loved with a fiery passion that cannot be extinguished. We are not loved because of what we can do or cannot do, by what actions we have taken or failed to take, we are loved because we are. The worthiness of a living creature cannot be gauged by some standard set of measures; we cannot be told who is better and worse by how well they fit specific criteria. No, we are all loved simply for being, for being the wonderful, glorious, beautiful children of a benevolent God.
And so, I do not like malls. I don’t read advertisements. I don’t want another pair of jeans or an ipod or a gaming system, no matter how many new features it may have. I don’t allow my possessions to define me, and I do not want any more possessions. As a child of God I feel called to take pleasure in the life around me, to find fulfilment in the warm sunshine, the call of birds in the evening, the wonder of the human creatures around me. For these are the manifestations of God, the wonderful gifts that are valuable beyond measure, more beautiful than anything that can be bought or sold. Thanks be to God!
- Hannah Mang-Wooley
BELIEF IS SOMETHING SPECIAL
There are moments in my life when I just don’t know. I don’t know if what I’m doing with my life is the right thing to do, I don’t know what to put in my lunch, and I don’t know if I believe in God. And in these moments it occurs to me that everything I’ve been living for could be a myth, and that there really might not be anything more to life than what is blatantly obvious.
It’s in these moments that I really just want someone to tell me what’s going on. Someone who can tell me with absolute certainty that everything is going to be Ok, so that I too can be absolutely certain. There is this part in me yearning for everything I’m doing and everything I believe in to be right, while another part tells me its all wrong.
In these moments I get scared that I’ll never just know, ever again, and that I’ll forever be stuck in this wondering, questioning phase. In these moments I just want someone who can just tell me “this is how it is, this is how/what you should believe.” The thing is though, that realistically even if someone tried to do this for me, I wouldn’t listen. I’d probably think they were crazy. It’s unlikely that I’d agree with everything they said, and so I couldn’t simply blindly accept everything they said as truth. I’d only get my back up and in the end be left with even more confusion.
And if I was absolutely certain, then it wouldn’t be a belief any more, it would be knowledge. Some how God and Jesus would all end up in the same category as math and the guy down the street; just the way it is. And really these things are not in the same category, and never should be. God and Jesus are supposed to be thought of as more than a random celebrity or historical figures somehow they are supposed to be above these things. Somehow I think that if you knew with absolute certainty that these beings were out there, the lack of wonder and mystery would make it difficult to separate them from the people you learn about in your history textbooks or on MTV.
So maybe I like this phase after all. The whole wonder/confusion thing. Or maybe I just wish I could have certainty that I was on the right track without having to lose the wonder of it all. For now though I think that maybe belief is all about not knowing, that’s what makes it different from knowledge. Really, it’s unlikely that we’re ever going to know. So I’ll deal with the moments of disbelieve, and hang on to the moments of certainly. I’ll remember that I choose to believe, and that belief is something special and knowledge is every day. And I’ll know that I believe.
-Kathleen Kerr
It’s in these moments that I really just want someone to tell me what’s going on. Someone who can tell me with absolute certainty that everything is going to be Ok, so that I too can be absolutely certain. There is this part in me yearning for everything I’m doing and everything I believe in to be right, while another part tells me its all wrong.
In these moments I get scared that I’ll never just know, ever again, and that I’ll forever be stuck in this wondering, questioning phase. In these moments I just want someone who can just tell me “this is how it is, this is how/what you should believe.” The thing is though, that realistically even if someone tried to do this for me, I wouldn’t listen. I’d probably think they were crazy. It’s unlikely that I’d agree with everything they said, and so I couldn’t simply blindly accept everything they said as truth. I’d only get my back up and in the end be left with even more confusion.
And if I was absolutely certain, then it wouldn’t be a belief any more, it would be knowledge. Some how God and Jesus would all end up in the same category as math and the guy down the street; just the way it is. And really these things are not in the same category, and never should be. God and Jesus are supposed to be thought of as more than a random celebrity or historical figures somehow they are supposed to be above these things. Somehow I think that if you knew with absolute certainty that these beings were out there, the lack of wonder and mystery would make it difficult to separate them from the people you learn about in your history textbooks or on MTV.
So maybe I like this phase after all. The whole wonder/confusion thing. Or maybe I just wish I could have certainty that I was on the right track without having to lose the wonder of it all. For now though I think that maybe belief is all about not knowing, that’s what makes it different from knowledge. Really, it’s unlikely that we’re ever going to know. So I’ll deal with the moments of disbelieve, and hang on to the moments of certainly. I’ll remember that I choose to believe, and that belief is something special and knowledge is every day. And I’ll know that I believe.
-Kathleen Kerr
THE GREAT I AM
In the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14 to be exact), God’s name is given as YHWH which has been linked to the Hebrew verb “to be” (“hayah” 1). Often, this is translated into English as “I am Who I am” (Exodus 3:14 NRSV). God’s name is said to be “I Am” (Exodus 3:14 NRSV).
Let’s think about that for a moment. The Holy One’s name is “I AM.” The English verb to be is conjugated as follows: I am, you are, she/he/it is, we are, they are. I look at God’s name in this way: God does not have; rather, God is.
We often think of God as an elderly, wise man who sits on a throne in the clouds and gives orders. In short, we imagine God as Zeus from Disney’s Hercules. So, we often think of God as having things: wisdom, power, a plan for our lives.
I propose that we think in this way: God does not have, but rather is. Therefore, God does not have infinite wisdom, but is infinite wisdom; that is to say, God is indistinguishable from wisdom. In the same way, God does not have power, but God is power. Likewise, God does not have a plan for our lives, but God is a plan for our lives. Take a moment to ponder this.
I have a very visual imagination so I personify this concept in the following way. I imagine zooming out into space, past planets and suns, but able, now, to see something that I never have before, the presence of God. I see Our Parent woven into the very fabric of the universe. God is not within the universe, nor does God control (or ‘have’) the universe, but God is the universe.
This visualization is meant to allow us to look at God in a new way. To redefine the Holy. For, if God is all and all is God, what is beyond God? Even though you walk “through the darkest valley” (Psalm 23) there is no need to fear, for God is that valley, and, though terrible things may befall, God’s eternal love is as present in that valley as in the comfort of our home or church.
This new vision forces us to see others in a new way as well. God is all, including all people. So, each person, no matter how vain, arrogant, or violent is part of God. Each person is to be given the respect that we owe to God herself. Jesus said “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who were members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). So, in all relationship, we know that God is present. Even if it is hard to see, even if that person shows no signs, all are of God. Nobody is so evil as to not be a part of God. Though they may not reflect God in their lives, they are still a part of God, they are still loved by the Holy One.
This vision of the great I AM calls us to a new direction. A new focus. All space is Holy: the prairie fields, the mountains, the rock-strewn hills, the classroom desks. God is all encompassing. Likewise, we are part of God. We do not leave God at the door of the church. No, we are always with God. So, in that spirit, let us be ambassadors for God, showing the love that Jesus embodied to all of Creation. Let us remember God in our days, and celebrate, quietly or loudly, in movement or in stillness, the wonder of creation and the Holiness of all that is.
-Charley Peters
Let’s think about that for a moment. The Holy One’s name is “I AM.” The English verb to be is conjugated as follows: I am, you are, she/he/it is, we are, they are. I look at God’s name in this way: God does not have; rather, God is.
We often think of God as an elderly, wise man who sits on a throne in the clouds and gives orders. In short, we imagine God as Zeus from Disney’s Hercules. So, we often think of God as having things: wisdom, power, a plan for our lives.
I propose that we think in this way: God does not have, but rather is. Therefore, God does not have infinite wisdom, but is infinite wisdom; that is to say, God is indistinguishable from wisdom. In the same way, God does not have power, but God is power. Likewise, God does not have a plan for our lives, but God is a plan for our lives. Take a moment to ponder this.
I have a very visual imagination so I personify this concept in the following way. I imagine zooming out into space, past planets and suns, but able, now, to see something that I never have before, the presence of God. I see Our Parent woven into the very fabric of the universe. God is not within the universe, nor does God control (or ‘have’) the universe, but God is the universe.
This visualization is meant to allow us to look at God in a new way. To redefine the Holy. For, if God is all and all is God, what is beyond God? Even though you walk “through the darkest valley” (Psalm 23) there is no need to fear, for God is that valley, and, though terrible things may befall, God’s eternal love is as present in that valley as in the comfort of our home or church.
This new vision forces us to see others in a new way as well. God is all, including all people. So, each person, no matter how vain, arrogant, or violent is part of God. Each person is to be given the respect that we owe to God herself. Jesus said “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who were members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). So, in all relationship, we know that God is present. Even if it is hard to see, even if that person shows no signs, all are of God. Nobody is so evil as to not be a part of God. Though they may not reflect God in their lives, they are still a part of God, they are still loved by the Holy One.
This vision of the great I AM calls us to a new direction. A new focus. All space is Holy: the prairie fields, the mountains, the rock-strewn hills, the classroom desks. God is all encompassing. Likewise, we are part of God. We do not leave God at the door of the church. No, we are always with God. So, in that spirit, let us be ambassadors for God, showing the love that Jesus embodied to all of Creation. Let us remember God in our days, and celebrate, quietly or loudly, in movement or in stillness, the wonder of creation and the Holiness of all that is.
-Charley Peters
AT THE EDGE
Here I am at the edge,
unwelcome to my own life.
All the other faces, kind or indifferent, are turned away
so they don’t
have to see me, don’t have to feel
their own difference.
Most of the time, I stay in the cave,
this house I have made for myself in my heart.
I keep my passion here,
and my scars.
I don’t let anyone into the cave; ever.
If you come to the door, I will greet you with a smile
that fools even myself. I will bring you pretty things,
offer you tea and cookies.
Anything to make sure you are comfortable
here, in the doorway.
Deep in the ground, something is stirring;
did I use my own hands to cover them with
earth, or were they hidden for me?
Was it to keep myself safe, or for their protection from my own mad rage?
Stories are calling me,
Calling us,
Out of the cave…
To live, to step from the edge into the swirling fear,
To trust (is there any doubt?)
that the story will hold us.
ANWC Sr. High Rally. 2006
-Jessie Negropontes
unwelcome to my own life.
All the other faces, kind or indifferent, are turned away
so they don’t
have to see me, don’t have to feel
their own difference.
Most of the time, I stay in the cave,
this house I have made for myself in my heart.
I keep my passion here,
and my scars.
I don’t let anyone into the cave; ever.
If you come to the door, I will greet you with a smile
that fools even myself. I will bring you pretty things,
offer you tea and cookies.
Anything to make sure you are comfortable
here, in the doorway.
Deep in the ground, something is stirring;
did I use my own hands to cover them with
earth, or were they hidden for me?
Was it to keep myself safe, or for their protection from my own mad rage?
Stories are calling me,
Calling us,
Out of the cave…
To live, to step from the edge into the swirling fear,
To trust (is there any doubt?)
that the story will hold us.
ANWC Sr. High Rally. 2006
-Jessie Negropontes
MIRACLES OF EVERYDAY LIFE
When you’re little, summer means no school, warmth, and endless carefree vacations. You grow up a bit and you fall in love with summer camp, or perhaps learn to hate it. You grow up a bit more, and get a part time summer job, and then work your hours so you can do the things you really want to, camps and friends and those summer romances. You grow more, and summer becomes a desperate attempt to earn enough money to pay for your rent, tuition, books, and food, and to still have time to enjoy the fact you’re not in school.
However, no matter how old you are, summer is one of those times that you always figure should be ridiculously fantastic. You have all these great plans, camps you are going to go to, holidays that can be planned down to the bathroom breaks, or those holidays where you just go until you stop. You might plan to hang out with your friends more, or perhaps spend more time at home. The thing is, no matter what your plans are, you always plan for it to be awesome, full of adventure, romance, or just a plain old good time.
So summer is this magical time. For me though, there has always been a mad and desperate undertone to make things perfect, because I know that soon as September hits, I can’t go back. So I’d fill up my summers with camps, church things, and showing cows. I’d avoid being home as much as possible, just because I knew this was my only chance to experience all these miraculous summer events. The longer I’d spend at home the more desperate I’d get to move on to the next summer phenomenon. By the end of August when I’d begin to realise that I only had a week or a day or a couple of hours until summer was over, and I’d have all these images of all these things I’d done over the summer floating around in my head, bumping against each other, until I’d be reduced to an unfortunate mass that didn’t ever want to leave its room. There were times when I would have given just about anything to be able to turn back the clock.
I want to believe that summer doesn’t have to be like that. That summer can just be lived for the here and now, that maybe summer, and even life, can be lived just for the heck of it. That it is possible for a person to not have to be desperate for a miracle, that it is possible for a person to live for the miracle that is the present. One of my favourite sayings is “Tomorrow’s the future, yesterday’s the past, today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present.” Today is a gift. It’s like Christmas all over, every day, a whole new day to do what you will with it, a clean slate every 24 hours. Yesterdays over, and tomorrow hasn’t come yet, and all that junk, so technically we should all just be able to live for right now in this moment.
But that’s the thing isn’t it. As humans, as people, we just can’t do it. We always have regrets; we always look back on our lives. We live today fully aware of how our actions today will affect tomorrow. And so we can’t just live for the moment. But the past used to be the present, and the future soon will be. So maybe not living only for the moment is ok.
So this summer, I’m going to try to live for the moment anyways. Sure, I know I won’t succeed. Maybe a better way of putting it is that I’m not going to live for everything but the moment. I’ll keep the past and the future in perspective, but I’m going to live for the today’s, for the right now’s, for the little miracles of every day life.
-Kathleen Kerr
However, no matter how old you are, summer is one of those times that you always figure should be ridiculously fantastic. You have all these great plans, camps you are going to go to, holidays that can be planned down to the bathroom breaks, or those holidays where you just go until you stop. You might plan to hang out with your friends more, or perhaps spend more time at home. The thing is, no matter what your plans are, you always plan for it to be awesome, full of adventure, romance, or just a plain old good time.
So summer is this magical time. For me though, there has always been a mad and desperate undertone to make things perfect, because I know that soon as September hits, I can’t go back. So I’d fill up my summers with camps, church things, and showing cows. I’d avoid being home as much as possible, just because I knew this was my only chance to experience all these miraculous summer events. The longer I’d spend at home the more desperate I’d get to move on to the next summer phenomenon. By the end of August when I’d begin to realise that I only had a week or a day or a couple of hours until summer was over, and I’d have all these images of all these things I’d done over the summer floating around in my head, bumping against each other, until I’d be reduced to an unfortunate mass that didn’t ever want to leave its room. There were times when I would have given just about anything to be able to turn back the clock.
I want to believe that summer doesn’t have to be like that. That summer can just be lived for the here and now, that maybe summer, and even life, can be lived just for the heck of it. That it is possible for a person to not have to be desperate for a miracle, that it is possible for a person to live for the miracle that is the present. One of my favourite sayings is “Tomorrow’s the future, yesterday’s the past, today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present.” Today is a gift. It’s like Christmas all over, every day, a whole new day to do what you will with it, a clean slate every 24 hours. Yesterdays over, and tomorrow hasn’t come yet, and all that junk, so technically we should all just be able to live for right now in this moment.
But that’s the thing isn’t it. As humans, as people, we just can’t do it. We always have regrets; we always look back on our lives. We live today fully aware of how our actions today will affect tomorrow. And so we can’t just live for the moment. But the past used to be the present, and the future soon will be. So maybe not living only for the moment is ok.
So this summer, I’m going to try to live for the moment anyways. Sure, I know I won’t succeed. Maybe a better way of putting it is that I’m not going to live for everything but the moment. I’ll keep the past and the future in perspective, but I’m going to live for the today’s, for the right now’s, for the little miracles of every day life.
-Kathleen Kerr
IN YOUR WORDS…
There has to be a "young" person inside each one of us, that is as we grow out of the younger years and enter the twilight of the "older" generation. At least it is that way for me. From the first reading of your WHY to this issue of Spring, you have given me something to live by and to believe in. For this I thank you both for being the inspiration for this worthwhile project.
I was at General Council this past year and so thoroughly enjoyed having the youth present. As a youth leader in my home church and one who has always has very close connection with teaching Sunday School and Youth Groups, it was a delight to see the enthusiasm and energy that was generated by such a wonderful contingent of young people. I came home with many great stories to tell to the congregation and for our Youth Group.
There is an article written by Kathleen that really touched my heart. Over three years ago (2003), Ed, my husband passed away while we were on a 3 1/2 month trip across Canada. I entered into that realm where I felt that God had abandoned me, even though I knew that through prayers there should have been a connection. It was not there and this went on for so very long. Being lonely became a part of my life and it came to a time when I just accepted it. The outgoing and self-assured person was replaced with a withdrawn and lost soul. The years went by and slowly I realized that God had been there all the time, with so many signs of which I had missed. Not all, but some. Today there are times that I still feel the loneliness and the aloneness, however, in there is also the faint whisper of, "Be still and know that I am God." Yes, we do come through our most deepest hours of hurt and press forward so that we can be of benefit to ourselves, to others and to God. I do draw on the fact that from an very early age I accepted Jesus into my life. Then again, we are human which make us what we were meant to be. God's child who has been given the gift of peace, even though there are times that peace is shattered. Ed had a saying, "Look back only to see if you left a footstep, then surge forward as though you have little time left to finish the race." He left a footstep and lived his life to the fullest until the day come when he had finished his race. All for Jesus.
Thank you– Carole Butler
Thanks for making such a true-to-the-United-Church youth magazine. I just finished reading my first issue, Spring 2007, and I really enjoyed a lot of the stuff you included (especially God's Plan, Random Connections & Kathleen's Life Isn't Perfect)! Lately I've been trying to find myself as a 16-year-old girl in a small Albertan town (Athabasca), with many anti-(or politically correct/neutrally) Christian influences to boot. What are my goals? What's the difference between being nice and too-nice? Where should my morals be? Obviously I'm not perfect, so what am I good at? If I can go day to day thinking about philosophies and religious topics (global responsibilities, etc.) without necessarily tying them to religion, am I a Christian? This leads to questioning whether being totally religious results any differently than "weekly church going but not daily Church thinking"...
These are some of the many questions to ask, that I continue asking myself, but it's always the cynic in me to respond first and shoot them down. W.H.Y. definitely addressed a lot of these questions. Just like you said about Peter Short's writing, this newsletter published a lot of things that were "exactly what I wanted to hear" with "the words to write what I sometimes feel but can't express". Thanks for your time, and for your Fantastic (!) newsletter. I can't wait to ponder the next one! In the meantime, I'll definitely be reading and re-reading this one.
-Judi
I was at General Council this past year and so thoroughly enjoyed having the youth present. As a youth leader in my home church and one who has always has very close connection with teaching Sunday School and Youth Groups, it was a delight to see the enthusiasm and energy that was generated by such a wonderful contingent of young people. I came home with many great stories to tell to the congregation and for our Youth Group.
There is an article written by Kathleen that really touched my heart. Over three years ago (2003), Ed, my husband passed away while we were on a 3 1/2 month trip across Canada. I entered into that realm where I felt that God had abandoned me, even though I knew that through prayers there should have been a connection. It was not there and this went on for so very long. Being lonely became a part of my life and it came to a time when I just accepted it. The outgoing and self-assured person was replaced with a withdrawn and lost soul. The years went by and slowly I realized that God had been there all the time, with so many signs of which I had missed. Not all, but some. Today there are times that I still feel the loneliness and the aloneness, however, in there is also the faint whisper of, "Be still and know that I am God." Yes, we do come through our most deepest hours of hurt and press forward so that we can be of benefit to ourselves, to others and to God. I do draw on the fact that from an very early age I accepted Jesus into my life. Then again, we are human which make us what we were meant to be. God's child who has been given the gift of peace, even though there are times that peace is shattered. Ed had a saying, "Look back only to see if you left a footstep, then surge forward as though you have little time left to finish the race." He left a footstep and lived his life to the fullest until the day come when he had finished his race. All for Jesus.
Thank you– Carole Butler
Thanks for making such a true-to-the-United-Church youth magazine. I just finished reading my first issue, Spring 2007, and I really enjoyed a lot of the stuff you included (especially God's Plan, Random Connections & Kathleen's Life Isn't Perfect)! Lately I've been trying to find myself as a 16-year-old girl in a small Albertan town (Athabasca), with many anti-(or politically correct/neutrally) Christian influences to boot. What are my goals? What's the difference between being nice and too-nice? Where should my morals be? Obviously I'm not perfect, so what am I good at? If I can go day to day thinking about philosophies and religious topics (global responsibilities, etc.) without necessarily tying them to religion, am I a Christian? This leads to questioning whether being totally religious results any differently than "weekly church going but not daily Church thinking"...
These are some of the many questions to ask, that I continue asking myself, but it's always the cynic in me to respond first and shoot them down. W.H.Y. definitely addressed a lot of these questions. Just like you said about Peter Short's writing, this newsletter published a lot of things that were "exactly what I wanted to hear" with "the words to write what I sometimes feel but can't express". Thanks for your time, and for your Fantastic (!) newsletter. I can't wait to ponder the next one! In the meantime, I'll definitely be reading and re-reading this one.
-Judi
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