Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-02-16, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012. Students adjust to new courses By Madelaine Higgins This week at St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School in Clinton, students adjusted to their new teachers and course loads of second semester. Many of the sports teams at the school were back in action, attending games and tournaments throughout the week. On Monday, Feb. 6, both the junior and senior boys basketball teams played at Central Huron Secondary School, the boys hockey team played in Clinton. The swimming and curling teams had practice at Vanastra on Monday and Wednesday, as the swimmers prepare themselves for their upcoming WOSSAA meet. On Feb. 7, the Nordic ski team attended the Huron Perth meet in Duntroon, bringing home the pennant. The junior and senior girls volleyball teams had games at St. Anne’s and on Wednesday, the senior boys basketball team had a game in the afternoon. On Thursday, Feb. 9, St. Anne’s participated in annual sweater day, promoted by Students for Social Justice, where the heat in the school is turned down by a few degrees and staff and students were encouraged to wear their favourite warm sweater for the day. Also on Thursday the girls hockey team played in Clinton. The St. Anne’s Me to We group is preparing a Mardi Gras dance for Grade 6, 7 and 8 students in the area. All proceeds from the dance help build a school in Kenya. The St. Anne’s student cabinet is in the midst of preparing a very special movie night for Thursday, Feb. 16 featuring the 2011 release of Footloose. By Pastor Brent Kipfer Brussels Mennonite Fellowship Glenn Chambers, a young man from New York, was eager to begin his career as a missionary broadcaster in Ecuador. En route to his assignment, waiting for his flight at the Miami airport on Feb. 15, 1947, Glenn wanted to write a quick note to his mother. There was no time to buy a card, so he picked up a scrap of paper lying on the terminal floor. It turned out to be an advertisement with the word “Why?” spread across it. He scribbled his note around that large “Why?” – and mailed it to his mother. That night, travelling over a 14,000-foot mountain in Colombia, his airplane exploded. There were no survivors. His mother received news of his death – and then his note arrived. The question burned up at her from the page: Why? Whenever tragedy strikes, we naturally search for answers, but they are rarely satisfying. We can usually describe the mechanics of a situation – “human error leading to a van crash” or “shifting tectonic plates creating an earthquake” – but this does not begin to answer the deeper why? For those of us who believe that God is both loving and powerful, the question is more personal than that. It is about God’s purpose, about our relationship with him and our ability to trust God through thick and thin. Why does God allow suffering? Christians usually point to five different pieces of reality when trying to understand this: • The first is human freedom. Much suffering in the world can be traced to the decisions that we make. Some of it is personal: I burn my hand on our woodstove because I am careless or cause pain to my children because I am selfish. Some of it is shared broadly: lifestyles creating pollution or warfare between nations. • The second consideration is that we live in a broken world. Tornadoes, earthquakes and disease point to the reality that our planet is “groaning” and is not functioning as God designed it (Romans 8:22). • Sometimes we are able to see good come out of disaster: neighbours helping neighbours, people turning to God for help or communities emerging stronger as a result - signs of God at work in the midst of suffering. • Depending on our response to it, suffering has the potential to shape our character for the better, enabling us to be more loving and empathetic toward others, to gain wisdom, to grow deeper in our faith. • With faith in God, we can be sure that our suffering is temporary. Nicky Gumbel tells the story of a boy whose back was shattered when he fell down a flight of stairs at the age of one. For years he was in and out of the hospital. His pastor interviewed him in church when he was 17 years old. When the boy remarked that “God is fair,” his pastor stopped him and asked, “How many years have you spent in the hospital?” The boy answered, “13 years.” “Do you think that is fair?” his pastor asked. The boy replied, “God’s got all eternity to make it up to me.” The apostle Paul, who also had plenty of first-hand experience with hardship, said, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” None of these considerations, however, fully answers the question of why? God’s response to our questions is more personal than that. Rather than answering from afar in the safety of heavenly glory, Jesus Christ enters our broken, messy, sinful world to suffer with us. On the cross he reveals the heart of God to us. John Stott wrote: “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross…In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I [turn] to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God- forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death.” Rather than answering our whys Jesus Christ comes in person and weeps with us – so that one day we may laugh with him. It is more than an answer. It is love. THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS. OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday 6:00 p.m. 17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday 9:00 a.m. 220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph Sunday 11:00 a.m. 1025 Wallace Avenue N. Youre Invited to come worship with us Sunday, February 19 Brussels Public School at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday School for children 4 to 11 years of age at 9:30 a.m. Childcare provided for infants and preschoolers during the sermon. Coffee & cookies after the morning service For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621 Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173 Chris McMichael 519.482.1644 Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m. CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS MINISTER Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. All Welcome MUSIC DIRECTOR Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224 FEBRUARY 19 ~ I’ll Be There For You FEBRUARY 26 ~ Love is a Battlefield THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA Welcomes you to come and worship with us Trinity, Blyth 9:15 a.m. Church Office: 519-357-4883 St. John's, Brussels 11:15 a.m. 519-887-6862 Sunday, February 19 Rev. Perry Chuipka www.nabcom.ca/church BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA Sandra Cable, Worship Leader Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca Sunday, February 19 Ethel United Church Worship Service and Sunday School - 9:30 a.m. Brussels United Church Worship Service and Sunday School - 11:00 a.m. Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Rev. Elwin Garland SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available 519-887-2664 10:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship - Sunday School You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship Hwy. 4, Blyth 519-523-4743 www.blythcrc.ca SUNDAYS Morning Service 10:00 am Evening Service 7:30 pm BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH getlivingwater.org Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848 Living Water Christian Fellowship February 19: Mk. 2:18-22 10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School at Blyth Public School, corner of King & Mill Tuesdays 7:30 pm - Wingham Bible Study 1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7:30 pm - Women At The Well Evangelical Missionary Church “Stretching & Shrinkage: How Adaptable are You to God’s Initiatives?” Coming to Memorial Hall March 2: COURAGEOUS! Friday, February 17 at CRC 8 pm: “Faith-In-Song” Concert! Adults $10, children $5, ph 519-523-4299 119 John’s Ave., Auburn 519-526-1131 www.huronchapel.org Rev. Mark Royall, Sr. Pastor 9:25 a.m. Sunday School for all ages 10:30 a.m Morning Worship Service What To Do When Life Hurts Sermon Series continues this Sunday! From the Minister’s StudyJesus doesn’t answer, He brings his love