HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-09-29, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011.
By Rev. Tom Murray
Knox United Church, Belgrave
I claim no credit for the above
headline. It alone, bravely and
futuristically, belongs to a group of
young people among us. They chose
this name to represent what the best
ideal of what a future-thinking youth
group might be all about. So what do
the initials stand for?
To understand any acronym
correctly you have to first unpack it!
After all, it could literally mean
anything, like the interpretation one
might make of the initials of one of
my grandchildren; TNT. Explosive
in both cases. Definitely not! And
while my grandson is certainly not
explosive at all, the acronym
B.A.N.G.! when unpacked, simply
states for a group of young people
what they are about – Building A
New Generation! Why not? This is a
laudable and praiseworthy
endeavour?
Then you might be asking, why is
it radical? Simply because, the word
“radical” doesn't mean what we first
think it means. The word radical was
formed from the Latin adjective
radicalis, which simply meant “of or
relating to a root.” Only later in its
use, was the definition of radical
used to describe something that was
extremely different from the usual.
Then, as a noun, radical came to be
applied to a person or persons who
wanted to make “radical” changes,
in the root governance of a group,
society, organization, or nation.
Our young people are definitely at
the forefront of wanting to move and
seize not only the day “carpe diem”
but also the future “carpe manana!”
After all, building a new generation,
is not any different for our young
people than it is for the three
generations that are currently in
front of them. With one exception!
Their time is coming and they
simply wish to lay out and exercise
the possibilities for a new future!
Doing no less than what we all
hoped to do and continue to hope
can still be achieved. As someone
said; “There is life after the change
that will come...”
An anthropologist from some
unknown and distant planet might
well be forgiven for misclassifying
what we continue to do among
ourselves as “running in circles
chasing our own tails.” You know, of
what I speak. Meetings, with their
arid forms of motions, seconds,
minutes and reports, give comfort
and security to some, while driving
others crazy. Particularly those who
like results better than extended
conversations about pros and cons of
possible approaches to activities that
may or may not one day issue in
results.
We know that “life as usual,” is
driving us nuts! Why then, do we
continue doing what we are doing
when it doesn't work? Leaders burn
out like old brake pads from the
start-and-stop decision-making
tempo.
People who, at school, work, or in
community-work, carry assigned
projects from start to finish find it
hard to understand why relatively
small decisions require long
discussion, not just once but a
myriad of times.
This is gradually changing as
leaders of all kinds have begun to
question the unquestionable.
Sometimes the departure of too
many leaders triggers the rethinking.
Sometimes an exceptionally vital,
growing group, be it young people
or an “old” board notices that its
most innovative programs have
emerged only when someone, in
despair of working though the
formal structure, works around it or
through it.
It is not easy work. Institutions
and groups, of all stripes, in life
resist change, not because the people
in them are especially conservative,
but because conserving is what they
are usually all about. They codify
and repeat patterns of behaviour;
building trust by repetition, growing
in proficiency by practice, building a
clear “brand” through consistent and
predictable performance. The
problem: when it clearly becomes
visible, it isn't being received as well
as before! ( i.e., R.I.M.)
Communities of faith resist it for a
special reason: almost anything they
do regularly, quickly becomes part
of somebody’s religion. The oddest
things turn sacred: furniture and
flower arrangements, calendars of
fundraising events, organization
charts. People cling to such
symbolic objects, not because they
love them, but because they love the
congregation and the good they have
experienced from its influence, and
worry that if surface symbols change
too much, they might lose the reality
beneath. What they lose is the reality
above!
Ron Heifetz and Martin Linksy of
Harvard’s Center for Public
Leadership have written, “People do
not resist change, per se. People
resist loss.” Resisting change can be
a good thing when it helps people to
hang on to what is truly precious.
Sometimes only innovation, which
requires letting go of symbols, lets
us hold on to what we truly value.
Communities of faith have begun
to realize that comfortable ways no
longer produce comfortable
outcomes. Change, no longer a
threat, becomes our best hope for
avoiding deeper loss. When old
modes of doing things threaten to
strangle what is precious in life,
change becomes more thinkable.
Lyle Schaller, is probably the
world’s leading interpreter of church
systems and their vitality over the
past five decades. As he has
observed many times and said
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.
getlivingwater.orgPastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Living Water Christian Fellowship
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
Tuesdays 7:30 pm
- Wingham Bible Study
1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7:30 pm
- Women At The Well
Christ-centred, Bible-believing, Fellowship-friendly, Growth-geared
Guest speaker
Jason Bechtel, New Tribes Mission
Special Music and Potluck
We invite you to celebrate
God’s goodness with us!
Sunday, October 2nd
Join us for our 10th Anniversary!
at Blyth Public School, corner of King & Mill
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, October 2
Brussels Public School
at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age (mornings only)
Childcare provided for infants and toddlers
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
Hwy. 4, Blyth 519-523-4743
www.blythcrc.ca
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00 am
Evening Service 7:30 pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, October 2
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
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
OCTOBER 2 - Being a Father...Single in a Pair Shaped World
OCTOBER 9 - Communion Sunday: Small Portions But Really Fulfilling
Don’t Forget to order your Turkey pies
Roast Beef Supper - Saturday, October 29 4:30-7:00 pm
For cost and tickets call 519-523-4224
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Rev. Elwin Garland
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
519-887-2664
157th Anniversary Service
10:00 a.m.
Guest speaker: Rev. John Hogerwaard
Special music by Men of Note
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, October 2
Rev. Perry Chuipka
www.nabcom.ca/church
119 John’s Ave., Auburn
519-526-1131
www.huronchapel.org
Sunday, October 2, 2011
9:25 a.m.
Sunday School for all ages
10:30 a.m.
Rev. Mark Royall speaking
Wednesdays are
Family Night
at Huron Chapel
6:30 p.m.
Olympians for children
in grades JK-6
7:00 p.m.
Youth Small Groups
for grades 7-12
and Adult Small Group
Something for Everyone!
From the Minister’s StudyB.A.N.G.! A radical group in our midst
Continued on page 24