HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-02-19, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009. PAGE 19.
Digging in
While breakfast was well-
attended over the weekend in
Belgrave as part of North
Huron’s Luge-a-thon, hot dogs,
soup and chili were big sellers
as well throughout the
afternoon, with two-year-old
Keaten Robinson partaking in
some hot dogs while public
skating happened on the ice.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Tom Murray from Beamsville andnew minister at Knox United Church
in Belgrave says God’s call brought
him to Huron County.
Murray has high hopes for
Belgrave, but adds he doesn’t have
all the answers.
Murray says it’s a combination of
not wanting to bring a cookie-cutter
answer to Belgrave and his
admiration for newly-elected U.S.
President Barack Obama that has
given him confidence in this
approach.
He says that each area has its own
particular challenges and a that a
game plan can’t be assembled until
those challenges are understood. He
cites one of Obama’s books, titled
The Audacity Of Hope as an
example.
“Obama doesn’t have all the
answers, he doesn’t know what to
do, but he has the audacity of hope,”
Murray says.
Obama is confident enough,
Murray says, to take office, assess
the world’s problems and then take
appropriate action, which is what
Murray has done in his whole life
with the United Church and plans to
do at Knox.
“I don’t necessarily have a plan,but I have ideas for understanding.Different areas all have differentneeds,” Murray says.Murray uses an example of achurch in Sheffield, England, where
the decline of the steel industry
devastated the town when a large
amount of its utensil industry was
shipped to Asia.
There, the church used some out-
of-the-box thinking that served the
industry’s former workers well.
Now, Murray says, the church in
Sheffield is one of the biggest in
England.
It didn’t stop at church services
though. Murray says the church
bought up old industrial land and
built community centres and other
areas where the community could
come together.
He is still new to the area, but
Murray is familiar enough with
Huron County to know the area is
hurting with the closure of
Goderich’s Volvo plant and the
restructuring of Wescast in
Wingham.
Murray’s ideas aren’t limited to
the United Church. He cites the
success of the Parish Of New
Beginnings, a four-church alliance
comprising the Anglican churches in
Blyth, Brussels, Wingham and
Lucknow.
Murray says he likes the ideabehind the Parish Of NewBeginnings, but that he hopesdenominational barriers wouldn’t bea problem and that between differentreligious disciplines, events could be
organized to bring the area together
to serve its communities rather than
serving its specific church-goers.
This is something Murray has
always worked at. After working for
nearly a decade at a church in
Beamsville, he began to see the
change he felt the community
needed. There, it took the
community just under four years to
turn it around. Murray says four
years isn’t a guideline, that it could
be different for each community, but
he feels Belgrave is a strong
community that has the will to
succeed, despite facing greater
challenges.
With the economic hardship, it is
time to work harder at community,
Murray says.
“As Obama says, we have to be
brave enough to hope, and with
hope, we can pull through all of this.
Because if we don’t have the hope to
work through it, we’re bereft and
we’re lost,” he says. “We have to
have the sense that we can do it. We
have to help community
understanding and then engage the
possibilities that this community is
capable of.”
Murray thinks Belgrave is a good
fit for him and his wife Brenda,
although they have not taken up
permanent residence in the
community yet. They are currently
in the process of finding a new
place.
The Murrays have three
daughters, who are all married, and
have six grandchildren.
Murray is excited about the
challenge that lies ahead and feels
the people of Belgrave are the right
people to join him on the journey.
“I think God led us together. This
community had a long search,” he
says. “Really though, with this job,
I’m just as excited as when I first
started out.”
Minister hears God’s call to Huron County
Cutting corners
The kids skills competition was a big draw over the
weekend in Belgrave as part of the North Huron Luge-a-
thon with dozens of children participating in puck-handling
drills and shooting for accuracy. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Welcome
Tom Murray, Knox United Church’s new minister, heard
God’s call that brought him to Belgrave. He says he and the
community have a lot of work to do together, but that it isn’t
going to happen overnight. Murray is in the process of
moving to Belgrave with his wife Brenda from Beamsville.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Buck & Doe
for
Shayne MacKenzie
and
Stacey Bowles
Saturday,
February 21
9 pm - 1 am
Listowel Ag Hall
Tickets $10.
519-887-9769 or
519-807-8660
Age of majority required
Lunch provided
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
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