HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-11-19, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19,1997.
From the Minister's Stud#
Pastor asks, ‘Are you waiting for change?’
Pastor Ben Wiebe
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
Are you waiting for something to
happen? Waiting for a change in
life? The teenager preparing for
work, the mother carrying a child,
the farmer seeing the corn grow
waiting for the rain.
Or have there been too many
changes? The last child has left
home to go to university (a series
of changes for child and parents).
There is a paradox in this. On the
one hand, growth and change is
important to life. On the other hand
stability is also important. For
some life seems like a rut, the same
routine, the same faces and places,
the same gossip day after day. The
sameness is stifling and can form a
rut so deep soon it seems we can
see nothing else.
One young person I know
became deeply discouraged. He
had worked hard at summer jobs to
be able to go to university and
worked hard at his studies. He did
well and now he was finished.
There was no opportunity for work
related to his training. He did
menial jobs. He borrowed money to
do more training and widen his
preparation. Still no job.
More short-term, minimum wage
work. He began to question himself
and to wonder if he would ever find
work to use his education.
People told him things would
change, to wait and see. He did odd
jobs and kept looking for more
suitable work.
A job in his field came up but far
from home. He was determined,
applied and got the job. After a
long wait he is surprised and
grateful. It is hard work, but he is
glad to have it.
In the midst of our difficult
situation it is hard to see how
things can ever be different. But in
the midst of waiting we are
surprised by goodness. Perhaps in
those who hear us and stand with
us. Perhaps in the new day that
comes and brings new opportunity.
We sense that there is a place for us
and we are sustained by goodness.
Sometimes we take goodness for
granted. We fail to see it in the new
day that dawns with fresh
opportunity. In the health that
makes it possible day after day and
year after year to participate in the
satisfying pattern of life. And if we
live with awareness we sense that
there is indeed a pattern that
underlies our being. That life in
accord with this pattern brings
fulfillment.
But this inevitably opens to
humans the contrary possibility as
well: they can refuse to
acknowledge or respect any good
apart from their own ambition and
pleasure. This self-absorption can
only breed distrust, conflict and
destruction. So we see not only
good but also evil.
The distinctiveness of humans
lies not in the supposed power to
shape what is otherwise accident
and disorder; it is rather to
recognize and celebrate the
goodness of created order, an order
in which we have our life.
This underlying pattern of
goodness that makes life possible
sometimes shines forth with a
brightness that cannot be missed.
The world is not simply a desert. If
we walk with the biologist trained
to see with more than simply the
eyes of a technician, we see that
animals in their behaviour are
playful. That birds, as one person
has said, "are*'singing much more
than Danvin permits." There is not
only a bare existence but a display
of riches, that even in the desert
flowers may bloom.
I was travelling in India a year
ago. The car on the train was full, a
few people were standing up and
without a seat. The seller of
magazines and books came
through. Here and there as he made
his way people made purchase of
perhaps a magazine or a book. As
he came to me I asked for a book
that I saw a clean-cut young man
standing up ahead of me had
purchased. There was none left.
Later I looked at the young man's
copy of the book. On seeing my
interest he told me, "keep it." I was
surprised and motioned to hand it
back to him. He did not take it. I
asked if I could pay him. He said,
November 23
ncl>rlttl>nEducatl
(Classes
Pastor Ben (Mete
887-6388
9:30 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m.
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
- Morning Service
- Sunday School
- Belgrave Service
- Evening Bible Study
- Wednesday afternoon Bible Study
Wheelchair accessible
We welcome you to come end worship with us.
Rev, Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
Shopping season
Lori Vader was among the large crowd wandering about
the craft and baking displays at St. John’s Anglican
Church, Brussels, Saturday.
Discerning love, church message
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Rev. Christine Johnson - Minister
Church Office 887-6259 Home 887-6540
Sunday, November 23, 1997
Morning Worship
Ethel
*****
Morning Worship
Brussels
"Love with Discernment" was the
title of the message at Brussels
Mennonite Fellowship on Sunday,
Nov. 16. Pastor Ben Wiebe chose
Mark 14: 3-9 and 1 Corinthians 13:
4-13 as the scripture passages.
Love requires trust, faith and
hope. Learning to live is learning to
love ... but love is often inhibited
by fear, - fear of rejection for love
makes people vulnerable, he said.
Love is often identified as a
feeling, and that may be so on a
bright day with sunshine and
smiles, when things are going well.
However, on other days when
everything seems to be going
wrong (the baby cries, mom has a
headache, there are many things to
be done) the feelings may be gone,
but the love is still there, so love is
indeed more than a feeling.
Complete or mature love, he said,
enables one to "see" what people
without love cannot see. For
example the woman who anointed
Jesus with oil used at burials,
sensed that Jesus would face
something significant in the near
future. Her love enabled her to
sense this.
"No, it's my gift."
We saw each other for a brief
time on a train. He is from another
culture and I do not know his name
or if I will ever see him again. A
simple act - I was surprised by
goodness.
It has caused me to reflect further
about goodness. There is a certain
goodness all around me, I live
within it. So much so that I
regularly take this for granted. I go
from one day to the next and then I
am surprised by a simple act that at
the same time is an overwhelming
expression of goodness. This points
to God the source of goodness, to
whom I owe everything and who
enables life and well-being. I am
invited to participate fully in
goodness in a life of response to
God.
‘you are ‘Welcome at the
BLYTH COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD
9:45 a.m. - Sunday School for Children and Adults
11:00 a.m. - Morning Worship
Bible Studies - Wednesday 10 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Phone 523-4590 McConnell St., Blyth
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
you are welcome this Sunday
NOVEMBER 23 - REIGN OF CHRIST
HOLY EUCHARIST
Rev. Nancy Beale
Trinity, Blyth
9:30 a.m.
Wheelchair accessible
St. John's,
Brussels
11:15 a.m.
join us for
worship at
Brussels
Mennonite
Fellowship
Others, on the other hand saw
expensive oil being wasted when it
could have been sold and the
proceeds used to help the poor.
Jesus saw her intent, and thus gave
an affirming response to the
woman.
Love is oriented to truth. If
people rest in the love of God, they
have security, and can be open to
one another. Goodwill lets them
understand and be open to one
another, but suspicion also has its
place, so discernment is necessary,
Pastor Wiebe said. "The law of
Christ is the law of love. We'll
carry one another's burdens and
should carry one's own burdens.
Caring for someone doesn't mean
taking over. We must let others be
responsible."
In the story of the father and
prodigal son, he said, the father lets
the son go. Had he prevented him
from going the relationship might
have been damaged to the extent
that the separation would have been
permanent. "Remember, "I should
not be responsible for what you
should carry. I don't help you by
Continued on page 21
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
PASTOR JAMES H. CARNE AUBURN 526-7515
ASSOCIATE PASTOR - YOUTH - JEREMY SHUART 523-9788
Sunday
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
8:30 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
10:00 a.m. - Family Bible Hour
11 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
8 p.m. - Evening Service
7:30 p.m. - New Hope Support Group
7:30 p.m. - Prayer & Bible Study
7:30 p.m. - Youth
Please join us for worship this Sunday
Sunday Morning Service -10 a.m.
Evening Service - 7:30 p.m.
O JCgrd, God of Israel, there is no God like you in
heaven or on earth - you who keep your covenant of
love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly
in the way.
2 Chronicles 6:14
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Rev. Adrian A. Van Geest
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible