HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-01-13, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2005.
From the Minister’s Study
Where do you go when things fall apart?
the strongest
is epoxy
long-lasting
By Pastor Ernest Dow
Living Water Christian
Fellowship (EMC), Blyth
Where do you go when things start
flying apart?
Around our house,
mending ingredient
glue.
It’s my favourite
easy-to-use fastener - especially now
that it’s manufactured in a handy
double syringe that dispenses both
hardener and resin at the same time.
Other “super glues” may boast of
greater strength, but by the time 1
find the tiny tube, it’s usually
hardened irreparably at the spout; or
I end up bonding my fingers instead
of the object.
quite different in form, they were
complementary; their differences
mated in a way that showed they
belonged together.
When Jesus was challenged about
the more limited occurrence of
divorce in the culture of first-century
Palestine, He did not base His
response upon current attitudes or
the thrust of impatience with sexual
restrictions in history, but
Maker’s original intent.
Our Lord observed, “Haven’t
read...that at the beginning
Creator ‘made them male
female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a
man will leave his father and mother
and be united to his wife, and the
two will becorrie one flesh’? So they
male citizen
push,
the most
this
few of
made it almost
the
you
the
and
Epoxy, by contrast, is more userare no longer two.but one.
friendly;you can take your time Therefore what God has joined
applying it,but the result is together,let man not separate.”
lasting.(Matthew 19)
Where do we go when the Again,the Greek term translated
to hurl couples apart in
with scary centrifugal
‘united’ means “to glue or stick to”
(ci. French ‘colle’). Jesus pointed
beyond sex as a physical function to
the essence of our creation as
humans in two different types, male
and female - a difference inscribed
in each set of chromosomes
throughout every cell of our body
(i.e. XX or XY), regardless of
surgical or hormonal treatments that
would mask it.
The 20th century witnessed a
much-needed elevation in the status
of women, so they came to share
political and economic privileges
alongside their
counterparts.
Unfortunately
exaggerated by a
radical feminists,
“politically incorrect” to refer to
male-female distinctiveness; then to
gender confusion, and uncertainty in
marital/familial roles.
Husbands feel pressure to be
“sensitive New Age guys” yet sense
there’s more they need to be doing in
an authoritative disciplinary and
guiding role toward their offspring.
We’ve forgotten what it means to
have ‘a battle to fight, a beauty to
rescue, an adventure to live’ - to use
John Eldredge’s terms (Wild at
Heart).
Epoxy glue has “stick” because
it’s an integral fusion of two distinct
ingredients: resin and hardener.
Perhaps it will help our society to
have a more secure foundation if we
stick with the Biblical view of
marriage - meant to be an amalgam
of two very different substances,
male and female.
I am
Steckle has “unreservedly confirmed
his support” for the traditional
definition of marriage, as
stated on his website
(www.psteckle.com/docs/PR-
SSM.htm): “Marriage embodies the
complementarity of the two human
sexes — it is not simply a shopping
list of functional attributes, but a
unique, opposite-sex bond that is
common across different times,
cultures and religions as a virtually
universal norm. Marriage is a
relationship that is as old as time
itself. It existed prior to our laws and
core building block of modern
society that must be preserved...I
intend to work to see that...indeed
we live up to our previous
commitment to preserve traditional
heterosexual marriage.”
Let’s be supporting and praying
for our representatives who show
such courage and clarity of vision,
resisting the amoralizing forces that
would erode society’s foundational
institutions of marriage and the
family.
The Biblical view’s worth sticking
to!
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
tfMc to cwte
Met CC&
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16
Av Trinity, Blyth
9:30 a.m.
St. John's, Brussels
11:15a.m.
The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273
same time, culture’s push
would cast
essential ingredients of society start
flying apart? In our fast-paced, high-
cost, stressed-out modern culture, its
foundation - the family - has been
taking a hit.
Financial pressures squeeze
working parents’ disposable time to
a minimum. Our “me-first” ethos
threatens
divorce
force.
At the
for “sexploration”
monogamy as passe; our highest
courts and government are on the
verge of rejecting the one-man/one-
woman definition of marriage that
has been a non-negotiable through
the centuries until recent years.
Quick - things are cracking!
Where’s the glue?
Our most ancient religious texts
emphasize a view of marriage as a
mysteriously important and
indissoluble bond designed to apply
only to two persons of opposite
sex.
The second chapter of Genesis
describes the first such union as a
miraculous recombination of what
was formerly a single substance,
made into two complementary parts;
“So the Lord God caused the man to
fall into a deep sleep; and while he
was sleeping, he took one of the
man’s ribs ana closed up the place
with flesh. Then the Lord God made
a woman from the rib he had taken
out of the man, and he brought her to
the man. The man said, “This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
For this reason a man will leave
his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and they will become
one flesh.” The Hebrew verb for
“united” means literally “to
cling, stick, cleave, be joined
together”.
Adam recognized in Eve someone
who was meant for him. Though
encouraged that MP Paul
MELVILLE
Welcome
Three girls joined Belgrave Guides at the recent enrollment
ceremony. New members are, from left: Gabriel Carter,
Laura Higgins and Rebecca Guy. (Vicky Bremner photo)
‘Pte&ie jaift co, fan
Sunday, January 16
Morning Worship Service -10 a.m.
Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m.
liming,
Mrtiaii Tellomfup
January 16—1 Thess. 2
A Convincing Witness
We offer Junior
AND Senior
Sunday School &
Nursery during
Sermon
Christ-centred, Bible-believing,
Fellowship-friendly, Growth-geared
10:30 a.m. ~ Contemporary Worship
& Sunday School
at Blyth Public School, f
corner of King & Mill
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 523-4848
www.getlivingwater.orgy
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Joan Golden - Diaconal Student Minister
Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wcl.on.ca
Sunday, January 16
Ethel United Church
9:30 a.m.
Worship Service & Sunday School
Brussels United Church
11:00 a.m.
Worship Service & Sunday School
Celebration of the Season of Epiphany
BRUSSELS
January 16
11:00 a.m. - Sunday Morning Service
- Sunday School
9:30 a.m. - Sunday Belgrave Service
Wheelchair accessible
Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
Blyth United Church
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Sunday, January 16
Worship Service & Sunday School
11:00 a.m.
Minister: Rev. Dr. Eugen Bannerman
Office: 523-4224
Blyth United Church is a welcoming community of faith.
We celebrate God's presence through worship and study, and through
responding to the needs and gifts of each other.
HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
MISSIONARY CHURCH
SINGASONQOF
is a
Auburn - 526-1131
PASTOR DAVE WOOD
Sunday 9:30 a.m.Family Bible Hour
10:30 a.m.- Morning Worship Service
7:30 p.m.- Evening Worship Service
Tuesday 7:15 p.m.Youth Bible Study
Wednesday 6:30 p.m.- Crusaders for grades JK-6
7:00 p.m.- Adult Bible Study
z>
Coflimunity ChurC£
'The Church is not a
Building,
\ It is People Touching
Sunday 9:15 a.m.
9:45 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
People"
- Prayer Meeting
- Sunday School
- Worship Service
Phone 523-4875 308 Blyth Rd. E. ~ Pastor Les Cook 523-4590