The Citizen, 2016-02-11, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2016.
From the Minister's Study
Take stock of the mentors of your life
By Rev. Gary Clark
Blyth and Brussels
United Churches
This past week a good friend and
colleague passed away from cancer
at 51. Her name was JungHee Park
and I knew her through my partner
Kathy. JungHee was a minister and
scholar who studied with Kathy.
She was quiet and thoughtful,
spiritually minded and passionately
grounded in seeing justice done on
earth as it is in heaven. The numbers
of people from several congre-
gations and ministers from all over
Ontario who came to her funeral
bear witness to our shared respect
and honour for her and all she
accomplished in her short life.
This leads me to reflect on the
amazing uphill slog it is for any
refugees or immigrants that come to
our fair land. The language barrier,
the subtle and not so subtle
prejudices, the cultural oddities that
make us Canadians unique and just
finding a place where they can call
home. All challenging work for
anyone new. When I think of the
folks around here who are first
generation newcomers I cannot help
but admire their pluck and that they
seem so solid and grounded. Very
little has been handed to them. The
amazing thing is that this struggle
for the most part has not made them
cold or spiteful toward we who have
had it easy.
JungHee faced prejudice as a
number of congregations heard her
accent and didn't call her to be their
minister. They assumed that the
wisdom she had wasn't worth the
effort of trying to decipher the
English from the accent. Boy were
they wrong. For the bold
congregations that accepted her and
her accent they discovered amazing
wisdom, compassionate pastoral
care and a new vision of the world in
which they lived. They discovered a
treasure. I wonder about how many
treasures of first generation
Canadians or of us long -timers are
walked by and left undiscovered? I
wonder if we might consider
ourselves as one of those treasures?
A person walks into an office
looking for a job. The employer
Brussels
Mennonite
Fellowship
250 Princess St., Brussels
519-887-6388
www.bmfchurch.com
Pastor Ken Gazley
Worship Service 10:00 am
Sunday School 11:15 am
Guests Welcome
Jesus Is Lord!
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Notteir
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Feb. 14: Romans 12:2
Guest Speaker
GARY LISLE
"Dealing with
ANTS"
Evangelical Missionary Church
Tues. 7:30 pm Small Group at G&M Lisle's
Wed. 10:00 am "Coffee Break" Women's Bible Study at CRC
Sun. Apr. 10, 7:00 pm "Faith -In -Song"
Christian Music Concert at CRC
10:30 a.m. -- Worship & Sunday School ri
at 308 Blyth Rd. (former Church of God) I
Pastor: Ernest Dow - 519-523-4848
getlivingwater.org,
looks at their resume and is
impressed by it. They say something
like this: "You have done well for
yourself. In my experience there is
almost always someone who has
served as a friend or mentor to
provide motivation and assistance in
a life such as yours. Who played
that role for you?"
Take a moment to ask that
question of yourself. Who were the
mentors in your life? Write their
names down on a piece of paper. I
think they deserve at least that
amount of effort for the effort they
put into making you the man or
woman you have become.
For people of the Christian faith
we look to Jesus as one kind of
mentor. We can try to learn from his
wisdom and clarity of mission. Or
we can emulate his courage and
confidence. We set as our guide the
way he was with all kinds of people
from all walks of life and how he
opened to them the love of God.
Maybe as we look at that list of
mentors we might find those very
same qualities that have been and
will always be a part of Jesus. Do
you possess any of them and have
you made the effort to pass those
qualities along?
You know it is sad that rarely do
we take stock of our own lives
looking for both who mentored us
and whom have we mentored except
at the time of a funeral. Have we
been active in the community? Have
we been part of the nurturing stream
of volunteerism that makes our
communities tick? Have we been
leaders, followers or both? Or have
we left little behind in the individual
•
' (' U re :y"nriteJ J(
SUNDAYS
Morning Service
Evening Service
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10:00 am
7:30 pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
1Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen
`}j \ Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743
ANGLICAN PARISH OF NEW BEGINNINGS
United
Church
WORSHIP
AND SUNDAY
Minister:
Church
ii,ik
BLYTH BRUSSELS
;r9in.i5itarny St. John's
11:15 am
6-
Church Office Church Office
or
le
i519-357-4883 519-887-6862
Everyone Welcome!
www.nabcom.ca/church
COME WORSHIP WITH US!
Am
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Staddel4 &matfett, Vac &god
Sunday, February 14
You're Znvited Brussels Business & Cultural Centre
at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
to come worshiy
.,� Sunday School for children
with us 4 to 12 years of age at 9:30 a.m.
_ — y Childcare provided for infants and
`�f� preschoolers during the sermon.
Coffee & cookies after the morning service.
For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621
Steve Klumpenhower 519.292.0965 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
Blyth United
Worship Service & Sunday
�•
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THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH
CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS.
OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
MINISTER: Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. 6, OFFICE: 519-523-4224
Brussels:
..-� T
St. Ambrose
Saturday
6:00 p.m.
17 Flora Street
:.. Wingham:
Sacred Heart
Sunday
y , 9:00 a.m.
'iii " 220 Carling Terrace
Listowel:
St. Joseph's
.,.,.. Sunday
,ii., " 441 r. iti 11:00 a.m.
1025 Wallace Avenue N.
lives or community around us? Have
we made our life count?
The songwriter Jim Cowan gives
us these lines. "When it's all been
said and done, all my treasures will
mean nothing. Only what I've
done for love's reward will stand
the test of time."
JungHee's memory will stand that
test of time. And there is no time like
the present to ask, will yours? If you
think it won't, then there is still time
to become the person you were
mentored to be.
United
Church
WORSHIP
AND SUNDAY
Minister:
Church
SERVICE
SCHOOL 11:00 am
All Welcome
Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M.Div.
Bulletin notices: 519-523-4224
blythunited(atcc.on.ca
6-
bookings: 519-887-6377
Other concerns: 226-963-1175
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN
BRUSSELS
Rev. Elwin Garland
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY
We invite you to join
Worship & Sunday
Coffee & Snacks
CHURCH -".
+ ' ,..
14
our church family in:
School - 10 am
- 11 am
,1
Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm - Soup & More 2
- a free community meal held in Melville's basement, and
made possible by the Brussels churches working together.
Nursery care available
519-887-9017
Blyth United
Worship Service & Sunday
�•
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Church
Est. 1875
School at 10 a.m.
Sunday,
February 14
"The Unwanted CaII"
Sunday, February 21
"The Wrong Number"
AR 1Neicome
MINISTER: Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. 6, OFFICE: 519-523-4224
YOUR
...
HURONTCHAPEL
Every Sunday
REACH
POTENTIAL!
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fJ `a
in Auburn @ 10:30am
HuronChapel.com