The Citizen, 2003-07-16, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2003.
From the Minister's Study
About an unexplained love tSt. Michael's ju
Roman Catholic Church yf
By Pastor Brent Kipfer
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
“I hope that your listeners do not
think that I’m completely mad.”
Two weeks ago, David Hunt
explained to CBC radio’s Mary Lou
Finlay why he and his wife both quit
well-paying jobs, sold their house
and moved 480 kilometres south in
search of their lost dog.
In May 2002, David and Nicola
Hunt returned home from vacation
to find that their dog Holly had run
away from the kennel where she had
been staying. They were deva
stated. Every weekend they left their
home in Manchester, England and
drove south to Cornwall in order to
look for Holly.
After six months of searching,
they were exhausted. It was time to
either give up or to move south.
They chose to move.
Finlay asked Mr. Hunt, “Why is it
so important for you to find this
particular dog?”
“Well, it’s not a ‘particular dog’.
When I took Holly from a dogs’
[rescue] home...I made a
commitment and the commitment
was that I would look after her. You
know, she had obviously had a really
traumatic time in the past. I
managed to bring her around, to get
her to trust me and she turned into
the most trusted, most loving, warm
little thing that you’ve ever seen in
your life. So now she’s running
around in a place that she is not
familiar with - and I just think it’s
wrong. It’s not right. She needs to
be brought back into the
environment that I know she thrives
in.”
Incomprehensible. Absurd! All
this disruption for a family pet? It
baffles me. Why this relentless
pursuit of a stray mutt? How can you
account for such extreme devotion?
They have gone overboard. It’s
crazy!
Kind of like God’s love for
us.
How can you explain the cross of
Jesus Christ? Why would God go to
such great lengths to search us out
and bring us back home? Why
would Jesus pay such a cost for
people who keep turning their backs
on him and running away?
Jesus could have commuted back
and forth from heaven every day in a
fiery chariot. It would have been
safer. Instead, he moved into our
own neighbourhood and lived with
us: constrained as a human embryo,
born into a refugee family, a
carpenter who brought good news, a
friend of the outcast, betrayed by his
friends and killed by his enemies.
Why would Jesus do all this for
us?
In Romans 5:8, Paul says that,
"...God proves his love for us in that
while we still were sinners Christ
died for us. ”
Like David and Nicola Hunt, Jesus
has his reasons.
Look at those chops
Ken Jones tends to the grill at the Brussels St. John’s
Anglican Church annual pork chop barbecue on Sunday.
Many dinner goers were having a hard time choosing from
all the scrumptious-looking desserts. (Sarah Mann photo)
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
We aiift luo-idtip uiitA United
/a* tAe mantA e-f July
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
Sr HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL^!
MISSIONARY CHURCH
Auburn - 526-1131
PASTOR DAVE WOOD - 523-4941
Sunday 9:30 a.m. - Family Bible Hour
10:30 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
7:30 p.m. - Evening Worship Servie
Wednesday 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.- Youth
7:15 p.m. - Adult Bible Study
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Joan Golden - Diaconal Student Minister
Church Office 887-6259
254 Drummond St. E., Blyth
Saturday Night Mass
at 7:00 pm
Father John Johnson, Pastor
357-2435
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
‘Wetowted CftMC to CMIC CWVtd/lcfa cuitd CCd
Sunday, July 20
6TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
HOLY EUCHARIST
Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels
9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m.
The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273
Cornerstone
Bible
Fellowship
Ethel
Communion - 9:45 - 10:30
Family Bible Hour and Sunday School ~ 11:00 - 12:00
Prayer & Bible Study - Tuesday 8 p.m.
Ladies' Time Out - The last Thursday of each month
7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
John 14:6 - Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, no
one comes to the Father, but through Me."
Everyone Welcome
Call Pastor Andrew Thursdays or Fridays at 887-6123
C,offttnun^y Churc/j
''The Church is not a
Building,
It is People Touching
' People"
SUMMER SCHEDULE
Sunday 11:00 am Worship Service
(Junior Church during service)
Spiritual Healing Seminar ~ Thurs., July 31 & Fri., Aug. 1 at 7:00 pm
For more information call: Gail Bailey 523-9796, Mary Marsh 482-9623
(No products or services will be sold)
Phone 523-4875 308 Blyth Rd. E. ~ Pastor Les Cook 523-4590
Blyth United Church
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Sunday, July 20
Worship Service & Sunday School
11:00 a.m.
Service lead by Ollie Craig
’McCumm,
Minister: Rev. Dr. Eugen Bannerman
Office: 523-4224
July 20
Ethel United Church
Worship Service 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
11:00 a.m.
E-mail - bepc@wcl.on.ca
Worship Service
We welcome our neighbours from Melville Presbyterian Church
Come to worship and share in the Good News!
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.
July 20:
Missionaries
Shaun &
Melanie
Humphreys
Location Change: ARENA HALL
"Evangelical Missionary Church"
g
g
g
g g
10:30 a.m. ~
Q| Contemporary Worship
3
3
3
'Ptetoe join fa,
Sunday, July 20
Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m.
Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m.
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
£ Pastor: Ernest Dow - 523-4848 g
www.tcc.on.ca/~dowfam g
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible
Sunday, July 20
Outdoor Worship Service 10:00 a.m.
at
Howard & Alice Martin's, Brussels
Mettnanile SMaui&fiip
‘Uletc&meA y,aa
S,amity Stay
Noon Potluck Meal
No service at the church
Pastor Brent Kipfer 887-6388