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United Church Speaks: Pleased to belong, pleased with outreach

Submitted column by Rosemary Manarin, on behalf of Castlegar United Church
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United Church of Canada

Although September is a busy time or even because it is, back to school, back to church, reflection on what is important in life, to our soul, our community and God’s creation can help to keep us on track.

I’m happy to be a part of our church, the United Church of Canada because attending worship services on Sundays not only nurtures my soul but also is a good place to both express and reinforce gratitude for the life we live here and to center ourselves on love for others and our world and the hope that empowers us.

When I was younger, curiosity took me on travels through the Middle East, Kurdistan, Iran, and Asia, Afghanistan, India, Burma and Nepal. Sometimes it was off the beaten track and always what is now called “budget travel.” Images of the crowding, the poverty, and the hardships people faced in their day to day life are still vivid for me. I will always remember the women I saw carrying large bundles of wood that they had gone out and gathered to make their cooking fires, children working in bare feet in teashops and carpet factories, and "drinking water” as we know it was non-existent.

Recently, in Cuba and Guatemala I have seen that millions of people there too, live in these comparably impoverished conditions even now. In Guatemala for example it is the Mayan women in the mountains who must still search out and carry wood for use in their cooking fires. Living here in Canada, it is difficult for many to imagine. We are a lucky few.

Becoming a member of the United Church of Canada, whose priority has always been social justice, to be a voice for the poor, has felt like a good fit for me. I feel uplifted to know that our church is involved in mission and partnering here in Canada and abroad to help alleviate poverty and better the life of others. Every year our church, Castlegar United, sends funds to outreach projects in Canada and throughout the world through its Mission and Service Fund. The trend has moved from so called “mission work” and “doing for” to partnering with local agencies in the country involved, “doing with” and empowering others.

Outreach locally includes our Sharing Dinner Pot project, the weekly hot dinner service, supporting the Harvest Food Bank and “going green” in an effort to respect our environment which is God’s creation.

The United Church emphasizes the teaching of Jesus, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” which includes respect one another’s differences. “Neighbour” refers to people in your community and as well as people around the world. This teaching guides us to work for the common good of all people here in our community and out in the world. Ours is a living faith, expressed in action and thoughtful involvement in society.

Hopefully life in these busy times can and will integrate faith in action.

 

By Rosemary Manarin

 

“We cannot own the sunlit sky, the moon, the wildflowers growing, for we are part of all that is within life’s river flowing.

With open hands receive and share the gifts of God’s creation,

That all may have abundant life in oneness with their neighbour.”

 

Excerpt from Hymn by Ruth Duck