You may have seen them around the church, hanging out with their folks, or nibbling cookies during coffee hour. We have a handful of folks who have been hiding in the shadows, and last week I decided they have come to St. James often enough that I am officially declaring them a part of our "Youth Family."
Marie-Claire comes every second week with her Dad. They have a cottage, so on the weeks she isn't with us, she is probably someplace really nice, wishing us happy thoughts.
Rhys and his brother Rolando came out for the Black History Celebration last week, but it wasn't their first time at St. James. I know I've seen them around before. Rhys likes snowboarding, and Rolando plays football. (Also, I think I spelled their names wrong).
Laura is the oldest in her family. We met while we were in line for roti and beans and rice. She has a great smile, and looks like she might give Lynne a real challenge at Jeopardy.
Please be sure to extend a hand to these new members of our family, and make sure they feel welcome!
Chris
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
PWRDF Coming to visit!
Simon Chambers, the youth facilitator for the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) will be coming to St. James to discuss opportunities for us to make a difference around the world. We hope you will join us!
Simon will be coming to St. James on February 28th and making a presentation on rehabilitating Child Soldiers in Burundi, and on the PWRDF's work in Haiti following the Earthquake. In preparation for this event, we suggest you think of opportunites to work to make our community and our world a better place, with a focus on Social Justice. Since I didn't know what social justice is, I went to Wikipedia to find out...
"...social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution or even property redistribution, policies aimed toward achieving that which developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity and equality of outcome than may currently exist in some societies or are available to some classes in a given society..."
That didn't clear things up much so here is my take on what social justice is. Social justice is seeing someone who is hurting, either economically, socially, physically, or emotionally, and taking the time to care. Really, its pretty simple. You think about the person, you imagine yourself in their situation, you ask how Christ would help them, and then you do it.
In the PWRDF there are a few groups that the church specifically tries to help, hoping that a concentrated effort with a few partners will have a greater impact than a scattered effort across many fronts. As youth we have the opportunity to help, and Simon will show us where we can make a difference. You can read about the opportunities ahead of time by going here: www.justgeneration.ca
See you on Sunday!
Chris
Simon will be coming to St. James on February 28th and making a presentation on rehabilitating Child Soldiers in Burundi, and on the PWRDF's work in Haiti following the Earthquake. In preparation for this event, we suggest you think of opportunites to work to make our community and our world a better place, with a focus on Social Justice. Since I didn't know what social justice is, I went to Wikipedia to find out...
"...social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution or even property redistribution, policies aimed toward achieving that which developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity and equality of outcome than may currently exist in some societies or are available to some classes in a given society..."
That didn't clear things up much so here is my take on what social justice is. Social justice is seeing someone who is hurting, either economically, socially, physically, or emotionally, and taking the time to care. Really, its pretty simple. You think about the person, you imagine yourself in their situation, you ask how Christ would help them, and then you do it.
In the PWRDF there are a few groups that the church specifically tries to help, hoping that a concentrated effort with a few partners will have a greater impact than a scattered effort across many fronts. As youth we have the opportunity to help, and Simon will show us where we can make a difference. You can read about the opportunities ahead of time by going here: www.justgeneration.ca
See you on Sunday!
Chris
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