Sanctuary Garden Seeks Green Donors…

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to let you know about a non-profit group called “The Sanctuary Project Society” which is currently helping Metro Turning Point Shelter develop their ornamental garden.

As many of you know (and have experienced), FMC has regularly participated in Metro Turning Point’s “Street Walk” which aims to educate people about the challenges of street life and what we can do to support the efforts of local shelters and organizations. Check out our post from back in the fall about Metro Turning point for more information.

As far as I can recall, the point of the garden is to offer people a place to rest and get in touch with the beauty of the world. It’s definately an important effort.

If you’re interested in donating some of the plants/flowers, please see the list below and contact Kelly Colleen at missionkelly@yahoo.ca.

Thanks to Leslie M for bringing this to our blog and stay tuned for pictures…

Shrubs and Vines:

1 Japense Pieris 3 Dwarf Rhodo 1 Leucothoe

2 Pyramidal Yew 1 Golden Ninebark 5 Boston Ivy

3 Lime or golden Barberry 1 Climbing Hydrangea

Perennials

Sedges or shade tolerant ornamental grasses Astilbe

Columbine Bellflower (upright) Ligularia

Heuchera (any intersting color varieties) Bergenia (Pigsqueak)

Hosta (a few only) Lungwort (Pulmonaria)

Masterwort (Astrantia) Goosenecked Lossestrife

Lady’s Mantle Solomon’s Seal Ferns Daylily

News From Malawi

The Following was sent to us this past week from L. Maclean, who represents FMC as a representative of the outreach committee.  FMC continues to support this health clinic in Malawi, and this is a bit of exciting news to share!

Dear Leslie,

My sincere apologies for the delay in reporting back after receiving the funds for the Easter meals. This is because I wanted us to spend all the money first and then give you a complete account. Unfortunately what we want to spend the surplus money for, after buying meals for 4 days, is currently unavailable at the suppliers. We have an acute shortage of elbow crutches, so we thought we could buy some locally made ones because it would make us get more, than just a few if we got the imported western made ones. The problem is that the rings that go around the elbow are the component that is currently missing and I’m not sure when they will be in. That is why I have decided to let you know what has happened so far.

Since the money was for buying food for the 4 days of Easter, we decided to buy food for 4 days of the weekend that followed. The patients were very happy with that after explaining the source of funding, so that they are not surprised as to why they are having good meals which they usually don’t have. As the needs are many in the centre, we thought we should use the surplus on what will help many of them with their independence, the elbow crutches.

We will inform you again when the crutches are finished. Attached are some of the photographs of some patients and the food we bought for the 4 days.

Thank you for your usual support
Simunji

Booze, Good Friday, & The CBC

Well, you might ask just what do these things have in common? An on-camera interview, that’s what. On Good Friday the CBC rang us up at FMC looking for an on-camera interview, asking how the church felt about bars being open on Good Friday here in Halifax. Yep, that’s right (and no, we weren’t the first to turn them down). I think we missed a good opportunity for conversation though…

It wasn’t a call concerning the church’s opinion on how HRM is being gobbled up by a condo building frenzie without thinking about community housing for our homeless and working poor. It wasn’t a call wondering about how local churches are supporting international aid projects such as our project for Malawi, or constant fundraising for the Mission and Service Fund in the United Church, which connects local Haligonians with their brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. It wasn’t a call interested in hearing about how many calls we got about needing food or heating oil, and the incredible work of outreach centers like Brunswick St. Mission.

Just take a look at these interesting stories in just a few of our United Churches alone: http://www.fortmasseychurch.com/out.htm, http://www.stjohnsunited.com/outreach.htm, www.stjohnsunited.com/newsletter.html (Javier de Leon, a mining resistance leader in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, Guatemala), http://www.stmatts.ns.ca/partners.html…and that’s only a small sample of what’s online!

What they did want to film was probably an irate minister reacting to the news that yes, on the day traditionally held as the Friday Christ died for the world, “sinners” are slinging beers rather than singing prayers in our pews. (Did anyone see an on camera interview on the news about this??)

I get much of my news from CBC, and I’m a devoted CBC radio one and two listener. I understand the media’s need to sell a story – to get a reaction so people will tune in. But there’s so much more we could be talking about at this time of year.

Nova Scotia is no stranger to the tensions between the church’s traditions and calendar holidays or laws. The Sunday Shopping controversy makes that quite clear. Personally, I think the seperation of church and state is important for a genuinely multi-cultural society such as Canada. We don’t live in Christendom anymore, and that’s ok!

As the CBC themselves took note of in a recent online article, about only 36% of Canadians who have a church connection attend once a month, let alone each Sunday. (see http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_binks/20080318.html. I think the CBC has taken it down though…)

So what do you think? Should the church’s traditions influence whether bars, stores, or government offices be open or closed?

As I see it from the corner of Queen & Tobin – I don’t think so. But what I would continue to advocate, just I think Jesus and the writers of our First Testament did, is that all of us need time for Sabbath. It need not be a religious prescription for rest – but we all need time out of our increasingly stress filled lives for our mental, physical, and certainly spiritual well-being. So even if the day comes when nothing closes for Easter or Good Friday, we still need rest.

The folks who man the tills and keep the retail machine running have a right to a day off with their families…and with themselves…

Good News: God’s Messangers Among us…

Over the past few Sundays here at FMC, we’ve had plenty of reasons to contemplate God’s presence in our community.

A few weeks ago, I went about my normal routine in the office: coffee cup in hand, check the messages and the emails…the latter of which seem to pour in every few days.

Among the pile of junk mail that floods our accounts (and yes, Trent and I are convinced filters just do not work for us), I got the following message:

“Dear Rev. Cleveland-Thompson,

I am the Parish Nurse for my church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our congregation at Pikes Peak United Methodist Church is taking a virtual Walk to Jerusalem for Easter. We are all logging our personal exercise as miles and plan to be in Jerusalem by Easter. This is a way to enhance our physical and spiritual growth. Along the virtual way we are stopping at sister churches and it looks like your church is the closest to a Methodist church in Halifax where we arrive on this Sunday with our collective miles from last week.

I found your website and will share about your church and its ministry this Sunday. We are a praying church. I will ask for a prayer for your continued growth in Christ’s ministry in Canada during our congregational payers this Sunday, February 3.

It is exciting to see all the ways you are reaching out to the community and furthering Christ’s mission in the world.

May God continue to bless your work.

Alice Shartran, RN Parish Nurse”

And just when you thought no one visits church websites (or blogs for that matter!)…

I wonder sometimes what it was like for one of Paul’s many churches to receive a letter and read it in worship together. What did it feel like? What did it look like?

Although this message of 1′s and 0′ was sent over thousands of kilometers in an instant, the effect of sharing it in worship wasn’t just electric – it was joyous and full of wonder. Who knew that a church in Colorado was even thinking us – let alone praying for our ministry and service in the world!

So Alice, and Pikes Peak United Methodist Church , if you’re reading this, know that a church on the east coast of Canada is thinking of you all and praying for your Journey in lent. Like you, our sisters and brothers in Christ, we seek to follow Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem.

May God bless you and keep you, and give you peace,
Now and always,

Your Friends at FMC

5 Questions ~ Few Answers: An attempt to show solidarity with the homeless of Halifax

Christians have a well worn mantra, “faith means action”. It sounds so simple and straightforward, but Whose faith are we talking about? What action is needed and what are we willing to do exactly? When do we act? Are we reacting to or discerning needs in our world? Where is the right place to act? In our own backyard or across another continent? Why do we act? Is God calling me to act, or am I acting out of my own sense of priveledge and ergo, guilt, into helping others?

Who-What-When-Where-Why does faith mean action?

Well, together with a small group of determined folks from FMC, I got a chance to explore that question one stormy night in Halifax. Our church was invited to join the Executive Director of Metro Turning Point (A Local Men’s Shelter) for a walk that would be rather unusual for us all. The point of the walk was to imagine ourselves as people, who at all manner of ages, show up in Halifax alone, hungry, and determined to make a life for themselves.

It was, so to speak, to put our faith in someone else’s shoes…and walk.

I thought this was a great idea. I was all for it. Faith in action right? Let’s go for the gusto!! Except by the time the evening rolled around, I was recovering from a cold, juggling the end of term chaos of a Master’s Student, and generally, looking out the window and feeling as tired as the weather was. Rain. Cold. Wind. It’s incredible how fast our resolve can melt in the face of even minor inconvenience. In the end, I sucked it up and hit the streets.

All six of us gathered in the basement of Metro Turning Point with the ED. After a warm greeting and some time for introductions, we got ready to face life on the street. But before all six of us could saunter out into the night, wrapped in our thick parka’s and water resistant boots (we were really roughing it…), the ED gave us five questions that we needed to answer by the end of the walk:

1) Where will you sleep tonight?

2) What will you do for food?

3) Where will you use the bathroom?

4) What will you do for money?

5) What will you do to pass the time?

As we set out to scour the downtown streets of Halifax, we got no farther than five meters before realizing how difficult these questions were. I can’t sleep here – it’s too bright and there’s only one way out. What if someone tries to attack me in the night? Will I steal food? Run through dumpsters of that local pizza shop on the corner? Beg? If I’m going to use the bathroom – where? Can’t go to the mall – no bus tickets. Gas Station/Convenience store? “NO LOITERING”. It’s the middle of the night…where can I go for money? Social Services? Closed. The ED noted the often stark choice, especially for younger people on the street: prostitution for women and drug dealing for men. Although the two are by no means mutually exclusive, they are quite possibly the most viable alternatives.

Everything was a risky choice and often, an uphill battle. As we walked in the wind and rain, we realized just how vulnerable we were. We were strangers in someone else’s city. We learned to read the graffitti tags that set out other people’s turf. Reading the city scape is a life skill when the streets become home.

These shoes were hard to walk in. They were cold. Unforgiving. Squeeky with the water clogged soles and heavy with the weight they were carrying.

After we got back, we had time to unpack the experience. We were disturbed. We were passionate. We even found ways to laugh.

The reality was that faith in action was possible and viable for all of us. Each of us could treat people on the street as dignified human beings. Get to know them. Have a conversation, maybe pass along a hot drink on a cold day. Support programs like Metro Turning Point and the dedicated people who continue to face tough odds in continuing their mission. Educate each other and become a community partner working to change the abhorrent lack of action in HRM on poverty, homelessness, and hunger. We could remember that in the busy schemes of our lives, there is great suffering in the world. But there is also the possibility of a community’s response in love and justice.

And most of all…we could pray. We could dare to dream of a world where lions really will lay down with lambs as Isaiah proclaims. Where the relationships of injustice are undone, and God’s love becomes the in-breaking kingdom among and for us all. Jesus was first and foremost about God’s love, for God’s people. As the gospel tells it, a lot of those people are on the street in HRM.

I was proud this past week, that FMC delivered some forty stuffed gift bags of important items to Brunswick Street Mission. It’s not going to stop homelessness, and by ourselves, neither is our church.  But it is a commitment and a sign of awareness.

Like many gifts of God’s grace, that night is in some small way a seed, planted in the soil of faith. The challenge is to believe that something can and will grow from it. Some-thing, some people, that will drive poverty out from the land.

In anticipation of such a day,

Amen