Submit your letters to Brad Wassink, at ac.jpc@darb or 309 Cooper Street, #501, Ottawa, ON K2P 0G5.
God’s Call to Reconcile
God’s focus in the world (or mission, if we use church-y words) is all about reforming and restoring relationships. This work is primarily done through God’s communal life (the Trinity) and through the call to the church. If our primary focus or purpose is one of reforming and restoring relationships, then as Canadians we have no need to look further than our relationship with the Indigenous people of Canada. This is not about doing good or doing what is right. It is about doing God’s work, which is ultimately what we are about as Christians in the world.
Mike Hogeterp, in his Spring 2015 article, “Reconciliation is Sacred Work,” provides an articulate and well-written reflection of what that sacred work can be about and provides some practical ways to live within this reconciliatory and restorative life. We have hard work ahead of us but it is not insurmountable. If we listen to the voices of our Indigenous neighbours, we can hear God’s voice calling, enlightening, and restoring us as one.
Bishop Elaine Sauer
Winnipeg, MB
CPJ’s New Mission Statement
Jim Dekker’s article (“Of Pigsties, Stewardship, and the Flourishing of Creation” – Spring 2015) brought out two factors that matter to me personally. The first is that when we talk about the environment we are talking about what is basic and essential for life itself. Sometimes it seems as though we have a colonist’s attitude towards the earth – take everything quickly and then move on. But where do we think we are moving on to? It is within this place that we must find everything needed to survive and flourish. As such, this earth is to be taken care of, to be cared for.
Second is the concept of serving. And there’s the rub. To serve means laying aside pride and self-interest. It means putting the welfare of someone or something else ahead of my convenience and my desires. This serving is to be done in an alert and assertive manner. Taking CPJ’s new mission statement seriously means that we will need to give time, energy, heart, and money
Valerie Kennedy
Edmonton, AB
