News from the Pews

“Six years ago I knew nothing about mental illness or what the signs were to look for, nor did people in my church, even after I was hospitalized twice in one year. Some church members diagnosed me as demon possessed; I knew I wasn’t because I was in Christ. The first time I was hospitalized the doctors sent me right back home, saying that I just had a very strong faith. Almost jumping out of a vehicle and thinking that God’s angels were going to catch me is a little more than having a strong faith….Take this journey with me and see how an unwell mentally ill person thinks and behaves.”

This clip and song from the Broadway production Rent reveals the honest and raw fear of those living with HIV/AIDS. The song takes place at a Life Support group meeting for people suffering with illness and grief. Based on a real encounter, the song was inspired by a man’s confession that he was not afraid of dying, but he was afraid that he would he lose his dignity if people knew about his disease because of the stigma associated with it. The lyrics, “Will I lose my dignity?

I’m no art critic, much less a patron of the arts, but on the principle that even a blind squirrel finds an occasional nut, I managed to stumble across Jungen’s striking work.

We knew the basics; we knew would be staying at the Indigenous Family Center (IFC) in the north end of Winnipeg, we knew we would be helping around the community, and we knew that we wanted to make a difference in the lives of those we served. What we certainly didn’t expect, was that they would also make a difference in our lives.

Two years ago marked the first time I heard the acronym "CAMC." After responding to a posting for the need for camp counsellors to go to a First Nations reserve in Northern Ontario on the ServiceLink website, I became instantly connected to some amazing CRC staff that were passionate about social justice and had their sights set on developing and growing reconciled relationships with their Indigenous neighbours.

Timothy, to me, proved beyond a doubt that my people were racists. Just a few weeks ago, at a restaurant in Berwyn, Illinois, I listened to four retired white men remember that era in their lives, four men who were part of the community that rejected those black children

First, let me tell you how we came to be refugees. In Putumayo, Colombia, we were very scared of the national army as well as the rebels.

My mom called and wanted me to pick her up so she could rest and be ready for work the next day. This is not an unusual request in and of itself, but my mom is an alcoholic and today she was under the influence. 

My wife and I travelled to India in October to visit relatives and friends. We have been there several times in the past 45 years and clearly, changes over that period are dramatic. Moving around parts of Delhi or hundreds of other cities throughout the subcontinent, the ambience appears to be more and more like that of cities anywhere else in the world. For visitors and for the growing middle class in India, life has become much more comfortable than it was four decades ago.

What happens in the Plaster Creek watershed has far reaching effects.