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Hi Rural Folks Across Canada!
This is our eighth monthly eNews, which shares more information of rural ministry initiatives across Canada, mostly in the United Church of Canada.
Welcome to our new subscribers.
Past eNewsletters are archived at www.UCRMN.ca
Have a rural story you would like to share? You are welcome to submit your story to Connor at editor@UCRMN.ca. Please try to keep articles 300 to 500 words.
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Helping Others to Better Understand Rural Canada
The UCRMN was approached by the United Church (in November) to provide help with the Canadian Council for Farm Animals (CCFA’s) Faith Committee (a request we found out came from Robert Oliphant - an United Church minister who is also a member of Ontario Parliament). When I checked out the CCFA’s Webpage, I found their experiences did not concur with my personal experiences growing up on an Ontario Dairy Farm.
I was born and raised on a dairy farm in Oxford County and know how much we cared for our farm animals. My Dad said the cows are like employees - look after them and they will look after you. My Mom knew each of the almost two hundred cows by name and knew most of their information, such as breeding, production, and even their ancestry. Several other folks also commented on their experiences being much different from what CCFA shows.
Catherine Christie and I wondered how we as the United Church Rural Ministry Network, might move forward. Was there an opportunity to connect with CCFA and offer our positive experiences from farmers and farming organizations (as many of us live and breath Rural)? Yet we pondered, what "if" what is on the website is true - then we (the UCRMN, including farmers who care) need to call this injustice. We arranged a Zoom Call with the CCFA.
We had a good conversation sharing with each other our experiences. We talked about factory farms and Corporate Farms. We suggested that most family farms are indeed “Corporate Farms”, as the family has many millions of dollars invested. Ownership in a Corporation allows the farm to be passed to the next generations - but they are still family farms.
We felt that CCFA were open to the dialogue. In fact, they invited UCRMN to share our positive feedback stories. We have agreed to meet again “sometime" in the future.
We wanted to be able to see what “they" see - even if we do not agree.
Is that one of the purposes of the United Church Rural Ministry Network? We are thinking we have the wisdom of Rural Canada in the United Church (collectively) to share with those who see our “Rural” differently. Many of us in Rural have been told we are not important. We believe that we are very important and we have lots to offer to this great Country of Canada.
In a recent Zoom Conversation with the Toronto United Church Council – it was mentioned that many rural churches understand resiliency, diversity and living on tight budgets. The Rural Churches have been providing ministry to their communities with that reality for years. Our Suburban and Urban Churches are feeling these realities (maybe for the first time) during the Pandemic. We have lots of wisdom to share with our Siblings in Christ.
What do they see that we don’t see? In conversation, we can better understand their views, even if we do not agree. Isn’t that what diversity is about.
If you have a positive feedback story you would like to share about your farming experiences, please send it to editor@ucrmn.ca. Let us know if we can share your story with CCFA. Pictures are wonderful examples.
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Mini Workshop on Practical Technology for Rural Churches
by Catherine Christie
Communication is so important to build and maintain community. How do we make our voice heard?
In Mark, chapter 4, we read that Jesus got into Peter’s boat, who rowed out a little from shore so that Jesus, sitting in the boat, could preach to the crowd standing or sitting in the natural amphitheatre of the hill coming down to the lakeshore, enabling them all to hear clearly.
The acoustics of medieval churches which were, of course, ‘unwired’, are marvelous, having features to carry the sound, including stone construction, the architectural motifs (like domes and pulpits high up above the crowd, topped by an ambo (a lid over the pulpit), etc.)
When I was a university student (this was the 1960’s), computers were huge devices, taking up whole buildings and requiring input of all directions in ‘computer-speak’ for any action. I am continually amazed that now my computer, far more powerful than those, can sit on my table, or even be held in my hand. As Martin Dawson in an article in the fall 2020 UCRMN newsletter said, “I am continually amazed at the innovation happening. It was truly fortunate for us, as communities of faith, to have this technology at our fingertips during the Covid 19 crisis. We were quickly able to pivot from our usual “in person” worship and meetings to a number of video conferencing platforms. Thus, we were able to upload services to "YouTube", or live stream them on "Facebook Live" with nothing more than a modern smartphone. It is all so easy, so convenient.”
During Covid, many of us in small and rural churches have learned more than we thought possible about sharing technology, and that learning will well serve the church in the future, enabling a new generation to “let (God’s) teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew” (Deut. 32:2) .
Register to join on March 18, 1 – 3 p.m. (Toronto time) for a Zoom workshop to share our learnings and challenges, and get some useful pointers from those who have been ‘techies in ministry’ for a long time. Cost is $10.
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Want to do your own Online Workshop?
** You supply the topic and the leadership
** UCRMN will supply the logistics, such as; advertising in our monthly ENews, Registration, Zoom platform and all the administration needed for a successful workshop.
Email Connor at office@UCRMN.ca to talk about possibilities.
Why a cost for the workshops?
UCRMN has been granted $5,000 from United Church of Canada Foundation to set up the Network. One of the goals is to make UCRMN self sufficient. The token costs will help with accountability. We are not expecting the $10 cost to cover actual expenses.
We are open to any ideas how we can make UCRMN self sufficient: Please Email info@UCRMN.ca with suggestions.
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Joyce Sasse's Upcoming E-Book
Joyce Sasse is a midwife of the uplifting of rural ministry in Canada. She grew up on a farm in Southern Alberta, studied at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, ordained in 1968 (the only woman in her class and at the ordination). For many years she ministered in Pincher Creek, Alberta, and lives there now in her retirement.
One of her high skills is to have been an observer, a recorder and a communicator of life. She wrote “Country Preacher’s Notebook” numbers 1 and 2. For about a decade she wrote a weekly column, ‘Spiritual Vignettes’, for The Western Producer and other local papers in Southern Alberta. When that contract ended, she continued to write ‘Country Preacher’s Notes’, weekly blogs found on the CiRCLe M website. After recovering from a stroke, she has resumed those blogs, primarily using the Senior’s Home in which she lives as a resource.
The executive of UCRMN recommended Joyce for an Honorary Doctorate at the 2021 convocation of St. Andrew’s College. Our recommendation was approved to our delight and the highlighting of rural ministry.
Joyce is working on an autobiography, in the form of an E-book, which will be available on ucrmn.ca for free downloading, at the cost of a donation to UCRMN. It will be a historic document for rural ministry in Canada. Watch for it to be ready!
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Easter Musings
By Joyce Sasse
“Why seek the living among the dead?” the angel at the tomb told Jesus’ followers. “He is not here!”
Our Lenten Musings have taken us on a journey of discovery. We have looked closely at the practices of the Christian Church during the first thousand years BCE.
On the cusp of the 21st century Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker revisited early church settings in the Middle East and wrote about their research in the book Saving Paradise. They saw how the followers of those times focused on Jesus’ teachings, witness and practises - not on his death.
Images of the vibrant growth and healing nature of an oasis-like Garden of Eden were painted on the walls of their churches, and were scratched in the hard rock of their caves and tombs. These included pictures of refreshing water, flowers and greenery, people sharing food and companionship and giving thank-offerings as a mark of respect. They depicted a world “permeated and blessed by the Spirit of God”.
Not only did they believe Jesus re-opened the gates of the legendary Garden of Eden, but his Spirit continually shows us how we, too, can live in a world created by God as “the home of humanity”.
The struggle for followers was (and is) “to stay grounded in love, in justice, in
non-violence, in wisdom and freedom, to live together in the garden of God”.
For me, this gives direction for the work of the Christian Church. We are called to engage in partnership with members of communities that lie beyond the walls of the sanctuary. By sharing visions of God’s love for humanity through these partnerships, we are able to work together to help build a world where healing, justice and freedom hold sway.
The ancient prophecy said “Wolves and sheep will live together in peace …
and little children will take care of them” (Isaiah 11:6f). It can be so!
The heart of the story does not rest on humanity being judged and thrown out of the Eden-like garden, but rests on having the gates thrown wide open. All of us are part of God’s Garden in the here and now.
“Where is he? He’s let loose in the world…!”
What an awesome mystery! What a great message for today … and for the rest of our lives!
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Snapshots of Nature
By Joyce Sasse (Mary 12 / 11)
The night of the late spring snow storm our milk cow dropped her calf. Where?
Not in the barn yard. Not in the small pasture that was covered with twenty inches of the white stuff. We knew that because dad made us kids walk over the whole space.
“Leave her alone then” he advised, “and watch what she does” Bossy kept drifting toward the fence-line, and hesitated at a specific spot.
Across the fence was a shelter belt. Could it be? We found the calf tucked away in the dry grass and tumble weed.
Both mother and babe were glad when we got them together in a dry barn. But, to this day, we marvel at how that mother instructed her new one how to crawl under the fence and huddle against the brush. The wonders of nature amaze us and instruct us.
Several years later I was reading in the backyard, soaking up some warm spring sunshine. Movement from under the raspberry patch caught my attention. Obviously the time had come for mother robin to instruct her children about where their food came from. As they stayed timidly in the shade of the berry bushes, she showed them how to listen for a worm and pick it out of the lawn. The chicks each had a taste of her picking, then were encouraged to find their own. Once-by-one they listened and listened and then found their own dinner. Except there was one slow learner who listened and listened and listened … until it finally heard the rumblings of a king-size worm.
I almost laughed aloud as I watched him pull back and back on his victim until he was balancing on his tail, tugging and tugging.
The lessons of nature surround us, coach us, encourage us and entertain us.
“O God, how wonderful are thy works!”
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Just a Farmer
By Helen G. Coon
“Just a farmer”, you said
and I laughed, cause I knew
all the things that farmers
must be able to do.
They must study the land,
then watch the sky
and figure just when
is the right time and why.
“To sow and to plant,
to buy and to sell,
to go to the elevator
with grain he grew well.
You know the books
that farmers must keep
to pay all the taxes
and be able to sleep.
And you know the fixin’,
that farmers must do
when machines like monsters
blow a gasket or two.
I guess when God needed
folks to care for the earth
he chose ‘just farmers’
‘cause he knew their true worth.
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So Long For Now!
We hope you enjoyed this "work in process".
Any suggestions are most welcomed. Email editor@UCRMN.ca
Please forward this email to your Rural Ministry Colleagues and encourage them to subscribe from our webpage at www.UCRMN.ca
Who is UCRMN?
We are a Volunteer Network that is collecting and posting Rural Ministries initiatives in the United Church - across Canada - in one place;
www.UCRMN.ca
If you have an interest in finding out more, or to volunteer as a Board Member or in some other way, please email us at info@UCRMN.ca
Blessings on your ministry!
Catherine, Eric, Donna, Felicia and Shelley
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