hpc winter newsletter 2009

8/14/2019 HPC Winter Newsletter 2009

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2/9

Winter 2009

A very controversial matter was before the church court. The lines were clearlydrawn, there was no middle ground and both sides pushed for a decisive and final

decision. One participant observed What we need to do is learn how to suffer thequestion. What he meant was that we needed to wrestle with the question, chew onit, live and struggle with it instead of seeking a quick and easy answer that wouldsilence any debate and push the question out of sight and, unfortunately, also out ofmind.

It has been said that the questions we ask are often more telling and more importantthan the answers we seek. To suffer the question is to meet it head on, bechallenged by it, often in ways that make us very uncomfortable.

There is little doubt that Jesus made people, especially the religious people, veryuncomfortable during his earthly ministry. So much so that it was easier to see himput to death than to be confronted with and have to suffer the questions he put

before them. To suffer the question would have required significant changes in theway people treated each other, in the way they worshipped, in their commitment toGod and in their own perceived self-righteousness.

Jesus was pretty harsh in some of his observations. On one occasion he said thescribes and Pharisees, the religious people of his day, were like whitewashedtombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside they are full of the bones of thedead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, butinside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:27,28)

Another time he said Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter thekingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.( Matthew 7:21)

If we are to know and do the will of our heavenly Father we need to listen to Jesusand take to heart his words. For instance, he said: When you give a luncheon or adinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give abanquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will beblessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection ofthe righteous. (Luke 14:12-14) We are pretty good at feeding ourselves. In fact we

joke that one of the characteristics of Presbyterians is that they like to eat often andwell. This raises the deeper question for us to consider: How would it change theface of our congregation if we did as Jesus said and to our next church dinner, themens breakfast, and other events where we put on a meal we invited the poor, thecrippled, the lame, and the blind to be our quests?

As we approach Christmas, that celebration of the blessed event of the birth ofJesus, it is easy to get caught up in all the commercial and religious hype that goeswith the season. The over-riding principle seems to be to find the perfect gift, givepeople what they want, (how often we hear the words: and what would you like forChristmas?); the result being that it is more a time of getting rather than a time ofgiving. I sometimes think all the frenzied activity is simply an attempt to gloss overthe deeper significance of his coming. So I would pose another question for us toponder, a question Jesus asked of his disciples, a question he asks of us: who doyou saythat I am? (Matthew 16:15). It is not an easy question to answer but one weshould carefully consider for the answer we give will have serious implications forhow live if we would be his disciples.

Dorne Cornish


3/9

Winter 2009

The Sunday School held anaudition for a few angels for

their Christmas pageant.These pictures show whoapplied for the part. Do you

recognize anyone?

What in the world do leaping lords, Frenchhens, swimming swans, and especially thepartridge who won't come out of the peartree have to do with Christmas? This week,

I found out.From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics inEngland were not permitted to practice theirfaith openly. Someone during that erawrote this carol as a catechism song foryoung Catholics. It has two levels ofmeaning: the surface meaning plus ahidden meaning known only to members oftheir church. Each element in the carol hasa code word for a religious reality which thechildren could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was JesusChrist.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and NewTestaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hopeand love.

-The four calling birds were the fourgospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah orLaw, the first five books of the OldTestament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the sixdays of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the

sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy,Serving, Teaching, Exhortation,Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eightbeatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits ofthe Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience,Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the tencommandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the

eleven faithful disciples.-The twelve drummers drumming symbolizedthe twelve points of belief in the Apostles'Creed.

So there is your history for today. Thisknowledge was shared by a friend and Ifound it interesting and enlightening howthat strange song became a ChristmasCarol.

Karen Breuer


4/9

Winter 2009

Obeds Story

By Barry Buzza

When my daughter, grandson and I were in Kenya

this summer, we met a young man well never forget. His name is Obed.

Obed has tiny stubs for arms, but he does have two working legs.

Although his legs are bone thin, he is able to use them and his feet with

great dexterity. He can do almost anything that any other 22 year old is

able to do. Obed works as a ticket agent at a border crossing. His

disability has pushed him to working even harder to do well in life.

Because we met Obed in a church conference, where I was the guest

speaker, we had an opportunity to chat for several minutes. He shared

with me his story. When he was born, with no arms, both his mother and

father felt his disability would be more than they could handle they and

their other children were very poor, and decided that their new unnamed

baby would be an unnecessary liability. So they threw him into a garbage

dump.

A day later, a woman collecting stuff to sell from the dump, happened

upon the tiny helpless baby. Shed been startled by a muffled cry from

inside a black plastic bag. The merciful woman took the starving infant to

a nearby hospital; but they had no way of caring for him. She then took

him to her ramshackle tarpaper home and cared for him the best she

could. She even named him Obed (which means worship).

By the time the boy was six, hed already learned to survive by stealing,

begging or selling firewood hed gathered with his tiny feet. Obed had

never received the love and care every child needs so much.

Twelve years ago, a long truck pulled into the church lot, near the shack

where he was sleeping. Out of curiosity Obed wandered over to see

what was being unloaded. It was a warm December day.

When he saw what was inside the large brown cardboard boxes, his eyes

grew very large. There were hundreds of brightly wrapped Christmas

gifts that had been sent from Canada.

After standing in line the next day for a long time, Obed was given one of

those gifts it was the first hed ever received. Inside his box, as he

opened it with his toes, he found a coloring book and crayons, soap and

a toothbrush, a Canadian logo on a bright red t-shirt, a small toy truck, a

baseball cap and ball. Obed was elated! He jumped and yelled with

happiness. This was the best day hed ever had.

Obeds life turned a corner that day. He told us of being adopted shortly

after by a family in Canada, so that he could go to school, wear clean

clothes and learn how to live a healthy and purposeful life. The day he

opened that Christmas present from Operation Christmas Child was the

beginning of a new chapter in his journey. As he spoke to us, his

sparkling grin covered his face.

Reprinted with permission. Barry Buzza, a veteran pastor, is the president of the TheFoursquare Gospel Church of Canada.

Dear Friends at Haney Presbyterian

Church,

The Operation Christmas Child

shoeboxes just left the Drop Off

Centre for Abbotsford this morning

where they will be transferred onto a

semi truck headed to Calgary. It was

exciting to see the 159 cartons leave

the church but we can all imagine more

the excitement and happy faces on thechildren receiving the boxes at the end

of the trip! These shoeboxes will be

soon on their way to Guatemala,

Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile, and two

countries in Africa: Cote d Ivoire and

Sierra Leone.

Please continue to pray as these

shoeboxes travel to children, bring joy,

renew hope, and open doors for further

ministry.

This is the 10th

year for OperationChristmas Child in Ridge Meadows.

Presbyterian

ChurchRidge

Meadows

2009

Total

62 3,132

10 Year

Total

500 23,602

Thank you for your willingness to be

part of a worldwide effort to see needy

children receive shoeboxes. And, God

bless you! Have a wonderful Christmasseason celebrating the greatest gift of

all, Gods gift of Jesus. And, may you

know His love and peace throughout

2010.

See you next November for Operation

Christmas Child!

Blessings,

Barb Gustafson

Operation Christmas Child Local Coordinator


5/9

Winter 2009

MEXICAN TRAINYou may have seen it is in the monthly calendar andwonder just exactly what this is. Well let me tryand explain it. It is essentially a game of dominos .It depends how many people show up, sometimes wehave two or three tables of four. After each roundthe two low scores move onto the next table. It isreally a fun game and it is a very good way to get toknow other people in the congregation rather thanjust see them on a Sunday. We meet the last Monday

of each month, except for July, August andDecember. We take these three months off. Ofcourse, being Presbyterians, whenever we gettogether there is always, tea, coffee and somegoodies.So why not come out in January and see what it isall about. If you have any questions, please contactMorag Baxter @ 604-463-5489 or Bea Baird at 604-467-8134. Come on out and have some fun!

Innocence is Priceless

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the

foyer of the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with

names and small flags mounted on either side of it. The six-year-old

had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked

up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, Good morning,

Alex.

Good morning, Pastor, he replied, still focused on the plaque.

Pastor, what is this?

The pastor said, Well, son, its a memorial to all the young men and

women who died in the service.

Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque. Finally,

little Alexs voice, barely audible and trembling with fear, asked,

Which service, the8:30 or the 10:30?

I was shocked, confused,

bewildered

As I entered Heavens door,Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its dcor.

But it was the folks in

Heaven

Who made me sputter and

gasp

The thieves, the liars, the

sinners,

The alcoholics and the

trash.

There stood the kid fromseventh grade

Who swiped my lunch

money twice.

Next to him was my old

neighbor

Who never said anything

nice.

Herb, who I always thought

Was rotting in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud

nine,Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, Whats the

deal?

I would love to hear Your

take.

Howd all these sinners get

up here?

God mustve made a

mistake.

And whys everyone soquiet,

So somber give me a

clue.

Hush, child, He said,

theyre all in shock.

No one thought theyd be

seeing you.


6/9

Winter 2009

Home For Christmas At Last!! A lone feeble streetlight reflects off the overflowing puddles of a long rutteddriveway. Only a couple of dim lights appear in the houses and row apartments liningthe lane. Except for the drumming rain, silence prevails till you approach one of thoselights, then a muffled TV program in a language not understood. Dripping rain gearand muddy gumboots just inside the door. The two occupants are preparing theirevening meal; only two where just weeks ago there were eight or ten per house.

These fellows dont hide their longing to return to their families but their faces andvoices radiate hope and anticipation also the satisfaction of knowing that, for thisyear at least, their children will eat, be clothed and be able to continue in school.Perhaps Ill be able to start building that new bedroom for the kids so they wont besleeping in the kitchen. Maybe next year even a laptop for that son enteringcollege? Of the 200 Mexican workers on the largest farm, only 10 remain, these due

to return imminently. Despite the prolonged separation from their families, thedrudgery of long hours in inclement weather and the rather basic pay, it has been formost of them, a good season and almost everyone hopes to be allowed to returnnext year, the first wave to begin arriving in early January.

Two parallel worlds, theirs and ours: they dont often intersect easily, language (andprobably social) barriers rendering interaction awkward. Their lives are not familiar tous; they struggle to comprehend ours. Is bridging such a social and ethnic gap aChristian responsibility? Jesus did just that on many occasions. Many at HPC (and thisyear, folks from other churches too) have stepped up with their time and efforts, notto mention all the suitcases, clothing and bicycles all on the premise that God mustlove each of them just as much as he cares for each of us.

The response from many of our congregation (and others) has been overwhelming andeffective. Each one on the biggest farm and on other neighbouring farms has hiscoveted huge suitcase this year, plus all the clothing they feel they can use. Thebicycles have helped alleviate the isolation felt at outlying farms. Warm clothesdonated recently have been particularly appreciated.

They would like to say thank you. And theydo, often and profusely, but do not havethe opportunity nor the English to do so personally to each of us. A very tangiblethank you has been the donation of their recycled soft drink cans to our own

program assisting Nicaraguan students. This endeavour they well understand as each

of them strives to maintain their own children in school. So far their donations haveamounted to more than $250.00.

My own personal thanks to all the participants at HPC for their interest, support, andcooperation. Without that, such a program might well have been limited to goodintentions and wishful thinking.

Again THANK YOU!!Roger Page


7/9

Winter 2009

The Eeents of a Newsletter

To catch the

readers attention,

place an

interesting

sentence or quote

from the story

here.

YOUTH LEADER FOR HPC?

PLEASE PRAY WITH US!

We have a dream.We dream of a church that

loves Christ, and seek first his kingdom and

righteousness

takes its children and youth very seriously

because we love them as Christ loves them

keeps its baptismal promises to support

children and parents

is intentional about providing the best possibleministry to children, youth and young adults.

We dream of a church where children, youth, andyoung adults

are excited about following the way of Christ

are forming strong, and healthy friendships

are as much a part of the church family as

everyone else

are guided, nurtured, and encouraged in faith

are cared for, loved, and protected from harm

are encouraged to develop the gifts of the

Spirit,

are worshipping and serving shoulder to

shoulder with adults

from the community are reached by the gospelof Christ

Our vision is therefore to work towards the hiringof a part-time leader for our children, youth, andyoung adult ministry.

We hope to be able to present a specific proposalto the congregation in 2010. But until then, as we

all seek Gods will and direction, we ask that youcontinue to pray about this!

Gerard Booy

Just a thought.

Most mornings, on my wayto work, I see a man that is

challenged walking on thesidewalk, knapsack on hisback. He appears to be onhis way to work as well.He will be strolling along,when for no apparentreason, he just bursts outrunning. This will last for ablock or two, and then hewill begin strolling alongagain. And then, once again

he is off like a bullet! It islike he just cant containhimself he just has to workoff his excitement !!It got me to thinking aboutthe parallel between hisenthusiasm and ours. Do wehave that same unbridledenthusiasm and excitementto share the good news of

Jesus birth to people? Can

we hardly contain ourselveswhen we tell others aboutwhat God has done in ourlives?Or have we allowedourselves to becomecomplacent when sharingour faith?My prayer, this season, isthat we will also experiencethat same wonder and

amazement that theshepherds did when theangels told them of theMessiahs birth....that forno reason we burst outrunning, full of excitement,to tell others of ourFathers love for them!

Susan Reaveley


8/9

The birth of Christ a remarkable fulfillment ofprophecy and a key Event in all human history. Whatdo you remember of the Bibles Christmas story?

1. What town in Judea was the birthplace ofJesus?

2. What animal feeding trough served as atemporary bed for the newborn Jesus?

3. What name, meaning God with us, did Isaiahprophesy for Jesus?

4. What relative did Jesus mother, Mary, staywith while she was expecting?

5. What, according to the prophet Isaiah, would

Jesus carry on His shoulders?

(**answers on last page)

A Saviour is Born

1. Who was the Romanemperor who ordered thecensus requiring Mary andJoseph to travel toBethlehem?

2.What prophet foretoldthat the Messiah would beborn to a virgin?

3.Name the prophet whodeclared the Savior wouldbe born in Bethlehem.

4.Why was it necessary forJesus to be born in a stablemanger?

5.Who reassured the fearful

shepherds in the fieldsaround Bethlehem?

6.What sign were theshepherds told would verifythe Saviors birth?

7.COMPLETE: For unto youis born this day in the city ofDavid a Saviour, which is_____________?

8.What phenomenon led thewise men to the Savior?

9.What three gifts did thewise men bring to Jesus?

10.What is the meaning ofthe name Emmanuel?

Christmas Anagram

bennorw_____________________________________

ghiinns arst__________________________________

deehhprss____________________________________

aceefiknnnrs_________________________________

aiinttvy_______________________________________

aeglns________________________________________

ablest_________________________________________

aegmnr_______________________________________

ejssu__________________________________________


9/9

Winter 2009

**Answers to Kids Korner quizzesUnto Us a Child is Born Christmas Anagram

1. Bethlehem 1. Newborn2. Manger 2. Shining star3. Immanuel or Emmanuel 3. shepherds4. Elizabeth 4. frankincense5. the government 5. nativity

6. angelsA Savior is Born 7. stable

8. manger1. Caesar Augustus 9. Jesus

2. Isaiah3. Micah4. There was no room at the inn.5. An angel6. A babe would be wrapped in swaddling clothes

and lying in a manger.7. Christ theLord8. A star went before them and settled over the childs

location.9. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh10. God with us

December 24th - Christmas Eve Service 7pmCandlelight Service 11pm

January 8th - Girls Group start-up 6pm

January 9th - HPC Missions Bottle Drive

January 17th - Annual Reports deadline

January 30th - HPC Missions Music Concert

February 1st - Annual General Meeting

February 14th - HPC Missions Soup andSandwich

March 3rd - WMS Annual General

Meeting

hpc winter newsletter 2009

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