A Section of the Anglican Journal December 2014 Serving the Diocese of Kootenay

HighWay w w w . k o o t e n a y a n g l i c a n . c a

The

ThanksgivingYouth ConferencePAGE 5

Unhooked PAGE 7

Struggling to be Faithful PAGE 3

Advent Journey of FaithPhotograph by Frank Warburton

See P 4 The Peachland Advent Story

Page 2 The HighWay December 2014Archbishop’s Page

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By ARCHBISHOPJOHN E. PRIVETT

In My View

Dear Friends,

ver the thanksgiv-ing weekend I was at Christ Church in Cranbrook for

the BCYAYM (BC-Yukon Anglican Youth Movement) annual conference. The par-ish of Christ Church were wonderful hosts and the young people as wonderful a group of young people that you would find anywhere. I had flown in from meetings in Toronto and so flew back from Cranbrook directly to Kelowna in a small 19 pas-senger Beechcraft. I often

drive through the diocese from Kelowna to Cranbrook along highways 33 and 3 with a driving time of about 7 hours – more if I stop for coffee or to admire the view. In contrast the flight took less than an hour.

I was struck by the differ-ence in perspective with the

two kinds of travel. The flight was relaxing, the aerial views stunning, and there was pleasant, polite conversa-tion among the passengers. I appreciated being able to see the topography from a signif-icant height which helps put some of the communities, lakes and valleys in a new framework. The road on the other hand is a lot longer with a more twists and turns but the view is so very differ-ent. What you barely see from the air you see in great detail from the road. Stops on the way are often encoun-ters with interesting people – I sometimes give a ride to someone between communi-ties – and the changes in geography are significant. I have time to stop, linger, and explore some detail that I had not known before.

We are just entering the season of Advent on our road to Christmas. I am aware that in our busy lives these seasons can slip by barely noticed. We can take the fast flight over the weeks of Advent landing at Christmas with a sense of the broad landscape and some of the key features along the way. That is an important per-spective. We can also take the slower route with stops along the way to explore the more detailed bends in the road, to listen to the stories of people who live there, and to catch the important differ-ences as the time and the

O

Travelling Mercies

landscape change. We can linger with the Advent themes of longing, waiting and fulfillment and come to know them more intimately. That too is an important perspective.

When I have the time, I like to drive. When I am tired or when time is of the essence I choose to fly. Circumstances shape our decisions. As we approach these spiritual seasons of Advent and Christmas, sea-sons of longing, waiting and birth I invite you to pause for a moment to consider how you will best travel these weeks before Christmas. The cultural instinct is to take the fast route. We live in a fast paced society with multiple demands for our time and attention. But we do have still have choices about the routes we travel and the plac-es we linger.

I am fond of a story told by our former Primate, Michael Peers, who had a friend move to a new job. His friend found a home where he could walk to work. When Archbishop Michael asked him how long it took to walk, his friend replied, “Oh it takes about 25 min-utes, but I am working on 45 minutes!” He was intention-ally finding time in his life to slow down and notice what was going on around him and within.

In my view, the journey through Advent to Christmas

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is an opportunity for us to become aware of the ways we travel, the perspectives we gain, and intentionally choose how to travel in the coming weeks. May these Advent days and Christmas celebrations draw us more deeply into our Christian life, and bring gifts of faith, hope and love to each of us.

Christmas blessings and travelling mercies,

+John

View from Cranbrook Airport

Photograph by Archbishop John Privett

Madonna & Child Artist: Sandra Anne Kessler of St. George’s Westbank.

December 2014 The HighWay Page 3Column

By NISSA BASBAUM

I

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have trouble doing the laundry; I cannot read pictures. Nowadays, most of the instruc-

tions for laundering clothes are in pictures. I know these dia-grams have been around for a long time but they were usually alongside words, and I read the words. Of course, it is also true that far too often, I am inclined to ignore instructions complete-ly, but when I don’t do this, I NEED words.

To no one’s surprise, least of all mine, words have become a useless commodity. Only recently, I installed Office 2013 on my computer and discovered that when I click on the ques-tion mark for help with the program, I am directed to vid-eos on the Internet to assist me with my problems… I DON’T WANT TO WATCH A VIDEO, I WANT WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS. (Do my capital letters successfully con-vey just how grumpy I am about this?) You can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that

however, it is simply the way we have moved on; and the most fascinating thing about this is that I somehow become the heretic because I represent a voice from the past that “is at variance” with current estab-lished theories. Luckily for me though, another way in which our culture has moved on is that we really no longer have standards by which we measure heresy; therefore, what I think only really matters to me and the odd few who might agree with me. There is nothing abso-lute about this.

Take the first definition of heresy that I pulled out from the dictionary; once the words orthodox, doctrine and religious system are added to the picture, we move from the relativity of culture to the absolutism of reli-gious systems, whatever these religious systems may be. And while some – though certainly not all religions – handle rela-tivism differently in the 21st century than was the case in the medieval ages, there is still a sense of the absolute and, there-fore, a sense of people who dis-agree with this absolute as being beyond the perimeter.

Every group in our society has a right to set standards and rules for their group – provided these don’t contravene hate laws – and, by extension, every indi-vidual has the right to make a decision as to whether or not

cursive writing is soon going to be a thing of the past and that one day, having a signature won’t be necessary or of any good use.

As much as I would find it easy to continue this rant and to make this entire article about our society’s loss of the appreci-ation for language, this is not actually where I am headed. Instead, what has long been uppermost in my mind is the word ‘heresy’ and where, if any-where, this word fits into a 21st

century vocabulary, religious or otherwise.

Our culture’s disinterest in language is not directly related to the subject of heresy but my response, or for that matter, anyone else’s response to this disinterest is very much a part of the conversation. My less than positive reaction to pic-tures as a means of instructing me on how to do the laundry is no different than my response to anything else that makes me feel uncomfortable or stupid. What I have been trying to tease out, however, is how much of this is about me and how much of it is about a very real concern independent of and completely unrelated to me. As I understand it, heresy reflects the latter rather than the former.

I guess it won’t come as any surprise that one of the things I did before sitting down to write

this article was to check in the dictionary for a definition of heresy. There were two mean-ings that stood out. Heresy is described as “an opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine, especially of a church or reli-gious system,” and it is also defined as “any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs, etc.”

At first blush, these two definitions may appear to con-vey the same thing. Upon closer consideration, however, they may in fact be quite different, with the difference lying in the first definition’s concluding addition of the words “especial-ly of a church or religious sys-tem.” Adding these last few words may demonstrate the way in which our understanding of heresy moves from a position of possible to absolute.

Using my opening rant about the use of pictures versus words to convey information, what I would say in this regard is that our customs (or culture) have changed so radically that language no longer holds a place of importance or esteem in 21st century western society. My rant, however, is just simply that; a rant that some may take seriously but most will not. The loss of books, words, language – call it whatever we might – is, for me, heresy. For our culture,

Struggling to be

Nissa Basbaum is the Dean of St. Michael & All Angels Cathedral in Kelowna

they wish to participate in a particular group, and hence, abiding by its rules. The hard part for those of us in the church who wish for people “to abide by the rules” and there-fore not exhibit heresy, is that the ultimate rules are not actu-ally set or for that matter even completely understood by any of us; such is the nature of any collection of individuals which forms around what is transcen-dent rather than immanent.

While we can set our stan-dards by what we consider to be absolute truth we can never definitively know what this absolute truth really is. I can no more do this than I can figure out the pictures that tell me how to do my laundry; in fact, even less. For good or for ill, both these things leave me with a longing for the right way to do things; sadly, neither longing for the right way is ever likely to be completely fulfilled. Yet I remain hopeful that Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 will carry the day, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.” And I not only remain hopeful for myself but also for anyone else like me who struggles to be faithful even in the midst of doubts about what is often understood as absolute truth.

Faithful

Workshop at St. Saviour’s Nelson

St. Saviour’s, Nelson held a workshop on Saturday September 20, called “A Journey of Exploration-as we grow in the Love of God”The workshop was facilitated by the Rev. Bob Purdy (top left) author of “Without Guarantee. In Search of a Vulnerable God”

Page 4 The HighWay December 2014Around the diocese

hey are an unassum-ing couple, hand knit from odds and ends of wool in vari-

ous shades; somewhat worn, much loved. They are Mary and Joseph – two of the figures that make up a Christmas crèche that was gifted to our family many years ago. Their long trip from St. Catharine’s came to an end two years ago as we found the carton in which they had been safely packed. The box was quickly opened and they took their place in the celebra-tion of our first Okanagan Christmas.

Mary and Joseph may well have thought that this marked the end of their travelling days. Yet often life surprises us – inviting us to new possibilities. And so it is that Mary and Joseph once again found them-selves on the road, now in the company of fellow pilgrims on the streets of Peachland and beyond.

Through the season of Advent (2013), members of

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By ROBIN GRAVES The Peachland Advent Story

Lunch with Edward

St. Margaret’s, Peachland wel-comed Mary and Joseph into their homes for a day. Recently they spent the day with Gale and Frank, attending the annual Christmas Lessons and Carols service at St. Margaret’s, intro-duced to visitors and to leaders from the community who shared in the service. That eve-ning they went to Edward’s

home and the following day they arrived at Betty’s where they had next been invited.

It would have been enough, perhaps, had Mary and Joseph simply been invited into peo-ple’s homes. Yet that was not the case, as they were also invit-ed to share in people’s lives, and to travel with them through their day-to-day activities. Not

A Bethlehem journey undertaken in faithRobin Graves is the Incumbent of St. Margaret’s Peachland

Shopping at the Superstore

Birthday celebration at Boston Pizza

a planned itinerary, but one that found them in the most unexpected places. There was opportunity to sample local cui-sine at Boston Pizza and the White Spot. They shared in fes-tive events, attending birthday gatherings and a wedding – not in Cana but Penticton. And they joined in preparations for Christmas, shopping at the Superstore, Costco and other local retailers. In their travels Mary and Joseph were invited to places of care, spending time at the Peachland Dental Clinic, attending the BC Cancer Agency’s Volunteer Christmas Tea and visiting the Cancer Lodge, accompanying folks to the Kelowna Eye Associates and visiting friends at both Lakeview Lodge and Village at Smith Creek. They gathered with others in memorial cele-

bration of a life well lived. They rested in homes filled with memories and stood before a home under construction. They were received by family, friend and stranger. They were wel-comed with curiosity and delight as their story was told.

There is a truth at the heart of this adventure – the journey to Bethlehem continues. Not simply a story from the past, for

Visiting Dorothy, Richard and Joan

a different time and a different people, but a story fresh for today. It is the story of a jour-ney unplanned and unanticipat-ed, through unfamiliar country to an uncertain future; one undertaken in faith – not with certainty but on the strength of an assurance. “Fear not, I will be with you.” It is the story of a

Visiting the Wellness Centre

afternoon at the BC Cancer Agency

journey promising new life, with the recognition that the seeds of new life are already borne within.

In this Advent season mem-bers of St. Margaret’s were invited to travel with Mary and Joseph through the Central Okanagan to Bethlehem. We were called to venture in faith to the unexpected places where new life is born. In our journey

we were able to recognize once again the gift of God’s new life and our calling to carry that new life to one another. And most importantly, perhaps, we were able to name again the Christmas truth, that God’s home is indeed our home. This journey took place during Advent 2013.

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December 2014 The HighWay Page 5Young & Old

BCYAYM Thanksgiving Youth ConferenceBy YME WOENSDREGT

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They came from as far away as Kitimat and Vancouver Island, from Kamloops and

Calgary, Vancouver and Kelowna. 65 young people trav-elled by bus to Cranbrook for the annual Thanksgiving Conference held by the British Columbia and Yukon Anglican Youth Movement (BCYAYM).

This annual conference began in Trail and Rossland 101 years ago. They began their sec-ond century by meeting in Cranbrook. These young Anglicans came together to talk and learn, to play and worship, to sing and dance, to work and serve.

This year’s theme was “Journeying.” Rev. David Taylor of St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale, led the participants in worship to think about their lives as a journey. They talked together in study groups about their journey in faith and their growth.

Christ Church was thrilled to host this energy–filled gath-ering. Meals were prepared. People came to the church to talk with the young people. Volunteers came to do whatever needed to be done.

The highlight for me was Sunday morning worship, filled with energy and vitality, with a joyful sense of the presence of the Spirit. The Church Hall, filled with 135 people, reverber-ated to the sounds of singing

and praying, celebration and thanksgiving.

Several of the youth, those who had been at previous Conferences, remarked that this was among the best ever. They enjoyed meeting members of

the congregation. They were grateful for the opportunity to see a part of the province many hadn’t seen before. They enjoyed “Journeying” together and being together and growing in their faith.

65 young people travelled by bus to Cranbrook for the annual BCYAYM Thanksgiving Conference.

“I

By KATHRYN LOCKHART

Western Canada’s Railway Mission 1907-1920

Kathryn Lockhart is the Archivist for the Diocese of Kootenay

From the Archives

s the Church of England doing its duty by this vast and swift-ly-growing nation of

Canada?” cried the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 1910. They were sending out an appeal to the church and people of England for men to go to Western Canada and minister to the new immigrants who were coming into the country “like a bolt from the blue.”

In spite of the work being done by the mission agencies, the Church of England in Canada sim-ply could not keep up with the demand for clergy! The Archbishop of Canterbury’s chaplain, The Rev. W. G. Boyd, and The Rev. Douglas Ellison, had visited the Prairies and

reported back to the Bishops that a railway mission would be ideal to reach settlers in remote regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The plan was that groups of clergy and laymen would be formed, with central clergy-houses at important towns where several railway lines converged. This plan was not without precedent. In 1881, England had established the Railway Mission to evangelize the working classes of the Industrial Revolution. In 1895, The Rev. Douglas Ellison had established a railway mission in South Africa.

Thus, the Archbishops’ Western Canada Fund was estab-lished and a recruitment drive began. The call went out for “priests or deacons, unmarried and

ready to give at least four years to Canada. ...the life involves consid-erable hardships. ... [They] must be strong, manly, gritty, and ready to adapt to new conditions.”

The rewards promised were a magnificent climate “in spite of the cold and the mosquitoes” along with “the privilege of being allowed to take part in the building of what is destined to be one of the great nations of the world.” On April 18, 1907, 50 men were commis-sioned in Lambeth Parish Church. Among other things, the Archbishop of Canterbury warned them that since they were going to a young nation, they should expect to find the faults of youth. He exhorted them to be real and not sanctimonious; not to pretend to

be theologians; and not to compare Canada with England.

The men then travelled by train from London to Liverpool, then by steamer to Montreal, thence by train to Saskatoon, where they realized that their tents had been left behind at Liverpool. A few months later, the grateful Bishop of Saskatchewan wrote “I could only give Humboldt last year a service about once in three months, although the people there had shown their desire by building a church. Now they have their ser-vices every Sunday.”

The Rev. Dr. David Carter, an authority on the Railway Mission, writes, “It is well to remember that the mission personnel were people a long way from home. They were lonely, dedicated and young. They needed a sense of humour in order to survive their way of life ...such as when thrown in a mud-hole by one’s horse, sleeping in haylofts, and granaries, trying to sleep in beds two feet too small, fitting Canadian parts to British bicycles, experimenting with cookbooks, or trying to write in a breezy shack with frost freezing the ink before you could write.”

The start of WWI heralded the beginning of the end of the railway mission in Canada as many of the clergy went back to Britain to enlist and never returned. The

The Humbolt SK railway station

last railway mission report was filed in 1920.

The Diocese of Kootenay had four priests who served on the rail-way mission in Canada. The Rev. W.T. Johnson, who became a priest in 1909, served in Arrowhead as a Missionary and then as a Railway Chaplain in 1913. The Rev. J.H. Sheppard served on the railways until 1916. The Rev. W.M. Walton served in Fernie from 1910-1913 and then from 1914-1916 in Golden as a Railway Chaplain. The Rev. Lawrence John Tatham came to Canada in 1914 to serve on the Railway Mission, and then went on to serve in the Dioceses of Qu’Appelle and Cariboo, before coming to Kootenay (Armstrong 1931-39 and Summerland 1940-44) before returning to England in 1945.

Norman Tucker writes, “Thus the Church in Canada has incurred another large debt to her ever-de-voted Mother in England.” He then estimates the cost to be $111,500, which is about $2.25 million in today’s dollars. But then he asks, “Who can compute in dol-lars and cents the value of fifty select young men as pioneer mis-sionaries?”

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Journeying

Page 6 The HighWay December 2014

RA Book for Advent

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By CORY RUNDELL

owan Williams needs no introduction, except perhaps to remind readers that

he is a poet as well as a highly regarded theologian, and public intellectual. He has the poet’s gift of showing familiar things in a new light. In “Being Christian,” 2014, he illuminates the divine, made know to us in baptism, Eucharist, the Bible, and prayer. The “little book” was prepared in 2013, and based on Lenten talks given by Archbishop Williams in Canterbury Cathedral when he was primate of the Church of England.

An example of the power of his insight to see into the true significance of things, happens in the chapter on the Eucharist. He writes of the moment when the faithful are about to pray the “Our Father” after the con-secration, and before we receive the bread and wine. This moment, he writes, is “one of the supreme transitions in the drama of the entire service. For when we pray the prayer of

Jesus, the Holy Spirit is speak-ing Jesus’ words in us, praying ‘Abba, Father, as Jesus did and does’ (p. 56). The ordinary, and perhaps time worn, is infused again with its true power and significance. I recognize in myself that these words affirm and give comfort to what I believe about my relationship with God. I can now believe more securely, and enter whole heartedly into praying the words of Jesus.

He writes, almost as a mys-tic, about his own experience of receiving Holy Communion. Strangers “become guests together” and “as [he looks] around a congregation, large or

Cassan on prayer is extremely helpful as it answers the ques-tion once posed by Origen him-self: “If God knows what we are going to ask, why bother to pray?” In a witty aside, Williams remarks that “You may be relieved to know that they were already asking that in the third century” (p. 65).

The truth of the matter is that we, God’s people, are jos-tled by so many different spiri-tual currents. The problem is to know where one’s thinking comes from, and so it is important to choose one’s con-versation partners carefully. To do so, is to protect the faith within, as our goal is not to be learned or wise in the ways of the world, as St. Paul would say, but to become more and more like Jesus. Rowan Williams is wise and learned. He is also a passionate and compassionate, presenting us with an account of what it means to be Christian “with remarkable clarity, depth and simplicity” (Frances Young, Emeritus Professor of Theology,

Columns

University of Birmingham, UK).

The format of the book is flexible and lends itself to being read at one sitting, used in pri-vate meditation, praying over each word or thought that strengthens the faith within. It is also very well suited to group use for a four week series in preparation for Advent or Easter. Then again, each chapter could easily be become the basis for a series on baptism, Eucharist, the Bible and prayer digging more deeply into the scripture passages that inform each chapter, what our prayer books say about each of these important matters, and looking at some of the writers Williams refers to especially the early teachers of the church. The paperback costs $7.93 on Amazon and can be purchased for a Kindle for $7.20. There is an unabridged audio version available for people with poor eyesight, or to listen to in a group. No doubt the book is also available in many book-shops.

Rowan Williams

(A) KOOTENAY SCHOOL OF MINISTRY Be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Fostering learning and theological education for allThe economics are clear: professional clergy are simply too costly for an increasing num-ber of Anglican congregations. For this reason, the key to a vibrant future in our diocese lies in locally identified and trained priests, deacons, and licensed lay ministers. This is already an established reality for many of our congregations, and in the not-too-distant future, we expect that every congregation will be called to embrace this transition from professional to local leadership.

The context is also clear: the church of the present and the future cannot aim merely for immobile self-sufficiency, but must strive for a dynamic, out-reach-oriented way of being church.

This does not simply require a reproduction of the old model where one trained person “does min-istry” on behalf of a parish but with-out a stipend; rather it requires a transformation of the church itself into a mobilized, ministering community. This new way of being church requires a different set of priorities from those traditionally empha-sized in our seminaries. Training for ministry in a mobilized church must be offered to more than just one or two identified leaders.

The Kootenay School of Ministry (KSM) was founded in order to provide high-qual-ity, accessible education for those called to local lay, diaconal or priestly ministry, and to

all who desire to be part of a mobilized and missional church. KSM classes tend to be a mix of students who are either training for licensed or ordained ministries on one hand, or simply hungry for learning and growth on the other. Both types of students are essential to the transformation of our diocese into the church of tomorrow, particularly as they engage in KSM courses such as “Congregational Leadership,” “Equipping Others for Ministry,” and “The Ministry of Evangelism Today.”

The Kootenay School of Ministry depends on a paid staff position that is key to the KSM work. This person oversees faculty recruitment, student recruitment, advertising, registration processes, curriculum development, stu-dent records, aca-demic matters (including course development), and practical arrangements for meeting space, food, and accom-modation. The maintenance of this position is critical for the operation of the Kootenay School of Ministry even in the near term, because existing funding sources have come to an end.

With funding for a half-time position for five years, we believe that the School can not only continue operating but also build partnerships with neigh-bouring dioceses in order to establish a self-sustaining resource for the next gen-eration of Anglican churches in western Canada and beyond.

Having pioneered a method of combining local study groups with qualified local faculty, the KSM has not only risen to the challenge of its mandate but has also become an inspiration and a model for others in the church facing sim-ilar challenges.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

The more I learned, the more I realized how important it is to understand everything we were taught, and how important it is to continue learning and to make time in our lives for daily prayer and reading scripture. I especially found the practical training helpful. Also important was learning where to find the resources we need. As a result, I feel now that I will be able to bring more meaning to the readings and prayers I share with those wishing to receive them. Barb (student participant)

The Kootenay School of Ministry has played a major role in the ongoing sustainability and growth of worship life in the congregations of Christ Church Falkland and St. Luke’s Westwold. In the past, St. Luke’s Westwold was closed and Christ Church Falkland was having services only once a month. With trained lay ministry and now a local priest, St. Luke’s and Christ Church are worshipping weekly with small but faithful congregations. Rev. Keith Will

The Rev. Keith Will at triple baptism

small, I have the sensation I can only sum up as this is it this is the moment when people see one another and the world properly; when they are filled with the Holy Spirit and are equipped to go and do God’s work. It may last only a few seconds, but there it is.” (p. 57). His words made me want to run out and find a Holy Communion service at that very moment. Barring that, I was and am confirmed in my desire to attend the Sunday gathering, and to believe, in spite of all negative talk about how boring it is to go to church, that there is nothing like it. The Eucharist is the best gift God has ever given those who believe in him.

Another joy of this book (and others like it that Williams has written) such as “Silence and Honey Cakes,” 2003) is to bring before Christians the theological teaching and spiritu-al insights of the great teachers of the faith. Williams’ presenta-tion of the ideas of Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and John

TiM Goal for KSM: To raise

$350,000

December 2014 The HighWay Page 7Columns

By NEIL ELLIOT

UnhookedIn My Good Books

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I

Neil Elliot, Priest for Kootenay Summits, BC ++Playing with Gravity++

W

By YME WOENSDREGT

This column has been written with the intention that it may be reprinted in local newspa-pers for the religion page. Yme will be writing a short article each month expressly with this purpose in mind. You are free to reproduce the article with-out prior approval. Drop us a line anyway... The Editor

t is said that a prophet has no honour in her own country. The same could also be said for musicians.

As a member of the clergy in Kootenay Diocese I am amazed and delighted at the musicians who are my colleagues. We have fine writers and performers of music who have at other times in their lives been part of the music industry. As a much lower grade of musician, it is an honour to occasionally make music with them.

One of the leading musi-cians in our Diocese is Chris Harwood-Jones, rector of All Saints, Vernon. He has in past

times been a professional musi-cian, although he is also known for having trained as a lawyer. I have no doubt that he was a better musician than lawyer, because I have seen and heard the “evidence.” However, I was recently treated to a pre-release listen of Chris’s new solo album. As you may know, Chris has released one fine worship album with his church band,

and another worship album is ready to be released, but the solo project is in another genre, and at a different level.

For the last four years Chris has been passionately engaged in this project. It has involved writing tunes, creating a guitar which will match his expecta-tions, finding suitable profes-sional musicians, finding a stu-dio and producer, and endless

recording and re-recording. The work has been a true labour of love. And it was worth every second of work and every ounce of sweat.

“Unhooked” is a triumph. It is an album of original jazz-fusion tracks played by musicians of the highest caliber, who obviously love what they are doing. No mere jobbing session players who are just con-tributing to get a pay cheque. The musicians Chris has found come from around the planet. There are simply no better musicians to be found in this genre, and it is a credit to Chris that these musicians wanted to be a part of this project. Chris’s guitar work stands alongside the work of these other profession-als. There is simply not a sec-ond-rate moment on this album.

The sound of the album will be familiar to those who enjoyed the progressive rock of the mid 1970’s with bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson. This is not simple pop music and only one tune has vocals. Rather, this is somewhere on the intersection of jazz, rock and classical music. The instru-ments are the familiar ones of rock music, albeit of the more laid back variety. There are drums, bass guitar, keyboards and of course guitar. Chris’s

guitar generally has the tonal quality of a slightly overblown saxophone. The sound is smooth, but with a delightful fizz.

On a single hearing it was difficult to remember individual tracks, and the type of music ensures that one track flows into another. Which is not to say that it all sounded the same, this was not the kind of “con-cept” album that progressive rock music thrived on. “Unhooked” sounds more like the kind of popular jazz album most of us have in our collec-tion. There is nothing too eso-teric and the album includes some good solid tunes. Then sometimes the music will take you on a journey and only when you return to the original melody do you realize how far you have travelled. This is not music to ignore. It is music to stimulate your creativity; music to cook to, or paint or knit or write sermons to.

Those of us who know and love Chris will buy this album for the wrong reason – to have some of Chris’s music. Others will buy it for the right reason, because it is excellent. And maybe this fine musician will have the honour he deserves.

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e are at the beginning of a new year in the life of the

church. This is the month of Advent, a season of waiting for the one who has already come. It is a season of hope and antic-ipation.

One of the prominent images for Advent is “light.” In the church, we light candles on an Advent wreath, a new candle each week. Personally, I didn’t know of this custom until late in my teenage years. At that time, I was told that each of the

four candles in the Advent wreath stood for something. One explanation was that these were the candles of love … and hope … and peace … and joy. Another was that each of the candles stood for different par-ticipants in the Christmas story: the shepherds … the wise men … Joseph … and finally, Mary. Then on Christmas Eve, in the great climax, we would light the big white candle in the middle, the Christ candle.

I’ve learned another way of thinking about this since then. The heart of Advent and its symbolism is that the light grows until the great gift of the Christ Child at Christmas. As

the candles are lit, each in turn, the light grows in a symbolic way.

Darkness is a strong image for evil and ignorance. The world is a mess. Pain and suffer-ing and violence abound on all sides. The world is not as God intended it to be. Darkness is all around us, and within us. We also feel the tug of what some have called the “sellabra-tion of Christmas”.

But God’s purposes are that all creatures live together justly, peacefully, and compassionately. God yearns that life be marked by wholeness and celebration.

In Advent, we begin a new year in the life of the church in

symbolic darkness. No candles are burning. We confess the injustice and pain and violence which are so much a part of the life of the world as we know it today.

Then, in an act of daring and profound hope, we light a single candle. An old Chinese proverb reads, “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” We light the first candle of Advent and make a fresh commitment to walk in the way of the Light of the World.

On subsequent Sundays, we light the other candles. The light grows. It’s no longer just one little candle burning in the

darkness. Now there are two … and three … and four … and more.

On Christmas Eve, we light the Christ candle. We lift our own candles and light them from the Christ Candle. We are enlightened by the Light of the World. We commit anew to walk in the way of the Light of the World.

This is part of Advent’s aim. We are made new. We seek to give birth to God’s love in the world. We pledge ourselves anew, entrusting ourselves to the warm embrace of God’s love and light. Advent faith remem-bers and trusts that the purpos-es of God will be accomplished.

A Festival of Light

Yme Woensdregt is the Incumbent for Christ Church, Cranbrook.

by Chris Harwood-JonesFrom www.chrisharwoodjones.com

Page 8 The HighWay December 2014Camp

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By PAM WILSON

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Where There is Room...

n Advent we wait expec-tantly for and in anticipa-tion of the coming of Jesus. It is a time of

longing for justice and peace; a time of great hope, joy and promise for “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2)

The story of the coming of the Christ Child is a story where we hear of a family ‘mak-ing do’ when the guest room is full; much the way we do when more relatives than expected show up on the doorstep and we welcome them in. As the story goes, when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem and knocked on the door they were told there was no room in the guest room. Yet, they were welcomed and offered shelter with the animals and a feeding

trough (a manger) to use for the baby’s bed. Jesus was born in a humble stable.

So in Advent we prepare, we reflect, we make room in our hearts as we eagerly await the coming of the Light of the world and the promise of new life and hope.

At Camp Owaissi, we strive to make room for encountering the Light of the world in our

dreaming, praying, worshiping, playing and being. With hum-ble beginnings on a piece of land, Camp Owaissi has grown in over sixty years offering Christian Education and foster-ing the spiritual development of children and youth, in a natural setting where there is room and everyone is welcome.

In the coming year, Camp Owaissi will continue to make

room for an increase in camper numbers. Consider giving the gift of an Owaissi registration to a potential camper at Christmas this year. Registration is avail-able now online by accessing the website www.campoac.com. Also, Owaissi is offering small groups the opportunity to rent Dick Birch (staff residence) in the fall seasons without the minimum rate requirement. Contact campowaissi@hotmail.com for more info.

As reported earlier, the cur-rent system of property man-agement to oversee the property is working very well. We are grateful for Mark Mclean’s con-tributions to camp maintenance and oversight. It has been the goal of the board in preparation for new growth, to hire an administrator for the manage-ment of all secretarial duties. To the Owaissi Community we welcome Catharine Parmenter,

whose duties commence on December 1, 2014.

In other exciting news, we congratulate Alison McLane from St Michael and All Angels Cathedral in Kelowna who won the beautiful quilt donated to the Owaissi Raffle by Kelowna’s Quilters Guild. Also, congratu-lations to Jennifer Pring in Salmon Arm winner of the RV week and Rosemary Misfeldt who won a child’s week at camp.

There is room! We welcome you to Owaissi in 2015. Merry Christmas All!

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” Mark 10:14

By JENNIFER SIRGES

Jennifer Sirges grew up at All Saints Vernon, and now is a member of St. Andrew’s Parish in Trail. She is on Sorrento’s

Board of Directors.

“Home for the Holidays”

re you humming “Home for the Holidays” yet? It’s a funny way we use

this word, “home.” For immigrants, home is the old country, no matter how many years they’ve lived away. When travelling, home-of-the-moment may be a hotel room. As a transient student, home was wherever my toothbrush waited for me. And when I was an au pair in a faraway land, I fan-cied my foreign exile as parallel to humanity’s separation from a certain mansion of many rooms, a celestial home.

These days, home often isn’t exactly what Bing Crosby had in mind. On my little small-town street, I can think of two neighbours – one retiree and one young dad – who reside as adults in the same houses where they lived as children. How unusual is that? More com-mon is the situation found in my family, where parents and adult siblings are lucky to live in the same province, but my parents no longer live in the house nor even the town where I grew up. My hus-band and I are both

first-generation Canadians: our own parents moved a world away from their child-hood homes. The smaller grows the world, the further away home may be.

As in the Christmas song, perhaps home exists “only in my dreams.” I know I’ll never again stand in the tur-quoise-and-yellow kitchen where I used to spread home-work, talk on the phone, and wash/dry dishes as a teenager. But that place remains crystal clear in my memory none-theless. I have to use fingers and toes to count the num-

ber of homes in which I’ve had more than a toothbrush: 5 as a child, and at least 9 since I left … home.

The house where I grew to adulthood belongs to somebody else now. For many of us, those precious places of formative memories are long in the past. We let the imagination linger, wish-ing to be transported to a place we have known true welcome and belonging. Can we ever go home again?

More than anywhere else, when I’m at Sorrento I feel like I have come home again.

Sorrento Centre has an unfathomable quality of peacefulness, of uncondition-al acceptance, of safety, of we’re-all-a-little-quirky-but-that’s-ok. Growing pains are allowed, even encouraged as we share our journeys. I may have yet to meet the people in the next cabana but I know we have connect-ing threads in common: I feel safe to explore, to be myself. There is a timeless-ness to Sorrento that tran-scends the physical changes – a tree cut down, a gazebo put up, a building painted a new colour – yet all is as steadfast as the view of Copper Island on Lake Shuswap. What more could we ask of a place, for it to feel like home?

Wishing blessings on your home this Christmas season.

The artwork featured is by Peter Roundhill, and can be purchased from Sorrento on a set of greeting cards. All funds raised from their sale go to Sorrento Centre.

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Christmas card design by Peter Roundhill.