With one week to go to the start of Advent, we would like to share an Advent resource which offers a daily reading from Sunday, November 28 to Friday, December 24. Written by clergy and lay people throughout our Anglican community, these short devotionals will help us to focus our thoughts as we journey through Advent. From our own Diocese, there is a selection from The Rev. Dr. Dane Neufeld.
Please feel free to pass this resource on to others.
Click here for the devotional.
The extreme rainfall and destruction in British Columbia have been devastating. As terrible floods and landslides put communities underwater and force thousands from their homes, a Samaritan’s Purse team is on its way to help.
Your prayers and support will make a critical difference in Jesus’ Name.
At the request of the city of Abbotsford, our relief team will be setting up and operating a 200-bed evacuation shelter for residents fleeing the rising water.
“The scope and suddenness of this disaster have been shocking. Our hearts go out to the thousands of people who are seeing their homes and businesses flooded or destroyed,” said Brent Davis, director of Canadian ministry projects. “We want to do all we can to help.”
Additional teams with specialized flood-recovery equipment and disaster relief vehicles are mobilizing to travel to the flooded region. They will begin to help homeowners as they return home and communities reopen. Most importantly, they will be there to share the hope that only Jesus Christ can give.
Please be in prayer for the thousands of evacuated families and for first responders rescuing the stranded. Ask God for reduced water levels and to help local churches and our teams be beacons of His love during this challenging winter response.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1
© 2021 Samaritan's Purse Canada
20 Hopewell Way NE | Calgary AB T3J 5H5 | 1-800-663-6500 Not displaying correctly? See it here
We hope you can join us in person tomorrow night 7:00pm at Christ Church, Millarville.
National Collection Week (Nov. 15-21) is here! It’s time to send your shoebox gifts on a journey to reach boys and girls—and entire communities—around the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of drop-off locations are now open across the country—find one near you!
Recently in Burkina Faso, shoeboxes were given out in a so-called “no-go zone for the Gospel,” an area known to be hostile to Christianity. But local parents were delighted when gifts were given to their children and they experienced God’s love in a tangible way. When the Gospel was presented, many of the children, along with their parents, prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and a new church was started. “Through Operation Christmas Child, God visited the village,” a shoebox volunteer said. “This no-go zone is now a go zone for the Gospel!”
If you haven’t already packed Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, it’s not too late! Check out our gift suggestions and find the nearest drop-off location where you can take your boxes.
Above all, please pray for the children who will receive your gifts that their hearts would be open to the Gospel and they would realize how much God loves them.
Finally, check out other Ways to Give online—including donating $10 per shoebox to cover the cost of processing, shipping, and Gospel materials—that support what God is doing through Operation Christmas Child.
Declare His glory among the nations!
Psalm 96:3
Operation Christmas Child® is a project of Samaritan's Purse®.
Franklin Graham, President© 2021 Samaritan's Purse Canada
20 Hopewell Way NE, Calgary, AB T3J 5H5
1-800-663-6500
SamaritansPurse.ca
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Offering of Pastoral Care training for January 2022.
Do you have an interest, calling or are just curious about Pastoral Care? Maybe you want to be better equipped to support your church community, or friends or even your own family. We are all called to care and care deeply, as we are able, with one another. Maybe this is a “brush up” opportunity or time for skill refreshing; this is an invitation to join us.
Perhaps you know of someone in your church community that has taken this course or other pastoral training. Ask them about what they thought, what they learned; how things changed pastorally for them.
The Zoom course dates are set for Tuesday evenings, January 18 – March 1, 2022. The time is 6:30 pm – 8:45 pm. There will be some reading and/or reflecting as preparation for each of the evenings. Learning will be discovered through new information, sharing and skill development. The course requires a minimum of 6 people to run and will have a limit of 15 people. Deadline to register will be December 14, 2021or a full class. Please register with Rev. Tracey at pastoralcare@calgary.anglican.ca. Questions are also welcome.
Have a wonderful day.
Tracey
The "Inductive Bible Study" on “1st Samuel” will start on Wednesday, November 10th, 2021 at 10:00 am to approx. 12:00 noon at the Sheep River Library in Turner Valley.
The weekly sessions will carry on for a total of 9 lessons.
There is a Cost of $10.00 for the "Precept Upon Precept" Workbook published by Precepts Ministires International.
Jan Burney will be Instructing.
All are welcomed!
Greetings from your Teen Challenge Family!!
I wanted to start out by thanking you personally on behalf of all the staff, students, their families and the communities we serve. It’s truly because of Supporters like you that have stood in the gap to make the expansion of our new centre possible!! I also wanted to take this opportunity to give you a bit of an update on the expansion and let you know about our Fall Virtual National Gala.
Fall Gala
On Thursday Nov 18 at 7pm will be hosting a Fall National “Virtual” Gala featuring our National Men and Women’s Choir, testimonies of Students and Grads from across Canada, a word from our CEO and Director of Development. Tickets are $25 to watch from the comfort of your own home or you can join us at one of our host venue sites. The benefit of joining us at a host site will also allow you to hear a bit of a local update from your local Centre.
Host Venue Sites
Calgary – Bonavista Evangelical Missionary Church
Lethbridge – College Drive Church
Edmonton – Christcity Church
Here is a link with more info: https://www.teenchallenge.ca/virtual-national-gala21
Expansion Update: (Please see attached for most recent photos)
The recent expansion is part of our response to the surge of people wrestling with addiction and desperately seeking help in Alberta. Communities across Canada are awakening to the growing epidemic of drug use and the inevitable crisis of addiction that follows. Opioid related overdoses have increased by at least 40% in Alberta. A recent article shows overdose rate up by 153% in January/February of 2021 alone. Covid-19 has contributed to a worsening addictions crisis, including an increasingly toxic drug supply, deepening feelings of isolation and stress, and the restricted availability of treatment services. Tragically, 1705 people died of opioid toxicity between July and September 2020, a 5-year high in deaths per quarter.
To combat that, we are excited to share an update on the expansion. I was hoping to send this update out last month but we ran into a issue with the water system. Initially when started the expansion our water system was approved, but there was some regulation changes that changed and put us back a couple months. Once we got that completed, we then ran into an issue with the global supply chain as we waited for 2 special UV lights to complete the water system. All this to say we are well under way now with that all behind us.
Occupancy Permit Application:
Couple of key inspections completed this week, plumbing and health. Both went very well, the water system passed and the water sample passed the test as well. Just working on final sign-offs with our Engineering firm. Should be able to apply for occupancy next week. If all goes well we should be moving over in the next couple weeks. Please see attached for some most recent photos.
Below is a short message from one of our recent graduates…
“The program at Teen Challenge far exceeded any expectation of any treatment facility that I could imagine, proving there is hope and help out there and that anything is possible. Restoration and wholeness have happened in all areas of my life giving me hope and a purpose to carry on. I think the program as it stands is a very good path towards total recovery and healing….”
In closing I wanted to send this update out ahead of our Fall Gala to personally invite you out for our Fall Gala for you to see first hand the work the Lord is doing through you to make this program possible!! I also wanted to take this opportunity to invite you out for a personal tour, again for you to see first hand the vital work you have supported to make this expansion possible!! If that interests you, please reach out as I would be honored to host you!!
Sincerely,
David Tait (08 Graduate)
David Tait CPPA, AMVIC
Senior Development Officer | Teen Challenge Canada
C 403.870.8157|O 403.931.3501 ext 7412 | David.Tait@teenchallenge.ca
“Hope Lives Here; Freedom is found here; Changed lives leave here”
Don Wilkerson
National Collection Week is only two weeks away! That's when hundreds of drop-off locations across Canada will be open to receive Operation Christmas Child gift-filled shoeboxes—each one representing an opportunity to share the Gospel.
Packing 100 shoeboxes is the way Mason Mulligan chose to celebrate his 19th birthday this month. Last year, he packed 77 boxes with help from family and friends to commemorate his 18th birthday. This would be quite an accomplishment for any high school student, but this amazing teen lives with Down syndrome. Mason said he packs shoeboxes “to give children what they like to have and make them happy.” But, even more importantly, so “they’ll know about God.”
Will you join Mason to give a child in need a tangible expression of God's love? If you want suggestions on what to pack, our How to Pack a Shoebox page has lots of wonderful ideas! Once you've filled your shoebox gift and prayed for the child who will receive it, find a drop-off location near you. Unable to pack in person this year? You can Pack a Shoebox Online.
Don't forget to donate $10 to cover the cost of processing, shipping, and Gospel materials. Giving online is quick and easy.
Declare His glory among the nations!
Psalm 96:3
Operation Christmas Child® is a project of Samaritan's Purse®.
Franklin Graham, President© 2021 Samaritan's Purse Canada
20 Hopewell Way NE, Calgary, AB T3J 5H5
1-800-663-6500
SamaritansPurse.ca
~ eNews ~
Fill The Bins!
We’re trying something new, something we’ve never done before… a drive-thru drop-off food donation event on Thursday Nov. 25th from 3-8pm. With your support & generosity we know we can FILL THE BINS!
Bins will be set up along the driveway & cars can enter from Royal Ave., drop donations & exit thru the alley. It’s a way we can come together “pandemic-style” & achieve a common goal:
Let’s Make Christmas Merry & Bright for Everyone.
Please help spread the word if you can & let our community know about this first-of-its-kind opportunity. We’ll also have a cash donation bucket for anyone who wants to make a drop in the bucket!
Year-round donation drop-off bins are located at AG Foods in Black Diamond & the Sheep River Library in Turner Valley & the firefighters will be picking up & delivering this to the Food Bank every week until the end of December.
Support Our Christmas Hamper Project
We are expecting to hand out at least 100 hampers at Christmas again this year. Each 1-2 person hamper contains about $300 worth of food.
We’re listening & we’ve heard what you have to say.
Many of you want an opportunity to specifically support our Christmas Hamper Project with a cash donation. Generosity is a big part of who this community is & we recognize the strong sense of purpose & deep commitment you show to everyone around you.
To that end, we have added Christmas Hamper giving options to our donation page.
We've also left room for you to anonymously pass along a message if you would like. We'll include them in our client Christmas cards this year.A Caring, Sharing Community, that’s what you are.
Thank you
Christmas Hampers
A reminder that we are providing a Christmas Hamper & are now accepting requests. Pre-registration is required. You may submit using the online form on the Need A Hamper page or phone 403-612-1291.Hampers will be distributed on Friday, December 17th & will be a drive-thru pick-up. You will be contacted with your drop-by time closer to the day.
Copyright © 2021 Oilfields Food Bank, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you are a member of the Oilfields Food Bank or you subscribed through our link.
Our mailing address is:
Oilfields Food BankBox 1318125 Royal AvenueTurner Valley, AB T0L 2A0Canada
Isn’t it fun choosing what to pack inside your shoebox gifts? There’s something special about prayerfully selecting each item and imagining how God might use it in the life of a child. We also know that these days can create challenges getting out to shop. If you or someone you know is unable to pack traditional boxes, PackaBox.ca can be a great option.
With just a few clicks, you can pack Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts online to help share the Good News of Jesus Christ with boys and girls around the world. Select toys and other fun items and personalize your gift with your own letter and photo. You can also choose to Follow Your Box to discover its destination country!
Goal pages give you a great way to get others involved. In a few easy steps, you can create a custom webpage for your church, group, or event and track your progress toward a shoebox goal! We’ll send you a unique link to share. Then, spread the word, pray, and watch your goal tracker to see more children blessed with the Gospel.
PS. No matter how you choose to pack, get inspired with these 5 creative shoebox packing ideas!
Declare His glory among the nations!
Psalm 96:3
Operation Christmas Child® is a project of Samaritan's Purse®.
Franklin Graham, President© 2021 Samaritan's Purse Canada
20 Hopewell Way NE, Calgary, AB T3J 5H5
1-800-663-6500 SamaritansPurse.ca
Body Politics: Christian Theological Reflections on Vaccination
By Joseph Mangina
Oct 19, 2021
It never really occurred to me to not be vaccinated. On learning that effective vaccines against COVID-19 would soon be on the horizon, my initial reaction was: “Where can I sign up?” No doubt my eagerness can be explained in part by a sheer hunger for human connection, after months of lockdown existence. The lockdown had been taking its toll. I wanted to teach my students in person again, I wanted to meet up with friends at the pub, I wanted to travel. Receiving the vaccine seemed the simplest thing I could do to help make these things happen.
But did I also have reasons as a Christian to be vaccinated? If getting the vaccine itself seemed obvious to me, so was my sense that it was the “Christian thing to do.” But was it? Did this thing that seemed so obvious rhyme with my convictions as a follower of Jesus Christ and as a member of his body, the church?
Getting vaccinated: the Christian thing to do?
I won’t hold the reader in suspense: I believe that for those for whom it’s possible, getting the vaccine is the Christian thing to do; and beyond that, that the church broadly speaking should be in support of vaccine mandates for public meeting places, and other steps intended to stop the spread of the virus. But I also think we need to make these affirmations with our eyes wide open, so that we don’t make the mistake of doing “the right deed for the wrong reason,” as T.S. Eliot famously put it in Murder in the Cathedral. Otherwise stated, the meaning of any action is determined (among other things) by the larger story of which it forms a part.
As a place to begin, I emailed an ethicist friend of mine, asking how she would go about making the Christian case for vaccines. She helpfully laid out two broad principles. On the one hand, she cited the duty of responsible self-care. God, the Author of life, has made the body, and we are the body’s stewards—not owners! This involves taking prudent steps to care for the body, including heeding the advice of doctors and public health officials.
On the other hand, my friend spoke of the Christian’s obligation to protect the common good. Human beings are social creatures, “all the way down.” Our very lives have been made possible by the contributions of others. A basic sense of social solidarity, then, demands that we avoid doing things that harm the people around us, and, more positively, doing those things that will benefit them. This is an extension of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. The divine Law, too, points in this direction. As Martin Luther wrote, in his wonderfully earthy exposition of the Ten Commandments: “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.”
Taken together, these two principles seem to create a strong presumption in favor of Christians receiving the vaccine. In the words of a recent policy statement by the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, “We have a moral obligation to protect others and to set an example to the communities we serve. There is one crucial way we can love our neighbours, and that is to vaccinate ourselves against COVID-19 if we are able to do so.” Significantly, this was said in the context of mandating proof of vaccination for clergy, employees of dioceses, and parish employees and volunteers. By contrast, no vaccine passport will be required for those who show up at church on Sunday morning wishing to hear God’s Word and receive the sacrament. I believe that was a wise move indeed, as the church’s body must always be open to welcoming the stranger—even the unvaccinated stranger.
All this makes a great deal of sense to me.
Who would quarrel with the duty of caring for the body as a gift from God, or the demands of neighbour love? The difficult thing is that there are Christians, indeed thinking Christians, who cheerfully grant these principles and yet come to a different set of conclusions about vaccines, and especially vaccine mandates. There are those, for instance, for whom the body’s standing as a gift from God is precisely a reason not to be vaccinated. Some see it as hubristic overreach on the part of governments and the medical establishment. Some argue that we should worry about possible long-term effects of the vaccines, especially given the extraordinarily compressed time-frame in which they were developed, and the novelty of the technologies involved. The two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) are viewed with particular suspicion in this regard. One may grant the effectiveness of the vaccines, but still feel that the choice should be left up to the individual, and that it’s unreasonable to make vaccine compliance a condition of participation in civil society. On this view, love of neighbour means protecting the neighbour against unjust forms of coercion.
As I indicated above, I come down in a very different place on these matters. I think the vaccines’ benefits do outweigh any potential risks, and that the vaccine mandates, although raising worrisome issues of civil liberties, are warranted under our present circumstances. But I wish to underscore that I arrived at this pro-vaccine stance because I’ve made a particular set of judgments about the facts at hand. The Christian moral life is from one point of view a matter of utter clarity—there is no arguing with the command of God or the teachings of Jesus—and from another point of view extremely messy. The messiness is oddly enough a good thing, reflecting the truth that we are embodied creatures who must feel our way forward through time, figuring things out as we go along. In the case of the pandemic, things are extremely messy, given the bewildering complexity of the scientific, medical, and public health issues involved. This is why we need to resist the urge to demonize those who think differently about these matters than we do.
One upshot of all this is that we cannot reduce difficult decisions about vaccines, mandates, and lockdown measures to the incoherent slogan “the science says….” With regard to the key decisions that govern our common life, “science” doesn’t say anything. No doubt it’s a good idea to consult the scientists. But we should not try to outsource to science (as if science were simply one thing!) decisions that properly belong to all of us, the body politic. That sort of thinking is the quintessence of technocracy: the imagined substitution of technical expertise for the hard work of living together in community.
Story as a context for moral action
I said earlier that it makes a great deal of difference what story we are telling as the context for our moral actions. In a recent article in First Things, David Cayley raises this issue. Cayley, an articulate opponent of vaccine mandates, cautions that vaccination—modern medicine more generally—reflects a particular story about what it means to be human. Although allowing that “not every vaccinated person feels this way,” he argues that vaccination “belongs to a larger scientific worldview that tends to see nature as ours to control and reshape as we will, death as an enemy to be overcome, and life as a resource to be maximized and extended at all costs.” This modern story likes to pretend that it is the only option on offer, the one rational way of being human. Whereas in fact there are “other worldviews, with different accounts to give of the nature of health and the end of human life.” Although Cayley does not say so, one of these alternative accounts is surely that of traditional Christianity.
Cayley is absolutely right to raise the question of rival stories about the ends of human life. There are vast pressures in our society to embrace the beliefs he outlines. (The same crop of billionaires who are currently sending tourists into space are also exploring ways of insuring humankind’s, or at least their own, immortality.) This technocratic religion can be squared neither with the Christian doctrine of creation nor with the gospel of grace. As Jesus said to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi: “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).
On the other hand, Jesus also said: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Simple biological life may not be an absolute good, but it is a good, and one that Christians have a very large stake in defending. Life matters. Just so, death is a threat that must be taken seriously. While it does not lie in our power to defeat death—that is Someone Else’s job—it is central to our Christian calling to mitigate the effects of death and illness in the human sphere.
Receiving the vaccine need not mean buying in on “other stories” about human life. On my reading, it is merely the simple, practical, and right thing to do under the present difficult circumstances. May we all be given the wisdom and humility to live this moment faithfully.
***
This is part 2 in Wycliffe’s blog series on “The Vaccination question: a theologian reflects.” See part 1, a reflection by Ephraim Radner, Professor of Historical Theology, here.
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Since January 1, 2021
Our volunteers have given 1,100 hours of service
We have provided 261 regular hampers & 53 Thanksgiving hampers
We have fed 494 adults & 306 children
We have had 22 first-time users
We include a grocery card to help with extras
We include pet food when we have it
Thank You to every person, business & group who has supported us & cares deeply that no one in this community goes hungry.
Beginning January 2021 users may request a hamper once every 3 weeks.
Hampers must be made in advance by phone or online.
Hampers will be packed by our volunteers and you will be given a pick-up time for Tuesday between 1:00 – 3:00 PM and your hamper will be placed outside for you to load into your vehicle.
Phone Requests
Our intake phone line (403-612-1291) is open Monday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Tuesday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. You will be given a hamper pick up time for Tuesday between 1:00 – 3:00 PM.
Online Requests
You also have the option to submit your Hamper Request online – click here. Submissions can be done any day up to Tuesday at 12:00 PM. You will receive a call or email confirming your pickup time for Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighter's Food Drive - will not be taking place again this year due to the Covid 19 Delta variant which is more transmissible. Thank you to the firefighter's for their strong support over the past many years.
There is a donation box in the Country Food Mart & we accept drop-off food donations on Tuesdays from 11-12.
We are providing a Christmas Hamper & are now accepting requests. Pre-registration is required. You may submit using the online form on the Need A Hamper page or phone 403-612-1291.
Hampers will be distributed on Friday, December 17th & will be a drive-thru pick-up. You will be contacted with your drop-by time closer to the day.
The United Church in the Valley have been dedicated to this project for many years & we thank them for their continued outreach.
Clothing racks will be set up outside the Food Bank doors on Tuesdays for folks to access warm winter outerwear. (adult & children sizes available)
We are preparing to supply at least 100+ Christmas Hampers this year
We include either a turkey, chicken or ham
We include a grocery card to help with extras
An average hamper for 1-2 people costs approx. $300
Beginning in November we will set-up a special donation option on our website for anyone who would like to help by donating money to help cover these Christmas Hamper costs - stay tuned!
Visit our Donate page to learn how to help.
Copyright © 2021 Oilfields Food Bank, All rights reserved.
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