CAMROSE UNITED CHURCH NEWSLETTER Top Sacred News OCTOBER 2015 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 TOGETHER, WE CELEBRATE AND SHARE GOD’S LOVE Apples—a story about serving others By Alex Oliver; photo by Doug Noden Ordained Ministers Alan Richards Cell (780) 608-0172 [email protected]Liz Carter-Morgan Cell: (780) 678-0745 [email protected]Minister of Music Darryl Dewalt [email protected]Office Manager Bonnie Smith [email protected]Facilities Manager Jack Kamphorst ~~~~~~~ Council Members Shelly Hurley 672-8009 [email protected]Sharilyn Cook 672-1820 [email protected]Brian Nelson 672-6374 [email protected]Les Parsons 691-6912 [email protected]Christina Rebus 672-1477 [email protected]Many years ago when Noden’s 40 year-old apple tree on the farm at New Norway produced far more apples than the family could use, Irma came up with an idea. The New Norway Church was always looking for a fund raising project, so she thought, “Why not donate the apples; organize an apple pie baking bee; presell the pies; and donate the money to the church?” Their Heyer #12 apple is a prolific producer of medium size light green/yellow apples that are great for cooking pies, crisps and tarts. The apple tastes very tart. The apple is also very thinned skinned and bruises easily and does not keep for a long time in storage. So, make pies!!! What started as an idea grew so that one year 200 pies were made with all the apples coming from Noden’s apple tree. A rule had to be established – “The family got to pick first; then the remainder of the apples went to the church,” Irma pointed out. Like all high latitude hardy apple trees, the Heyer 12 apple grows to about 20 feet tall, has white blossoms that appear just as the leaves are breaking bud. The dark green leaves turn orange in the fall. “Our family would pick the apples. Then we would have more than a dozen people make the pastry, and make the pies,” Irma said. “As soon as the pies were made, I’d phone the people and they’d come to get their pies. We had a lot of fun.” When Irma and Doug moved to Camrose after the New Norway United Church closed its doors for the last time; her customers were very concerned that Irma would stop the project. However, she did not. For the past three years Irma has kept on with the tradition. Where does the money go? Camrose United Church Women (UCW) is the fortunate recipient now. This year a misfortune threatened the tradition. In June, Irma stepped off a sidewalk and broke her leg in three places. She was taken to hospital by ambulance and recovery has been slow. In October, Irma still has numerous pins in her leg and is doing vigorous physiotherapy at St. Mary’s Hospital. As well, Doug, her husband, who normally picked all the apples, was under the weather. However, twenty people came to the rescue; and with their help the apples were picked, prepared, and made at Camrose United Church; and the customers continued to be happy; and Camrose UCW is now $910.00 richer. “I thank everyone for their help, especially Eileen Hunter who organized everything,” added Irma. Irma, holding one of her pies, stands under her Heyer #12 apple tree
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C A M R O S E U N I T E D C H U R C H N E W S L E T T E R
Top Sacred News
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3
T O G E T H E R , W E
C E L E B R A T E A N D
S H A R E G O D ’ S
L O V E
Apples—a story about serving others By Alex Oliver; photo by Doug Noden
Banff Men's Conference discuss aboriginal issues By Dave Edwards; photo by Peter Chynoweth
with the intention of finding a better way to live together.” She recommended resources from Project Of Heart. (projectofheart.ca) Music leader Noah Borin led us in lively singing, and the Banff Centre provided fine facilities. First Nations people generously shared worship experiences from their tradition. We joined the
congregation of Rundle Memorial United Church in Banff for Sunday worship, with a pick-up choir of men from the Confer-ence adding to the service. For many of us, this Conference was a good step on the path of developing a new relationship. Michael Mucz, Tom Dobbie, and Alan Ford also attended from our church. Next year's Conference will be held at Canmore on the weekend of October 14 to 16, 2016. The Very Rev. Gary Paterson will address the theme “The Spirituality of the Better Man”.
“We are the Great Spirit's people. These mountains are our sacred places,” wrote Rev. Dr. John Snow, Chief of the Wesley Band of the Stoney-Nakota in 1977. In mid-September, 2015 a group of men, descended from immigrants, learned a little more about what this means. They came from as far as Whitehorse, Victoria, Saska-toon and Regina for the 61st annual Banff Men's Confer-ence to explore the theme “Finding Kanata: Developing Relationships with Aboriginal People.” Theme speaker Miles Richardson of the Haida Nation challenged us to recognize how First Nations people see themselves. “We need to celebrate our differences and work together for the good of all.” He felt that an essential learning for non-indigenous peo-ple is the native appreciation of the earth as sacred. We must add love of the whole creation to the command-ments to love God and love our neighbour. A new rela-tionship between aboriginal and immigrant people can grow from a shared valuing of the air, water, and land. We heard painful truths from the story of First Nations people over the past two hundred years, but as worship leader Mervin Gallant said, “Let us move from standing still under a weight of guilt to acting under a weight of responsibility.” Miles Richardson assured us that the path of reconciliation, thought difficult, is do-able. At one of the half-dozen workshops, Charlene Bearhead, Education Lead at the National Centre for Truth and Rec-onciliation, emphasized the importance of telling the truth about the residential schools to children. “Teach the truth
On Monday, July 6, nine Camrose United Church Mem-
bers gathered to prepare food to be frozen for use during
the kids’ summer camp.
The workers were Pat Stetar, Jerome Stetar, Carol Raw-
son, Vera and Bob Lindsay, Leone and Jim Holmberg,
Margot and Theo Thirsk, Chris Sharkey, and Mary Bish-
op.
Pat Stetar coordinated recipes, gathered ingredients, and
supervised the cooking and baking. Bob Lindsay did all
the prep work and cooked the hamburgers, noodles, chili
and the soups.
This entire hard enthusiastic labour produced 60 dozen
large pans of lasagna; 3 large pans of spaghetti; 3 large
pans of chili; 9 pails of chicken soup; and several pails of
hamburger soup.
Jack Kamphorst and Jim Anderson delivered everything
to the camp on the following Tuesday.
Thank you to all these people.
Dave Edwards joins the impromptu choir at Banff Men’s Conference.
P A G E 4 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3
T O P S A C R E D N E W S
From the heights of the Jasper SkyTram, to the rapids of the
Athabasca River, from stargazing at Pyramid Lake to the
Icefields Skywalk, youth from
Camrose Ecumenical Youth
Group had quite an adventure this
Labour Day weekend.
We arrived in Jasper after dark on
Friday night, and woke up to fog
Saturday morning. The fog final-
ly lifted and we got our first view
of the mountains as we floated
down the Athabasca River in our
White Water Rafts.
Nine youth from grade ten to
twelve and four leaders made our
way to Jasper in three minivans.
We slept on the floor in McCready Hall, Jasper United
Church’s answer to our C.E. Hall, and prepared our own
meals. Many youth and leaders called the white water raft-
Youth take trip to Jasper
By Liz Carter-Morgan; photo by Jasper Rafting
ing a highlight. Others enjoyed the planetarium, the
glacier adventure bus, and time spent with friends tak-
ing in the sights of Jasper
town site.
Special Kudos go out to the
two youth who made it all
the way to the Summit of
Whistler mountain, and the
many others who got farther
than I did, while some of us
enjoyed our picnic on a rock
by the upper tram station,
taking in the marvelous
views.
I appreciate Shelly, Joy and
Sean, my co-leaders, and the
nine amazing youth with whom I had the opportunity
to journey, as well as the warm hospitality of the peo-
ple of Jasper United Church.
Sunday school kids and parents celebrate end of year with fun and games in Olivers’ back yard in June.
First “Godly Play” Sunday School lesson of
the year in September sees a high turnout.
In this day of e-mail, texts and tweets, there are still those who communicate the olden way, sending their messages in
stamped envelopes. The Leprosy Mission Canada, recently re-named effect: hope, wants your used postage stamps. The
organization sells them to dealers and uses the funds to help cure those afflicted by this disease.
Last year donors from across Canada helped cure more than 30 people by sending in their trimmed, used stamps.
All foreign stamps are accepted. For Canada and the U.S., special commemorative issues only. Leave a ¼ inch to ½ inch
paper border (being careful not to damage the perforations) and put them in my mailbox (#189) so I can send them to
headquarters in Markham, Ontario.
P A G E 5 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3
Camrose United Church volunteer and Alberta Health Services home care manager Joanne Thomsen left the city for the warm-er climate of Victoria on July 27. "I'm following my dream of moving to Victoria when I reached the age of 50. Camrose is my home community. Camrose Unit-ed is my home church and I grew up in that church. I remember my mom taught Sunday school when I was a child. My parents are still alive and my children are in university in Edmonton, so I decided now was a good time for me to leave the nest," said
Joanne jokingly. Too young to retire, Joanne will go back to her first love. "Here I am the home care manager, but out there I will work as a physi-otherapist, which I have been for the last 29 years before mov-ing over to home care, almost two years
ago," explained Joanne. "I'm going back to my original love of directly helping patients. They asked me to be a leader, but I'm not familiar with the BC health system, so I decided not to do that. I want to learn the health system first." Joanne moved from Camrose to a farm about six miles east at about age 10. "We didn't go as often to church then, but I was in Explorers and CGIT (Canadian Girls In Training). As a young adult, I came back to the community after completing my edu-cation in Edmonton. I was involved in CGIT as a leader and attended church until I moved to Lethbridge in 1991," she re-called. "I was married and had my children down there and then we moved back to the Camrose community in 2000, so my children were quite young." She thought about her daughter (Tori) attracting a lot of atten-tion. "I brought my daughter who was three at the time and she would always want to sit in the front row. I would be so embar-rassed because every song that came up, she would go up front and dance. There was no stopping her. I was so appreciative when the elders would come up to me afterwards and say: 'wow, she has rhythm and it was fun to watch her dance.'" Joanne started teaching Sunday school soon after. "The first year I just brought my daughter because I thought it would be
too disruptive to bring my son too. The second year I was able to handle both and I taught for 10 years," she said. "I was also on the Christian Development Committee at that time. After Sunday school, I became more involved on council for eight years and the chair for two years." Church has always been an important part of her life. "I've had some difficult times and I have relied heavily on my church family for support. Everyone has always been so welcoming, accommodating and encouraging. I'm still amazed with how everyone still asks about my children and my daughter turned 21 and my son is going to turn 20. They want to know how they are doing and I appreciate that support. They say it takes a vil-lage to raise a child. The United Church was part of my village." Although her marriage didn't last, she gained something from her ex-mother-in-law. "She was catholic, but we would have some very interesting discussions. She did most of the talking. She had a difficult life and came from Germany after the Sec-ond World War. I could relate to how she went through hard times and how religion was there to support her and get her through. When I was first divorced, I needed something. When I went to church it was a natural fit for me. It was important to pass that religion onto my children." Joanne was thankful people support her. "I wanted to give something back, so that is why I started teaching and being on committees," she said. "I enjoyed teaching and when I was asked to be on council, I found it to be interesting. You don't think about the running of a church until you are involved. It expanded my horizons." "As a therapist, you always want to help people as best you can. I found very rewarding volunteering at Martha's Table. When I retire I would like to do more of that, or help at the food bank."
Reflecting on her life, Joanne said returning to the church as a 25-year-old made the biggest impact on her life. "To me, that was a turning point opportunity. I don't know why I went back, especially to a congregation where there wasn't a whole lot of people my age. But, I was graced by a presence. I never once felt like an outsider."
Joanne considers faith as a journey. "Even though I'm leav-ing, I'm still on my journey. I want to see where I fit in next. I will miss a lot, but I will still visit. I will miss the experience. It is the one constant in my life. My daughter counted that we moved 12 times and the church has been the one consistent home."
Joanne Thomsen leaves for the island Story and photo by Murray Green
Commissioners (i.e. delegates) to the 42nd General Council of the United Church this summer decided the national church will divest its holdings in fossil fuel productions. They were aware their decision would be painful and controversial, particularly among church members, and their families and friends, who earn their livelihood in related industries. They acknowledged and appreciated too, that many companies are leaders in technological innovation in carbon reduction. If this sober reflection were the whole of the story of divestment, one might wonder how they could possibly have done what they did. I firmly believe, however, that with all of the above weighing upon their hearts, they simply had no intention to vilify or otherwise hurt workers, communities or businesses in any sector. What, then, were they thinking? First, they were deeply con-scious of our call “to live with respect in creation,” of which we were so often reminded as we sang our New Creed every day of the Council. They re-membered that Climate Justice has been a priority for our church for over 25 years. The United Church of Canada is a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI); and in this capaci-ty, we are the first denomina-tion in Canada to have signed the UN PRI Montreal Carbon Pledge. Indeed, we are not alone. Our commissioners acted to support global partners who will be disproportionately affected by climate change. On our behalf, they stood in strong solidarity with other faith bodies that have taken fossil fuel di-vestment decisions. In the midst of heart-moving realities and controversy, commissioners were helped by factual considerations. This divestment represents less than 5% of the Church’s Treasury Investment Portfolio. The money freed up will be available to supplement investments already held that focus on clean energy and water. Commis-sioners recognized we all depend on fossil fuels and refused to engage in an “us-and-them” debate. The
decision is not a policy statement and imposes no direction on our congregations. As a commissioner to General Council 42, having pondered the issue deeply, I propose that none of us should feel happy or comfortable with the decision made. At the same time, I call on all of us to not be discouraged; what we have done heightens our own awareness and encourages among us a reduction of dependence on fossil fuels.
General Council divests fossil fuel holdings By Melanie Weaver, Coronation Presbytery Commissioner
