Senior Moments DECEMBER 2011

8/3/2019 Senior Moments DECEMBER 2011

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THE NEWSLETTER FOR THE SENIORS OF HURON PARK CHURCH

DECEMBER 2011SENIORS MOMENTSSENIORS MOMENTSSENIORS MOMENTS


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A few years ago I started coming to Huron Park with no intention of anything more

than to encourage someone in my life to come to church as I was seeing positive

changes in their life. Once at Huron Park I started to realize that there was

something different with the people here. I had come from a world of lies and deceit

but I was in a search for something more for my life and I truly believe that the Lord

had guided me through these doors knowing that this would be the place where I

would come to know him. In the time that followed I was brought into the

community and nurtured in Christ by some very caring people. Then about a yearinto my relationship with this church and the Lord, I had to go to jail for a crime I

had committed before my life at this church and before I had come to the Lord. Part

of me thought that this was going to be like all the other times in my life and

everyone in my life would just disappear and I would be on my own. That was far

from what happened. The church gathered around me. Offering to help me get back

and forth, supporting me at my court days, calling me with words of support and

surrounding me in prayer. The strength that this provided me switched it from a

horrifying experience to one where I was able to let Christs light shine through me

into that very dark place. It was so life changing to see that I was no longer aloneand the people around me weren't going to leave me as soon as I came on hard

times. They were looking at me for who I was and could be, not what I could do for

them. I had never experienced this before. You all have become my family and your

support, wisdom and loving corrections have helped me grow in the Lord and feel

his love all around me, through all of you. I am who I am because of the ability of

this church to follow the Lords direction and I am so humbled that such a

wonderful group of people would have me as part of their church.

Theo


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Goldenagers Field Trip

On Tuesday October 24th

The Goldenage Fellowship spent the morning workingand touring at the Ontario Christian Gleaners in Cambridge. 14 men and womenwent at 8:30 A.M. to help chop vegetables and another 10 people joined in at10:30 for a tour of the facility.The Ontario Christian Gleaners have been operating for 3 years to show loveand compassion by processing and drying vegetables to make nutritious soupmixes for distribution to those in need around the world. They also do applesand pears to give the children sweets and to add to cereal and rice.All vegetables are donated by farmers, food distribution centres, food processingcompanies, stores and others in Ontario who have a surplus.The vegetables are chopped fine, put through a drying machine to take out mostof the moisture and then packaged in 3 pound bags to be shipped out whereverit is needed. Each bag will make 100 cups of soup and in 3 years they have

shipped over 10 million servings of soup. It is given at no cost to missionorganizations to use wherever necessary.The day we were there a shipment containing 238,000 servings of soup wasbeing sent by Crossroads to the largest refuge camp in Kenya along with 190bags of dried apples ans some mats made out of milk bags by volunteers.All the chopping is done by 50 volunteers each day and anyone is welcome tocome any morning and help.

This was an exciting tour!

(A day at the gleaners can be viewed by accessing the following webaddress)

https://picasaweb.google.com/104555424898374974029/ADayAtTheGleaners?authkey=Gv1sRgCIb08aaeg4KQjgE#5623754115702614178

Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it

politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time

when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular butbecause conscience tells one it is right. Martin Luther King Jr


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Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes the following about a student in hisTheology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first sessionin the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long flaxen hair, whichhung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guessit was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it thatcounts. However, on that day, I was unprepared, and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange......very strange. Tommy turned out to be the "atheist inresidence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at or whined about thepossibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for onesemester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious "pain in the back pew."

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do youthink I'll ever find God?" I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically. "Whynot?" he responded. "I thought that was the product you were pushing." I let him get five steps from theclassroom door, and then I called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutelycertain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class and my life. I felt slightly disappointedat the thought that he had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful. Then a sad report came. I heard thatTommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into myoffice, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy.But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm for the first time, I believe.

"Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick," I blurted out. "Oh, yes, very sick. I havecancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks." "Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked. "Sure, what would youlike to know?" he replied. "What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying? "Well, it could be worse." "Likewhat? "Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze,seducing women and making money are the real biggies in life.

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as "strange." (It seems

as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.) "But whatI really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (Heremembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God, and you said, 'No!' whichsurprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you. I thought about that a lot, even though my search forGod was hardly intense at that time. (My clever line. He thought about that a lot!) "But when the doctorsremoved a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locatingGod. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against thebronze doors of heaven. But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. "Did you ever try anythingfor a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying.And then you quit. "Well, one day I woke up and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over thathigh brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care aboutGod, about an after-life or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more

profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: 'Theessential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through lifeand leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.' "So, I began with thehardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him. 'Dad. Yes, what?' heasked, without lowering the newspaper. 'Dad, I would like to talk with you.'

"Well, talk. "I mean. It's really important." The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?""Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction,as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him. "The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Thenmy father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried, and he hugged me.

"We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to myfather, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me." "It was easier with my motherand little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other and started saying real nice things toeach other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years.


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"I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning to open up to allthe people I had actually been close to. "Then, one day I turned around, and God was there. He didn'tcome to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you three days, three weeks.' "Apparently God does things in His own wayand at His own hour.

"But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were right. He found me even after Istopped looking for Him. "Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important

and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find Godis not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver or an instant consolation in time of need butrather by opening to love. "You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love; and anyone wholives in love is living with God, and God is living in him.

"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class, you were a real pain. But (laughing)you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell themwhat you have just told me? If I told them the same thing, it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were totell it. "Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class." "Tom, think about it. If andwhen you are ready, give me a call."

In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me.So we scheduled a date. However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more importantthan the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man hasever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined. Before he died, wetalked one last time.

"I'm not going to make it to your class," he said. "I know, Tom." "Will you tell them for me? Will you.......tellthe whole world for me?" "I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God's love, thank you for

listening. And to you, Tommy --- somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them as best I

could.

Dave McCormick


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BIRTHDAYSBIRTHDAYSBIRTHDAYSBIRTHDAYS

Dec. 1 Ken Dean

Dec. 1 Dave Steenburg

Dec. 2 Tim Writt

Dec. 2 Brian Klingenberg

Dec. 3 Zach MoyerDec. 4 Alf St. Clair

Dec. 5 Venesa Cocchetto

Dec. 7 Jean Nickel

Dec. 7 Bea Almas

Dec. 10 Sherri Robinson

Dec. 10 Dakota Maissan

Dec. 11 Helen Markham

Dec. 11 Ben HughesDec. 12 Jim Gilmar

Dec. 14 Karen Hughes

Dec. 15 Gerald Engberts

Dec. 17 Fran Johnson

Dec. 18 Lisa Carron

Dec. 18 Devin Wright

Dec. 18 Cassandra Birtch

Dec. 21 Endel HiiuvainDec. 21 Stella Shelly

Dec. 23 Diana Bartlett

Dec. 23 Dianne Guider

Dec. 23 Rachel Engberts

Dec. 27 Pastor Phil Cole

Dec. 28 Bill Smith

Dec. 28 Juliana Hall

Dec. 28 Victoria Lorentz

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIESWEDDING ANNIVERSARIESWEDDING ANNIVERSARIESWEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

Dec. 20 Brian and Lil Kent 09

Dec. 30 Gop and Melanie Intarachot 06

Dec. 30 Pastor Phil and Carol Cole 85


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Library's Book-of-the MonthChristmas Stories For The Heart

Compiled by Alice Gray

Christmas Stories For The Heartis a collection of short, inspirational stories about Christmas by wellknown authors such as Max Lucado, Jack Hayford and Ruth Bell Graham. Each story is heartwarming and

simple and focuses on the true meaning of Christmas.

This collection will greatly renew your faith, hope and love for the Christmas season.If this book delights you, there are more of Alice Gray's Stories of the Heart books in the church

library

Bea Lithgow

The Accordionist Entertains @ Heart FM

Accordionist and Entertainer Ian Robinson played Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

live on air, followed by a number of popular Christmas songs and carols per-

formed in the open air, Norwich Avenue, at the launch of The Salvation Army 2011

kettle drive.


10/12

Christian Baker May Be Sued For Not BakingChristian Baker May Be Sued For Not BakingChristian Baker May Be Sued For Not Baking

Lesbian Couple's Wedding CakeLesbian Couple's Wedding CakeLesbian Couple's Wedding Cake

A Christian woman from Iowa may face legal action for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian

couple due to her religious beliefs. Victoria Childress, who runs a bakery called Victorias Cake Cot-

tage from her home in Des Moines, told Trina Vodraska and Janelle Sievers that she was unable tomake them a wedding cake because of her Christian convictions when they came to her shop for an

appointment. She had baked five cakes for the women to taste prior to knowing about their relation-

ship. When both came in for the tasting, she asked one of them, Is this your sister? to which one

answered, No. This is my partner, Fox News reported. Childress responded by telling the couple

she was unwilling to make their cake, telling them about her convictions as a Christian.

I didnt do the cake because of my convictions for their lifestyle. It is my right as a business owner. It

is my right, and its not to discriminate against them, Childress told KCCI 8 Des Moines. Its not so

much to do with them, as its to do with me, and my walk with God and what I will answer Him for.

They thanked me for being honest with them, she shared. They were very pleasant. I did not belittle

them, I did not speak rudely to them. There were no condescending remarks made, nothing.

Though the couple initially appeared understanding, they later released a statement calling the baker

a bigot. Vodraska also told KCCI that the situation was degrading. It was like she chastised us

for wanting to do business with her. I know Jesus loves me. I didnt need her to tell me that. I didnt go

there for that. I just wanted to go there for a cake.

Contrary to their remarks, however, they shared in their statement, Awareness of equality was our

only goal in bringing this to light, it is not about cake or someones right to refuse service to a cus-

tomer. We are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received and hope that by stepping for-ward we have prevented someone else from experiencing the same type of bigotry.

The couple was unsure whether they would file a civil rights complaint with the state. The Iowa Civil

Rights Act, amended in 2007, prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas of em-

ployment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education. Same-sex marriage was also made

legal in Iowa in 2009.

In response to the incident, Childress has been flooded with hate mail, which she stopped reading.

Im being attacked because of my beliefs my convictions to their lifestyle, Fox quoted Childress.

Im a pretty quiet, soft-spoken person. But when I stand up for my convictions against things, Im very

strong when it comes to that.

Childress, despite all of the criticism, has also garnered some support for her decision. People are

telling me they were proud of me for standing up for my beliefs because not many people do that

these days. Business people are afraid to because theyre afraid to lose money.

Though some have launched a boycott against Victorias Cake Cottage on Facebook, others are ask-

ing what they could do to support Childress business and her decisions.

http://www.christianpost.com


11/12

CHURCH NEWSCHURCH NEWSCHURCH NEWS

CARESSANT CARE CHRISTMAS VISIT

Wednesday, December 7 @ 1:30 p.m.

Anyone interested in bringing the joy of Christmas to our friends who live at CaressantCare is asked to meet at 1:15 in the lower level meeting room at Caressant. Enjoy a fun

time of singing and fellowship!

CHRISTMAS TO BELIEVE IN

Presented by HPBC DRAMA TEAM

Sunday, December 18 during the worship service

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

Saturday, December 24 @ 7:00 p.m.

This service will be a family-oriented one hour service. The theme will be prophecies of

Christ in the Old Testament

RENOVATION PROJECT

The result of the vote on the motion to permit the Deacons to proceed with the chair

portion of the project, once the full amount is received, was 63% in favour. The Deacons

would like to thank the membership for their support in this proposal. It is a real

encouragement to the leadership.

A wonderful opportunity to bless others has been presented to us with regards to thewooden pews which we will be replacing. We will be sharing this opportunity with the

church family in the near future. It is truly a God story that He is inviting us to potentially

participate in.

Wendell Johnson

On Behalf of the Board

CHRISTMAS HAMPERS

Non-perishable food items will be collected in the foyer for the next few weeks. These items

will bless families in our church family as well as in our community. Donations are due by

December 18.

NOTE OF THANKS

A total of 98 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes were delivered from Huron Park to

Samaritans Purse depot this week. Thank you to all who contributed to making Christmas

brighter for a less fortunate child. Your generosity is very much appreciated.

POSTAGE STAMPS

Save your used postage stamps from all your Christmas cards for the Christian Salvage

Mission. Your stamps can be placed in the blue missions box in the foyer .


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Christmas In The Library

Adult Fiction

Christmas In My Heart: a treasury of Christmas stories compiled by Joe Wheeler

An Unexpected Christmas by Denise George

Naomi's Gift: an Amish Christmas story by Amy Clipston

White Christmas Pie by Wanda Brunstetter

Adult Non-Fiction

Christmas God's way: celebrating the joy of faith and family by

Immanuel: praying the names of God through the Christmas season by Ann

Spangler

Why the Nativity by David Jeremiah

Adult DVDs

The Christmas Shoes

The Christmas Blessing

The Twelve Words of Christmas by Louie Giglio

Children's Fiction

The Candle in the Window by Grace Johnson

A Fruitcake Christmas (Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends) (also in DVD)

The Little Shepherd's Christmas by Carol Heyer

Is It Christmas Yet, God? By Elspeth Murphy

The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne

Children's Non-Fiction

A Gift From St. Nicholas...the story of St Nicholas and a special Christmas letter

by Christine BolleyMary's Treasure Box by Carolyn Kramlich

The Gift of Christmas by Jane Moncure

Children's DVDs and VHS

Why Do We Call It Christmas? By Phil Vischer(Veggie Tales Creator) (DVD)

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado (DVD) (also a book)

Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado (VHS) (also a book)

The Christmas Storykeepers(VHS)

Documents

Senior Moments DECEMBER 2011