Margaret Downie

I was born in Winnipeg and lived in Fort Rouge until a year and a half ago when I moved to the West Broadway area. I am now widowed, but my husband Ron and I were in the original Square Dance group in Winnipeg in the 1950’s. Other interests for me through the years have been participating with the Shoestring Players (drama) and the Ceol Mara Singers, a Gaelic choir. I have four grown sons, now settled in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Yukon. As you can imagine, I am frequently on the phone to stay in touch with them. Riverview United Church, whose congregation is presently incorporated into Churchill Park United, was my “home” church and in the 1970’s and 80’s I was secretary there. I have a prior connection with Westminster as I worked in AVEL (Audio Visual Education Library) when its office was in this church’s former manse and then later in Church House at 120 Maryland. Some ministers I still know were just starting out in their first “charges” at the time. I’m happy to be here at Westminster and enjoying the friendship of the congregation.

CJ Avison

I am very happy to be welcomed as a member of Westminster United Church. It seems to me that right from my first Sunday visit I have felt at “home”. I was born in London, England and moved to Winnipeg at age two. Though out my childhood, Winnipeg and the United Church were a part of my family life but I wandered away as a young adult. A change in my life brought me back to Knox United Church in Calgary where I learned to appreciate the wonder of traditional worship and a rich choral experience. On my return to Winnipeg, eight years ago, I began to search for a new church “home”. My journey to this place has led me to some wonderful congregations and I have met many generous and caring United Church folk but I just couldn’t seem to settle in. I believe I have found what I was searching for here at Westminster and I am looking forward to getting to know you and being involved in the life of the congregation. Peace be with you.

Grace-Westminster United in Saskatoon, celebrated its 125th anniversary last fall but also participated in events marking the founding of the city 125 years ago. The Methodist church began at the same time Saskatoon was established (1882) by the Temperance Colonization Society, on land granted for that purpose by the Canadian government. Temperance Society representative John Lake chose the site of Saskatoon after meeting with local Dakota Chief Whitecap.

Manitoba Interfaith Council and The Faculty of Theology/ University of Winnipeg offers you the opportunity to visit 5 worship centers of different faiths:

Buddhism - Thurs. Jan. 17 6:30 pm
.Hinduism - Thurs. Jan. 31 6:30 pm.
Judaism - Sun. Feb. 17 6:00 pm.
Sikh - Thurs. Feb. 28 6.30 pm.
Islam - Thurs. Mar. 13 6.30 pm.
Panel Discussion: “The Relationship between Faiths” - Thurs. Mar. 27 6.30 pm. U of W. Course Fee $25. For more information contact Tom Collings of The Manitoba Interfaith Council (772-2892) or by email- [email protected]

There was also an article in the Sunday Winnipeg Free Press Faith page that mentioned a number of ecumenical activities available in the coming weeks.

If any members of the congregation intend to take part in any of this activity I (Roy Halstead-233-1361) would be happy to hear from you about your experiences in worship outside Westminster. I’m not going to ask anyone to write articles for the newsletter but if you’ll talk to me about your visits I may be able to help you share your thoughts with the rest of the congregation.

As a minister, I’ve always been on the lookout for a book that would function as a timely and accessible introduction to Christianity, a book that I could recommend to someone who has had little background in the church and with the Bible and who would like to know more, or that I could recommend to someone who has lived with all kinds of Christian conversation, teaching, and preaching and would like to have a framework that pulls it all together. N. T. Wright, who is currently the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England, has written such a book in Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense .

Wright tells the Christian story by showing how it addresses longings that all people share. These are described in four chapters in Part One as a hunger for justice in a world put to rights, a hunger
for a spirituality that transcends the bleak landscape of modern secularism and puts us in touch with the Creator, a hunger for community marked by relationships of trust and love, and a hunger for beauty that is true and enduring. Wright interprets these hungers, these longings, as “echoes of a voice” which he believes to be the voice of God. He then sets out to tell the story of God according to the Christian tradition, a story which he believes makes sense of these longings and points to their fulfillment.

In Part Two he unfolds the Christian story that emerges in scripture. Reading his chapter on God, one can understand why the concept, “echoes of a voice”, means so much to him. It arises from his conviction that God is both different from and accessible to us. He rejects two commonly held worldviews about God and earth that he believes lead to dead ends. One is the pantheist view that God’s space and our space are essentially the same—God is everywhere and everywhere is God—a worldview in which an echo of what is other is unneeded. The other is the deist view that God’s space and our space are firmly set apart and a very long way from each other—God certainly wouldn’t be involved in our world beyond having set it in operation—a worldview in which an echo is impossible. Rather, Wright puts forward the view held within classic Judaism and Christianity that while God’s space—heaven—and our space—earth—are not the same, yet they are not impassably apart, but overlap and interlock in different ways, so that God makes God’s presence known, seen, and heard within the sphere of the earth in such actions that might be expected to leave echoes, echoes of a voice. God’s action in Christ would be the richest source of these.

There are two chapters on Jesus, one focused on his ministry, marked by his proclamation of the kingdom of God, the other focused on the events of the cross and resurrection. For Wright, both are a necessary part of the story. He does not allow a detachment of the saving work of the cross completed in the resurrection from the socially challenging teaching of the kingdom, manifested in parable, miracle, and healings, or vice versa. Each helps explain and define the other and there is no having one without the other.

Wright’s chapters on the Spirit are helpfully concrete. Consider these sentences:

The Spirit is given to begin the work of making God’s future real in the present. That is the first, and perhaps the most important, point to grasp about the work of this strange personal power for which so many images are used. Just as the resurrection of Jesus opened up the unexpected world of God’s new creation, so the Spirit comes to us from

that new world, the world waiting to be born, the word in which, according to the old prophets, peace and justice will flourish and the wolf and lamb will lie down side by side. (p.124)

Having thus located the Spirit within the context of God’s promises and Jesus’ activity, it is not surprising that, when Wright comes to speak of Christian spirituality, he does not confine himself to speaking about experiencing “the intimate presence of God”, though that is part of it, but goes on to show how such spirituality will involve a measure of suffering, for it is built upon the life and work of Jesus and thus shares his suffering for the sake of the creation’s renewal.

Part Three focuses on the community which consciously seeks to hear the echoes of a voice, namely, the church, and contains chapters on the church’s activities—worship, prayer, Bible reading and interpretation—all of which make sense for a people called “to live at the overlap of both heaven and earth—the earth that has yet to be redeemed as one day it will be—and of God’s future and this world’s present.” (p.161)

Throughout his presentation, Wright helps us to see that our role as followers of Christ is to be agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning, the one promised in Christ’s resurrection and that will come in fullness, the day when earth and heaven will be one.

Incidentally, Wright is helpful on a number of issues that seem to trouble the church these days. Against those who are always trying to articulate alternative readings of Christ’s resurrection, he provides firm arguments in its defence. Against those scholars who seem to be very suspicious of the early church and who think the real Jesus lies behind and not within the biblical text we have from it, he speaks convincingly of the reliability of the New Testament text. Against those who want to exalt metaphorical over literal readings of the biblical text, he gives several pages to showing how these two terms are often misused, thus leading to interpretive dead ends, and shows a new way forward that would have us reading the Bible the way first-century Jews and Christians might have.

Tom Wright is both a biblical scholar of the first rank and a pastor and preacher who faces parishioners from a pulpit on Sundays. This book combines both his theological and communicative strengths. The language is tailored to the ordinary person who is prepared to do a bit of thinking.

Simply Christian will reward anyone, either curious about the faith or anxious to understand it more deeply, who makes the effort to read it. It was published in 2006 by Harper San Francisco and can be purchased at McNally Robinson’s or at Hull’s or on the internet from your favourite provider.

MURRAY COWAN KERR

Born in Winnipeg, Nov. 23, 1921. Died Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. He grew up and received all his education in Winnipeg. On Dec.19, 1942 he married Marguerite (Bonnie) (also “Sam”) Cameron. Together they had three children, Georgine, Ian and Allan. Also in 1942 he joined the Canadian Navy and served on Atlantic convoy duty till the end of the war in 1945. Over the years he was employed by Winnipeg Hydro, Purity Flour and, finally, worked on the Marketing staff of Shell Oil.

Murray joined Westminster Church in 1948 ( Bonnie in 1936) and together and individually were very active in the congregation especially in the Couples Club serving, jointly, as President in 1953. Murray served as an elder on the Session and as a member of the Official board. He represented Westminster on Presbytery for 25 years. He was also on the Board of Directors at Fred Douglas Lodge (Acting as President from ’79 to ’83) and on the Board of the Manitoba Health Organization furthering his work with seniors in Manitoba.

Perhaps his greatest love was with the AOTS (As One That Serves) since its inception in Manitoba in 1947. In 1979 he was selected by the National Council of The United Church AOTS Men’s Clubs to receive a life membership award, an honor he greatly cherished. People in Westminster will remember how he would organize groups of men to head over to the Municipal Hospitals, early Sunday mornings, to wheel patients in wheel chairs to the church services there.

On Dec. 19 of last year Murray and Bonnie celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary at a supper with friends and family at Fred Douglas where Bonnie is a resident.

Sunday, Jan. 20: Fellowship Luncheon
Sunday, Feb. 3: Sacrament of Communion
Sunday, Feb. 17: Fellowship Luncheon
Sunday, Feb. 24: Organ Concert with Olivier Vernet (2:30 PM)
Sunday, Mar. 2: Guest Preacher, Sherri McConnell
Mar. 2 to 16: Winnipeg Music Festival Competions in The Sanctuary
Sunday, Mar. 9: Annual General Meeting
Sunday, Mar. 16: Fellowship Lunch
Thursday, Mar. 20: Maundy
Thursday Potluck Supper at 6:00 PM and Communion
Service at 7:30 PM
Friday, Mar. 21: Good Friday
Sunday, Mar. 23: Easter Sunday
Sunday, Mar. 30: Adult Baptism and Confirmation
Sunday, Apr. 6: Sacrament of Communion.
Sunday, Apr. 6: Organ Concert (Duo Majora) - 8:00 PM
Apr. 20: Fellowship Luncheon
Monday, Apr. 21: Westminster Dessert Bridge at 12:00 Noon
Saturday, Apr. 26:Westminster Garage Sale from 9:00 to 2:00

Information concerning Church Board and Committee meeting times: Check the Happenings page at www.westminsterchurchwinnipeg.ca

This is the last Christmas (2007) that the front of the sanctuary will look like this. This summer, renovation. Next Christmas (2008) a new look.

Many thanks to the adults who helped to make this year’s edition a success!