|
January 18,
2011
Happy New Year!
I
hope you had a meaningful Advent season and a joyful Christmas celebration.
Transformation is the expression I value in the messages I have heard from our
friends, colleagues and partners during the year 2010 and am hopeful of a great
new year 2011 through our continued work as a team. As we begin the new
journey, I hope we dream big dreams. We know that when we dream together, it forms
a vision and by sharing it, it can be actualized in our reality.
In the Executive meeting we has shared
the hopes and dreams. Some has shared hope of having epiphanies of reshaping through
how/what we do, not ending with knowledge but extending to understanding and
awareness. Others shared that we break down barriers amongst us; find ways to bring
life to the Church and become the ‘kingdom of God’ that raises one voice of God’s
will for creation; be the community of ‘becoming’ that search for ways to live
out our Vision Statement; embrace vision/mission that draws us together as body
of Christ; aware of profound global shift and open to intercultural relationships;
trust that there always is light at the end of the tunnel and continue to be
enablers of the vision; and step out of the busy-ness of our work and live the
vision; and move with all our energies to make our mission happen.
We had a wonderful journey of becoming
during the last year. Some of us may have noticed significant transformative
growth of individuals and the presbytery as a whole. If not now, I am positive that
we all celebrate the harvest of many good fruits in our near future journey of
“becoming.” This is becoming of ourselves as the church in, with and for the world. I appreciate the message
of ubuntu theology that refers to our
interconnectedness: “I am, because you
are, and because we are.” This teaches us necessity of shifting our mission
from sending/giving out into “being
with” by inviting differences within our community. This will be an experience
of becoming one through recognizing differences and valuing them as God given
gifts. In this globalizing world, openness to the different culture is crucial
and is not an option but a must.
January presbytery meeting includes
learning about issues of overseas particularly focusing on Korean situation by
Erich Weingartner and about the ministry to reach out to be with pains in our
neighbourhood community by Debra Dineen. I wish this will be an opportunity
that we open ourselves to the world far and near and seeking ways to bring the
vision of hope the world we live in. As we affirm that we live in God’s world with
harmony of all sorts of differences, I hope we confirm our connectedness with
the peoples in overseas as well as in Canada so that we realize one household
of God.
Blessings,
John
Lee
Chairperson, Toronto Southeast Presbytery, Toronto
Conference, The United Church of Canada
Website:www.johnleeucc.com
|