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In light of recent and ongoing conversations with my dear friend Sarah (a passionate advocate for federal offenders,) discovering this article today put a smile on my face.

Saskatoon ministry supports ex-offenders

By Gladys Terichow
Mennonite Central Committee

BACKYARD barbecues hosted by Helmut and Dory Isaac are filled with laughter, fun and plenty of food. They also have special meaning for some participants.

“These are the kind of things you take for granted; but for some of us, this is a big deal,” said Mark, a 29-year-old Saskatchewan man who committed 10 sexual offences before he was 14 years old.

He spent most of his youth in jail, and now lives in a group home for people who have a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) or other mental and emotional challenges. To help him break harmful patterns and adjust to independent living, he joined Forward Step, a faith-based restorative justice program started by the Saskatoon Community Chaplaincy in 2005 and supported by MCC Saskatchewan.

Forward Step supports ex-offenders through “being a sounding boarding, advocating on their behalf and reducing stress in their lives,” said Helmut Isaac, an MCC worker who supports ex-offenders through the Forward Step and the Person to Person programs. “It is all about safety in the community. Whenever there is too much stress in their lives, that’s when things go sideways. It’s about friendship. It is not rocket science; it is just being a friend.”

Mark was released from prison in 2004, and has not committed a sexual offence for 10 years. Forward Step, he said, gives him the opportunity to develop new friendships and talk about the things that he is experiencing in a safe environment. The weekly meetings and the ongoing support, he said, reduce stress in his life and give him new ideas on how to handle different situations.

Darren Friesen, chaplain of the Saskatoon Community Chaplaincy program, said he is frustrated that so many church congregations don’t feel compelled to be more involved in the lives of ex-offenders and others who are marginalized by society. “I believe God wants to work through people,” he said. “The church as a whole is not engaged in these needs. It is time for churches in North America to do what God wants us to do: love people. You don’t need a degree in theology to know that we are created to love people.”

Mark was adopted when he was two years old. “I grew up in a great home,” he said, explaining he has maintained contact with his adopted father; but the last contact was about four to five years ago. “I would like more contact with him. I would like to be part of a happy family again,” he said.

His immediate goal in life is to get a job like moving and stacking boxes. “It is a job I enjoy doing,” he said. A longer term goal is to become a trained and qualified fork lift operator.

He is optimistic that the support he receives from people involved in Forward Step, Community Chaplaincy and programs for people with FASD will help him achieve these goals.

We are packing.

I am going to miss this old house. Its absurd corners and everest-esque climb.

I am going to miss knocking on doors and walking in. Our wonderful house mates. Sharing milk, the internet and seasons of West Wing.

I’m going to miss the way the walls creak when we turn the thermostat up. Or down.

And the birds! The pigeons who live on our roof (and too often find their way in. How do they fit through those windows?!?)

I am going to miss Fraser Street and all its delights. Its smells, slurs and wares.

I’m going to miss my Starbucks, $3 t-shirt shops and the Indian/Chinese grocery with its $2 bags of fresh naan.

I’ll miss my black-raspberry-ice-cream bubble tea and the owner who knows my order by heart. I’ll miss running into Jerry, sipping his sixth cup of coffee at the Fraser Street Cafe.

It’s hard saying goodbye to my home, sweet home…

To the endless hardwood and our (oft drunken) house mate Rob who lives out back.

6 years. Over 10 roommates. Oh 585 E 44th, how you will be missed.

God speaks to me in my dreams. Sometimes with words, usually with pictures.

This may seem a little weird to some of you but some mornings I wake up and I just know it was Him. While I sleep He’s got me. I’m out. I’m not running a million miles a minute. I’m not in control. Usually I’m drooling.

A couple of months ago I awoke and went straight to my journal:

“Last night I dreampt of women on a train. Hands clasped. Singing hymns by heart. The tune was reconciling. These faces were known and unknown and I felt joy in their presence. My soul soaring.

I awoke with a hymn on my lips.

Good morning.” Indeed.

the morning view, quebec city, september 20, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Adbusters: The Right to Communicate
January 7, 2007

On Monday, January 7th, the British Columbia Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether or not Adbusters’ lawsuit against Global Television, the CBC, and the CRTC, should go forward. If the Adbusters lawsuit clears this hurdle, media rights advocates will celebrate an important victory in the battle against censorship.

For more than a decade, Adbusters, a magazine and media foundation, has been trying to pay major commercial broadcasters to air its public-service TV spots, but these attempts have been routinely blocked by network executives, often with little or no explanation. In 2004, Adbusters finally turned to the courts. It filed a lawsuit against the government of Canada and some of the country’s biggest media barons, arguing that the public has a constitutionally protected freedom of expression over the public airwaves.

At issue is the right of all Canadian citizens to have (as stipulated by the Canadian Broadcasting Act) “a reasonable opportunity…to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public concern.”

“This case will decide if Canadians have the right to walk into their local TV stations and buy thirty seconds of airtime for a message they want to air,” says Kalle Lasn, editor-in-chief of Adbusters.

Ryan Dalziel of Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP, who is representing Adbusters, explains the special nature of this suit.

“This is not,” he says, “a bare-knuckle family law dispute, nor is it a Bay Street-style war of attrition between commercial entities. It is public interest litigation, brought by a not-for-profit organization with no chance of any monetary return.”

Adbusters is hoping Canadians will pay close attention to a landmark case that pits ordinary citizens and consumers against powerful special interests. The outcome will determine the future role of television in Canada.

For more information about Adbusters and the global media democracy movement visit www.mediacarta.org and http://www.adbusters.org

Hylas and Nymph is one of may all-time favourite Vancouver labels. Check them out this weekend at the newly opened East 3rd Gallery! See you there.

I have entitled this post 123 Christmas because our celebrations are completed in three separate homes, with three different families. It is amazing to me that Christmas could be filled with such peace and joy amidst so many familial dynamics, sibling combinations and physical distance. To us, this year, the grace revealed by the Incarnation – the coming near of Christ to us His children – has never been more evident.

For me Christmas is a time of family, friends and quiet reflection. This year has been filled with more of these elements than ever before.

This year I joined a new family.

This year Michael and I were hosted by friends for more pre-Christmas festivities than I can remember.

And this year we celebrated Advent with our church community, as well as quietly at home as a couple.

It has been a reflective Christmas. I suppose being newly-wed has something to do with this. Everything seems different and new.

Thinking on Christ’s birth has had me particularly amazed by the humility revealed in this act – Christ coming near to His people in the form of a newborn child.

I have been marveling at the seemingly backward advent of His Kingdom. As my dear friend Anneli mused the other night: “What is up with the song: ‘What child is this?’ It should really be sung: “What!!? A CHILD?????!!!!”

It’s true. With our eyes it seems ridiculous. Jesus is a pooping, crying baby in a wooden box of straw. No one knows him. No one can see him. He and Mary and Joseph are alone in a stable. With pigs. It is definitely not a scene that leads to natural adoration.

And yet He is God. He is the promised King. He is I AM. He is LOVE. He is all the things the world has hoped for. The Saviour of the world. The Redeemer.

In His own words: “I am the bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” – John 6:35

To believe that this newborn baby who grows to become a man of peace and truth, crucified for the sin of all humankind and living Redeemer of the world, is who He and history tells us He is – is to have life.

And here, over two millennia later, we continue to celebrate His birth, the promise of all that is to come.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

I recently had the opportunity to interview Aiden Enns, the founder/publisher of a subversive ad-free Christian magazine (think Adbusters for the Church) called geez – holy mischief in an age of fast faith. (Read the article here.) I thought that with the Christmas season around the bend you may be interested in purchasing a subscription for your socially-engaged friend/spouse/sibling/parent.

Here is the sweet deal: I have a voucher to buy 5 subscriptions at a 20% reduced rate. That means 1 subscription to this amazing, Canadian, ad-free magazine for only $26.40.

If you want in, e-mail me at christina.m.crook[at]gmail.com.

Last weekend I covered the first-ever Canadian Youth Worker’s Conference presented by canadafire and Youth Specialties. What an amazing weekend!

By Christina Crook

NEARLY one thousand youth workers from across Canada gathered for the first ever Canadian Youth Workers Conference (CYWC) last weekend.

The event, hosted at the Wall Centre hotel, was set against the backdrop of two Vancouver landmarks: First Baptist and St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church, and it was kicked off with an enthusiastic rendition of ‘O Canada,’ led by award-winning Canadian band Starfield.

The conference’s over-sold crowd of mostly 20- to 30-year-olds spilled through hallways, around conference booths, and into seminars and social events for 16 hours of conferencing each day. A combination of caffeine and adrenaline kept everyone going from the packed morning session with Bruxy Cavey to the dance ministry lessons in the evening. There was also some late night frolicking in Vancouver‘s first haul of snow.

Storyline was the theme, woven throughout the conference with movie clips, performance art, music, images, dance and words each helping to communicate the theme of narrative — specifically the intersections God creates to impact the lives of youth.

“We are involved in changing a generation for eternity and inviting them to play a part in God’s story,” said Tic Long, conference emcee with Youth Specialties.

From the outset of the conference, participants were invited to make the weekend their own and, if need be, throw the schedule out the window. Speakers continually drew a link between the depth of freedom in youth workers’ lives and the lives of Canada‘s youth.

In his welcoming remarks, one of the organizers encouraged youth workers to: “Figure out what would rejuvenate your soul and refresh your spirit — and if that’s sleeping, or hanging out with friends, then go for it. We hope you are deeply refreshed, graciously challenged and we look forward to many years ahead sharing stories, ideas and resources to better serve the next generation in Canada.”

Conference hosts Youth Specialties and canadafire created a unique environment where controversial topics such as ‘Ministering to Same Gender Attracted Youth,’ ‘Understanding Cutting’ and ‘Making Affluence History’ were set beside more mainstream topics like ‘Developing Students who Share the Mission of God’ and ‘Developing and Building Young Leaders.’ The tension was palpable as youth workers wrestled with the value of evangelism in the face of mass consumerism and mounting environmental concerns.

“This was intentional,” said organizer Darian Kovacs, who spent the conference recovering from an emergency appendicitis surgery the day before the conference. “We worked hard to make this conference the best experience for us as Canadians and that comes with a diversity of expressions and convictions.”

In an age of global concern and escalating disillusionment in and outside of the church, youth ministry is not for the faint of heart.

Sandy Rosen, author and founder of Raw Motion Dance Company, has been in youth ministry for 24 years. “Our youth are living in a Babylonian-esque culture. They are a generation that does not know commitment because they have grown up surrounded by church splits and divorce. We need to share meals with them and pray with them and be community with them. We have to be absolutely committed to these kids and not let go,” she admonished the conference.

Erin Webb, an assistant youth director in Winnipeg, said she was encouraged by Jon Imbeaus’ seminar on ‘Spirit-Filled Youth Ministry.’ “We learned about the importance of finding our identity in Christ and knowing this first before ministering to the youth. It enables us to better pray, sense the nudge of the Holy Spirit and be empowered to act,” she said.

Some attendees said they found the sessions to be “hit and miss,” while others found the seminars immensely insightful. The overall sentiment was one of hope, renewed challenge and gratefulness for the conference’s inclusivity.

The conference was nearly ten years in the making. US-based Youth Specialties, one of North America‘s largest youth worker training organizations wanted to ensure that any Canadian conference they helped present was Canadian and not American-led. It wasn’t until they found a partner in canadafire and its cross-Canadian partner ministries that the vision for a national all-Canadian youth worker conference finally became a reality.

This first conference sold out well in advance, and plans for another conference next year — this time, in Toronto — are already taking shape. In the meantime, youth workers continue to play a part in the stories God is telling through the lives of youth in Canada.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/nationalupdates/071206youth

the (fake, miniature) tree is up, the charlie brown christmas album is playing for the 100th time, and the candles are burning… 

this christmas i am crafting. it was an economical choice, at first. a way to subvert the consumeristic nature of the season and take a more personal approach to preparing gifts for my family and friends. 

little did i know that this little endeavour would fill my heart with such glee. our kitchen has looked like santa’s workshop for weeks and i wouldn’t have it any other way.

i am making mini magnets. dozens and dozens of them…

with little messages of laughter and hope:

how are you preparing for christmas?

I have recently got involved (through the likes of a creative and ambitious kat name darian kovacs) in launching an exciting new publication called salt.

The initial vision for salt. is to be a resource for Christian youth workers across Canada – connecting them with the stories of those 20-to-30-somethings who are engaging culture with the Gospel in unique ways. For example, our first edition (released this week) profiles award-winning singer/songwriter Amanda Falk and her new album ‘Beautiful’ as well as in-demand conference speaker Brett Ullman who engages youth in discussions about the silent explosion of self-injury. We are thrilled by the quality of editorial in our first issue and are inspired by the endless reservoir of stories begging us to write on. Like all good things, our beginnings are small but we dream of salt. becoming a national, bound, glossy monster that will bring the good news (and the insider gawp) on what’s happening across Canada.

I am the Editor of salt. and would love to hear your feedback, ideas, rants and responses to our first issue. To subscribe to future issues of salt. fill in the quick online form located here.

Christina Crook
Editor, salt.