Dear <<First Name>> :
Happy Holy Week and Easter blessings!
Our next Common Threads will come out at the end of the month, but some of these announcements won't wait. And scroll down for an Easter reflection from this year's Companion of the Centre, Wenh-In Ng.
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On the weekend of April 22 and 23, the Centre for Christian Studies will be celebrating our graduates and honouring this year’s Companion of the Centre. Please come and congratulate them in person at the Annual Service of Celebration or at the CCS Banquet. (If you’l like to attend the banquet, email Cheryl at office@ccsonline.ca before Easter to reserve a ticket.)
If you can’t be there in person but would still like to show them some love, visit the CCS website to leave a comment.
The graduates receiving the Diploma in Diaconal Ministries:
- Dyanne Marlok from Newmarket, ON
- Jennifer Prince from London, ON
- Pat Chabluk from Oakbank, MB
Receiving the Certificate in Social Justice:
- Gloria Tozek from Orillia, ON
The 2023 Companion of the Centre is:
- Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng (吳 詠 嫣 Wu Yong-yan), minister and educator from Toronto, ON
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April 14 & 15
"Humour, Laughter, Foolishness: Performing Love, Resilience and Resistance" is an exciting 2-day in-person continuing education event with Brazilian theologian and liturgist Cláudio Carvalhaes, brought to you by the Centre for Christian Studies. It will take place at Westworth United, BUT if you can't make it to Winnipeg you can participate by Zoom. Cost is $200.
There will be a public presentation on Saturday, April 15 at 7:00 at Westworth United (1750 Grosvenor Ave, Wpg, MB). Please spread the word.
REGISTER NOW
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Come and See: Go and Tell
Luke 24:1-11; Matthew 28:6-7
With spices in hand the women came,
with spices in hand for their friend
who was killed.
With spices in hand and love in
their hearts
they came to do the last rites
by him they loved, one final time.
But they could not find him:
he is gone.
“Why do you seek
the living among the dead?”
Remember what he told you…
Come and see the place where he lay,
then go and tell his friends
that he has
risen from the dead.
O sisters of an ancient time,
trembling and perplexed and now
entrusted with such tremendous news,
how will you deliver your joy-filled word,
how will they receive it, those who hear,
those who usually give your word
no credence, dismissing it
as old wives’ tales, forbidding it
to stand up in court?
Yet, you were chosen, sisters, mothers,
who once walked by his side.
You were chosen to spread the news,
you were chosen to bear the flame,
you who loved him much were trusted
to tell others that he
is risen again.
They did not believe you, those others;
your words seemed to them but
an idle tale.
Were you surprised at all, or did you
take it realistically, and try again?
We’ll never know, will we?
News too good to be true,
news too startling to win belief,
carried by you
in whom he has believed.
On this joyful Easter morn
let us run with you,
let us fly with you to spread the word:
“He is not here: he is risen”
is news too great to hoard,
too precious to keep.
Yet
such news cannot be forced on others:
they must respond to it as they are able.
Your job – and ours – is but to do our share,
then let those words fall
on sandy or on fertile soil.
O God of life,
help us ever to recognize
new life when we see it in others.
Give us grace to believe witnesses
you choose, however unlikely they may seem,
however sceptically society takes them.
Let us too be witness for you,
however unworthy we may be,
so long as our experience is genuine,
and our message life-giving.
Alleluia evermore.
Amen
(from Tears and Hallelujahs: Lenten Readings and Prayers by Greer Anne Went-In Ng, United Church of Canada, 1988)
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CCS Common Threads comes out on the 26th of each month. This month it'll probably be the 28th, as our Right Relations learning circle ends on the April 26th.
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Loose Threads
