It is tempting these days to say, as many others are saying, “I am spiritual but not religious.” To join this increasingly fashionable group is to be open to spirituality in a broad sense, but to spurn “organized religion” and “the institutional church.”

As the eyes of the world turn to Vancouver, The United Church of Canada is part of an ecumenical coalition that is urging Canadians to see one disturbing aspect of the 2010 Olympic Games that won’t make the media coverage—human trafficking.

“The Vancouver Olympics provide an opportunity to draw attention to the issue,” says Peter Noteboom, the Canadian Council of Churches’ (CCC) Associate Secretary, Justice and Peace.

January 13, 2010

In response to the humanitarian crisis provoked in Haiti by the serious earthquake on Tuesday, January 12, The United Church of Canada is appealing for donations to support relief and reconstruction efforts. The church has already committed $20,000 to relief efforts by partners in the region.

Once upon a time, there was a small girl with a big stack of books. She was barely five years old, but had torn through a zillion Golden Books and Disney fairy tales and was stuck at the cottage with nothing to read. Her folks took her to a used bookstore in Parry Sound, where she picked out about 30 yellow-spined Nancy Drew mystery stories. Within days, she was prowling the swamps behind the cottage for clues, making believe that nearby ghost town ruins were castles. With a notebook in one hand, and a flashlight in the other, the girl made relentless notes on the few characters that populated the lake and woods where she was staying. That little girl grew up to be a writer.

Mardi Tindal, the Moderator of The United Church of Canada, is blogging from COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (http://en.cop15.dk/) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 7-18, 2009.

Are you looking for inspiration for the Christmas season? Check the current issue of Mandate to read about several United Church congregations that found ways to turn some of the season’s challenges into opportunities that benefit their environmental and community outreach programs.

 By Alan Kearns, career coach and founder of CareerJoy. On Dec. 8, 2009 Alan will moderate a webinar on "Balancing Purpose, Profit, and People," with author of Soul at Work, Margeret Benefiel and CBC's producer of "Tapestry," Frank Faulk. Click here are more details!

By Julienne Gage