Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

COP15 Day 3: Another way

Last evening I was at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary. It was wonderful to be with these good folks, to speak to them, and to engage in some back-and-forth with other speakers. I did it all from the small apartment I call home in Toronto. And another speaker joined in from Copenhagen! It was another way to meet—a way that I expect and hope will become more common.



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

COP15 Day 1: Connecting dots

Late yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail from a faithful church member in rural Ontario. The words sounded harsh to me, questioning the Moderator’s priorities (going to Copenhagen) when the church at home needs so much attention. Most e-mail messages provide no real contact information, but this one had some clues. So I tracked down a phone number and had a good conversation with a wonderful woman last evening.



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: The world gathers

Last-minute updates from Copenhagen are arriving on my Blackberry in these minutes leading up to the official opening of the Fifteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15).



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Moral leadership and Advent hope

I’ve been out of the country this week fulfilling a leadership commitment to the North American Ecumenical Stewardship Center, made long before becoming Moderator. It sometimes seems easier to get a perspective on Canada from a distance, and at table with those of other nations.



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: From fear to joy

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.

In various messages, I have been describing Mary’s turning from fear toward joy as a theme of Advent.

Even in such a perilous time as hers, with reasons to be afraid, Mary allowed her heart to turn from fear to joy.
 
Even in such perilous times as ours, with reasons to be afraid, we too are called to allow our hearts to turn from fear to joy.
 
For when we liberate our imaginations, reason is put into its proper place, and hope flourishes.
 
Last weekend in Winnipeg at the RiverRunning intercultural conference, I heard extraordinary stories of people turning from fear to joy, thereby inspiring others to do the same. Embracing one another across diverse cultures, it is exciting to see United Church congregations sharing a common mission with diverse expressions.
 
              
Left to right in foreground: Stan McKay, Laura Mariko Cheifetz, me, and Katalina Tahaafe-Williams. Photo by Alcris Limongi.
 
Knox United Church, for example, figures that there are between 80 and 90 cultural groups represented in its congregation. Not surprisingly, Knox’s congregational materials radiate a lively embrace of the 40th General Council’s reaffirmation about becoming an intercultural church (much more than multicultural), with activities that range from the Jesus FlickFest to the Rainbow Community Garden.


Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Joy in the music and struggle

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.
 
For four days the General Council Executive (GCE) has met carefully and faithfully, discerning God’s leading and direction as we considered the actions of General Council and their implementation.
 
There was joy in the struggle as we recognized both our gifts and our limitations as a church. In God’s world, there is abundance in community, and wherever our particular gifts end (and our limitations begin), others’ particular gifts begin and are called forth. I saw this process of trusting one another’s good gifts throughout the meeting, and am confident that when we have the sense to choose community, the truth of abundance is known in both personal and institutional ways. We are being called to explore and live into this truth in new ways as the United Church.


Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Meaning and mortality

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.

Doug and I have decided to save the earth and the church (not to mention our own sanity) the cost of commuting to Toronto from our home in Brantford during my term as Moderator. Today we are immersed in the task of coming to terms with a houseful of stuff that cannot possibly fit into our new home—a two-bedroom condo apartment. (I’ve just slipped away for a moment to take an unauthorized break from work!)
 
As I sort and pack and consider the significance of each item, I think about words from Matthew 6:19: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.” Easier said than done…yet some of the best biblical advice for coming to terms with meaning and mortality.
 


Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Bearing witness to soul

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.

The front page of the morning newspaper quotes an 11-year-old girl saying, among other things, “If you’re going to go through life, truth is big.”



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: Witnessing the future

Welcome to my blog—a place to reflect with me on God’s abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.



Mardi Tindal's picture

Mardi Tindal

image

Moderator Mardi Tindal's blog: A community of visible, tangible love

Welcome to my blog a place to reflect with me on God's abundant healing of soul, community, and creation. I hope you will visit often and be part of this sacred conversation.

 

I trust that Thanksgiving was a blessed time for you and yours, as it certainly was for me. I’m grateful for all of your posted insights about kinship with creation—a theme that seems most poignant at the height of our liturgical Season of Creation.

image