Around Town: Laudato Si’ +1, Caring for Strangers, Christian Life & Witness . . .

Several significant events over the next few weeks will focus on environmental issues.

1. Laudato Si’ +1

Just over a year ago, Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si’: On care for our common home, which focused on the environment and climate change, and asked leaders and citizens, businesses and communities around the world to act.

In the fall, Roman Catholic Archbishop Michael Miller shared the stage with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre for the Climate of Change Symposium to discuss Laudato Si’.

Archbishop Michael Miller will be on the Laudato Si’ +1 panel, along with city councillor Andrea Reimer and SFU chancellor Anne Giardini.

Now Miller will take part in Laudato Si’ +1: Faith, Business and Climate Change next Tuesday (October 11) at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

The SFU Interfaith Centre is hosting the public dialogue in collaboration with the SFU Sustainability Office, the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and SPNAGE PR and AD Agency. The purpose of the event is “to highlight the concrete steps that businesses, organizations, researchers and individuals in the Lower Mainland have taken to improve ‘our common home.’

Joining Miller as panelists will be Anne Giardini, chancellor, Simon Fraser University; Andrea Reimer, councillor, City of Vancouver; Praveen Varshney, Varshney Capital; Paul Kariya, executive director, Clean Energy BC; and Sybil Seitzinger, executive director, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.

The moderator will be Baptist chaplain Victor Thomas, director of the Interfaith Centre at SFU; he and his wife Candice are the pastoral couple overseeing The Point, a church which meets on the SFU campus (and four other locations).

(For some insight into the significance of Laudato Si’ read this powerful commentary by retired Regent College prof Loren Wilkinson.)

2. Earth & Spirit Speaker Series

St. Anselm’s Anglican Church on the UBC campus is hosting a four-week Earth & Spirit Speaker Series this month.

The first one has already gone by, but the second, featuring Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament, Green Party leader and active Anglican believer, will no doubt guarantee a full house next Wednesday (October 12).

May will speak on ‘Pushing for Meaningful Climate Action.’ Go here for information about the series.

3. Earthkeepers: Converge & Catalyze

In a couple of weeks (October 22), Earthkeepers: Christians for Climate Justice will convene Converge & Catalyze at Tenth Church. Here is their description of the event:

Climate change is real, happening and caused by humans. How are followers of Jesus supposed to respond to perhaps the single biggest threat facing our planet?

As Earthkeepers, we’re unraveling a few possibilities.

We’re a newly formed ecumenical group in Vancouver working out biblical teachings on issues of ecology, love of neighbour and climate justice. And over the summer, we’ve hunkered down to reflect on how we can best respond to climate change.

Join us as we unveil our strategic plan for 2016/2017, which will include ways you can get involved so that we all work together towards climate justice. Come meet new people or reconnect with old friends over food, discussion, prayer and more!

4. Famine or Feast

A week later (October 29), several groups (including Earthkeepers, Planted, A Rocha and Canadian Foodgrains Bank) will host Famine or Feast at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church. Here is part of the description of the gathering:

This event is part of the Good Soil Campaign, a partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and its members, to advocate that the Canadian government increase its support for small-scale agriculture in Canada’s international aid programs. As we look at global food issues, we also need to respond to what is happening locally. Join us to figure out what that means.

5. CPJ: An Evening at A Rocha

And finally, early next month (November 3), Karri Munn-Venn, senior policy analyst for CPJ (Citizens for Public Justice) will speak at A Rocha. Here is CPJ’s brief description of An Evening at A Rocha:

The Brooksdale Environmental Centre is a place of transformation. The flagship project of A Rocha Canada, Brooksdale is one of the most dynamic Christian environmental centres in North America.

After spending the day working with the community at Brooksdale, Karri Munn-Venn will be giving a presentation on local environmental action, political engagement and how both are needed as part of our Christian response to the global climate crisis.

Luke Glanville: Caring for Strangers

Luke Glanville, a senior lecturer in International Relations at the Australian National University, will deliver a Geneva Lecture on Caring for Strangers next Wednesday (October 12) at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church.

Following is a summary of what Glanville will discuss:

In North America, the Christian church has the reputation for being a powerful supporter of conservative ideology. This reputation is a far cry from the early church’s social role.

This lecture explores how early Christians radically transformed prevailing Roman understandings of social ethics. Whereas Roman philosophers endorsed a hierarchical and elitist ethic of patronage and reciprocity, the early Christians turned this upside-down, insisting that people should seek to help those most in need and those least able to reciprocate, including not only friends and family but also strangers and foreigners.

The lecture traces the impact of this new ethic on the development of ideas about both social justice and international relations.

Glanville’s research and teaching focuses on historical and contemporary efforts to protect vulnerable people. He wrote Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect: A New History (University of Chicago Press, 2014).

Christian Life & Witness Courses

David Macfarlane is addressing Christian Life & Witness Courses on behalf of the BGEA.

Hundreds of people are taking Christian Life & Witness Courses at 24 churches from October 4 – 22. They start every night of the week from Tuesday to Saturday, beginning between the 4th and 8th, then carry on for two more weeks. (It is possible to join in late.)

The courses are part of the year-long Festival of Hope process. This is how the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada describes them:

The Christian Life and Witness Course (CLWC) is a great way for you to reignite your faith in Jesus Christ and find power to live a life that radiates His love. This three-session evangelism training will equip you to apply God’s Word to everyday life, develop a devotional quiet time, pursue spiritual maturity, share your faith with others, and serve as a counselor at the Festival outreach weekend if you wish to do so.

The free courses are led by BGEA representatives David Macfarlane and Derrick Mueller (both are well known across Canada; Macfarlane has pastored churches in this area).

Briefly noted

The Flying Angel Club provides a base for the Mission to Seafarers.

Rev. Peter Smyth was inducted as the senior chaplain to the Mission to Seafarers September 20. The mission works out of the Flying Angel Club in the Downtown Eastside to serve the Port of Vancouver.

Bill Reimer, who runs Regent College Bookstore, was featured on the Research on Religion Podcast October 2; he discussed his new book Revisiting ‘Toronto the Good’ at length.

Ron Dart was featured in the September 23 issue of BC Booklook for his 25th book, The North American High Tory Tradition. Dart teaches at University of the Fraser Valley.

More Than a Roof has been chosen as one of two non-profit groups to operate social housing sites currently managed by BC Housing. It will own and operate Sunset Towers in Vancouver. The BC government made the announcement October 5.

The Abbotsford Christian Leaders Network (ACLN) is again showing great leadership during the Thanksgiving season, encouraging all local churches to display the same message in their bulletins and on their websites:

Give thanks to the Lord – His love endures forever

Oct 2016

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Around Town: Laudato Si’ +1, Caring for Strangers, Christian Life & Witness . . .

Oct 2016

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