Around Town: Philip Yancey, Coldest Night, KAIROS Blanket Exercise, BRAVE

Philip Yancey will make six local stops during his cross-Canada tour.

Philip Yancey is one of a relatively small number of writers who have been very successful within the Christian community while also being well-respected in the broader community.

When New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof asked Yancey to “respond to my questions, and my doubts” last December for his “occasional series of conversations about Christianity,” he described him as “an evangelical Christian writer who has more than 15 million books in print in more than 50 languages.”

Yancey will speak about two of those books – recently updated and merged into one – during several local talks February 23 – 25, as part of his Through His Eyes Tour on behalf of effect:hope (The Leprosy Mission Canada).

Here is how the event is described:

Please join us as we celebrate together the publication of Philip’s latest book, Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image, co-written by Dr. Paul Brand, an orthopedic surgeon and former President of The Leprosy Mission International. Philip hopes to inspire Christians to value their identity as image-bearers and see others in the same light.

And Fearfully and Wonderfully, which comes highly recommended by a wide range of people, including Anne Lamott, Joni Eareckson Tada and Shane Claiborne:

Discover this updated and combined edition of two bestselling books! The human body holds endlessly fascinating secrets. The resilience of skin, the strength and structure of the bones, the dynamic balance of the muscles – your physical being is knit according to a pattern of stunning purpose.

Now Gold Medallion winners Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image have been completely revised and updated to offer a new audience timeless reflections on the body. Join renowned leprosy surgeon Dr. Paul Brand and bestselling writer Philip Yancey on a remarkable journey through inner space – a spellbinding account of medical intervention, pain and healing, and the courage of humanity. Discover here the eternal truths revealed by our seemingly ordinary existence. The human body is a window into the very structure of God’s creation and a testament to God’s glory.”

Yancey will speak at six locations:

• February 23, 10 am – noon, First Baptist Church, Vancouver
• February 23, 2 – 4 pm, Tenth Church, Vancouver
• February 24, 10 am – noon, Regent College, Vancouver
• February 24, 7 – 9 pm, Granville Chapel, Vancouver
• February 25, 11 am – noon, Trinity Western University, Langley (sold out)
• February 25, 7 – 9 pm, Heritage Alliance Church, Abbotsford

Yancey’s talks will likely reflect his background, and the range of his interests and knowledge

On the About section on his own website he notes:

Growing up in a strict, fundamentalist church in the southern USA, a young Philip Yancey tended to view God as “a scowling Supercop, searching for anyone who might be having a good time – in order to squash them.” . . .

“I write books for myself,” he says. “I’m a pilgrim, recovering from a bad church upbringing, searching for a faith that makes its followers larger and not smaller. I feel overwhelming gratitude that I can make a living writing about the questions that most interest me. My books are a process of exploration and investigation of things I wonder about and worry about.” Yancey writes with an eye for detail, irony, and honest skepticism.

For some further insight into his thought, I recommend Kristof’s New York Times interview and his recent piece on What Makes Shakespeare Great?

Coldest Night

Coldest Night of the Year, February 22 this year, is a “family friendly national walk-a-thon that helps you raise funds for charities that serve hungry, homeless and hurting people in your town, and in 136 communities across Canada.”

Several Coldest Night events have been organized in Metro Vancouver, and at least three are based out of Christian ministries:

• Vancouver Broadway: CityReach Care Society

CityReach Care Society is hosting our 7th annual fundraising walk-a-thon, Coldest Night of the Year. We were honoured to join other locations across Canada, raising money for the hurting, hungry and homeless in our communities. This year, our goal is to make this our BIGGEST fundraiser yet . . . and to do that we need your help.

We are looking for 50 team captains, 400-plus walkers and 100 volunteers to raise $110,000 for CityReach programs, events and initiatives in 2020.

These funds are vital to both support and expand our programs and events, including Club Freedom, Food for Families, Adopt a School, Back to School Blast and other supportive and restorative initiatives in Vancouver and the Tri-Cities.

• Surrey/Cloverdale: Cloverdale Community Kitchen

The Cloverdale Community Kitchen offers a place of safety and support to those struggling through poverty and homeless in Cloverdale and surrounding areas.

Working in partnership with local churches, businesses, schools and volunteers, our programs meet the practical needs of each guest who visits.

With help from individuals and businesses, we:

• • Serve over 12,000 delicious hot meals annually through our supper program
  • Fill hampers for over 400 struggling families in Cloverdale with our Christmas Hamper program
  • Provide a warm place to sleep for at risk guests, during winter, with our Extreme Weather Shelter program
  • Supply food through our food bank program

• Langley: Salvation Army Gateway of Hope

Gateway of Hope is a multi-program residential facility located in the heart of Langley.

With services such as Emergency Shelter, Meal Centre, Transitional Housing and Family Services, we work to provide forward movement and encouragement to break the cycle of homelessness. We seek to come alongside those in need for the purposes of offering help, dignity and hope. Our doors are open to any who come to us.

Annually we:

• •  Serve approximately 110,000 meals to the homeless and others within our community
  •  Provide Christmas support, including food hampers, to over 500 individuals in need
  •  Send twenty disadvantaged children to summer camp
  •  Supply backpacks full of schools supplies to more than 500 children
  •  Offer many other services, including a free tax clinic, a cooks training program and life skills training seminars.

KAIROS Blanket Exercise

Participants stand on a series of blankets – representing land – for the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. Photo: KAIROS Canada

With all the conflict and uncertainly surrounding the Wet’suwet’en-related protests, this is an ideal time to take part in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, hosted this Saturday afternoon (February 22) at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on the North Shore.

Here’s how they describe the event:

As the name suggests, the Blanket Exercise begins with blankets arranged on the floor to represent Canada before the arrival of European explorers and settlers.

The participants, who represent Indigenous peoples, begin by moving around on the blankets. While the facilitator(s) reads from a script, other participants – representing the Europeans or newcomers – join and begin to interact with those on the blankets.

As Indigenous history unfolds some blankets are removed and they become a metaphor for disappearing lands and relocation to reservations.

Because participants learn by “experiencing,” the exercise reaches both the mind and heart and opens up possibilities for participants to learn how they can work towards reconciliation. “The purpose of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) is to teach a history of Canada that we didn’t learn in school. It’s kind of starting at the very beginning again, but if we understand one another we can work better together,” says Carin Crowe, a KBE Facilitator.

Vida Jaugelis, interim pastor at Gloria Dei, describes how hard it was for her to grasp the uncomfortable truth that the country that embraced her immigrant parents and countless other refugees was built at the expense of Indigenous people.

As I have wrestled with this hard truth, I have come to understand that although my parents came to Canada to find refuge and peace after fleeing war and oppression in their own land, upon arriving on these shores they became part of another story of dispossession.

The exercise will be facilitated by KAIROS Canada, an ecumenical advocacy network working to promote justice and human rights.

BRAVE

Corps Officer / Pastor Lisa Barnes will speak at BRAVE.

The Salvation Army is hosting BRAVE, a “catalytic event to remind girls they are valuable and worth being celebrated while encouraging them to dream big for what their futures can be,” February 29 at Southmont Citadel in southeast Vancouver.

Here is how they describe the event:

BRAVE is for girls ages 12 – 18 in vulnerable / at risk situations like: foster care, homelessness and youth probation. While we are focused on empowering vulnerable girls, we believe in uplifting all girls – everyone is invited! A special respite room is prepared for parents, guardians and caretakers – with food, pampering and resources.

The BRAVE event will include great music, encouraging speakers, confidence building activities, optional arts and crafts, resource booths, optional personal pampering, dancing, drumming, dinner, snacks, meeting others and more. Girls can expect to leave feeling brave and empowered with a BRAVE t-shirt, BRAVE tote, BRAVE journal, and gift bag.

Tickets are free for girls ages 12 -18.

Motivational speaker Lisa Barnes will address BRAVE. Here is part of her story:

Lisa is passionate about social justice, loving those in the margins, fully being herself, while living and sharing Jesus. She is a Corps Officer/ Pastor in the Seattle White Center neighborhood. It is a community crippled by poverty and addiction. If Lisa could serve in any capacity, this is the type that she would choose. She and her husband have two children.

Lisa also is the author of a book called Love to a Whore’s Daughter; Life and Faith Through the Lens of Grace and Redemption. She also wrote a guided journal called BRAVE; Thoughts and Acts. This is part of an empowerment program for girls in foster care. This is a preventative effort to combat the correlation between girls in foster care and girls who are trafficked into the domestic sex industry.