Following personal challenges and global tragedies, Japhet Ndhlovu finds fortitude and centring in God and colleagues through United Church clergy gatherings.
For Asian Heritage Month, Yoonjoo Shin, an early childhood educator, writes about the importance of having racialized educators who can embody inclusiveness for children from immigrant families.
With the start of the King Street transit pilot project in Toronto, I discovered a new way to get to work. Even if it took an additional 15 minutes more than taking the tube, it was worth it to see a glimpse of Lake Ontario. Memories of Luneta Park at Manila Bay flood in as I watch the waters of the lake from the 504 street car, just after Wilson Park Road to the Queensway. Forty-six years can make me imagine a lake to be the Pacific Ocean.
When I was 14, I noticed that almost all the boys in my class were missing. They were apprehended the night before and held with other boys and...
Cameron Watts responds to the question, "How do we measure whether inclusion has been achieved?" which was raised at the 9th Annual Federal Policy Forum on Inclusion.
Row on row we stood… in the brand new courtyard… row on row of young girls in navy tunics or navy skirts, white starched shirts, ties, and polished oxfords. I wore my new navy blazer with its red school crest, because it was a special occasion. The Honourable Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander was coming to our school’s reopening, so row on row we stood. I remember it was a bright autumn day, and it was so warm that I did not need my pea jacket. I thought, “This new private all-girl school is interesting! We...
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” —Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”
In July 2017 I received the then latest issue of The Journal of the Historical Society of the Alberta and Northwest Conference of The United Church of Canada. In that issue I was particularly interested in the article “The KKK and the Church,” written by Rev. Lloyd Lovatt. It was interesting reading and yet it was also difficult at points to absorb. I read that the Ku Klux Klan came to Alberta in the 1920s through...
The United Church of Canada has long been involved in interfaith dialogue and action to build respectful, mutual relationships. The church has recognized Islam as a religion of peace, mercy, justice, and compassion and has affirmed that we want to journey towards reconciliation, understanding, and cooperation with our Muslim neighbours. For more information, see Interfaith Relations.
During this past Advent, we put ourselves in the shoes of God’s people in biblical times as they wait for God to act. But the difference is that for us, we know what we’re waiting for (or we think we know), whereas for God’s people at the time, I don’t think they were quite sure what God had in mind or knew how long they were going to have to wait.
The Korean people can identify with this. They have been waiting for decades. When World War II ended, they thought the long years of Japanese occupation were over and the Korean people had finally found their independence. But it...
