February 16, 2010
News Briefs for February 2010
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Reprise on “The New Dawn”
At its last teleconference, the NACC Steering committee approved that a motion of dissolution be presented at this spring’s AGM, April 30, May 1, in London, Ontario. The Alliance and one other group have now agreed to cooperate on the regeneration and revitalization of the United Church’s renewal movement. The plan is to foster a new start, a completely new entity, one with revised emphases, with a new name and structure, and with new leadership. We hope to launch this project with a breakthrough event this coming autumn. Please hold all this in your prayers, trusting that the Lord is once again saying, “See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
We anticipate that the new initiative will preserve at least some services currently offered by the NACC, which will be around in some form for a while: the fact that we are a federally registered corporation means that working through just the bureaucratic requirements and niceties will take up to a year. Obviously you will be hearing more on all this, but for the present it is business as usual.
Mediation for Ted Wigglesworth
As we reported in NBs #12-2, the United Church has agreed to try mediation as a way of dealing with the dispute over Ted’s removal from ministry over eleven years ago. The stalling may be over, and there is finally the possibility that he will be granted a modicum of justice, including reasonable recompense. If not, it’s on to the court case.
This sad tale is long and complex, but anyone unclear as to what has happened and what is at stake can contact us, and we will be pleased to forward some explanatory materials. (Contact information is at the masthead above, or contact the NACC Office, Box 1022, Barrie ON L4M 3E1, nacc@csolve.net.)
Retired Alberta judge Tim J. Christian has agreed to act as the mediator, and the hearing dates are set for April 7 and 13, with April 20 also, if necessary. As always, donations to help with Ted’s continuing legal costs can be sent to: The Legal Defense Fund, c/o Cameron Smith, 3 Sunshine Gardens, Sussex NB E4E 2E3. Tax receipts will be issued.
A Song of Faith: an irony
As noted back in September, the last General Council ordered a number of Remits (church-wide votes). The UCC website shows six of these, five of them just for Presbyteries, the other for Pastoral Charges also. We have heard via jungle telegraph that another Remit is on the way, this one dealing with changes to the Doctrine section of the church’s constitution, The Basis of Union, to which it is proposed to add “A Song”, and several other faith statements.
The irony is that the NACC got nowhere with its careful argument that egregious flaws in “A Song” meant the wider church should have been able to approve or disapprove it through a Remit. Our case was rejected by the General Secretary, and our Appeal was denied a hearing by the Judicial Committee - of which the GS is a member. However, with the proposed insertion into the Basis of Union, there is now no escaping the vote we laboriously pursued and were arbitrarily denied. We have heard that this Remit will be going to local sessions (or their equivalent bodies) for endorsement, so please watch for it, remembering that the NACC emphatically recommends rejection.
A Reminder: In this time of clergy shortage, United Church congregations – NACC or not – needing a theologically orthodox minister (ordained or lay) may want to check out the NACC’s Pastoral Relations Service. Your contact for more information, Geoff_Wilkins@telus.net.Concluding Fluff :
- From Sunday School: Prayer offered by a small girl – “Dear God, did you really mean ‘do unto others as they do unto you’? Because if you did, then I’m really going to fix my brother.”
- Fathers: They give their daughters away to men who don’t deserve them so they can have smarter grandchildren than anybody else.
- Parental Lament #1: A child enters your home, makes so much noise for twenty years that you can hardly stand it, then departs, leaving the house so quiet you think you’ll go mad.
- Parental Lament #2: The trouble with being a parent is that, by the time you’re experienced, you’re unemployed.
God bless -- Geoff
Posted at February 16, 2010 01:53 PM