Reflections on Grenada – December 2009

Hello, and welcome to the December blog! The year of 2009 is behind us; it is now resting, as comfortably as is possible, on the sands of time. For the New Year we have a new Goldenrod Glove Award to announce. Who receives the vote as the Islander we may never adjust to? Who is the winner of the coveted Goldenrod Glove Award? We have a very short list of two candidates whose job description we tried to put together over lunch the other day. The officials are actively in the employ of the government; all encounters with him and her are positively unpleasant. These two represent the taste of Imperial Petty Officialdom to us and are a part of our Island memories. Memories that reflect the poverty of the small (normally in stature and position) government employee involved. Imperial what you may well ask? Well, yes indeed, the pettiness of the official comes straight from the "jolly old" British Empire text books of the 1950s. The job requires the ability to hold a swagger stick under the left armpit while swaggering with the upper half of the torso and strutting slowly with the bottom half. An immaculate uniform is a must. Candidates should be less than five feet five inches in height. Being a natural bully is an asset. An ability to read but neither interpret nor comprehend the point of government regulations essential. The candidate's pomposity must be beyond the shadow of a doubt as must be their instinctive ability to reduce others to the dignity of hungry street dogs. The Candidate should be able to operate in every circumstance with great rudeness and no communication skills. An ability to bark is mandatory. I transferred the image of a certain Inspector in the Pink Panther movie onto one of the Award Winners the other day. It was my undoing; I smiled at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Luckily my taller frame came to my rescue and I was able to point past the official's head at a humorous encounter between two small boys. I took your point with glee, Lord, you are good; some days simply delicious! How I wish I had your sense of the absurd. Stay tuned for next month's White Glove Award!

December was a cool, fresh month for us. It was a time of confusing emotion wrapped up in the twenty-four hours around Christmas Day. What social beings we are. How do we really feel about spending so much time by ourselves? Why must we always do the balancing act between what could have been and what was? What measuring stick will give a true measurement of "progress" for 2010? Why do we need to make progress and not just solidify what we have, isn't that progress too? Then there's our home and native land of ice and snow that is rapidly becoming more and more distant. How do we get back there? Can we be sure that a white rabbit will "come by" at the appropriate moment in time; if not, will we be able to follow a line of ants?

The Christmas Season was celebrated well at Belair P.C. The evening of the skit, the 22^nd of December, was a great success as our youth showed their natural abilities as actors. Raquel received the major acting award for her part in the play. What a natural! The church was nicely decorated and the Christmas Day Service at 7:00 a.m. well attended. The Advent Candle Holder has been put away for next year, the Christmas tree dismantled, the sanctuary returned to its pre-Christmas self. Thanks to the people of the "Kirk" in St. George's who held a Christmas Gift Service, all the children of Belair P.C. and Samaritan PC. received a Christmas gift. It's been a long time since Ann and I saw so many pairs of sparkling eyes! I took part in Samaritan's Christmas Concert. It was also a lot of fun.

Apart from some minor repairs that still need to be completed and the delivery of two large tanks of propane gas for cooking, the manse is coming along nicely. A five ton truck load of builder's debris and other garage has been hauled off to the dump and the lot the manse sits on is now ready to be turned into a garden that will do justice to the great natural beauty around us. We have until the rainy season, which starts in June, to get it organized enough to take full advantage of that remarkable growing time.

MacDonald College started a new term on the 4^th of January. I am to teach this term but have not been given a schedule or an idea of what or who I may teach as yet, today is the 8^th of January! Grenadian time is alive and well at MacDonald! The Principal would like me to teach "creation". However, with the somewhat alarming number of fundamentalists around, Christian, Moslem and Rastafarian that could be somewhat difficult. On the other hand the Ministry of Education has a new curriculum that includes some subjects that could be summed up as Self-Control. Proverbs and Paul have some excellent things to day about the importance of self-control. Hmmm..... we are all part of God's creation, aren't we? I once heard a wise man say that the truths of poetry and prose do not compete with the truths of science or the courtroom and that we must all be aware of the difference. What is ours is an attitude that flows through our minds! An attitude compiled of the goods selected at anytime from the supermarket shelves of the world of our thought. Amen, brother!

In Hebrews 4: 12 we find, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even thoughts and attitudes of the heart." How do we live within constraints that are placed on us by others yet stay true to what we know as truth? I've always had the need to race away from institutions on a high horse yet I am also aware that if I am here doing what I do I am also choosing to exercise leadership of some sort. One of my heroes, Vaclav Havel, playwright, dissident, prisoner, one time President of the Czech Republic, thought that the power for authentic leadership is not found in external acquiescence to it but in the human hearts that it leads. Authentic leaders, Havel claims, aim at liberating the heart, their own and others, so that its powers can liberate the world. Truth I have also been taught can only be known when it moves from the head to the heart. Jesus said the truth will set you free. How is your heart? Have you placed it beside God's loving word recently? Another of my other heroes, Rosa Parks, took her stand with clarity and courage. Mostly, it seems, I take mine by diversion and default. My world still waits for the truth that will set us free, my truth, your truth, our truth, the truth planted in our world when each of us arrived here formed in God's image. Consider yourself liberated, consider yourself free.

Our prayer requests for this month are simple. Pray that we can help some children learn to read. Pray that they can be set free.

Reflections on Grenada – November 2009

Hello, and welcome to the November blog! The Church's calendar flipped to a new year last Sunday with the arrival of the first Sunday of Advent. Monday the 30^th of November marks the end of our tenth month here. The work visas for 2010 have been applied for as the current ones expire in February 2010. The visa can be issued only for a year at a time due to Immigration Regulations. In short everything around us is pointing to a fresh start to our lives in 2010. What other changes are we faced with in the next few months that have not been part of the somewhat large ones in the last ten? While we have done our utmost to adapt our life styles to reflect the pace of the Caribbean we still have expectations of ourselves as North Americans with Scottish roots. The continuing change to our lives will be the major one of letting our faster paced North American life style go and to continue to become more comfortable with the equally intense but slower paced life style in the Caribbean. Another major change will be our work at MacDonald College. We have finally moved into the manse at the College and this gives me an office to work from and Ann a new set of challenges as we prepare to become part of a learning community. We will focus on the battle for literacy, first at Belair Government Primary School then at the College.

If we experience some success with the test programme that we chose after research and advice from people like Laurie Lang the Training and Development Manager at the Literacy Council of South Simcoe, we will consider ourselves blessed. The enthusiasm for the test project of the School Principles, as they face a horrendous problem with their "slower" pupils, has fuelled our efforts. We have an excellent young, yet mature, teacher to work with at Belair and will introduce a teacher from MacDonald into the test situation in September so that the programme can be given a good start here in January 2011. We plan to make a video record of the test project. Other children can be encouraged by the video to take part. We will also use it to publicize the programme and fund the financial support that will be necessary. We also have much to thank Dr. Ron Wallace at International Ministries for as he has willingly supported this test project. Without his permission the test project would not have come to life. There is a short, commercial video at www.autoskill.com/rotarians/. You can even skip the Rotary introduction if you wish.

The moment that we have anticipated for the last six months is finally here! The manse is finally ready with enough furniture and ambience to keep us comfortable, if not a bit spoiled, for the remainder of our stay. We had two visitors over for lunch last Sunday. As they say in Grenada they simply "came by" to greet us. While their conversation was rather limited their occasional penetrating bleats added a lot of colour to the somewhat one sided conversation!

Our church community at Belair P.C. continues to solidify around us. We offer our humblest thanks to the Lord for the love and support we are shown there. Our Christmas trimmings for the sanctuary have been started. A tree will be placed in the Church on the second Sunday of Advent and the walls adorned with some hand crafted decorations. A Christmas play will take place in the evening of Wednesday the 23^rd; our own Glenda Williams has written it and it will be performed by our youth with the assistance of a few adults. There will be a worship service at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas day after which the respective families will enjoy their Christmas Days. The Session at Belair has been weakened by the continuing illness of Mr. Delaney Williams, a much loved and respected Elder, Treasurer and Churchman. While the issue needs to be addressed at the Annual Congregational Meeting some thought is being given by Session as to whether we might add one or two new Elders. The Board of Managers which has not functioned during our time at Belair also needs to be reborn and given focus. The hands and feet of Jesus Christ in Conference in the Parish of St. Andrew's given, not new direction, but a gentle reminder of who is calling them. The late Ray Humphries translated a text from 2^nd Corinthians 4:7 during a lecture at Knox College. He wanted to make sure we all understood a point he was making. He translated the verse this way, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." Paul taught that he relied on no power of his own and that he came to the subject he was teaching in great "fear and trembling". I think that simply meant he felt the great weight of his calling and took it with the utmost seriousness. Parker Palmer puts it this way, "Paradoxically, to take teaching with ultimate seriousness is to understand that it is truth that teaches, not you ... get the ego out of the way."

Let's give Paul the last word. A wise person, according to Paul, is not content to be merely a sceptic, a cynic or a naysayer as appropriate as those attitudes are in the face of conventional wisdom. Wisdom means a readiness for new truth, and openness to the Spirit that responds to the questions of our hearts beyond all socially sanctioned versions of what is true.

As we prepare to make a considerable change to our routine, help us with some prayer. Some large questions are waiting to be answered. Will our students know enough to be teachable? Will we be able to remember we do not have to know all the answers? If we do it cuts everyone off from those surprises called revelation. Will we remember at the same time that giving answers rarely draws students out but asking questions does? Will we remember to say in many different ways "you are loved"? Isn't being educated, above all else, the knowledge of this?

Reflections on Grenada – October 2009

Hello, and welcome to the October blog! After the oppressive humidity of the last few months the Island is beginning to cool down just as we had been promised. Early mornings and late afternoons are now very pleasant indeed, though I don't think there will be much danger of us ever needing a light sweater or deliberately choosing to wear long pants instead of shorts. The showers of rain are also much gentler and remind me of the water temperature I am now comfortable with in the unheated apartment shower. Then there's the water itself soft, clear and soothing as it flows over me from the sky or the shower head. Most of the larger houses have an external water tank that holds around six hundred gallons of water filled from the Government run water utility. On several occasions we have had to use the emergency supply at the apartment as the rain storms were such that they forced the reservoirs to stop supplying water as it could not be properly filtered. The reservoir water is normally cleaned up in four to twenty-four hours and again pumped into the regular supply. Yes, we normally drink water from containers bought in one of the local supermarkets though we do use tap water, after it is boiled, for our coffee and tea.

October took us back to Ontario. It was a lovely visit with our family and friends. What a pristine place Ontario is. The Muskoka's in their fall finery, the air clean, clear and cold! The occasional frost and sprinkling of snow a reality check that was long overdue! If I were pressed to use one word to describe the difference between Grenada and Canada (please remember my middle-class roots) it would be Canada's abundance. The supermarket in Gravenhurst had eight different kinds of onions (see the September blog). The road system eminently usable except for the 401 and a few other exceptions! The people there were comfortable as they had most of their next week's meals in the fridge/freezer. Next there was the milk. We have learned to use powdered milk in our cereal and coffee but cannot bring ourselves to drink a glass of it, even if it's cold. Not yet anyway! There was skimmed milk to die for! 1% and 2% milk that overwhelmed. Thank you, Lord, for Ontario's dairy industry. Thank you also for the fresh fruit and the fresh vegetables to name only a few commodities. Next time you are in the supermarket please do a simple task for me. Count how many different flavours of soup there are in the cans and bottles there as well as the different kinds of flour available! Abundance. The choice of groceries on the shelves endless; the products refined by the supermarkets after countless years of continual research. Then there was church. The church, more or less, of my childhood (that's a bit awkward!) where the music is well played, the choir rehearsed, Scripture read clearly and a trusted, comfortable order of worship followed. The sermon is both well and thoughtfully preached, the congregations appreciative of the preacher's gentle humour but otherwise silent. Jesus said it three times to Peter, feed my sheep. Lord, may we never stop learning how to feed the needs of your people. If you would like to hear this done well go and listen to the Rev. Dr. Jim Sitler in Gravenhurst. As a preacher who loves to be preached at, thank you, Jim.

We arrived back in Grenada on the 20^th of October and left again on the 31^st for Trinidad where we attended a Council Meeting of Canacom (The Caribbean and North American Council for Missions). The hospitality of the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad was overwhelming. The people and pastors we met eager to talk about the Church in the Caribbean. We were given the opportunity to learn much as we listened to the pain of those who were either dealing with congregations that were dying or on the other hand those whose churches were growing so quickly that their resources were to the point of either being inconsequential or mostly over whelmed. Personal highlights? I preached at a Church of Scotland Trinidad after which we were invited to the home of Alfrose and Michael for coffee and goodies. Imagine our surprise to find a sign on their door saying "Welcome to Tim Horton's". The muffins as well as the coffee were well up to Tim's standards! The thought and loving care involved were full of grace.

And so this Presbyterian tradition of ours in the Caribbean is alive in many different countries and ways. Our Presbyterian traditions, I think, were never ever meant to focus us on the rear view, they are simply meant to enrich our vision of the future. Nonetheless, our tradition is at least exploring its options in the Caribbean; it is intent on not running out of them. Yet even as the Presbyterian name is disappearing on some of the Islands it is flourishing as part of a Reformed Church in others. Jesus Christ is alive and leading change in his church, even as he did in Jerusalem to the church there 2000 years ago. Why is it we experience difficulty when we see the body of Christ change? Do our own bodies change? Just why is it so difficult for the church to accept the changes that must inevitably come to it? Our bodies change each day of our lives, they die, and we are reborn. The concept is not new. It may involve a little suffering but we can still follow Jesus even if we pick up that cross we were told about. I heard Henri Nouwen say that you don't think your way into a new kind of living, but live your way into a new kind of thinking. Remarkable words even for Henri Nouwen! Tonight as we looked out, far, far out over the Caribbean Sea at as dramatic a sunset as we'll ever see, we began to realize that there is no place in this world or in our lives that God can't call us or his Church from. Just like Jonah and the saints we travel to our destiny deep in the belly of God's gift of hope, hope that inevitably leads us to at least a glimpse of his Kingdom.

Reflections on Grenada – September 2009

Hello, and welcome to the September blog! It is almost the end of September and while the humidity is still an acute discomfort we are beginning to hope and give thanks that Grenada may have passed through the worst of the hurricane season. October will, of course, keep us guessing as to what Mother Nature may send our way but we have been promised that by the time we return from our vacation in Canada things will be cooler! Cooler for us will be days with much less humidity. To put all of this in perspective the Women's Group were planning Christmas at Belair P.C. last night. Christmas carols sung under the monumental magnificence of the tropical moon and stars. Holy night, silent night sung with reverence and just a hint of calypso gusto on the hill side? Christmas cake with a few grains of sand attached? Jesus' birth in the stable; the well used and somewhat ramshackle one at the end of the road? No matter what Jesus will be alive and well in our hearts on Christmas day. We'll pass on the snow and the white Christmas for this year!

The highlights of the month have been many. On a personal level the manse is finally together enough for us to move in the "heavy" furniture we have been buying as we saw things like bedding, fridge, stove, washing machine, etc. on "special" at the local version of a "furniture barn". We still cannot move in as there are essentials missing such as the piping to conduct the propane to the stove, bathroom fittings of all shapes and sizes, a tap in the kitchen which will reach all three of the sinks, a drainage ditch to prevent future flooding and a major clean up of the property to remove the builders debris and the accumulated garbage deposited on the lot over twenty-five years of non-usage. Then there is the "landscaping". Trees to be pruned, bushes to be trimmed, grass planted, etc. Grenadian time (see the July blog) is still alive and well and very much a part of our life at the manse from the very beginning.

Part of the "stuff" that I'm bringing to the writing of this blog is the knowledge that we are leaving for Ontario on Sunday the 27^th. We will stay overnight in Barbados, a place we haven't visited for many years and arrive in Toronto on the 28^th. What will home feel like after eight months away? We will be living in Gravenhurst with family and that will give us access to the Muskoka's in their fall finery. It will be a great treat to walk in the woods, smell the pine scented air and pull a jacket collar more snugly around the neck to protect us from the cool, dry, fall air. Will it snow? A few flakes will actually be welcome! How will we find our children? How will the health of our older friends be? We couldn't find any onions for sale in Sauteurs today. How many varieties of onions will be on sale in the supermarket in Gravenhurst? I'm betting on at least six!

Our full time work at MacDonald College now shows some signs of beginning. We sincerely hope the office is ready so that we can work there on our return from Canada. While we may poke gentle fun at Grenadian time (see the July blog) its ability to render great frustration with its ensuing impatience, feeling of helplessness and ensuing volatility can be absolute. So, we look forward to gradually becoming a meaningful part of the school community on our return. On the other hand at Belair P.C., largely due to the Youth Camp last month, we have Confirmation Classes underway with five of the youth as well as a baptism (on our return from Canada) of two of the younger children who attended. The Youth Group elected six of their members as a leadership team, last Sunday. The Spirit is alive and well at Belair!

I read somewhere that we do not create community – we are created by it. Our end of Grenada, the parishes of St. Andrew's and St. Patrick's are warm, welcoming, peaceful places. Life is hard here. Life is not fair. Nor does it have great expectations attached to its moments as they flit by. The Cruise Ship Industry will again begin using the Island, as cold air takes over in North America and Europe. Life will become busier but not easier for the folk whose livelihood depends on the somewhat fickle (at this time of economic uncertainty) travel industry.

What then can we feel, intellectualize and reflect on at this time. And how do these reflections express the concerns of the community around us? How are we being influenced? In short, how do Ann and I think communally rather than individually? Karl Barth wrote for the time of great change which he was passing through that to understand the Bible using human standards and expectations was to realize the Bible's importance was that it did not recognise the fundamental difference in the life experience and life style of its readers. Are the answers to our questions in Scripture in plain sight or are they the meat we receive when we pray for understanding? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:12 that if we receive "the Spirit who is from God we may understand what God has freely given us". As a cradle "Wee Free" Church of Scotland with all its Calvinism it's never easy to receive grace without trying to give in return. Giving what we can to the Lord is never easy or adequate for me as a human being. What a blessing these last eight months have been to Ann and I! As we prepare to leave moments in time after moments in time pass by our eyes in the rapid slide show of our memories. This gentle, peaceful, happy island home of ours, even with all of its many pressing social issues gives us an enormous sense of freedom in which we can address all that God opens our eyes to. Can we simply follow God's Spirit which Paul wrote about? The same Spirit who needs only our love, trust and faith in return? Will our community continue to bloom and grow with the occasional setback every community encounters? God knows. We are all in good hands!

Pray for a joy filled family time for us over Thanksgiving. Pray for travel mercies. Pray for rest and peace for us. Pray most of all for our community at Belair as the Elders prepare to lead worship and offer the community's praise and thanksgiving to our Jesus.

Reflections on Grenada - August 2009

Hello, and welcome to the August blog! Tropical depressions flow past us one after the other providing us with a new definition of the wet word humidity. Is there a comfortable place on the whole Island? Yes! Most large shops and shopping malls. Their air conditioning plants work flat out and make them worth a visit. Then, as the time comes to enter the reality of the outside world, clothing quickly becomes fit only for the laundry basket. The local weather pundits swear they cannot remember an August quite like this one. And, even if the temperature has fluctuated by no more than three or four degrees Celsius from a few months ago, there is much discussion around the effects of Global warming on Grenada. The main debating point is can the Island escape a hurricane this season due to the changing weather patterns?

The death of a lifelong member of Belair Presbyterian Church brought my first Grenadian funeral this last week. While the funeral was most certainly different from the North American or European funerals I have attended it was still a time of expressing gratitude to God for her life, as well as a start to the healing process for her family. I remember being told by the professor of preaching at seminary (a lifetime ago!) that a congregation will wait with a little apprehension for their new minister to conduct their first funeral service in the congregation. A “good” funeral service, he said, would cement the new relationship. It seems he knew about the Caribbean church too! Anyway, the gospel was preached, scripture read, prayers offered and hymns sung. God’s presence was acknowledged by many shouts of praise and many, many amen’s. This “new” minister again offers thanks for the miracles of faith, renewal and healing that the Spirit brings to those who reach out to him.

This month also brought about the much awaited Youth Camp. What fun! Forty-four children and eight leaders were caught up in a riot of Christian camping. The Bible study taught the children (7-17 years) how to “log on” to many of lives most important issues. I taught the thirteen to seventeen year olds. There were sixteen of them, six boys and ten girls. I found their reflection on life stimulating, honest and at times, provocative. We moved in three days from violence to HIV/AIDS to family planning at their direction. Do you know teenagers who would love to explore these topics? I’ll bet you do! What about some of the other highlights of the week? A sports day in which our four camp families (Joy, Love, Peace, and Self-control) competed against each other. At the camp fire sing song and marshmallow roast, I introduced a Scottish folk song, Coulter’s Candy, into the mix. It was a novel enough melody that the kids sang it willingly, so much so, that they sang it for me during the celebration on the final evening. Too many Scots have been in the Caribbean for that song not to have been sung here before, however it brought a lump to my throat as I stood listening to it along with the night sounds of frogs and other beasties that somehow or other managed to give it a calypso style beat! We also had a bus trip to one of Grenada’s world class beaches where we lunched on ketchup, French fries and K.F.C. I’ll never eat KFC again without flipping back to that beach where the ocean lapped gently with its turquoise edge. The social highlight of the camp was the Banquet. The kids dressed up in their best clothes, the leaders serving them as they sat at the table with their “dates”. The dance that followed had sisters demanding brother’s dance and cousins demanding their cousin’s dance too. A super evening with the camp cooks doing an exemplary job. Next year the kids would like a two week camp! Any volunteers out there? Ann and I may have to decline the second week as gracefully as we are able!

I have been involved in much theological reflection since our arrival in Grenada. A Jesuit who taught me about theological reflection said I should let the thoughts, feelings, images and insights that arise from a concrete event in my life be in conversation with the wisdom of the entire Christian community over the ages. This conversation could then be open and honest, because we trust this truth. But the conversation can only start when we allow our questions to lead us and deliberately set our fears aside. The questions then will simply carry us to a new understanding, a gift from God to us, not a prize that we earned. So after such an emotionally draining and tiring month I know again that God has many other ways of channelling love to others in Grenada than through us or the Presbyterian Church in Grenada. Community cuts both ways; when we reach the limit of our capacity to love, community means trusting that someone else will be available to the person in need. And so it is in our community here. Arguably, at the heart of the Christian leadership in any community is loving care. Without loving care church leadership has no purpose, and without showing others that you care and what you care about, other people won’t care about what you say or what you know. Ann and I are aware of how tough lives are for people here but the path to the future has always been full of challenges as well as opportunities no matter where we live in our Creator’s world. Deep down we know what a rare place this is to live and serve Jesus Christ. What a great place it is also to be and to stay in love with God! Do you know any other feeling in life that is more exhilarating and more positive than knowing and feeling that love is?

Pray for us as we move into the manse this month. Give God thanks for both the patience he provides for us as well as the richness of the understanding he provides of those around us even as we are given the gift of a richer understanding of ourselves.

Reflections on Grenada - July 2009

Hello, welcome to the July blog! The rainy season continues, the manse is closer than ever to being ready and we have now lived in Grenada for six months. And yes, the debate about living in Grenadian time continues between Ann and me just as it will for the rest of our lives. What a gift!

What’s Grenadian time? Those who have lived in it all of their lives see it passing one way, our eyes and time pieces measure it in another! When the locals talk about Grenadian time they might point to the starting time of an event, say 10:00 a.m., and, when everyone has gathered let’s say around 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. and the event finally gets underway, that event is taking place in Grenadian time. Does the event finish at the scheduled time? Well, possibly, but almost invariably not. Certainly, “in the country” where we live things tend to start and finish “later” in Grenadian time. For example, your appointment at the Doctor’s will come as close to being at the appointed time as the daily work and stress around the Doctor permits. On the other hand if Danny “comes by” to wash the car and says he will be on Saturday morning that means he will be here somewhere between 6:15 a.m. – 6:45 a.m. Danny works steadily and well. The car will be gleaming inside and out seventy-five minutes later. However, if a pretty girl, a friend or relative of his “comes by” while he is working, time hiccups, and Grenadian time is alive and well while the necessary social interaction takes place or is exceeded.

What is our view of Grenadian time in this sixth month? It looks like this. We go to the fish market, settle on a particular fish and money changes hands. We now need to find someone to clean and fillet it so that we are not continually finding small fish bones with our teeth. This is easy to do as there are many males, young and old, ready to go to work. They could quickly and efficiently complete their task in a few minutes. However, Grenadian time makes its presence known when this skill of theirs is about to be paid for. Time needs to be slowed down. Razor sharp knives flash closer and closer to fingers. The table is washed down. Advice about this or that offered to or received from others. Fish entrails are examined for objects of interest. Shouts are exchanged across the street with others; a mouthful of beer swallowed down deeply and the fish carefully wrapped for the trip home. We then move deeper into Grenadian time. The cost of cleaning the fish can be anywhere from $1.00 to $3.00 CAD dependant on the size and type of fish. That’s fair pricing. It’s at this point if you have a $5.00 bill and are obviously not from Grenada that all the change in the fish market disappears into a time warp. It can take 10 – 15 minutes to find change elsewhere. The shopper in the family always finds it. Smiles and grins are exchanged, faces memorized and finally a handful of change put into the car for future use.

We went to renew our driving licenses the other day. We need to buy three temporary licenses before we can apply for a permanent one (think of revenue for a cash strapped Government). Those of us over 60 years need a certificate from our Doctor to say that we are able to drive. Anyway, we go to the Traffic Department of our local police station and find there a very pregnant police constable enjoying her air conditioned office. She has a very meaningful chat with a girl friend on the phone as she fills out our paper work. She asks abrupt questions of us so that her conversation can continue; she returns our Ontario licenses and asks for the $25.00 CAD due. When I hand her the money she explains she has just cashed up for the day (the office is open for another two hours) and sends us out to get the exact amount due. Ann goes off to the bank; I go off to pay our Cable T.V. bill. The cash machine at the bank is not working, the bank is closed. I don’t get much change from the Cable Company. We finally walk over to the air conditioned shop of a Brampton ON., couple and, after a visit, they give us the change we need for the Traffic Department. A policeman approaches to discuss where I parked the car; he looks into my eyes, smiles in an understanding way, and leaves.

Why didn’t we drive? Grenville is the second largest town on the island. It has a one way road system that runs through and alongside the local market. Yes, it is a people intensive place; yes, it is quicker to walk and yes, it is the rainy season. Elapsed Grenadian time that day ran around one hundred and fifteen minutes. On the other hand elapsed time at Mary’s in Sutton On., where licenses etc are renewed is around ten minutes. This time would also include an update on both of our families as well as some local “goings on”. I never ever had to change my shirt after a visit to Mary’s. On the other hand the visit there was never a story for Horton’s. God is good, I have two shirts and my short hair dries quickly.

MacDonald College is closed for the summer holidays. Our work at Belair P.C. continues but it too has slowed down a bit for the summer season. Needless to say the excitement over the upcoming Camp for the youth from the 14th –21st of August is growing. Soon it will explode into the fun and noise of youth being together to celebrate their life and faith in Jesus Christ. Yes we are all excited, bring it on!

James 1:4 tells us that “perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” It seems to me we often think of our perseverance in the light of our “daily grind”. We know of things that must or should be done because it is what we expect of ourselves. When perseverance becomes duty it can lead us, sooner rather than later, to a feeling of great powerlessness. Mary Jo Leddy in her book Radical Gratitude is helpful with our present adjustments. She would ask if I have thrown away my day planner/diary. Was it my identity? What actually holds the time and essence of our daily living? Can some pages bound by a cover do this? Were all of the time slots filled in according to their order in the pages? Grenada has suggested something about our use of time that needs more reflection. Do I need a new sense of reality, a means by which my perseverance can bring me to consider the difference between my life and my lifestyle? What do you or I see as a secure, free, happy, grace filled life? Is that what James is getting at when he writes about perseverance bringing us to being more mature and complete? If I am to be a disciple of Jesus I really must take the risk of believing that he meant it when he said we should simply seek the living God for in God we will find all things. How about you? Will it take a wet, windy, Wednesday afternoon in Grenville to help set you free?

Pray, please, for the successful completion of the work at the manse and our move there. Pray also for our continuing adjustment to our new culture and our ability to find God’s grace, fingerprints and humour there.

Reflections on Grenada – June 2009

Hello, welcome to the June blog! The Rainy season has now firmly established itself in Grenada. Apart from the teeming rain showers of some two to ten minutes (a few are longer!) the temperature here for the first time is “escalating” as much as seven or eight degrees daily! You may well chuckle but that’s the difference between cool and wet with little or no humidity and warm and wet with one hundred percent humidity. I guess you have to experience it! Needless to say, from now until the 30th of November is the hurricane season too. We hear stories of Ivan in 2004 and Emily in 2005 and listen attentively as well as with some apprehension to them. Hurricane Ivan (the Terrible) was the strongest hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season; it is the sixth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record and reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the strongest possible category. The wind speeds were greater than 249 km/hr and, at its peak, Ivan was the size of the state of Texas in the U.S.A. It killed 39 people on Grenada and did some two billion dollars (Can) worth of damage. Schools were closed for upwards of two months and power, sewer and water services took up to six months to be restored in some places. Some people were without food for two to three weeks. Without the efforts of outside Governmental agencies, N.G.O.s, Churches and people from around the world many more lives would have been extinguished. Hurricane Emily, in contrast, was a pussycat. Emily was a Category 2 hurricane with winds from 154-177 km/hr. It mostly affected the northern parishes of St. Patrick’s and St. Andrew’s. One fatality was recorded. Emily was one of the earliest hurricanes ever when it hit on Thursday the 14th of July, 2005. Unfortunately, it damaged the newly planted trees from the disaster in 2004 that bear the fruit and spice that are such vital ingredients of the Grenadian economy.

This has been a short month for us as we spent a vacation with our birth families in the U.K. Compare and contrast the two Islands? No thanks! It was a time of rest though and a time of renewing old and new (an almost two year old great-niece) family relationships. We both enjoyed the complete lack of humidity! We intend, God willing, to visit with our family and friends in Canada in October over Thanksgiving. Now that will be an interesting time to compare and contrast the both of us in the settings we call home.

The Graduating Class of 2009 took its farewell from MacDonald College this last week. The stars of the event were obviously the Class but the efforts of the entire school staff made it a truly memorable event in the life of each member of the Class. The Graduation process took three hours from the Processional/Invocation to the Benediction/Recessional. We sang the National Anthem and the School Song, heard some welcoming remarks from the two young teachers who were M.C.s and listened to the Principle Mr. James I. Alexander as he talked about the events which the Class had gone through together. Academic and Sports awards were made to members of the Class as well as others in the school. Words of wisdom about the new challenges they were about to face were offered by Mr. Agar Alexander, a retired Deputy Minister of Education. The diplomas were presented by the Hon. Joseph Gilbert, Minister of Works and Mrs. A. James, member of the Board of Education. The Class chose to sing as their Class Song “Tears are not enough”. The words hung out there as a challenge, “If we can pull together, we could change the world forever, heaven knows that tears are not enough.” Gifts were presented to some of the well-loved teachers and the Valedictory Address given by Shannel Swan. It was a lovely process, just the right mix of solemn, sad, joy and laughter. Some fifty girls graduated together with some twenty boys. A great percentage of them will find success off the Island rather than on it. Will some relative help them get a “Green Card” for the United States and an education at a University there? When I asked how many planned on staying in Grenada the hands that were raised could be counted on the fingers of one of mine. I thought of how Canada had given our family the opportunity to be well educated and the freedom of choice we experience in so many of life’s fields and I prayed a little harder for the Graduates after pronouncing the Benediction.

Paul, writing to the Philippians says that “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice” (4:9). Paul was writing to the Philippians about a particularly vigorous type of Christian living. The letter is also full of the word joy. The Graduation we witnessed begs an enormous amount of questions about the future of the Class, as it does about the future of other young people across the world at this time of economic turmoil. What does the Class have to guide it on its life’s journey? What is there to guide us on our own journey? How about the thought that Jesus would not have been able to offer his unique perspective on God’s relationship with the world nor would he have been able to fulfill his life’s purpose without his ability to develop into an individual or what someone once taught me to think of as a separate self. Jesus developed a sense of individuality yet maintained a sense of community and connectedness with his roots. This meant that he experienced the joy of bringing a new perspective to life, faith and the truths he taught about them while remaining within his history and tradition. Combine Jesus’ teaching and life example and Paul’s solid advice to his fellow Christians and joy, great joy can be found. None of us are the only act in town. The world is working together, more than ever, for the common good. Joy is found in being who we are, a child of God, not conforming to some image of who we ought to be in the eyes of others. Frederick Buechner says that vocation “is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” We are all on earth to be the gifts God created. Feel the joy of it.

Pray, please, for our freedom from anxiety over the forces of nature and for a trouble free move into the manse as it finally nears completion. Pray also for our continuing adjustments to the culture of our new Island home.

Reflections on Grenada – May 2009

Welcome to the month of May blog! May has been a time of using our “new eyes” (see February blog) to arrive at some conclusions as to how God has led us to see two initial projects that, with your help, will enable the Church here to deal with some of the issues in our community.

Youth Camps are a large part of Youth Ministry in Grenada as well as on other Islands in the Caribbean. The PCG has held successful camps for some years. They have been using the camp of another church dreaming, at the same time, about their own camp on six acres of land which had been deeded to them. Camps provide an ideal setting for learning not only for our church children and adults but also for the people in the community around us. Learning about Jesus Christ; learning about medical and social issues such as Aids, diabetes, and nutrition as well as the need for exercise, etc.; about the need, in short, for an individual to have a healthy body, mind and spirit so that they may live, worship and work to their fullest potential and be at peace in God’s good creation.

Through the offices of International Ministries of the PCC we will be trying to raise funds to support the PCG camp this August at its usual site. We have tried to structure our project in a way that might encourage you to help. A donation of $50.00 will send a child to camp. $65.00 will send a child to camp and help us provide equipment for such games as cricket, soccer, netball and volleyball. $125.00 will send a child to camp, provide sports equipment and help build proposed wooden housing on the new camp site. These amounts are in Canadian dollars.

Belair P.C. is a small church with no funds with which to outreach into their community, Conference; it is a community rifled with poverty. 80% of the children go to school hungry, have little English language and math skills and absolutely no computer skills at all. This is an immense problem when they go to high school as they are expected to do research and work on computers there. They then get waived through the school system and become stuck as they are for life.

So, we are looking, with the blessing of International Ministries, for six lap top computers to conduct a test of a future project. We need lap tops because Belair P.C. is not secure and we will need to carry the lap tops back and forward with us for now. At first our aim is to achieve only a few things with the computers. Ann can teach basic key boarding, I can teach basic computer skills. We have been promised a programme that will teach computers skills, as well as two others that will teach English grammar and conjugation and math skills. The computers obviously do not need to be brand new but should be able to withstand a bit of a pounding!

We are also hoping this outreach will put some new bottoms on the pews at Belair and, of course, help “our” kids there too.

We give thanks to God though that May was not all work! The Youth Fellowship at Belair hiked up to St. Margaret’s Water Fall. We hiked, straight up, for just over an hour, across chasms and streams, fighting with mosquitoes, gorgeous dragon flies and birds as well as some small lizards as we all gasped for the same air there! We fed the fish in the pool beneath the falls then jumped in beside them! The hike down lasted almost ninety minutes and culminated in us drivers, walking on our own to where our cars were parked so that we could pick up the rest of the group where they had fallen! We are all agreed there will be no more hiking for a while, at least not till next month.

Our Youth Fellowship over the next few weeks will be making and selling ice cream to raise funds for the camp in August. Does ice cream sell well in Grenada’s 28c temperature? We have an ice cream making machine that looks like an old wooden butter churn from the farm in the 50s. Is the ice cream good? Is there a line up to clean up the churn? You just know it!

In Romans 12 Paul writes that if we will allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our mind then we will be able to test God’s will for us, his good, pleasing and perfect will. People care for people they know well. God cares for each of us well. God has known us from before we were conceived. What has Grenada taught this month? God’s loving grace and the renewal it brings each day is the only sure foundation for ministry everywhere. Like most ministers I work hard at the projects I am involved in even as I need the affection and approval of others. I know though that what may be brought about by God’s steady hand in Grenada will not be achieved by any merit or need of mine but by God’s will and the support of my family, friends and colleagues, who may be some distance from both of us but hold us safely and securely in their prayers.

Pray, please, for the renewal of our minds, the contentment of our hearts; the gift of eyes that see both new things and things in need of renewal. Most of all pray for the people of Grenada, help them to see that renewal is available to them with each new day by the will and grace of God.

Reflections on Grenada – April 2009

Hello! Welcome to our April blog! We have just completed our third month here and, to tell you the truth, our days continue to flash by. We think about home daily. Our T.V. cable package includes the C.B.C. from Toronto. We did try to watch some play-off hockey (this is the only time of year we watch hockey on T.V.) but it seemed to be awkward and inappropriate to sit in the cool night air, listen to the surf on the beach in a temperature of 24c and watch hockey! So we watch the “boys of summer” instead! We ask each other, with little anxiety anymore, how we are settling down, and we both agree on the richness of our days and the warmth and openness of the people who fill them. So, what do we miss? Our adult children and friends as well as our favourite coffee shop chain!

I had an introduction to the medical system this month when the husband of an Elder was rushed to the General Hospital in St. George’s. The General Hospital here operates as other hospitals do in other parts of the world that struggle financially. You wear your own pyjamas; bring your own sheets; buy your own medication for the nurses to administer; at around double the cost in Canada, I might add. Your family feeds you as they always have. Need kidney dialysis three days a week? At $400 CAD per treatment that amounts to $1,200 CAD each week. When your monthly income is under $1,000 CAD how can you afford the dialysis or medication? If you live with cancer, heart issues and diabetes it is the malignant poverty that is invariable fatal. The average expectation of life is 64 years for men, 66 years for women. Oh, by the way, I’m sure you will have noticed how much the act of hand washing is in the news across the world. The toilet at the General Hospital was spotlessly clean, just like the hospital itself. However, despite the signs in many prominent places in the toilet about the necessity of hand washing there was no soap. You bring that with you too.

The school holiday for the Easter break brought the youth from Belair P.C. together with the youth from Samaritan P.C. for a party at Bathway Beach. It was billed as a “Beach Party with Jesus and other Notables”. There are some photos at the bottom of the blog, click on them and see the day up close! We sang and sang and sang then played and played and played then ate and ate and ate. The adults who supervised came home, went to bed early and slept and slept and slept! Jesus? He laughed and laughed and laughed and gave us so many gifts and blessings that day that most of us there will never forget him.

The 2009 Graduating Class from MacDonald College held their final assembly Wednesday afternoon of this last week. We sang hymns and praise songs, prayed, read scripture, heard a homily, received many words of advice and felt the bitter-sweet joy/sadness as well as the elation/fear around the upcoming separation. It was as powerful a church service as I have ever been at. And, as the students were blessed, one of the most moving.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Over the last few months’ life here has been a response to the reality which we find here in Grenada, to what truly is. To do this we have been leaning on the Lord so much that we have barely noticed how clear our path was and is. As I sat one evening, swept up and away by the glory of the sunset over Sateurs, I finally knew that what all of us on this Island are called to is indeed far beyond us, and yet by virtue of our very baptism it is already ours.

Trust in the Lord indeed, trust in the Lord.

Reflections on Grenada – March 2009

Greetings from Grenada where the dry season is rapidly coming to an end. We’re told this is usually a very welcome time of year as the Island’s lush greenery is burnt brown and the rivers and streams reduced to a trickle. However, we’ve had enough rain this year to keep the Island lush and green and humid!

We have a great group of young people at the Church who meet with us Saturday afternoons. What do young people like to do here in the afternoon when they have transportation? Go to the beach of course! We play soccer, volleyball and cricket on the sand. In the water there is a knock-em-down ball game we’ve never experienced before. We also surf on small waves and fish for minnows in the shallows. Last week we hiked to a new beach to us – Conference Beach – a round trip of about five miles. The temperature was 28c and it got warmer yet when we were chased by an enormous bull-frog and a tethered cow. We lost four shoes in a cunningly disguised sea marsh and recovered three. Have you ever hopped for two miles? This week two of our expert kite makers are making us all kites to fly. This will allow Ann and me to experience one of Grenada’s favourite hobbies, kite flying. Our life giving Trade Winds can carry kites up as far as the line will stretch. Where was Jesus in all this? His Spirit was at the centre of it teaching us to trust, love and care for each other. Without personal relationships it is difficult to talk about God.

We experienced our first Sports Day at MacDonald College. When we arrived the stands were rocking noisily as families and friends prepared to support the competing athletes. The teams (the College is divided into four houses in traditional Scottish Senior Secondary School style) marched by the reviewing stand accompanied by each team’s cheer leaders. The event was opened with prayer; the Minister for Sport of the Grenadian Government declared the Sports to be underway and the fun began! People whistled, cheered, danced and encouraged their favourite athlete by name. Athletes became dehydrated and suffered cramps in the heat, miraculously recovering when the towel with ice wrapped in it and drinking water appeared. The Prime Minister, the Hon. Tillman Thomas came with an enormous body guard who proceeded to keep one eye on the P.M. and one eye on the races. The P.M. greeted everyone who came by the “Dignitary” tent. What a charming man! He is “Uncle Tilly” to his constituents and is a resident of the Parish where we live, St. Patrick’s. He is obviously well liked and respected here.

We also had our first Annual Congregational Meeting at Belair Presbyterian Church. I thought it in no small way enlightening that the Treasurer was asked the same flavour of questions as church Treasurers are everywhere! One of my first major tasks here is to put some structure around church polity and policy. We began this week and hope to have a preliminary document available for Presbytery in April. We are not, of course, starting from scratch; however, the task for me will be a long and monotonous one. Kite flying anyone?

The deep pockets of poverty all around us are becoming more and more apparent as we begin to see and to name some of the social issues on the Island. It’s natural to think that the fruit and vegetables that grow in abundance will provide enough nourishment for everyone. It is not true. Children go to bed and come to school hungry. A retired elder of Belair P.C. that was appointed by his Government to the United Nations in New York told me that nearly fifty percent of Grenada’s fiscal budget consists of funds to pay the interest on money owed to the International Monetary Fund/World Bank. Where do the fruit, vegetables and spices grown here go? To countries whose money makes interest payments possible? Children go to bed hungry.

Proverbs 22:16 tells us that “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.” I have never experienced poverty personally. I have experienced Christianity. Christ makes it clear the purpose of our faith lies in what we do outside ourselves, not within ourselves. A Christian is a person for others as Jesus was a person dedicated to others. The world teeters on the brink of financial catastrophe, the world’s financial system shaken to its deepest roots and we still do our utmost to make the poor pay. Will the world or, at least, the developed nations of the world ever recognize that financial power and war are senseless methods of obtaining the lubrication that keeps our societies rolling? Are we, the Church, a real community across the world that exhibits to our societies our relationships, life and work as the image of the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus embraced poverty. How do you and I as uncommonly rich North Americans compared to some 80% of the world’s population, even in these troubled times, follow Jesus? Are the majority of the world’s people watching us with expectation? Me, I reflect more and more on the camel and the eye of the needle.

Please continue to pray for us as we focus on what God’s will is for our work here. Pray for us as we continue to settle into our new culture. Thank God with us each day for the opportunity to serve the people of our new Island home.

Reflections on Grenada - February 2009

It has been a time of change for Ann and me, pleasant, friendly but firm change. I read somewhere that any voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Our eyes, particularly over the next few months, will be trying to see things as Rhonda, Glenda, Nicole and Nigel do or trying to see things through the fresh gorgeous eyes of Kemby and the other children.

We are told this is the wettest dry season in Grenada for some years. Sweet, soft falling rain that feels like a refreshing cool shower – warmer by a few degrees than the shower in the apartment we are living in until the Manse is ready! Stand in the rain, smell the roasting sweet corn, see the multi-coloured clothing of the people strolling by, touch the fruits and vegetables on display in the market, wonder how we will cook the chicken for supper that evening. Chicken that tastes like chicken fresh from the farm in the 1950’s.

We live in an apartment in the bottom half of Dorothy’s house. She is an elderly lady, the widow of an Anglican priest from Airdrie in Scotland. She loves negotiating and will negotiate with anybody over anything. She has introduced us to people who will help us over the next few years – they come bearing her name-tag “reliable” and yes they are! The only couple that we have ever heard Dorothy raise her voice to are her dogs Sam and Suzy. She brings us wonderful grapefruits and oranges from the trees in her garden. She gives us the scoop on the local goings on. What a treasure!

My counterpart here, the Rev. Osbert James, has many gifts – musician, preacher, prophet, and shepherd – all contained in a body, mind and spirit that draws on some unseen silent generator that must surely be the Holy Spirit. These are much over used words but it is a real privilege to worship and work with him.

We are living in Levera and, when the manse is ready at MacDonald College, hopefully around the end of April, we will move there. MacDonald College is in Marli. We are presently within a dozen or so houses from the most northerly tip of the island. We are in the “country” where we may have 21st Century communication technology but unfortunately the infrastructure that supports it is poor. Cooking is by propane gas which is certainly effective enough but the propane supply is problematic. Grenada is set in the full lushness of the southern Caribbean – where some people wear heavy woollen tukes everyday (the average temperature all year round is 28 c) – where God created a land of great beauty - where people become more animated and excited about politics than Canadians do – where people will stop their car if your car is stopped and ask if you are lost. Lost you might well ask? Most villages and towns in the “country” (the area north of the capital city St. George’s) do not have signs with their names nor is there much by way of identification within them. The yield and stop traffic signs between here and St. Georges can be counted on the fingers of one hand. There are many, many other drivers on the roads that we squeeze by each day. Roads that are winding, narrow and steeply hilled. The drivers are courteous, patient and horn tooting! There are a few exceptions of course.

As in other Caribbean Islands unemployment is a serious problem. 98% of the items on grocery shelves are considerably more expensive than in Canada. Fruit, vegetables and chicken are plentiful and reasonable. How do a large portion of the people live? If they are not fed physically can they be fed spiritually? Grenada’s past history has been somewhat chequered. How will we be able to best serve the people here in a time of worldwide chaos? And will the issues around the historically recent revolution continue to be laid to rest during the present economic turmoil?

My induction service on the 8th of February was amazing. The Church had been freshly painted and decorated with balloons and streamers. The people of Belair Presbyterian Church poured themselves out to make the day memorable for everyone that attended. They have a chunk of my heart already. The Moderator and I wore our gowns and hoods in a temperature of around 27 c. One of the elders finally turned a cooling fan on us. What a blessing! The three Congregations came together for the service, the pews were full, people stood against the walls and a more fortunate crowd formed round the open church doors in the sunshine. The atmosphere was celebratory, the music flowed, and gifts of flowers, fruit and spices were presented to Ann and me together with a T.V. It was simply a wonderful, God filled, feel good day!The other work that I am to do here is to be Chaplain to MacDonald College. It’s a Secondary School, the children there between 11 and 16 years. There are around 600 children at the college; they start each school day at 8:00 a.m. with thirty minutes of devotions. The School is a church school, a Presbyterian Church in Grenada School, although it is now funded as the other schools are on the island by the Government. My first staff meeting at the College is tomorrow, Monday the 23rd of February. I am looking forward to that with both excitement and interest.

Grenada is a beautiful island that faces many, many issues. The issues are more serious away from the tourist style environment that surrounds St. George’s. You will have heard of some of the issues before, poverty, lack of trained medical professionals, a growing aids problem, poor road conditions and some political instability. How can the people of the Presbyterian Church in Canada best walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Presbyterian Church in Grenada? Pray for our new eyes as well as our hearts and minds as we attempt to discern God’s will for the focus of our work here. Pray also for our continued efforts to settle into a new culture. Help us thank God each day for the opportunity to serve the people of our new Island home.