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 30th 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 De
velopment 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 23rd; 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 2nd 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?
