Art and then some

After two and a half years of work, Artsome Studio has completed the second stage of a massive iconography project in St. Nicholas Macedonian Church in Windsor, Ontario. The artwork is spaced over more than 2,500 square feet of wall and includes over 390 figures, 52 of which are life-size figures of saints. The saints are relief figures carved from wood and gilded by hand. A consecration service will be held September 13. Anyone wishing to view the artwork should call the church at 519-966-6257 or Artsome at 519-984-6028.

This jewellery is the bomb

Ten Thousand Villages is selling Bombshell Peace Dove Necklaces, handcrafted from bombshell casings by artisans in Cambodia. The necklaces sell for $45. For every necklace sold between September 21 (International Peace Day) and November 11 (Remembrance Day), Ten Thousand Villages will donate $5 to Mines Action Canada to assist Cambodians who have been injured by bombs. The Cambodian landscape is littered with exploded and unexploded bombs, and one in every 384 Cambodians is an amputee, the highest amputation rate in the world. Ten Thousand Villages is the oldest and largest fair trade organization in North America. It sells personal accessories and home decor and gift items made by artisans around the globe through a network of 50 stores, hundreds of festivals and online shopping.

Some years are prayerless

The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is scheduled for January 2010. Each year, the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) produces worship materials for the week that include liturgies, biblical commentaries, planning tips, suggestions for hymns, children's and youth activities, advertising material, take-home prayer cards and meditation booklets. The CCC's Faith and Witness Commission is now developing an online archive of previous years' liturgies dating back as far as 1919. However, the archive is incomplete, and the Commission is asking churches to donate any copies of the missing years they might have.

Not so distant after all

The World Evangelical Alliance has developed a 12-unit, three-month distance learning course called 'Working Your Way to the Nations.' The course, which begins September 14, "provides a comprehensive overview of what it takes to succeed as an international Christian witness."

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Further international Christian witness

'Faith Beyond Belief' is a series of presentations that Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason (STR) will make in Calgary October 23 - 25. STR's mandate is "to equip Christians to effectively challenge society's bad thinking about Christianity and to equip them to explain their faith more clearly to others." The talks are being hosted by Faith Builder International (Baptist) Church but will be held in Full Gospel Tabernacle.

Families that COLF together stay together

The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) has launched its annual message to families. Titled 'Families, Let's Build a Better World Together!', the 12-page document is a reflection on the importance of family involvement in the public arena. The new publication is available on the COLF website.

Give me a place to think

Cardus, a Canadian Christian think tank, opened new offices at 185 Young Street in Hamilton, Ontario, September 2. Cardus "specializes in developing comprehensive responses to critical economic, educational, urban, and organizational challenges."

A common economic vision

A long list of evangelical Protestant leaders have issued a statement called 'Doing the truth in love.' It commends Pope Benedict XVI's recent encyclical on the nature and goal of economic life, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). The evangelical statement calls on Christians everywhere "to read, wrestle with, and respond" to the pope's encyclical. It also calls for serious dialogue among all Christians on these issues and urges evangelicals to join Catholics in working "for global solidarity, economic justice, and the common good, as norms that transcend and transform the motives of economic profit and technical progress." The full statement and a list of those supporting it are available online.

You don't need a team to pray

The National House of Prayer (NHOP) is still booking prayer teams to come to Ottawa for a week this fall and pray for Canada. Teams will meet their MP, attend Question Period in the House of Commons, tour official sites and join a regular prayer time at the Chapel on the Hill. NHOP provides meals, beds, and leaders to guide the teams in their week of prayer and activities. NHOP has openings for teams in the weeks of October 5 - 9, November 16 - 20, November 23 - 27 and December 7 - 11. It also offers a "special ops" week November 30 - December 4 for individuals or couples who are not able to organize a team.

Fringe play a boon to the gospel

English actor Gary Boon recently performed a dramatic reading of the Gospel of John at the Victoria Fringe Festival, and will do so again at the Vancouver Fringe Festival September 12 - 19. The one-man performance uses no costumes and minimal props and is based on the King James and Tyndale translations.

September 10/2009