of the birth of Jesus at our annual Christmas party. As families entered ... children
were welcome to decorate and take home cookies, although ... My Voice 2012.
Relationship ... In Canada one of the most glaring examples that. The Great Lie ...
A Publication From JFJ Hope Centre February 2012
Another Successful Care Cupboard Christmas Party As families entered the church, they had the option to get their picture taken in front of the beautiful Christmas tree in the foyer. This is something that most families look forward to, and sometimes dress up for! This year was no different, with almost all the families requesting to have their picture taken. This event is one that many of the Care Cupboard clients look forward to each year, and this year did not disappoint! We had an amazing crafts table, thanks to the Colling Family. Each child that spent time at this table had a good time and walked away with a great craft. For the younger children, we had bowling and ring toss, which were taken care of by some of the many volunteers from Harvest Bible Chapel, Oakville. We also had a cookie decorating station, where children were welcome to decorate and take home On December 15th, 2011, more than 20 volunteers, cookies, although most ended up in their little along with 30 families, which included 42 children tummies and were not taken home! ages 0-6 years old, gathered together for a light breakfast at Trinity Anglican Church in celebration And last, but certainly not least, Hal Grant stole the of the birth of Jesus at our annual Christmas party. Cont’d next page
Christmas Party cont’d show as Halaloo the Clown. His balloon animals kept him there until after the party was over, with some children wanting two or three balloons! Hal also did a great job at captivating the children’s attention with the Christmas story, done with balloons. It was very entertaining for children and adults!
dropping off donations, pyjamas or toys, or helping to gift wrap, this party would not have been possible without the help of all who volunteered or sent along donations. For this we are truly grateful! A Huge and Heartfelt thanks to our amazing team of party volunteers: Lisa Colling and her children Kenzie, Caleb and Ethan – who created the craft and supervised the craft table Susan Hess Henderson and her children Kristen and Carter – who manned the cookie decorating table Jeff and Elizabeth Petch, Lydia Bosch and Kristin Vandermolen – who helped out at the party doing anything and everything that needed to be done Rosalind Dunstan – who supervised the kitchen along with anything else that needed doing The Harvest Bible Chapel team – who shopped for toys and food, and came in full force the day of the party to help with anything and everything that needed to be done Hal Grant aka Halaloo – who wowed the gang with amazing balloon animals and shared the Christmas story through balloons
After Hal was done, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and cut the cake. While some guests chose to stick around for a bit, others chose to leave. We distributed the gifts to the guests as they left.
Class at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School – who baked all the cookies for the cookie decorating table Ladies Group from Crestwicke Baptist Church, Guelph – who provided all the gift bags for our moms
It was such a blessing to be able to be part of the Bramalea Baptist ChurchYouth Group – who came Christmas party this year. However, all the hard work and organizing, would not have been success- ahead of time and wrapped all the gifts ful without the many people who volunteered their By Stephanie Dennis, Co-op Student time, not only on the day of the party but in the weeks leading up to the party. Whether it was
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My Voice 2012
We are working hard to be good stewards of the resources we are given. At the same time we want to keep our supporters up-to-date on all God is doing at Jewels For Jesus.
er 201 Novemb
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Relationship Compass Fundraiser Brought to you by Jewels For Jesus. Come out for an evening of music performances, hip hop & RnB spoken word, and much more, with artists such as Aubrey Nerhona & 7 Keyz, spoken word by Germaine Ransome & Victoria Kuek. We will also be giving away prizes. A fun night for a good cause. The Doors Open at 5:30pm – 9:45pm
Saturday, March 3rd 2012
Safari Bar & Grill
60 Randall Drive, Ajax
www.relationshipcompass.com
$15 Ticket
416-561-1107
Needs corner • • • • Margo Semple Executive Director 6655 Kitimat Road, Unit 5 Mississauga ON L5N 6J4 905-821-7494 email:
[email protected] Website: http://www.JewelsForJesus.net
Formula Wipes Diapers – size 4, 5 and 6 Boys clothes – sizes 5 and 6 only
We’ve had such an influx of donations that we can only accept larger size boys clothes
The Great Lie A lecturer recently spoke about what he called The Great Lie. He proposed that this Great Lie has been embraced throughout all of human history and remains a constant theme today. The manifestation of this lie has differed from age to age and society to society, but the lie itself remains constant. What is The Great Lie? It is the conviction that some people are not as valuable or as precious as others, that some people have greater worth and some are worth less. A short walk through the history of humankind confirms the existence of this lie. Every civilization has embraced The Great Lie at some level and has made decisions about who is valuable and who isn’t. Usually these decisions are based on the race, gender, power or wealth of a person. Routinely, if you were unfortunate enough to be poor, female or the wrong colour you were deemed less valuable, even less human. The immediate reaction, in our 2012 Canadian context, is to be appalled that such a lie existed and even more appalled that it could still exist. Our next response is to rest smugly in the belief that we, at least, know better. Our country has moved beyond such atrocities. But we’re deceiving ourselves if we believe we’ve progressed beyond this travesty of human thinking. In fact we’ve found new avenues for manifesting this lie. In Canada one of the most glaring examples that The Great Lie lives on, is our attitude toward the unborn child or, more precisely, the unwanted unborn child. We are naïve, no deluded, if we don’t recognize that the unwanted child who is not yet born is deemed to be of marginal worth. How else do we explain a medical system that, on average, takes the lives of 100,000 unwanted fetuses each year? In contrast, this same medical system will spend exorbitant funds to save the life of one fragile fetus at the request of the child’s parents. Why is this
contradiction allowed? Because our society has decided that a wanted child who is not yet born is valuable but an unwanted child who is not yet born is worthless. God’s view stands in stark contrast to this. We are precious to God. He made us just a little lower than the angels and crowned us with glory and honour. God’s celebration of the wonder of us didn’t start at our birth. Psalm 139 tells us it started at conception when God made all the delicate, inner parts of each of us, carefully forming us in preparation for the time of our birth. We are his complex and marvellous workmanship, and he revelled in watching it all unfold in the utter seclusion of our mother’s womb. What about you? Do you believe the unborn, unwanted fetus is just as human, important and precious as a wanted child, or a child already born, or the mother of that child? Or have you embraced The Great Lie? Don’t misunderstand. Women or couples experiencing an unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancy are important to God and deserve our compassion, respect, empathy and help. But so do their children, they are just as important. Real help comes from embracing the preciousness of all persons in the midst of the crisis, including those not yet born. Believing this means that all of us, without question, would protect the rights of the child and the parents as equal members of humanity in all our efforts to help. God’s people need to dispel The Great Lie wherever it’s encountered, starting in our own hearts, and see each individual as God sees them: precious creations, crowning jewels. For more information on how you can help and how to support JFJ Hope Centre (formerly Jewels For Jesus Mission Inc.) visit www.JFJHopeCentre.ca.
