new church life: march/april 2015
The Glencairn Museum is offering a Mythology Summer Camp in two
sessions – June 15-19 and June 22-26 – for 9- and 10-year-olds.
The camp will focus on the mysteries, myths and fables of the cultures
represented in the Museum’s collection. Activities will include worship,
archery, games, cooking and crafts.
Registration brochures have been mailed to General Church societies and
circles. To register or request a brochure please contact Leah Smith (267-5022993 or [email protected]) or Doreen Carey (267-502-2981
or [email protected]).
phillip island camp in australia
Australia’s New Church Summer Camp – held just a week after Christmas –
returned to Phillip Island, a site last visited in 2012.
Trevor Moffat started the program with a devotional talk, “Do you hear
what I hear?” This was an echo of the familiar Christmas hymn, but also was
a recurring theme of the camp. Trevor said they were all there to hear God’s
Word but may not all come away feeling they have heard the same thing. That
opened conversations throughout the week with people comparing notes on
what they heard.
David Moffat led off the presentations with “Building with Concrete” and
“The Hebrew Alphabet.” The Hebrew language does not have words to convey
abstract ideas, so anything abstract has to be converted into concrete imagery.
Anger, for instance, might be portrayed as “flared nostrils,” and abundance as
“fatness.”
Martin Pennington offered a two-part session on “Paul and Swedenborg
– A Shared Theology.” Paul is often associated with faith-alone theology, he
said, but when Paul is read without bias he is not teaching faith alone but New
Church theology.
The Rev. Todd Beiswenger presented “Doing Your Part,” in the context of
a society often idolizing the kind of hero depicted in movies. Such images can
leave us feeling inadequate, he said, because we haven’t done anything heroic,
when all the Lord is asking is for us to do our part. He used the human body
as an illustration of each part having a function and purpose, and they all need
each other to survive.
Other presentations included: “Messages of Star Wars” and “Surviving
Heaven” by Todd Beiswenger; “Communities of Evil” by David Moffat; and
“Happiness or Contentment” by Trevor Moffat. More information about the
sessions can be found at http://newchurch.net.au/documents/camp-2015presentations. Photos of camp activities appear on page 199.
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