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CANADIAN RURAL CHURCH NETWORK
 Newsletter for May 27, 2006

Index

5th Newsletter of the CRCN

News Up-Dates
♦ "The Pull of the Land" dinner theatre production
♦ IRCA 2007 Conference at Brandon, Manitoba

Rural Ministry (Life and Work)
♦ Spirituality and the Midlife Man - Noel McNaughton

Worship Resources
♦ Prayer for the Seeding of New Life - Holy Schick
♦ Blessing the Land and its Caretakers - Joyce Sasse

International News
♦ Rural Spirituality and The Church (concluding notes) - jon Watson (Australia)

Links
♦ www.midlife-men.com
♦ www.agri-ville.com/spiritualvignettes

Looking for Ideas

(Responses to this question will be summarized and posted in succeeding newsletters)

Question: (Your questions and responses are solicited)

Send your questions and responses by clicking on this link Canadian Rural Church Network.

Responses to Question From Past Newsletters:

To the question about: "Giving pastoral care to the elderly in nursing homes away from the local community".

Most rural communities where Nursing Homes are located extend special care to the residents. A letter of introduction of an in-coming resident along with a request to provide pastoral support on behalf of their home congregation can lead to the development of meaningful relationships.

News Up Dates

Dr. John Ikerd has been invited as a theme speaker at the International Rural Church Association (IRCA) Conference at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba July 2 - 9, 2007

1. Dr. Ikerd is an agricultural economist from the University of Missouri. He passionately believes in the future of sustainable family farms.
2. Canadian Churches are invited to consider names of Canadians they would sponsor as delegates for this Conference.

  

News Up-Dates

Harris (Saskatchewan) Summer Festival featuring "The Pull of the Land"

July 12, 13, 14 and 15, 2006 Tickets on sale now at 1-306-656-2155

"The Pull of the Land", the Saskatchewan written musical drama that has captured audiences across the Prairie Provinces, and indeed much of Canada, for the past three years, is back by popular demand in its hometown setting with the original cast. The story line is familiar - the aging farm couple reaching retirement age struggles with the decision to leave the family farm. Their son, restless with city life feels pulled back to his roots. He returns for harvest bringing his city girlfriend. Also in the picture are the girl-next-door, the philosophic hired man and an assortment of townspeople who carry the story forward with their chatter. The story unfolds with humour, romance, pathos and heart-warming songs.

The play was written, directed and produced in the village of Harris with actors coming from Harris and the surrounding area. The dedicated troupe has stayed tightly knit throughout 64 performances to more than 25 000 people, including four sold-out performances at TCU Place (Centennial Auditorium) in Saskatoon.
The play was given recent front-page coverage in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. It has received recognition in many local papers, the National Post, was featured in a CBC Country Canada documentary and given coverage on The National.

Come to enjoy an afternoon and evening in this rural setting. Starting at 2 p.m. you can visit the exceptionally well-presented local museum, a vintage CNR caboose and one of Canada's last remaining CNR water towers with the original wooden tank. (The water tower is listed on the Canadian register of historic places.) A new addition to the museum features an outstanding display of full-body animal mounts. Take a museum-guided or self-guided heritage walking tour around the streets to view murals by a local artist and heritage properties and trees. Visit the locally owned and operated Crystal Beach Orchard and while there, treat yourself to a Saskatchewan specialty - homemade Saskatoon berry pie or a Saskatoon berry sundae. View art and craft displays by local artists and artisans and, of course, stop for refreshments and socializing at the New Horizon’s Hospitality Centre on Main Street. Play a round of golf on the near-by natural golf course and camp at the adjacent camp grounds.

Harris is 68 km southwest of Saskatoon on #7 highway - on the road to Calgary. Be sure to take this opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture of a vibrant prairie village.

Visit our website www.thepulloftheland.sk.ca

Rural Ministry (Life & Work)

Spirituality and the Midlife Man

Andy sat at the kitchen window, looking out at the farm yard he had poured so much energy into during the past twenty five years, and felt lost. He was anxious about the future, (or was he just anxious in general?) and didn’t know exactly why. He had heard a radio program a few weeks ago saying irritability was a sign of depression in men, and he did seem to be more irritable, and more emotional in general these days. Although he wouldn’t admit it to his wife Sarah, he was feeling a little depressed.

He seemed to have a harder time making decisions than he used to, as though he had lost some confidence in his abilities. He had even started to question the value of being a farmer, which he had always felt so proud to be, and couldn't think of what would fire his passion.

He felt dead inside, as though the juice in his life was gone, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

Andy was 48 years old, and although he didn’t know it, he was in 'andropause', which is roughly the emotional equivalent of menopause, and occurs at roughly the same age.

Midlife (approximately 40-60 years of age) for most men and women is a time of transition, but not necessarily crisis. It can be a time for healing old wounds or for finding one’s true calling. In many ways it is a time of questing: a quest for wholeness, a quest for integrity, a quest for love, a quest for independence as well as interdependence, and especially a quest for the Divine.

Midlife brings the call to the inner journey. It may show up as restlessness, a feeling of boredom with life, as though there is something missing. Men may miss, or misunderstand, the call, and try to find the answers to this restlessness outside themselves, which brings with it the stereotypical actions we equate with midlife crises: sports car, younger woman, youthful clothes and a new, younger hair style.

The man (or woman) who does answer the call, begins the difficult task of answering the 'big questions': What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my life? What lessons have I learned, and what do I have yet to learn? What or who is God? (Surely it is not an old man on a throne in the sky!)

The person who goes consciously on this journey of discovery is on the path of Elderhood - to becoming a person of wisdom that others can look to for advice and thoughtful conversation about the deeper questions of life. The person who 'refuses the call', and simply continues on with life, after struggling for a few months or a few weeks with the restless feeling Andy has, becomes elderly, but not necessarily an Elder.

Just as puberty is the transition from childhood to adulthood, midlife is the transition from the 'building stage' to the 'mature stage' of adult life and there are as many differences between these two halves of adult life as there are between childhood and first adulthood.

(Edmonton-based Noel McNaughton, who wrote this article, is a speaker, journalist, and student of Life. He maintains the website: www.midlife-men.com as a service to men, and their spouses, who are struggling with midlife transitions.)

Worship Resources

Prayer for the Seeding of New Life

O Creator God
Whose very face
        is the face of the land
we ask you
to breathe forth hope
into the life of our rural landscape;

we pray that farmers and ranchers
and all whose lives are carved by the life of the landscape
may prosper in the bounty of the land,
a land that joins us together in a deep sense of belongingness
a land whose shapes and textures
        determine the very shape and texture of our lives;

we pray that with the deep caress of your sunlight
and the embrace of your gentle rain
the mystery of the earth may fulfill its promise
and seeds of new life may blossom forth in splendour;

we pray that you offer your abundant blessing
        upon the fruits of our labour
that the whole world may be fed and nourished.

And we pray that despite economic uncertainties
        not only our crops may flourish
        but that a whole way of life may flourish
                now, and for generations to come.

In the name of Jesus. Our Companion in Faith. Amen
(Prayer written by Holly Schick, from Saskatchewan)

Blessing the Land and Its Caretakers

I applaud congregations that have Rogation Services to bless the seed-time and pray for the lives and livelihoods of those connected with the land.

But churches need to let agricultural people know these rituals are occurring. And they need to find ways to make meaningful links between 20th century liturgies and 21st century participants.

My father's vision of his calling as a farmer was formed in the Thirties when the theme song of the National Farm Radio Forum lauded 'these giants of the earth ... (who) have fed the world upon the grain (they) have grown.'

More recently, members of local ranch families spoke in church of their stewardship in terms of developing land management practices that are practical, cost efficient, and good for the environment. When they get together, they talk about sustainability, carbon sinks, natural capital, energy efficiency, and how to protect and save water resources.

Land measured by global positioning and tilled by computer-equipped machinery, livestock records kept so animals can be traced from birth to consumer, and dealing responsibly with genetic modifications are reminders that those who work the land need to find a balance between modern technological understandings and traditional wisdom.

All of this is seen in the context of the Abiding Presence of a benevolent God who walks with us through the storms, the grasshoppers and the ridiculous scourges of the market place.

Rogation Services need to mindfully encompass all who enjoy working with the soil, planting seeds and watching the mysteries of life unfold. Together we celebrate the gifts of land and community. We give thanks for the One who showed us how to see the Sacred Story unfold through the growth of the mustard seed. We feel affirmed that we do these things in partnership with the Creator.

(Written by Joyce Sasse, May 2006)

International News

Rural Spirituality and the Church  (concluding notes) - jon Watson

(This is the 3rd part of notes taken from a thesis written for the Melbourne {Australia} College of Divinity in 1999. For Parts 1 & 2 see CRCN Newsletters 3 & 4).As a result of his research, jon Watson underscores the significant role landscape and community play in the lives of rural people. "Landscape" includes soil, weather, grains, the sky, the environment, flora and fauna. "Land" one interviewee said "is a bit like an umbilical chord (by which we feel attached to the Creator."

In the 4th CRCN Newsletter I summarized those notes of Watson's that express how many rural people feel the church has disregarded them. Watson gives clues of how the Church can help make connection with rural people. The three mentioned so far: 1) Rural Celebrations of the Gift of Creation: 2) Recognize Presence of the Incarnate God in these communities; 3) Reconciliation with God (of people and the landscape). Watson elaborates further ...

4. The Cultural Context of the Church

"... When we gather as Christians we tend to forget our relationship with the world outside (the community in which we are set). We seem to sit in two worlds and don't interface those worlds in our reflection upon the interaction of gospel and culture ... We need to find a way in which we can be more expressive to that community of the hope which we are called to be. We need to help our rural communities to see that although financial decline can have a serious impact upon the lives of people, none-the-less there is more to life than farm management and financial gain ...

 "We need to tap into those images and themes that resonate authentically through the gospel in our rural communities ..."

"Part of the role of the Church will be to forge a new way of proclaiming the gospel within our rural cultural setting. It will mean accepting new ways of ministering to people within communities and connection with people in ways where, in the past, we would not have thought it was neither possible nor appropriate."

5. Responding to Those Disconnected From the Church "... There seems to be a perception that the church fails to communicate with people in appropriate ways ... The most prevailing feeling by many is that the Church is not necessary to their lives ... Many people do have a spirituality, but no longer feel that they need to express that in a formal way ... How can rural congregations connect with people in the community and connect people with the local church?"

"We need to be more intentional in standing with people in times of tragedy or distress and offering a word of hope and vision beyond the farm ... How can we do this better, and more intentionally, in the name of Christ?"

We need to be "more intentional in celebrating events of the wider community in some formal religious way." e.g. blessing seed time, celebration of historical events of the town. (The God who has been part of the town's history is also the one who continues in their daily life now.)

"Be mindful of the pain that people experience when they have to leave the land." (Pain of leaving the land and life-style, guilt that they can't maintain family tradition, leaving support and social network, social and financial impact on community ...) "The Church can provide families leaving their communities with an opportunity to articulate the spiritual connection with the landscape and to understand that the grief is not a grief at leaving a particular piece of land, but the grief arises from the core of their being. Their grief is about the loss of their identity, the loss of their spiritual connection, their loss of self worth, their loss of not being able to make meaningful contribution to the world as a food producer. Added to this is the loss of livelihood."

"The church can offer a profound ministry of helping the moving family and friends to celebrate the loss of that deep spiritual connection. Such a celebration might help the family to move on emotionally and assist them to pick up their life once again. With this thought in mind, that rural church will need to write or access liturgies that help people let go of the landscape, recognize their spiritual dislocation, and help them celebrate their pain and distress."

 6. Enabling the Local Church To Be the Body of Christ Regional bodies need to work with rural congregations to enable them to provide an "apology" for their rural spirituality ... "There is an innate spirituality in many (rural) people ... Often that spirituality is not expressed in any formal way, especially within the life of the church ..." Help non-church people see the connecting points for their rural life "so they can express their spirituality and not feel a sense of shame or shyness about owning that spirituality ...

"These approaches would then become the building blocks that enable the congregations to connect with people in the community where they have not been able to before ..."

 7. Being "Community" Within the Context Of the Wider Community "... As our rural communities continue to experience a whole range of polarizing effects within the agricultural industry, it is becoming increasingly important that our congregations work intentionally at developing a sense of community, where people can share those things which are impacting upon them whether for good or ill. Through these communities the Christian community will offer a sense of God's presence, forgiveness and acceptance of those within the wider community. This Christian community will be a signpost of hope and vision of the rural community ..."

 "When taking on this mission, the church must not be a bland replica of the community in which it is set ... (It should) display to people the love, care, support and forgiveness of Christ and exemplify that within their lives in the local community." (Indicate we are a caring people, hold meals together, discussions of issues of concern to whole community, activities for the well-being of the people). As a mission response the rural church needs to try to change the perception of small congregations and their communities." (Small numbers have been seen to be a sign of failure.)

"... The rural congregation has the potential to be able to break the cycle of continuing tension and conflict within the community that can affect the lives of people for generations. Part of its task is to understand the nature of the conflict and work at a process of conciliation and forgiveness."

"... The Christian Community can establish a range of programs which attempt to meet people where they are at in their daily life and concerns ... In attempting to relate more to people of rural communities the church will need to be open enough to try new and different ways of connecting with people in their area ... Inviting us to break our traditional ways of connection within the community and to see that normal everyday events are opportunities for sharing rural spirituality as part of our 'being' in rural Australia."

 8. The Healing Church "... There appears to be a pervading 'dis-ease' in the lives of people in our communities ... (It is suggested) that we have a deep psychological, spiritual and emotional need to be in touch with the landscape ... And as long as we neglect this 'feminine side' of our personality and the deep connection with the land, our society will suffer deep cultural, spiritual and psychological malaise."

"It is only when we have a loving connection with the creation and see it as God's good gift to us, that our health will be restored. This will enable us to live in harmony with the land, with each other, and with God. It is possible for our small rural congregations to be the connectors to this healing that might come from a spiritual connection with the landscape?" Is this how some of the loneliness and not being 'known' can be alleviated?

"Elements of a theology of spiritual healing would include:

a. that part of Christ's life and death is about declaring forgiveness not only to humanity but to the created order. Because the created order itself has also 'sinned' and come short of the glory of God.

b. that as part of that general redemption, salvation and forgiveness, people and the created order are caught up in the salvation process."

"By caring and sharing and graciously loving people where they are in their spiritual journeying, we enable them to see in us something of the risen Christ ... Our task as the rural congregation is to be the facilitators of that grace and healing."

9. We All Share In Christ's Ministry First, we must "remind people who belong to the church in rural community that all of us are called to be part of the ministry of Christ. As such we continually need to hear Christ's challenge to us to be agents of his reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation in the context in which we live ..."

Second, we must "enhance the skills of both our ordained ministry and lay people in appropriate ways so they may be able to exercise their continuing ministry in rural communities ... The Church must find a way of resourcing any program that seeks to enhance the gifts and skills of its people."

"For this to happen there are three aspects of our tradition that will need to change.

a. "The perception that it is the role of the ordained minister is to perform ministry, that if you are not ordained you cannot or should not be involved in acts of ministry within the church or community ... In the new century the role of the ordained minister should be to act as a resource person to the people of our congregations. Ministers will seek to enhance the skills of lay people as they exercise a new and invigorated ministry in their rural communities.

b. "Lay people themselves need to accept that they are not only called by Christ to exercise this ministry but they have gifts and talents for that ministry ... Part of the task of the wider church will be to help our lay people to acknowledge the ministry that they are already engaged in, and to be confident in the talents that they already possess. There will be times when both ordained and lay people will need to receive training to provide them with the resources to cope with their new tasks within the church and community.

c."The Church will need to take into consideration that there is a culture within the secular community centered around the role of minister and lay people. The perception is that only ordained ministers can and should conduct funerals, weddings, celebrate the Eucharist. Consequently as more and more lay people begin to exercise a greater role in the ministry and mission of the church there will need to be a re-education process directed at three levels: ministers, lay people and rural communities. As the Church we need to prepare ourselves for the changes that will inevitably come as rural communities get smaller with subsequent decline both in population and finances."

"The challenge lies before us. The way ahead is for all of God's people to remain faithful to the proclamation of the gospel, finding appropriate ways of sharing Christ's love and reconciliation with all who live in rural community."

Links

www.midlife-men.com 

This is the website Noel McNaughton maintains as a service to men, and their spouses, who are struggling with midlife transitions.

www.agri-ville.com/spiritualvignettes 

In the 87th Edition of the Prairie Forum on Church and Community, Joyce Sasse writes about community rituals, about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and about feelings of frustration shared by clergy and their rural parishioners. Other topics include "If No Birds Sing" and "Small can be Beautiful".
For more information contact the:
Canadian Rural Church Network
Box 92 Pincher Creek, AB
Canada T0K 1W0
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This page was updated on March 27, 2007