Recently I read Richard Rohr (a Franciscan monk) describe prayer like this: "Prayer is indeed the way to make contact with God/Ultimate Reality, but it is not an attempt to change God’s mind about us or about events. Such attempts are what the secularists make fun of—and rightly so. It is primarily about changing our mind so that things like infinity, mystery, and forgiveness can resound within us. The small mind cannot see Great Things because the two are on two different frequencies, or channels, as it were. The Big Mind can know big things, but we must change channels. "
Today, as Hands at Work, we are starting 40 days of prayer for orphan care. I would like to invite all of you to join us. As many of you who would be reading this know, I'm a fairly cynical guy, and this is no less true when it comes to prayer. For this reason, I will fully admit, I don't pray often enough and I often minimize the importance of prayer and meditation. But I'm entering into this exercise, keeping the words of Richard Rohr in my mind and trying to remember that it's not about me exercising control over the orphan crisis, but it's about me being open to being transformed so that I can better participate in love, compassion, and service towards the most vulnerable.
So please spend some time over the next 40 days and join us in prayer and meditation for orphans and that people will join the cause of caring for them. If you would like to join us, please follow this link and see the link at the bottom of the page for the link to the prayer guide.
Firstly, let me apologise that it’s taken me so long to write.In some ways I can’t believe that it’s been over 4 weeks since I’ve left, and in other ways it feels like I’ve been here for months.Over the next couple of days I hope to post a few stories of what I’ve been up to.But for now I wanted to tell you in general what it’s been like to come back and what the next couple of months look like.
It goes without saying that it was great to come back to a place where ii really does feel like I’m returning to family.It’s been great to reconnect with people who I’ve missed terribly over the last year.I know that many of you would like a recap of how everyone here is doing, but if I were to do that I would be writing and you would be reading all day long.So instead let me comment on the community in general.People here have been hard at work developing the property that Hands acquired a few years ago.Most of us volunteers now live on the property.Last time I was here I stayed at a farm that is about 6 km up a dirt road from where I’m staying now, and although I miss the quiet and the community that we developed at the farm, it’s been great to see the community that is developing here, as well.Living in community with the people you work with can certainly present some challenges, but I feel like we are proving that the challenges are outweighed by the opportunities that living in community presents.It’s been great to see how the Hands at Work community has grown since I left.It’s grown in numbers, but more importantly its grown in a way that I struggle to articulate.The best way that I can describe it is that it’s grown in maturity (now, I hope that it’s not because I left that it’s grown!).By maturity, I mean to say that through continuing to wrestle with and be challenged by what our calling (to, through the Church, serve the poorest of the poor in Africa) really asks of us as individuals and as a collective, this community is developing a love that overflows more and more with knowledge and depths of understanding.And for this we have God alone to thank.I don’t mean to convince anyone, or to even suggest, that this is some utopia, but rather I wanted to try to express how grateful I am that I can be a part of this disparate yet accepting community.
For the last several weeks I’ve been going through the orientation program with the other new arrivals.Again, it’s been great to see the work that has been accomplished since I’ve been gone.It’s been hugely encouraging to see that over the last year, through the diligence of many, a lot of the work that I was a small part of (particularly around defining who we are as Hands at Work, what it is exactly we do and how we go about it) has been greatly furthered.I’m sure that I’ll have more to say about this later.
I still can’t tell you exactly what I’ll be doing over the next couple of years, except that I will be helping out with the organisations in Zimbabwe and Mozambique and we partner with, but here’s the gist of what I’ll be doing for the next couple of months.I will be traveling with Emily to Zim (who is originally from Zim and who is spearheading the work there) to meet the team from Calgary that is arriving at the end of March.After the team leaves, I’ll be spending some time both in Zim and Mozambique.I will help prepare for the conference that we are holding there towards the end of April, and will be staying in Mozambique for the month that Lynn and Jayme (a couple from Calgary) will be there as well.I will likely travel back to South Africa with them.From there I will likely prepare to move to either Mozambique or Zim for a longer period of time.
Well, this is already an incredibly long post, but I wanted to share one last thing.A week ago our men’s hockey team fearlessly brought home the gold.We were able to watch it thanks to the miracle of video skype and the generosity of our friend Desi.The group that watched it comprised of 5 Canadians, 2 Americans, and a Brit who couldn’t choose sides until after the game (he came down on the side of Canada).Jed and Brooke, the two Americans, who are volunteers with Peace Corps and have been with Hands for nearly 3 years and are dear friends, were gracious enough to host us.Jed had decked out the house in American regalia, and had even donned face paint.He was, deservedly, proud of the American win over Canada in the round-robin.But this pride served only to dangerously overstretch his confidence as, in the first period he boldly stated, “the losing side should have to sing the winner’s national anthem at the prayer meeting on Monday morning.”Of course we agreed.Jed’s confidence never seemed to waver throughout the game and was obviously emboldened by the late goal to tie things up.Heading into overtime I was a little worried: being a Flames fan I have seen this situation too many times before where it ended poorly).But this stress was all worth it when Crosby’s goal wiped the smile off Jed’s face and replaced it with a look of despondence (is it wrong to delight in the pain of others, especially a close friend’s?...Well, I’m not sure of the answer to that, but I do know that ‘O Canada’ rarely sounds as sweet as it does from the lips of a vanquished American hockey fan!)
I miss you all.Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes.I’ll try to do a better job at communicating!
