Graduate Christian Fellowship – Christian Practices and Engaging Advent

Dear friends,
This week we welcome Jamie Howison as our speaker for the evening, the lead pastor of St. Benedict’s Table, a thriving urban church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. St. Benedict’s Table is a unique church community especially in its practice of an open communion table and in its honouring of the role of creativity and imagination in our church and faith lives. Several books have been published by members or groups from the community including works with an artistic emphasis, a book by Jamie Howison on the music of John Coltrane and an advent resource.

Jamie Howison will be speaking to GCF on “Christian Practices and Engaging Advent” as we prepare ourselves and our community for this time of faithful waiting for Jesus’ birth and reign. The St. Benedict’s Table community sees itself as “a community of Advent spirituality: always on the hinge between the old and the new, the known and the unknown to which God is drawing us.” Come and hear what Jamie Howison has to say about his community, about advent and about what God is drawing us to in our studies, in our work, in our ministry together, especially at this time of year.

Shalom,
Marcia

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Upcoming GCF Events:

Thurs Dec 6
End-of-Term Potluck and Advent Celebration

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Upcoming Campus Ministry Events:

Tuesdays, 7:22 am
“Wine Before Breakfast”

a weekly Eucharist service in the Wycliffe College Chapel,
followed by breakfast in the chaplain’s office

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Christian Reformed Campus Ministries
(University of Toronto)

Wine Before Breakfast (Tue, 7:22 am)
Graduate Christian Fellowship (Thur, 6:00 pm)

Brian Walsh, chaplain
Geoff Wichert (Rev.), chaplain
Marcia Boniferro, associate chaplain

Wine Before Breakfast – On slaves, bastards, adopted children and Jamie Howison

The man who began his letter by identifying himself as a slave …
‘Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ’ …
and who has at times in his epistle called his readers to be …
‘slaves of justice’ …
comes to the heart of his correspondence by writing …
‘For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received a spirit of adoption …’

Slaves of Christ, even slaves of justice, but for those very reasons, not captivated by a spirit of slavery.

Obviously the apostle is playing with this (and many other) metaphors in this letter.

Read more Wine Before Breakfast – On slaves, bastards, adopted children and Jamie Howison

Room at the Table: Urban Ministry from Justice to Imagination

Room at the Table, with Jamie HowisonUrban Remixed presents

Room at the Table:
Urban Ministry from Justice to Imagination

with Jamie Howison
st benedict’s table, Winnipeg
Facilitated by Brian Walsh of U of T

Monday, November 26 @ 7.00

Church of the Redeemer
162 Bloor St West, Toronto
(Bloor St & Avenue Rd)

Refreshments will be served

Read more Room at the Table: Urban Ministry from Justice to Imagination

Wine Before Breakfast – “Gotta Serve Somebody” and Getting Wet

There have been a number of amazing musical moments in my life.

Moments when the joy fills the room, even as the artist leads us into deep places of pain.

Often enough, those moments happen on Tuesday mornings.
There is something about the Wine Before Breakfast bandhood that finds a way to reach deep into our souls; something that gives us voices to sing – even at 7.22 in the morning!

In my life the WBB band stands in a rich tradition of artists whose music they will often bring into our worship. Artists that I have had the good fortune to enjoy performing live:
Leonard Cohen, Bruce Cockburn, Josh Gritter, EmmyLou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Van Morrison, U2 and Bob Dylan.

And it is a Dylan concert that this week’s music will conjure up for me.

It was the late 70’s and Dylan had ‘got religion.’ In fact, the show that he was touring was nothing less than a gospel revival! And there he was on the stage of Massey Hall singing:

Read more Wine Before Breakfast – “Gotta Serve Somebody” and Getting Wet