The Weekend in Black and White - December 13, 2019

Winter is here.

 

 

 

 

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My New Book: Praying The Lectionary Cycle A

Please check out my new book Praying The Lectionary: Prayers Of The Church Cycle A, available for purchase from the CSS Publishing Company. This resource is for pastors and those responsible for preparing the Prayers of the Church for Sunday Worship. The lectionary readings are also listed for each Sunday of the church year. The prayers may be used as is, or edited to meet the needs and context of the worshipping community.

PLEASE NOTE, my correct bio is as follows: Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson attended and received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and his M. Div. degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatchewan, Canada. He recently retired as the chaplain at Bethany Meadows in Camrose, Alberta, Canada. He enjoys hiking, bicycling, traveling, reading and amateur photography. He is married to Julianna who is also a Lutheran pastor. Click here or on the image to view further information and purchase.

 

History of Canadian Thanksgiving

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving in Canada, or at least the land that would become Canada, has its own history, separate from our American counterparts.

Traditions of giving thanks long predate the arrival of European settlers in North America. First Nations across Turtle Island have traditions of thanksgiving for surviving winter and for receiving crops and game as a reward for their hard work. These traditions may include feasting, prayer, dance, potlatch, and other ceremonies, depending on the peoples giving thanks.

When it comes to European thanksgivings in Canada, we have a few tales to tell.

To read more click here: https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/arts-culture-society/the-history-of-thanksgiving-in-canada

You might also want to read more about Thanksgiving from one of my previous blog posts here: https://dimlamp.blogspot.com/2016/10/clergy-comment-article.html

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers!

Wordless Wednesday: September 18, 2019

Peaceful Irish landscape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                For Wordless Wednesday

Book Review: The Famous Five

The Famous Five: Canada’s Crusaders for Women’s Rights

Author: Barbara Smith

Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd.

138 pages, including: Prologue, Timeline, Acknowledgements, Notes, Bibliographical Essay And References, Index, paperback

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Most Canadians, I hope, have heard of the Famous Five. There are statues of them in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

   These five women, although born and raised in various places, eventually all ended up living in Alberta. They were socially active and politically progressive for their time; which is a bit of an irony in that Alberta is one of the more conservative provinces in comparison with some of the others.

   Emily Murphy was perhaps the most outspoken of them, and regarded as the leader. Ironically, she was appointed as a judge, even though she was not trained as a lawyer. However, she did develop significant knowledge of the law and was most instrumental in getting the Persons Case to the Privy Counsel—which ruled that women were persons under the BNA Act, and hence entitled to the same political positions as men, including to sit in the Senate. Shortly after Lord Sankey’s ruling, Prime Minister Mackenzie King, in February 1939, appointed Cairine Wilson to the Senate. Emily Murphy, deeply desiring to be appointed to the Senate, was never chosen. It was not until 1979 however, that Alberta’s first female senator was appointed by Prime Minister Joe Clark, she was Martha Bielish. In 1979, to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Persons Case decision, October 18 is now observed as “Persons Day” in Canada.

   All five women Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby were committed advocates for women’s right to vote, more just legal rights for women concerning marriage, divorce, adoption, property rights, dower rights, protection of children, minimum wage agreements, widow’s allowances, and the temperance movement. Another woman and feminist who may be considered “the sixth member of the Famous Five” was Alice Jamieson, a Calgary judge.

   Of the five women, three were elected to Alberta’s legislative assembly—Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung. McKinney was the first female parliamentarian in the British Empire. Irene Parlby was reluctant to become involved in politics, yet she was a well-respected MLA from 1921 to 1935.

   Henrietta Muir Edwards helped in founding the National Council of Women of Canada, the Victorian Order of Nurses, and the Young Women’s Christian Association.

   Nellie McClung was the author of over a dozen books, went on travelling tours promoting them, a church elder, the only female delegate at the 1938 League of Nations convention in Geneva, Switzerland, and was appointed to the first board of directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

   There is, of course, a propensity to idealise people who are famous. However, according to Smith: “...the Famous Five were staunch supporters of eugenics.” (p. 101)

   Smith has provided readers with a valuable history of the Famous Five, her Bibliographical Essay and References are most helpful for those who would like to do further reading and research—including Books by the Famous Five.

Brief Book Review: Through Prairie Windows

Through Prairie Windows

Author: Susan Halliday Conly

Publisher: Turner-Warwick Publications Inc.

161 pages, paperback

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Susan Halliday Conly, at the time of writing this book, was living on a family farm near Macklin, Saskatchewan. She is an award-winning author of other books about the Canadian prairies in addition to this one.

   This volume contains both short stories and essays, and is divided into three parts. Part 1: we look at some of our lamplighters, the pioneers. Part 2: we look at our faith, rooted in their faith and in the Spirit that rides on the wings of the prairie wind. Part 3: side-glances at some of the landscapers of the prairie. The span of the volume then dates from the early 1900s through to the late 1980s.

   In Part 1, Conly tells stories of the Saskatchewan homesteaders who faced many a hardship, roughing it through freezing cold blizzards, welcoming a North West Mounted Police officer riding in the area looking for ‘his man,’ a Cree prophecy of evil sweeping over the land when the European pioneers settled the prairies and the indigenous peoples losing their language and culture, a Grandmother relaxing under an Old Maple and remembering how life has changed since the early pioneer days.

   In Part 2, the author marvels at the joy and wonder of celebrating the Christmas King, “God with us,” as well as the joy in God’s creation—the ducks splashing in a spring pond, the yip of a distant coyote, hoar frost, a moon-lit evening walk, the starlight, the moons of Jupiter, sitting beside a murderer at a World Day of Prayer Service who asked to be prayed for, the determination of Michael who went blind and became a computer programmer, remembering that God is not mocked and our need of repentance, and that: “God’s unmistakable hallmark is joy, and joy is a promise. It is our promise to be His hands and His feet and His voice every day, not just when it is appropriate.” (p. 111)

   In Part 3, Conly tells of getting a swimming pool, a husband-wife debate over whether to buy a ride-on lawn mower or a larger farm tractor, looking for the illusive peace and quiet in a city hotel room, taking correspondence courses in rural Saskatchewan, lamenting how prime agricultural land is being converted into urban development.

   Amidst these prairie stories and essays, Conly employs her wit and humour along with historical tidbits to make this volume an entertaining read.

The Weekend in Black & White - June 21, 2019

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