This past week a small group of Willoughby Church people gathered around a dining room table to pray and plan. The gathering and urgency of the meeting focused on the impending arrival of an art exhibition entitled Kisemanito Pakitinasuwin:The Creator’s Sacrifice.
The art exhibition, Kisemanito Pakitinasuwin: The Creator’s Sacrifice will be on display in our church from June 1 to June 17. The series of 17 large contemporary paintings by Cree artist Ovide Bighetty depict the Easter story through the symbols and narrative of the Woodlands Cree painting style. The Indian Metis Christian Fellowship together with the Christian Reformed Church of North American Canada has worked to make this exhibition available to churches, colleges and galleries. The works will have made their way from coast to coast, from Halifax to Port Alberni where they will be on display before coming to Langley.
The art exhibit serves as an invitation, an invitation to learn more about the First Nations issues that cry out for understanding, compassion and reconciliation in our families, in our communities and in our country. For our church community to begin to explore and learn about how we can be Easter people in relation to and with our First Nations brothers and sisters, we would like to provide the following:
Sunday, May 5: On this Sunday afternoon and evening we will host a number of sessions called “The Blanket Exercise”. Through this exercise we will learn about our shared history and will discuss how the church can play a role in reconciliation with our Aboriginal neighbours. The sessions will be facilitated by Steve vanderHoef from the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue and Elna Siebring, who serves on Canadian Diaconal Ministries. We plan to offer sessions before and after a shared supper hour.
Sundays, June 2, 9, 16: Worship services will focus us on a Biblical understanding of reconciliation. At this time the art exhibit will be displayed in our fellowship hall. We plan to host a number of evenings focusing on music, film and fellowship as well as welcome the community, our neighbouring church fellowships and school groups to the exhibit.
Saturday June 15: A day of workshops and fellowship with guest Ray Aldred, a member of the Swan River Cree Nation in Alberta and a theology professor at Ambrose Seminary in Calgary.
Sunday June 16: On this designated Aboriginal Sunday, Ray Aldred will preach about Biblical reconciliation. We also hope to hear from the three young people (Janessa Grypma, Ben Bouwman and Danielle Rowaan) who will have spent the month May in Fort Babine in northern BC, giving thanks for Holy Spirit breathed understanding and newness in and through the Willoughby church fellowship.
The planning team: Jenny deGroot Janice Tolkamp, Janet VanHemert, Eleanor McComb, Pieter Vanderleek, Janessa Grypma, Danielle Rowaan, Mark Glanville and Liz Tolkamp.
Picture Credit: Creating a New Family copyright IMCF, 2002