As the National Planning Committee, we are the “Hands On” people behind the planning for the CLAY gathering in London 2010.
Here is what Hands On means to each of us:
Rev. Christie Morrow – Chairperson
For me, Hands On conjures up images of hands, and lots of them – lots of hands getting down and getting dirty and doing the work of God in this world. From the hands of a busy Mom, chapped from many washings; the hands of wood-worker, complete with blackened fingernail from the mis-swing of a wayward hammer; to the hands of a student, flying over the keys of a computer or cramped together sending a text message faster than one can talk. The hands of this family of God are many and varied, but all called by God to serve in and with this world. I pray that all the hands, Lutheran, Anglican and everyone who will join together at Hands On in August of 2010, will continue to seek and discern the ways God is calling us to be Hands On this world. Have fun at CLAY 2010!
Karen Triomphe – NPC-PCYM LIAISON
As we extend our hands to the world, we are offering the hands of God. As we are led and guided by the hand of God, may our hands offer our work, grace and thanks.
Rev. Paul Gehrs – ELCIC Staff Member
HANDS ON!!!! Means God grabbing onto the clay that is each disciple, that is the church, that is the world, and making each/all into useful vessels, which are also works of art. It also means God’s HANDS ON the CLAY of Lutheran and Anglican youth, forming them into a Full Communion cup that runneth over.
Kristel Mann – Registrar
I’m a cracked pot! Are you a cracked pot? God works through others to mould and shape our lives like the creation of a beautiful clay pot. And God’s light shines inside of us like a candle in that clay pot. When we feel broken, God works through others to piece us back together. And doesn’t God’s light shine brighter through the cracks in our clay pot that was pieced back together? Now that’s beautiful… and likely just what God had in mind!
Michael Henkel – Large Group Gathering Producer
Our hands are pretty cool when you think about it. I remember as a kid, I loved to get my hands dirty in the sand box, or making mud pies. Finger painting was great fun too. Even making those plaster casts of my handprint and painting it gold to give to my mom for mothers day was nifty too. It doesn’t matter what our age, we can relate to our hands. They can create or tear down. They can show love or lack of it. As youth, YOU (well, me at heart too) use your hands to try and understand and experience the world in which we live. If our hands are such a big part of our lives, what about God’s hands? Does God really have hands? And if so, how does God shape our lives if we are the clay and God the potter. Can you grasp it? Maybe not yet but be prepared to get a hold of it!!! What about getting your hands dirty in serving God and others? Learn more about our relationship with God as it pertains to your life right now and have a blast at HANDS ON 2010.
Jordan Smith -Technical Producer
Think back to the last time you made something. Maybe it was a piece of music, a story, a Lego structure, or even a clay pot. Whatever it is that you made or built, until it was done the structure was constantly changing with every addition or revision you made to it. When you get hands on with something you keep working with it, shaping it. There may be times when you lose sight of the end goal, or you wonder what the final product will look like. But eventually you get a result out of your effort. This is how I see the theme for Hands On playing out in my life. God is constantly putting input into my life and although there may be times that it seems the direction has been lost, I know that my life is being shaped with an end goal in mind. So get hands on, build something beautiful, as God builds something beautiful in your life.
Linda Grainger – Local Chairperson
I hope and pray that Hands On will be an opportunity for Lutheran and Anglican youth from across Canada to come together to meet new friends, share their faith, work together, share a laugh and have some fun. I hope this experience will help to mold the future of the enthusiastic youth of our Church!
Heidi Wilker – Gathering Manager
Our hands are really instruments for God’s work, and so we need to take good care of them and use them wisely.
Rev. Rick Schulz – B.C. Rep
I hope that Hands On will be a great opportunity for us to celebrate the ways in which God reaches out to touch our hearts and souls and minds with a love and grace that can only come from God. I hope that as we encounter God’s Spirit, we will be changed by this experience and have our faith strengthened so that we might return to our homes empowered to put our faith into action! I hope that through Hands On Canadian Anglican and Lutheran Youth will turn the world upside down as they share CLAY and the love of God with others.
Sarah Rudd – Alberta Rep
Hands on is one of those terms that inspires me to action. It’s about getting started, not about getting done. It’s about a team effort – something more than one person, one youth group or maybe even one denomination can muster alone. That together, as each hand brings something valuable, creative, unique, practical or challenging to the project, we go deeper and wider than we might on our own. So as we launch into our first CLAY event, I hope we remember that we are invited to shape and be shaped, to be ambitious and available. To be a hands-on church, with living faith and loving action.
Darrell Utley – Saskatchewan Rep
To me Hands-On is an opportunity to accomplish much in life as a child, a teenager, an adult or as an experienced-adult. There is an expression, “if you want to get something done…give it to someone who is busy.” Being Hands-On in church is about much more than counting the offering. In the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding the father proclaims, “I am the head of the household and the mother responds, yes…you may be the head but I am the neck and the neck moves the head!” Our hands can move both the neck and the head. To name but a few tasks, our hands offer assistance, a plea for a free lift, expression, compassion, a work ethic and a means to pray. Are you Hands-On or handy like Red Green?
Erin Dojack – MNO Rep
This is how I imagine God’s hands….
• like a hug
• strong-trusting that She won’t drop you
• like when you were little and were too tired to walk on your own and your parents carried you
But what goes along with being carried is also…
• Not having control of where you are going
• Trusting completely in the person who is carrying you
• Fearing what is unknown (and where, when, and if you’ll be dropped)
God calls us to get our hands dirty, to carry others, and to make a difference in the world.
Rev. Brad Mittleholtz – Eastern Rep
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Isaiah 43.1 NRSV
I have spent the last few days thinking about and using touch. I’ve been touching my nose like crazy as it drips and drips, even the softest of tissues brings pain to my nose. I have been touching a son of a Anglican member of the Parish family who has had a terrible medical emergency. Unable to talk or communicate, the family and I gather around holding hands, touching the loved one in the bed and pray: Loving God, N is your child who we love and care for. Wrap N in your loving arms that sustain him in this life and in the life to come. Gracious God, also hold on to us, who love N. Bring us comfort, bring us peace – now and forever. In the name of God: Father, Son + and Holy Spirit. I sign the cross on the loved one’s forehead and it is over for now and we wait some more.
And then tonight… remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. I touch and mark 50 some heads with the sign of the cross. Not wet and dripping with water, but black and smudging. A sign of mortality and death. But under it is the watermark. The baptismal mark… a sign of Christ’s death and resurrection and promises to hold us. I am called by name… just as my parishioner’s child is called by name. Right from the beginning to the end, to the life beyond. I am formed, called and held. This day and always.
George Porter – Youth Action Director of the Diocese of Fredericton
This gathering means to me the fulfillment of a long-time dream for a national gathering of young people. It also means that the full communion of Anglican and Lutherans takes on the dimension of a visible, ‘Hands On’ experience. It’s exciting that this is lead by young people.
Sue Malpus – ACC Central Representative
“Hands-On” for me conjures up all sorts of images many of which involve action and I am reminded of St. Francis’s famous words “Preach the gospel at all time, if necessary use words”. Francis is not speaking to those who formally preach in our churches but to all of us. He reminds us that it is not so much what we say that makes who we are as followers of Christ clear to others, but really much more what we do. We are called as believers to live our lives sharing with others the love of God….”hands on”
Personally speaking, I can’t wait until August! I am so looking forward to being with and seeing young Anglicans and Lutherans attending CLAY 2010, having fun and getting excited about living lives of active participation as disciples of Jesus.
Helen Manfield – ACC Western Representative
When I think of being molded like clay by God, I think about becoming the person I was designed to be. There are often life circumstances that come our way which shape us in ways we never expected. We are placed in a culture, in a specific time, and within a certain societal structure. All of these factors and more shape the kind of person we become, many times God is not part of this shaping. For me I feel as though there has been a molding and shaping into the person who I was designed to be. This has not always been an easy journey, there have been bumps and scrapes along the way, but the result is closer to what the designer had in mind for me ‘in the beginning…’
I trust that the hand of God on my life holds me in place as the work continues, it keeps me safe, it supports me when I feel I might crumble and collapse, it moves me gently and in a good direction. I like having that hand there.
Blessings on you as you join us for this gathering and I trust that the hand of God is there to guide, and be with you throughout this journey we call ‘life.’
Lauren Haberer – Youth Representative
For me, ‘Hands On’ has a double meaning. First of all, being on the National Planning Committee has given me the ‘hands on’ perspective of CLAY. Rather than just experiencing the gathering as a participant, I have been able to help out with the planning and put some hands on work into it. I think it’s going to be very cool to see all the ‘hands on ‘ work the NPC has done come together in London! The other meaning of Hands On for me is that God’s hands are on each of us. In all that we do, our actions are guided by God’s hands, which is a very comforting thing! We can count on God to help us through difficult situations we may be going through, but also know that he is there for the good times too! I’m looking forward to London 2010, when I can see what ‘Hands On’ means for all of you!
Allan Roeher – Youth Representative
Growing up on a farm I know how much wear and tear hands can take. If our hands could talk it would be amazing to hear all the toils and triumphs they’ve had. Hands On will be my fourth gathering, but the first where I won’t be attending as a youth. It will be different not being a youth during the gathering, but I look forward to the ‘Hands On’ work I will be doing to serve God, and the youth, so they can have as much of an enjoyable, spiritual, and uplifting experience in learning about how they can better serve God as I had on the previous gatherings! I can’t wait to see my old friends from previous gatherings, and make new ones this gathering! See you all in 2010 in London!
