Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Master’s College and Seminary comes back to Peterborough – I was there!

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Today’s Blog Post


Master’s College and Seminary comes back to Peterborough – I was there!

I am impressed! I was blown away by what we witnessed yesterday at the College that we visited. It was a new look at the NEW Master’s College and Seminary.

For those that have no idea where Peterborough is and what MCS is all about… I can say that it is a Theological College that had its roots in Peterborough for many years… and then was moved to Toronto, Ontario… and now has been moved back to our city again.

We attended a re-introduction meeting to the College yesterday. We toured the old facilities that were being brought back to life again after being closed for a number of years. One group had taken up residence for a short period of time but as a tenant it had not worked for them.

Following our tour we attended a gathering of the student body in one of the large amphitheatres that is used for classes. It was a Chapel Service where some one speaks a devotional and then the student body enjoys a session in music and praise. For those of you that have never had the opportunity to take part in this kind of Student guided service – words are hard to explain what happens.

The time together is far more exciting than the average church service that ordinary churches provide for their congregants. It is alive to say the least…ordinary churches are kind of … well… dead in comparison!

Following the Chapel Service we joined in meeting students around a BBQ on the back lawn.

I was impressed by what I witnessed. There are about 40 students in the first class… more than last year. The second, third and fourth years are also greater in number than the previous years.

To our delight Alida and I met two Chinese students that simply made our day. One was from Shanghai and the other from Guangzhou (Canton). I have two new friends that I hope to support in some fashion.

My friends know some of the struggles that we have gone through in Peterborough as the College was pulled from our community a few years back. The struggles that our own church went through were great as the student body was shuffled off to Toronto under the “new vision” for the College.

Dr. Bill Morrow, the College President, pointed to another important fact that I had not really considered… this move for the student body is the third or fourth for some of them. They are now settled in a more permanent setting… and they love it. It is new for them – but it is like home. No wonder they are so enthusiastic.

Emotions flooded over me and I cried – wiping tears from my eyes. “Our kids” had come home again. It is good to have them in our city!

Someone asked me if I would be involved in some way at the college. I couldn’t answer when they asked me that question. There were so many feelings and thoughts that I was personally dealing with at the time… there were no words.

Now I think I have an answer… “yes I will”… cautiously. I will drive students to and from school to church… if I can help that way.

Right now there is a need to unpack the boxes of library that is being moved back from Toronto…. maybe that way too.

Right now they need someone to help with some writing assistance and library work… maybe that would be an area too…

Just being with the students and listening to their zeal… is one of the great reasons to get involved again.

Over these past few years, after the college left Peterborough, I have attended way too many funerals and met too many people that are getting ready for their own… I need new life.

Gotta run and meet some younger people – it is Tatting Day today at the Mall. There are some younger people meeting me today to learn how to Tat. Wahoo!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

2 comments:

David said...

I'm glad you've been somewhat vindicated Murray. Not that any will acknowledge or remember your wise words.

Nevertheless, I do find myself cringing when I hear of any young man or woman marching dutifully to what they think is a high calling but is little more than strapping a huge anchor to their body and then attempting to go for a swim.

Here's an excerpt that says only a fragment of my feelings.

..the Gospel of grace is the end of religion, the final posting of the CLOSED sign on the sweatshop of the human race's perpetual struggle to think well of itself. For that , at bottom, is what religion is: the human species' well-meant but dim-witted attempt to gain approval of its unapprovable condition by doing odd jobs it thinks some important Something will thank it for. If we can't offer God a nice Adam or Eve, we offer him a nice goat instead--an activity which, as God has frequently pointed out, is an exercise in futility, since it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away the entail of a fundamentally worm-eaten self-image.

Religion, therefore, is a loser, a strictly fallen activity. It has a failed past and a bankrupt future. There was no religion in Eden and there won't be any in the New Jerusalem; and in the meantime, Jesus has died and risen to persuade us to knock it off right now. He has said that as far as God is concerned, we're all home free already, and there's not a single religious thing you or I have to do about it. We are...simply invited to believe it, and to cry a little or giggle a lot (or vice versa) as seems appropriate.

(Robert F. Capon, pg. 282 of Between Noon and Three; Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace)

David

Jamie A. Grant said...

Cool to hear that the Bible College is back in Peterborough. I have many fond memories from the years that my family was there...