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VALLEY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

What a Day That Will Be!

1/24/2015

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To love at all is to be vulnerable.
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.
                                                                                                                                                            C.S. Lewis
As human beings we have within us the incredible capacity to love; we were made to love and be loved, to know and be known.  It is this ability to experience love, to give and receive love that gives to us our highest purpose and greatest joy.   

Jesus said:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:37-39)  As creatures made in the image of God, we reflect the heart of God, who is a God of love.  We love because he first loved us.  (1 John 4:19)  

Love allows us to connect with one another in deep and meaningful ways; as marriage partners, as families and friends and in community with one another.  In such relationships we find meaning and purpose and great joy.  But as C.S. Lewis noted:  To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibility broken.  Love inevitably leads to loss and grief; in this world they are inseparable; we grief because one who was loved has been taken from us.  Some would say grief is the cost of loving.  Dr. Alan Wolfelt, author and Director of the Centre for Loss and Life Transition makes this observation:  Grief is predicated on our capacity to give and receive love.  

C.S. Lewis writes:  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.  

Henry Nouwen wisely observes:  Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or wife leaves for a long period of time or for good, when the beloved friend departs to another country or dies … the pain of the leaving can tear us apart. Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.  

In the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John, as Jesus stands at the tomb of his friend Lazarus; as he observes the tears of Mary and Martha and those gathered in support, the text says he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.  (John 11:34)  And then we read, Jesus wept.  (11:35)  When those around Him saw the said:  See how He loved him!  (11:36)     I take great encouragement in having One who can identify with sorrow of losing one we love.  Just as God gives to us the capacity to love, He will also give the grace and courage to grieve and mourn; He will be to us the God of all comfort.  

And…there is coming day when there will be no more death and dying; no longer will we experience loss and the deep sorrow that comes with losing one we love.  The Bible says God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4)  

That day is coming!  We will be forever with our Lord and reunited with loved ones who have gone before us!  What a day that will be!!

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A Life Well Lived - Jean Soutar

1/13/2015

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The following is a testimony of a life well-lived and one who finished well.  It was written by my friend and fellow-servant Dr. Benjamin Hegeman.
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The labours of Jean Soutar (1922-2014) in northern Benin will have the longest impact of all the SIM pioneer missionaries working among the Baatonu people. She gave them the Bible in their mother tongue.  Inheriting the earlier fruit of, first, the McDougalls, then American linguist Dr William Welmers, and then Rosella Entz, Jean joined SIM’s team and fully grasped the Baatonu language, script and grammar. In fact, her master-level linguistic-lexical-grammatical research was so excellent that it became the official basis of the language when it was adopted by the then ‘Revolutionary’ Beninese government and UNICEF in the late 1970s. You have to be good for communists and the UN to endorse your work. 

Thanks to her excellent training, her Baatonu translation team went on to bring the Old Testament to completion in the early 1990s. In short, throughout 38 years, Jean led the team that gave the Baatonu people the Word of God.  What an eternal honour!  

Today, there are over 150 churches and smaller annexes amongst a tribe of which well over 75% of the men call themselves Muslim. This amazing church growth in a Muslim region would have been impossible without the Baatonu Bible. Her ‘text’ has been the principal translation used to train some 75 Baatonu pastors, some of whom have preceded her to heaven. Since 1978, it is and will remain the best-selling Baatonu text in the land. Even the Catholics in Benin say to me that they greatly prefer Jean Soutar’s Bible over an alternate translation attempted by a Baatonu priest. Her work is truly excellent. 

I’ve always told my colleagues that Jean Soutar deserved an honourary doctorate for her labours. But she has a better honour coming.  Can you picture and hear the applause when Jean kneels in the presence of her Lord, Master and Saviour? Truly of her it may well be said, ‘Well done good and faithful servant. You gave them my Word!’ 

We salute the home-going of a great, godly, Scottish-Canadian, missionary pioneer


The labours of Jean Soutar (1922-2014) in northern Benin will have the longest impact of all the SIM pioneer missionaries working among the Baatonu people. She gave them the Bible in their mother tongue.  Inheriting the earlier fruit of, first, the McDougalls, then American linguist Dr William Welmers, and then Rosella Entz, Jean joined SIM’s team and fully grasped the Baatonu language, script and grammar. In fact, her master-level linguistic-lexical-grammatical research was so excellent that it became the official basis of the language when it was adopted by the then ‘Revolutionary’ Beninese government and UNICEF in the late 1970s. You have to be good for communists and the UN to endorse your work. 

Thanks to her excellent training, her Baatonu translation team went on to bring the Old Testament to completion in the early 1990s. In short, throughout 38 years, Jean led the team that gave the Baatonu people the Word of God.  What an eternal honour!  

Today, there are over 150 churches and smaller annexes amongst a tribe of which well over 75% of the men call themselves Muslim. This amazing church growth in a Muslim region would have been impossible without the Baatonu Bible. Her ‘text’ has been the principal translation used to train some 75 Baatonu pastors, some of whom have preceded her to heaven. Since 1978, it is and will remain the best-selling Baatonu text in the land. Even the Catholics in Benin say to me that they greatly prefer Jean Soutar’s Bible over an alternate translation attempted by a Baatonu priest. Her work is truly excellent. 

I’ve always told my colleagues that Jean Soutar deserved an honourary doctorate for her labours. But she has a better honour coming.  Can you picture and hear the applause when Jean kneels in the presence of her Lord, Master and Saviour? Truly of her it may well be said, ‘Well done good and faithful servant. You gave them my Word!’ 

We salute the home-going of a great, godly, Scottish-Canadian, missionary pioneer.
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No Regrets

1/3/2015

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The year 2014 is now in the history books and as we come to a New Year, this is often a time of reflection; a time of assessing the year that has been and looking ahead to the year that is before us.  For some this reflection brings much joy and for others there is sadness.  Whatever the case, wherever we are on this journey called life, such reflection is not only a human propensity it can also serve us well. 

In Psalm 90, as Moses reflects back on his life he prays:  Teach us to number our days aright…why…that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  (Psalm 90:12)  Teach us to number our days so that our lives, the time we have remaining, might count; so that we would live wisely, to fullest, with no regrets.   

In this psalm, Moses challenges us to make our lives count and to reflect upon that which really matters.  It begins by calling us to look to God:  Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.  (Psalm 90:1)  You have been our safe place, our stronghold, the one security to which we can cling.  Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.  (Psalm 90:2) 

As Moses continues he reminds us that life is short and sometimes the path gets hard and then it ends with a sigh (verse 9).  As Moses reflects on this truth, he wonders who really looks at life and understands this reality; who understands the brevity of life and lives his life in such a way to honor God and give Him His rightful place of honor and trust.  

So he prays, Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  Teach us to live well that we might understand the reality of life; that we might honour and fear God; that we might live life differently and come the end with no regrets; that we might finish well. 

In the final verses of the psalm we are drawn to the unfailing love, the compassion and joy, the blessing and grace of a life lived with God.  In this we find perspective and meaning, for such a life is the only life worth living.   

As Moses reflects on the love and grace of God, his eyes light up and he prays:  May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.  May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us--yes, establish the work of our hands.  (Psalm 90:16-17) 

If we could just see God at work in our lives, through all the ups and down along the way, if we could just know that He is leading our lives, if God would extend his blessing and favour toward us that would make all the difference; that would bring us a sense of peace and joy.  If we could see God at work in our lives, that would be enough to sustain us through another New Year. 

That is my prayer for each of us as we continue on this adventure called life; as we work and serve together at Valley.  May you live in His love and rest in His grace; may the favour of our God rest upon us as we walk in the year 2015!

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    Author

    Ken Clarke has been the Pastor at Valley since 2007. He lives in the Oliver area 
    with his wife Janice. They have three adult children, Lisa, Scott & Tiffany (Riley, Charlie), Andrea & Jason (Noah, Luke).

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4312 Black Sage Road Box 1235 Oliver, BC V0H 1T0 250-498-4829 valleyccc@hotmail.com