Author Archive
The Water that Connects All Life by Jennifer Henry
January 15, 2015
Jennifer Henry reminds us that we are invited to immerse ourselves as Christ did in our own watersheds to connect ourselves with both the pain and transformation of being one with creation.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Peace with Justice: International Day of Peace by Jennifer Henry
September 30, 2014
Jennifer Henry explains that peace of which the prophet Micah spoke is not the absence of conventional war, rather the presence of transformed beliefs and collective understandings, economic and ecological justice and democratic inclusions, human rights and greater equality.
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
We Do Have Choices
June 2, 2014
On the flight to Fort Chip, Jennifer Henry reflects on our energy choices. What will sustain life?
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
We Are All Connected
June 1, 2014
Archbishop Desmond Tutu believes transformation is possible if we all work together.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: A Voice To be Heard
May 30, 2014
Executive Director Jennifer Henry and Program Manager Ed Bianchi head out to Fort McMurray to attend the “So Long as the River Flows” Conference and hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s thoughts on the oil sands, Indigenous Rights, and ecological justice.
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
Impossible Hope: Excerpt from a Sermon on Ezekiel 37: 1-14 and John 11: 1-44 – by Jennifer Henry
April 8, 2014
This week’s Spirited Reflection is by KAIROS Executive Director, Jennifer Henry. The images of death in the Scriptures are striking, but so are the signs of hope: transformation is God’s signature.
Post filed in: Executive Director, Spirited Reflections
Truth and reconciliation and our hopeful shared future
March 27, 2014
I am attending the seventh and final National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Edmonton (March 27-30). I have been at all but one of these events. I know to prepare myself, that the listening will be…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Unbearable Pain, Startling Hope: 40 years of Bold Witness to Ecumenical Social Justice – by Jennifer Henry
January 27, 2014
Executive Director Jennifer Henry reflects on ’40 Years of Bold Witness’ framing her thoughts with four characteristics of the “‘natural habitat’ of prophetic voices” outlined by Walter Brueggemann in “The Prophetic Imagination.” Longer than our typical Spirited Reflection, it is…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Mission from the Margins
November 13, 2013
In her final blog from the World Council of Churches 10th Assembly in Busan, Executive Director Jennifer Henry reflects on the global church’s call to “justice, solidarity, and inclusivity [as] key expressions of mission from the margins.”
Post filed in: Executive Director, Spirited Reflections
Her Name is Edna
November 6, 2013
In her presentation to the workshop “Dialogue of Theologies in the Struggle for Life: For a New Ecumenism” at the World Council of Churches’ 10th Assembly, KAIROS ED Jennifer Henry argues that it is “the migrants and refugees knocking at…
Post filed in: Migrant Justice
Not Lost in Translation … Facing Up to Canadian Mining
November 4, 2013
In this report from the World Council of Churches 10th Assembly in Busan, KAIROS ED Jennifer Henry meets those affected by Canadian mining overseas, and reflects on our response as justice-seeking communities of faith.
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
A Story of Resilience, Grace, Persistence and Transformation
November 2, 2013
Father Michael Lapsley is an Anglican priest, a social justice activist, a freedom fighter and a healer. KAIROS Executive Director Jennifer Henry describes what it was like to break bread with him at the WCC Assembly.
Post filed in: Executive Director
We Are Beginning To See the Light
October 31, 2013
KAIROS ED Jennifer Henry comments on WCC General Secretary Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit’s report to the Assembly, and its mention of the collaborative work between the churches and Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Senzenina
October 30, 2013
“Nothing falls outside of God’s dream for justice and therefore, nothing is outside the church’s mission.” KAIROS Executive Director Jennifer Henry reflects on the opening litany of lamentation and hope at the World Council of Churches’ 10th Assembly in Busan.
Post filed in: Executive Director, Spirited Reflections
God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace: Follow KAIROS at the WCC Assembly!
October 28, 2013
As Executive Director Jennifer Henry heads to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, Korea, she offers some thoughts on what the global church may aspire to and accomplish in the busy days ahead.
Post filed in: Executive Director, Spirited Reflections
Heart Listening…A Requirement for Settler Christians – by Jennifer Henry
October 7, 2013
Taiaiake Alfred asserts that: “The convenient way to deal with the founding injustice of Canada is to allow colonialism to continue by ignoring the truth, to erase it from our memory, ban it from the schools, and suppress it in…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Reflection on an Ecumenical Solidarity Visit to Chief Spence
January 6, 2013
Epiphany Sunday January 6, 2013 We came to Victoria Island with an arrangement to meet her, but travelling gently knowing that her strength and health were tested. We wanted our solidarity to be gift and not burden. When we arrived,…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
A Climate Justice Advent Reflection
December 12, 2012
By Jennifer Henry For what does the bell toll? Is it joy as of a wedding or a birth? Is it a summons or obligation, as to dinner or to church? Is it alarm, crisis–a warning of imminent danger? Or is…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
For the Harvest of the Spirit
October 9, 2012
For the harvest of the Spirit, thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God. For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still astound us, Most of all that love has found…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Somewhat Unexpectedly
September 5, 2012
On August 27th, somewhat unexpectedly, the Colombian government announced its willingness to restart peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), offering a glimmer of hope on the horizon after 60 years of protracted conflict. Our partners’ response, as…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Back to the Circle
June 22, 2012
Time and again it comes back to the circle. The first day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Saskatchewan National Event begins with the lighting of the sacred fire and ends with a round dance. In her poem, “Reconciliation”, Rebeka…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Living out our faith
June 22, 2012
We sat in a circle. Lucy from Palestine, Claudia from Colombia, Jill from Penelakut First Nation, members of KAIROS Saskatoon, Regina and Swift Current, and many others from church and community. The topic was women of courage – women human…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Reflection for Advent 4: Midwifing Solidarity
December 13, 2011
I had a January baby (she is now almost eight!). So I remember the December before her birth as a month of profound anticipation. Advent for me was not symbolic, but intensely real as preparations unfolded and my hope and…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Reflection for Advent 3: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
December 5, 2011
by Jennifer Henry “to provide for those who mourn in Zion– to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.” Isaiah 64:1 61:1 The spirit…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Spirited Reflections
Reflection for Advent 2 (Isaiah 11:1-10)
November 28, 2011
by Jennifer Henry “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 64:1 Photo by Sara Stratton…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Reflection for Advent 1 (Isaiah 64: 1-5)
November 21, 2011
by Jennifer Henry “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence…” Isaiah 64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
A remembrance from the Blanket Train, June 2001
June 14, 2011
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…” Old hymns kept us company as we waited for the train of fellow travellers and their solidarity baggage to come in from Western Canada. The staff at Toronto’s Union Station looked with curiosity, but…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
KAIROS: The importance of faith
March 11, 2011
“KAIROS is one or many ways that the churches strive to live out their faith in a God, in whose image and dignity all persons were made, and in whose creation we are called to abundant life. “
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections