Monday, April 3 - Friday, April 7
April 1 was the application deadline for our MA-EL program and MWS-ART program. Please pray now for the students who applied to these programs as they patiently await word on their admission, and pray too for the admissions committee as they consider the applicants and whether ICS might offer them what they need in an academic home.
This past Sunday was Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week in the Western church calendar. This week marks the end of the Lenten season and culminates in joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday on April 9th. Please join us and the Church around the world in prayer during these holy days, that we might learn to seek and share the Lord’s resurrection hope and truth in all we do throughout the rest of the year.
We ask for prayer for our staff as we make the plans for this year’s Convocation on May 26th and other events surrounding Convocation. This year, we will be celebrating a number of Junior Member graduands, as well as the retirement of beloved Senior Member Bob Sweetman. In addition to Bob delivering this year’s Convocation address on the evening of the 26th, we will also be hosting a celebration of Bob’s work and his lasting impact on the ICS community earlier that afternoon. Both Convocation and this afternoon celebration will be open to the public and available to join in person or online, and invitations will follow shortly. So for now, please mark your calendars, keep an eye on your email, and keep all of us at ICS in your prayers as we prepare for all these celebrations.
Monday, April 10 - Friday, April 14:
Monday, April 10th is the application deadline for our opening for a part-time ICS Librarian. Please pray with us that interested applicants may gather all the necessary materials for their applications in time and that a suitable candidate will find their way to us, and also for the hiring committee as they consider the candidates. Please also share the job posting widely in your own circles if you know of anyone who may be interested in the position.
Please pray this month for the instructors and students in our Spring-Summer 2023 courses as they prepare for their time of study together: Finding Joy in Learning (Edith van der Boom), Lead from Where You Are (Gideon Strauss), The Soul of Soulless Conditions (Dean Dettloff), and State, Society, and Religion in Hegel’s Philosophy (Andrew Tebbutt). Some of these courses start as early as this month and others start in June and July, and are presented through a mix of asynchronous online learning and synchronous online video sessions. There’s still time to apply to each of these courses, so email our Academic Registrar Elizabet Aras if you’d like to learn how to join!
Monday, April 17 - Friday, April 21:
As Wednesday, April 19th is the last day of classes, we ask for your prayers this week for the Senior Members and Junior Members as they finish up their class time and move onto finishing their course assignments. We offer thanks for another academic year successfully completed and for the rich discussions that took place in all our classes this year. We ask for prayers particularly for those Junior Members who wish to convocate in late May that they would have clarity and inspiration for finishing their assignments before the end of this month. We also ask for prayers for our Registrar, Elizabet Aras, as she coordinates the academic administrative details that are necessary at this time of the year.
Please pray for the administrative staff of ICS who are hard at work preparing for a busy schedule of events after the end of this term, including: sending out the next issue of Perspective and the Spring Appeal fundraising mailing, organizing a much-anticipated book launch for Jim Olthuis, a public event with Miroslav Volf, a Senate meeting, a Board meeting, a celebration in honour of Bob Sweetman’s retirement, and Convocation. We are excited to have such a season of celebration ahead of us, Lord willing, and hope that you will be able to join in the celebrations in some form or another!
Senior Member Bob Sweetman will be presenting a paper during the 2023 Kuyper Conference taking place at Redeemer University May 9-11. The conference theme is "Kuyper and Kintsugi: Public Theology for Repair, Reconciliation, and Restoration." Please pray for Bob as he prepares for this presentation over the course of the coming weeks.
Monday, April 24 - Friday, April 28:
ICS Junior Members, Senior Members, and staff will celebrate the end of the academic year with a ‘Spring Connect’ gathering on April 25. We pray for everyone who will attend that this might be an uplifting experience for all, and a joyful way to celebrate the many learnings, efforts, and accomplishments of this past year.
Please pray this week and next that students will find their way to our upcoming MA-EL courses being offered over the spring and summer. In particular, keep in prayer the following courses that will begin on April 27: Lead From Where You Are and Finding Joy in Learning. Please also pray for Gideon Strauss and Edith van der Boom as they prepare for their sessions, and for inspiration and creativity in their leadership of the classes.
The Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics continues to be closely involved as an institutional partner in the planning of the Canadian Interfaith Conversation’s Our Whole Society Conference taking place May 7-9th in Waterloo, ON on the topic of “Finding Common Ground in a Time of Polarization.” There is still time to register to attend in person or online if you wish. Please pray for the planning committee as the event draws near, and for all those in attendance that they might have productive conversations around this challenging topic.
