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Mansfield Edwards, Ontario Conference president and volunteer chaplain with York Regional Police, delivering words of comfort at the memorial service.
On Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, Ontario Conference president, Dr. Mansfield Edwards, offered words of comfort during a memorial service held at York Region. The service, attended by 400+, was for employee Bahareh Karami, a York Region environmental sciences technologist.
Karami, 33, was one of 176 killed
on January 8 when a plane, heading from Iran to Ukraine, was shot by the
Iranian military. On the 13th, colleagues and friends, as well as
loved ones streaming in from Tehran, offered emotional tributes to Karami, described
by her boss as a “shining light.”
Edwards’s message, titled “When Life Isn’t Fair,” was relatable and uplifting to the multifaith crowd. Quoting Vance Havner’s book on grieving, Though I Walk Through the Valley, he spoke on the “dark days” we all face, “days of despair and discouragement, when there are more questions than answers.”
Speaking on the “senseless
atrocity” killing Bahareh and 62 other Canadians and causing “dark days in our
country,” Edwards noted, “Human beings—intelligently designed—are wired to
respond negatively to … death.” He then offered a few faith-based approaches to
grief:
- Affirm your new reality by beginning your
healing. - Pursue your nagging need for answers, as David
did with God in Psalm 13. - Cherish and reinvest in the people God has
placed in your life. - Trust God even when you don’t understand the
happenings around you.
Edwards, a volunteer chaplain
with York Regional Police, was requested by ceremony organizers to speak after
having handled all religious aspects of the Dec. 6, 2018, swearing-in ceremony
for York Region mayors and regional councillors.
Later, Edwards reflect on our mandate as Adventists. “Jesus after His resurrection instructed us to go into all the world, not just huddle in each other’s company at the expense of our mission. We must be sensitive to the needs of the community [as Christ was].”
—-Christelle Agboka, Ontario Conference
