Angela Reitsma Bick won the 2016 Word Guild award for profile/human interest category for her op-ed article, “Every Moment Holy,” published in December 2015. Bick is a member of Hope Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Courtice, Ont. She is the editor in chief of Christian Courier, an independent biweekly Christian newspaper.
“Every Moment Holy” grapples isolation, fear and the embodiment of emotional pain. Written during Advent, Bick highlights the love shown by the father to his son in Ghost Boy (by Martin Pistorius) and how that care drove out his loneliness. Through Jesus, God drives out our loneliness as he became God-with-us. Bick writes, “It’s worth noting that ‘lonely’ is not used in the New Testament in relation to people. Because of Jesus, we are not forsaken. Once beloved, we can reach out.”
In a time where technology can bring people together but also create alienation, Bick’s piece speaks to the importance of living in community, the reaching out rather than “the desire to circle the wagons.”
Other awards that Bick has won include a Word Guild award in 2015 for “Kitchen Sacraments,” the 2015 Canadian Church Press General Excellence award on behalf of Christian Courier, and as editor for Dena Nicolai's article, “Canadian Doctors and Nurses Fight for Refugees’ Right to Health Care,” receiving the A.C. Forrest Memorial award for excellence in socially conscious religious journalism.
About the Author
Krista Dam-VandeKuyt is a member of Kemptville CRC and lives with her family in Ottawa, Ontario.
