The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Swan is in Bermuda promoting his new book, "Power For Living in These Days, Meditations for an Everyday Faith.'' And he signed a copy of his book for the Premier at the Cabinet building on Thursday after a busy week of promotions.

He will give a sermon entitled "Servant hood, a call to perseverance'' at a morning service this Sunday at the Grace Methodist Church, and he will attend a book presentation in the afternoon.

In 1966 Rev. Swan became the first Bermudian to be ordained by the Maritime Conference of the United Church of Canada.

Rev. Swan lives in Toronto and has retired from the United Church.

He attended the August 1950 Convention on Christian Education and found he could breath more easily in Toronto, as he suffers from asthma.

While in Toronto, he could not ignore a sense of location and a calling which he said persisted in the years to come.

He returned to Bermuda after the conference and worked as an apprentice at the Royal Naval Dockyard, and Hotels as a way of raising money, but eventually returned to Canada.

Rev. Swan said he manages to return to the Island at least once a year to visit his sisters and brothers and many friends.

At a recent meeting of The Bermudian Canadian Association at The Toronto Colony Hotel, Rev. Swan was honoured and presented with a plaque which reads: "In recognition of many years of dedication in the Ministry. Also to recognise his continual contribution of community work, especially with seniors. Presented by The Bermudian Canadian Association, November 11, 2000.'' Also performing at the celebration was Rev. Swan's sister Valerie Dill who came with the Seniors Dance Group of the Pembroke West Community Club in Spanish Point.

26 members of the group performed and some of the guests received instructions in some of their dances.

Rev. Swan's new book was published in September and he said it was fortunate to be included in a list of books published by Vantage Books that was sent to the New York Times.

When asked to describe his book, Rev. Swan said: "There seems to be a great deal of interest in spiritualism and also in who Jesus Christ is.'' He said he had sorted through literally hundreds of sermons he had delivered throughout his years as a Minister and selected four main ones for his book.

These were: "The Belief in God, The Belief in Jesus Christ, The Belief in the Holy Spirit, and The Belief in the Church Universal.'' Rev. Swan said: "If one believes in all four, you have power.'' On May 21 Rev. Swan received a Doctor of Ministry Degree with a dissertation on Power for Living with the theme, The Urgency of Preaching, The Case for Preaching and the Theological Objectives of the Meditations.

Rev. Swan said: "The theological objectives of the book are to encourage those who already believe, generate belief in non-believers, and to bring hope, love, joy and peace.'' The book was made possible after a former parishioner of Rev. Swan urged him to print some of his sermons and gave him a bursary to cover the costs of word processing.

As for future plans, a friend suggested Rev. Swan put some of his prayers into print, and he is considering doing just that as well as including meditations and inspirational passages that he has written down in notebooks over the years.

Rev. Swan wished to thank his sister Esther and her husband Dr. Gerard Bean for helping to organise his latest trip that has been busy with appearances at book stores where he has been promoting his book.

He also thanked Rev. Alan Walker at the Grace Methodist Church and said he enjoyed coming back to the Church as it was where he spent much of his upbringing.