Just Do it Already!

For the last 2 weeks there has been non-stop speculation in Canada about whether or not PRime Minister Stephen HArper will ignore his commitment to fixed election dates and ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament, thus starting the official election campaign. (the unofficial campaign has already started as you can hardly watch TV without seeing a campaing ad for the governing party)

Now let's get one thing straight. Even though Harper brought in an act setting election dates to be every 4 years the COnstitution of Canada gives the Govrnor-General the authority and power to dissolve Parliament at any time, generally only at the request of the PM or after a vote of non-confidence in the government.

But really Mr. Harper, if you want to call an election get off the pot and do it. Stop acting like a spoiled child and complaining that the opposition won't work with you (oh and "Parliament is not giving me my way" does not mean "PArliament is dysfunctional", I'm just saying). Everyone knows you want to go to the polls, everyone believes you will do it. SO just do it and lets move on.

Holiday Reading -- 7

I have been waiting for this to come out in paperback since I read the first book in the Templar Trilogy last winter.

My previous reading on Whyte had been his Dream of Eagles series (although it appears there have been more books than I have read) which recounted Britain between the withdrawl of the Legions and Arthur.

THis series begins in the First Crusade when a group of knights from a secret brotherhood forms a group that will become the Knights Templar. ANd then they dig beneath the Temple Mount to find, not the Holy Grail, but a vast treasure left behind by their ancestors, who were members of the "true" Jesus movement (as opposed to the Church which they see as a Pauline misreading of Jesus). A nice mix of history and fiction. This book is the time of Richard Lionheart and the Third Crusade and it seems the third volume will be set at the time of the squashing of the Templars.

Holiday Reading -- 6

This was an impulse buy since the book I was looking for (and subsequently found elsewhere, may finish it tonight) wasn't there.

Set on Malta during the siege by the armies of Suleiman in the 1500's it is more than a little violent in parts (and gory). But not overly so, it would be unrealistic to set a novel in the midst of a fight to the death and not have violence and gore.

Mixed in with the fighting is a love story, some lessons on true honour, a search for a long lost child, and friendships. Not to mention the presence of the Inquisition and the main character who can (and does) operate freely in both Christian and Muslim camps.

Newspaper Column -- Questions Anyone?

Any parent knows the feeling. For the last 15 minutes the kids have been asking question after question after question and finally the exasperated parents call out “Stop asking questions and be quiet!”

But of course we want our children to ask questions. We want them to learn, to think critically, to explore. We don't want them to take things for granted, to accept only one side of a story or concept, to have blind faith in what others tell them. Questions are a big part of how we learn and grow in the world.

Think back to your school memories. How many times did the teacher ask if there were any questions? Teachers know that students who ask questions are engaged and involved in learning. Asking questions helps information get integrated and processed.

Questions are important throughout our lives. When we read news stories or listen to the news on radio or TV questions should arise in our minds. When we watch movies or TV shows, when we read books or magazines, when we listen to the stories of life around us questions should arise in our minds.

The same thing goes in our faith. In my first year theology class I remember the professor saying that questions, not answers but questions, were the more important part of doing theology. In order for our faith to grow we need to feel free to ask questions, we need to feel free to challenge our preconceptions, our traditions, the “way we've always believed”. Many people have felt that to question the principles of their faith is to reveal doubt. But as a Canadian musician Linnea Good sings (in a song called Doubters) “it takes a lot of doubing for our faith to grow”.

The other thing about questions is that they don't always have answers. (Maybe that is partly why my professor said the questions were more important than the answers.) 15 years ago I was in a Bible Study group whose members were experts at asking questions. And quite frequently we came to the conclusion that “that one will have to go in the pile to be answered in the life to come”. But we loved the freedom to ask and explore, to grow in our wonderings.

There is always a part of us that wants certainty in life. We would love all of our questions to have a clear concise answer. But most of life is not like that. Certainly questions of meaning and existence and ethics and morality are rarely like that. But we need to keep asking them. As we ask our questions, as we explore the possible answers together we learn more about life and faith and everything. As we learn we grow to fuller maturity. And really isn't that the whole point anyway, to grow and learn throughout our lives?

So lets keep asking the questions, just like the unquenchable questions asked by the child at the top of this column – the one who drives his parents to distraction.

Holiday Reading -- 5

IT has been a while since I read a Greeley book. FAther Blackie of the last ones I read is now the Archbishop coadjutor of Chicago, with Cardinal Archbishop Cronin still around. I always like them.

Now that I have read this one I may have to find some more. Greeley creates wonderful characters, and that is what drives his books.

Friday Five on Dates

Here are five things to ponder about dates. I hope you'll play!

1) Datebooks--how do you keep track of your appointments? Electronically? On paper? Month at a glance? Week at a glance? I do it the old fashioned on paper way. A week at a glance is my preference. THen there are the time I rely on memory because I forget to write the thing down...

2) When was the last time you forgot an important date? What makes a date important? I forget family birthdays fairly regularly. Oh and last May was my sister's 10th wedding anniversary and I totally forgot. If you are reading this sis, happy 10th!

3) When was the last time you went OUT on a date? This one is easy. In June when Beloved and I went to the Prairie Gateway city for a COnEd event the whole trip was pretty much a great big date. And it included a supper out for an early anniversary celebration.

4) Name one accessory or item of clothing you love even though it is dated. My whole wardrobe is dated. I really should buy clothes one of these years...

5) Dates--the fruit--can't live with 'em? Or can't live without 'em? Eat them when I am given date squares (AKA matrimonial cake) but don't go out searching for them by any means.

ETA: Lest anyone think I made up Matrimonial Cake, here is a recipe for it

Holiday Reading -- 4 (well sort of)

This is the 4th book I finished on holidays but I had started it a while back.

A collection of sermons and papers by Bruggemann that touches on a variety of issues facing the church today. It is a call to be counter-cultural, to offer a different way of seeing the world.

And it is well worth the read.

Holiday Reading -- 3

Finished this today. Mind you it will likely take a second read, or partial read, to fully appreciate it.

White has some good ideas about what leadership might mean in the church today. Unfortunately the examples he gives are of situation of overwork, thereby suggesting that leadership and workaholism are equivalent.

The last chapter where he lists some of the qualities of healthy leadership is good. But really in the end this is a book that cries out for group reading and discussion and exploration.

Holiday Reading -- 2

We saw this one at the local bookstore a month ago and commented how it might be a nice one to have for when we ever move from here.

So this week we bought it (they didn't have the novel I was looking for anyway). Holmes is a little fixated on permits, but he has some good advice about what to look for. ANd it confirmed some of my suspicions about what looked wrong around this (50 year old) house.

Leadership in the Church

Currently I am reading Seismic Shifts: Leading in time of Change by UCCan clergyperson Christopher White.

One of the statements that caught my eye early in the book is that seminary education in our denomination does not actually grow leaders. ANd that is my experience. LEadership is seen as problematic, instead we should be enablers and facilitators and empowerers. But to take on a role as a leader is portrayed as being to authoritarian, non-communal.

But you need leadership. And good leadership includes all those other things. But you need the leaders in a congregation (both ordered and lay) to lead, to be visionaries/vision-keepers, to state the realities, to lay challenges before the people.

As I think about what we need to look at here (both in congregation and in the town) I keep coming back to the question of leadership. WHat does it really mean?