Yeah but...

Ontario will start to phase in full-day learning for four-and five-year-olds in 2010, seven years after Premier Dalton McGuinty first promised to introduce full-time junior and senior kindergarten.

But are 4 year olds really ready for full day schooling? Sure you can find studies showing an improvement in some areas but what are the costs (and I don't mean the money)?

Granted, many children that age are now in day care so this is really a different form of funding child care. But is it the best way? What will the curriculum be?

My fear is that in the end this push to start school earlier and more intensively fits in to a larger process of pushing kids to do too much through their school career. Are we asking too much too soon? Or just asking too much period?

And just for balance...

Here are some more favoured seasonal....
1) dessert/cookie/family food Peppermint/chocolate pinwheels -- must make some this year
2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)egg nog, preferably with a splash of, um, nog
3) tradition (church, family, other) candles and Silent Night on Christmas Eve, Yeah I know its a little overdone and schmaltzy but it just needs to happen.
4) decoration natural tree, preferably put up just before CHristmas (21st or later)
5) gift (received or given) The girls are just getting in to the Christmas thing so the look on their faces when they come downstairs....
BONUS: SONG/CD that makes the season worthwhile...Santa I'mRight HEre (secular) any of a number of sacred ones.

LEast Favourite CHristmas

Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey?
Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols?
Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.)
Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....
1) dessert/cookie/family food I'd say fruitcake but I don't eat it...same with mincemeat tarts...but turkey is (IMHO) highly overrated. THere is only one reason to have turkey and that is as an excuse to have stuffing
2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...) How many seasonal beverages are there? I quite enjoy egg nog season myself
3) tradition (church, family, other) REally not a big fan of children's christmas pageants.
4) decoration icicle lights, especially multi-coloured icicle lights
5) gift (received or given) I plead teh Fifth
BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it. Grandma GOt Run over by a Reindeer (secular) The First Noel/Nowell (Sacred)

THis Deserves wider viewing....

Found out about this one at WonderCafe

Waiting Anxiously -- A Prayer for Many Voices

Each portion of the prayer will close with the words:
O God how long?
Each time the congregation will respond with:
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise.

#1: God, every time I turn on the news I get depressed. There are so many places where people live such violent lives. Using war as a way of settling disputes doesn’t seem to be going away. How much longer do we need to put up with this? The prophets of old promised there would be a time when war would be no more and people would live in peace. Isn’t it time for that to happen?
O God how long?
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise.

#2: Why are children hungry? That’s what I want to know God. Over and over again I read that You want us to ensure everybody has their basic needs met. But still there are people without homes, without clothes, without enough to eat. Why are we still waiting for justice?
O God how long?
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise.

#3: Another mill closing. One a week it seems. The news seems so bleak for this part of the world. The economy just keeps sounding worse. There have to be better days out there somewhere. Mining or forestry or something else has to happen. How many young people will we lose before then? How do we continue to live abundant lives while we wait? We need some good news, even just a little bit to keep us going.
O God how long?
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise.

#4: God, I worry about the church. Across the country, at many levels, in many denominations, there is a mood of crisis. There is anxiety about money; there is anxiety about shrinking numbers and aging members; there is anxiety about how long things can continue as they are. I know there is a place for the church in the world and in the lives of the people around me but we could really use a sign that it will be there for our children. I look for a road that will take us into the future, I await a sign that the church can continue to be a place that gives life to God’s people.
O God how long?
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise

#5: God, long ago you sent a liberator into Egypt to free your people suffering under Empire. Then you promised a Messiah as they struggled under other Empires over the years. Then a man named Jesus came and brought words of liberation in a new way and a new understanding. Now we who in the midst of a new Empire continue to cry for liberation. We need a new liberator, another coming of an Anointed One to give us life in abundance. We wait for you to once again break into our world in new and surprising ways.
O God how long?
We wait with hope, we trust in the promise.

And the people all said Amen. Amen

Waiting and Hope -- Liturgy for Advent 1

OPENING PRAYER
We come with hearts that are anxious, uncertain of the future;
God, relieve our anxiety, help us to embrace the possibilities.
We come as those who wait with hope for the better times to come;
God, help us counter the despair we see around us.
We come as those who look to the promise of birth and new life,
God, be born in us and our world again and again. Amen.

Offering Prayer
Gift-giving God, as we get closer and closer to Christmas we hear more and more voices crying out “Please Give”
And we respond as best we can. We share of our lives to help all around us live in abundance. Here we offer a portion of our gifts, trusting that they would be used to spread Your love in our community and around the world. Amen.

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
The Advent journey has begun. Each day brings us closer to the wonder of Christmas.
As we get closer the excitement grows and the waiting gets harder.
We wait with hope for God to once again break into our world in surprising ways.
And we share our hope in the promise of the future with those we meet.
We go to live in hope, hope based on the knowledge that God is with us wherever we go.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

TO MArket TO Market...

No we didn't buy a pig (plump or fresh or otherwise)

BUt we did make use of our time in the city. BOught skates for the girls (the hope here was to find what fit then have daddy go back later to buy them as Christmas presents--that didn't work). DId a variety of other errands.

One was to buy some props for the Christmas Eve Service. WEnt in, found the box we were looking for, bought it. When we got home at 5ish Beloved got the box out, then comes into the living room asking "did you take these out?" Turns out we paid $13 for an empty box!!!!! Call the store, explain what happened and that we are out of town--only option they can come up with is to bring teh box and the reciept into the store. Maybe have to find another way to plan for the 24th.

Oh and we got a new van. A few months erlier than planned (we had 3 months left on our lease) but the deal was as good as it would be then and htey included paying out the lease. And we now are the owners (?? we haven't actually paid for it yet of course--5 years of payments) of a bright red 2008 Sedona. ANd my were the girls excited--all the way home they were downright wired.

If we had been on the ball we would have taken a picture right after picking it up, when it was still clean and shiny. Now it has a nice glazing of road salt and muck but a picture may appear soon....

Newspaper column -- When Christmas Isn't Joyful

Joy to the world! The Lord is come! So the old carol goes. In the minds of many Christmas is a time of joy and happiness. Christmas is about carols, chocolates, children, and community. It involves Christmas parties and presents. It is a season when the world can pause from the everyday grind and talk about peace, hope, joy and love. Even the opposing armies in World War 1 left their trenches to celebrate Christmas for heaven’s sake!

Well the truth can be somewhat different than our perceptions. For some people Christmas is anything but happy. Maybe this is the first year after a death in the family. Maybe this year one of the children isn’t coming home for the holidays. Maybe there is added stress and anxiety because of the economic situation and the expectation to buy gifts. For a variety of reasons Christmas can be very difficult.

It is hard to go against the expectations around us. When people expect us to be happy and joyful it is difficult to tell them that we aren’t feeling that way. But it is important that people have a place and a chance to be honest with themselves and their family and friends about what they are feeling.

Faith communities should be that place. In our faith lives we should be able to embrace the good and the bad of life.

One way we have of facing the reality of a difficult Christmas is to name it openly. One way we have of doing that is a Blue Christmas service. The name comes from the song made famous by Elvis – I’ll have a blue Christmas, without you… In this service we have the chance to pause in the midst of the busy-ness of the Christmas season to name aloud any pain or loneliness or anxiety we may be carrying. We take the time to affirm the reality of those things that interfere with the happiness and merriment of the season as we seek the joy of Christmas.

Christmas comes at what is literally the darkest time of the year. The nights are the longest and the days the shortest. For some people this transfers into how they feel emotionally as well. In some places Blue Christmas services are held on Dec 21, the longest night of the year, as a way of naming the darkness and countering it with the promise of light. Because the only cure for darkness is light, God’s light can in fact help us face darkness both physical and emotional.

Being sad, or anxious, or upset at Christmas is normal. Finding a way to name and feel our feelings is as important at Christmas as it is any other time. If you find Christmas hard, or if it is just this year that Christmas is hard, you are invited to a Blue Christmas celebration on December 16 at 7:00 at Riverview United Church. Let’s take a break from the busy-ness and happiness to name the darkness of the world, then we can be ready for the coming of the light.

Advent Service Music

Am I the only one who gets tired of singing the same stuff every year at ADvent? ANyway, I decided to try writing words to sing as the offering is brought forward and to close the service. I am not really crazy about either of them, especially the third rhyme in the closing...ideas for imrovement welcome.

Doxology (tune Jingle Bells –sung twice)
Giving gifts, giving gifts
Sharing what we’ve got
In the Christmas spirit we
Offer them to God

CHORAL RESPONSE: (tune God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)
God bless you all as you go out
To share the Christmas joy
To tell of peace and love and hope
Born with a baby boy
And may we pass God’s love along
As if in God’s employ
O Christmas is coming once again, once again
O Christmas is come once again.

Baptismal Vows--PArt 2

I've been thinking more about the questions I raised in this post on Saturday. So what would it mean for the church to be more intentional about living out their baptism vow rather than constantly complaining about families not coming back after getting the kids "done"?

Some possibilities:

1. naming a person/family to "adopt" the baptismal family. This role would be to help with child care,transport and other logistics about being at church (like sitting with one child while mom takes the other to the washroom etc.). Another role would be to serve as a source of information about the church and church activities.
2. being very intentional about making the church a place where newcomers are welcome. This means a space where people who are less familiar with the traditions and customs of "how things are done" will not be judged for behaving "inappropriately"
3. talking to families with young children about what they might want from a faith community
4. creating a culture where kids can be kids while worship is happening--not frowned at for talking, not expected to sit still instead of moving
5. having an active church school program that may or may not take place on SUnday
6. including people of all ages in church activities
7. an "adopt a grandparent" program
8. mentoring relationships to encourage families and individuals to grow in faith
9. a place where questions are welcomed, taken seriously, and answers are talked about
10. a chance for parents to tlk about parenting and its challenges in a faith context

SOme of these would work in some places, others in other places. ANd there will always be families who choose not to engage. But we as communities have to take responsibility for what choices we make--and choices in areas like #2,4,6&9 are often made so unconsciously that we don't recognize the messages we are sending.

Reign of Christ COmmissioning

This Sunday is the end of the Liturgical year, the Reign of Christ Sunday. It also means that we are about to start another Advent and teh new year. This COmmissioning attempts to provide a bridge...

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION
The circle goes round and round again
As one year ends we prepare for another to begin.
We celebrate the now of God’s Reign
Remembering that God promises to provide leadership that will guide and protect God’s people.
We also recognize that God’s Reign is not yet complete
And so we go out to help it reach its completion, we go out praying “thy kingdom come, thy will be done”
We close the year sharing the ancient prayer “Maranatha – come Lord Jesus.”
And begin the new awaiting with hope the birth of a baby who will change the world.
As we go out with hope and promise we go held in the love of the Shepherd God: our Guide, our Protector, our Leader.
Reign of God, break into our lives! Amen.

Kids and music and church...

Today was our music Sunday at church. This morning was our "Favourite Hymns" service. WE sang 14 pieces and listened to another 3 on CD--all from a list of favourites that was built over the last few weeks. THis is something we do every couple of years. For Children's Time I sang part of Sing, SIng a SOng before talking about who likes singing--with Eldest leaning in close to teh mic to sing along.

THen this evening we hosted Bruce and Cheryl Harding in concert. THis was very enjoyable as attested by all those in attendance. BUt here is the best story of the night.

About 5:30 I see a car in the parking lot so I head over to open the doors and turn on lights etc. It is our guests so I call the house to say that I was staying over to help them set up. About 25 minutes later, I am about to get my jacket on and cross back to the house for a bit when I hear the rest of the family arrive. Apparently after I phoned Eldest decide it was time to leave. She got dressed, she got coat and boots on, and demanded mom open the back door for her so she could come over.

Mom convinced her to/made her wait till everyone else was ready and they came over. 15 hours before the concert they came over. Eldest ran in and talked and talked and talked to them. Oh yeah, she was just a little excited. ANd she sat with mom and sang along for the whole 2 hours despite being so incredibly tired.

A good day all in all.

Baptismal Vows

A typical UCCan baptism service for an infant or child includes the parents making a profession of faith, then promising to raise the child in the faith (or to share the faith with the child, or language such as that) and then the congregation promises to help the parents live out that promise.

Often in UCCan circles there are those families who have their child "done" and then are rarely (if ever) seen again. The habit in the church communities is to complain about these families who don't take baptism seriously. But I have started to look at it in another way.

HOw do we as faith communities live out our vow? How do we encourage those familes to pass on the faith? I hunch that in may places it isn't all that much. Simply offering a church school program isn't enough. So now the quetion to ask is how best should we do it?

If we aren't living out our vow we have no right to complain about the parents who seem to take their vow more lightly than we might wish.

Memories are made of this....

This morning while playing around on facebook I found a group for St. Albert Children's Theatre Alumni. ANd man did that bring back memories.

St. Albert Children's Theatre was started with a dramatic adaptation of The Hobbit in an old arena in the summer of 1981. 26 years later it is still going strong. THere were 3 summer plays at the arena and then St. Albert opened the Arden Theatre. From that point on the program bloomed to include fall and winter performances as well as summer drama camps.

SACT, and an accompanying program called the Arts Renaissance Troop of St Albert, largely helped me remain sane--well at least as sane as I get--in my teens. Especially in Grade 9 when my school life was hellish, these people were friends who helped make for a safe place. It is one of the few things I wish I could do again from my teen years. WHether I was on stage or behind the scenes I really truly enjoyed those 6 years. My last show with SACT was in the summer of 1986, my last show with ARTS was the spring of my Grade 12 year, 1987.

The Banquet of Hopeful Expectation--An Advent Communion

Invitation
God’s Banquet is coming. The time we await when all will gather from North, East, West and South.
A banquet where the rich and powerful will sit with the weak and poverty-stricken. A table where young and old will learn from each other. A time when all will sit together in peace, “and the wolf will lie down with the lamb”.
Here at this table we get a foretaste of God’s banquet. This is indeed God’s table, not the church’s, and so all who seek to follow The Way are welcome to eat and drink from it.
Come and taste the grace eternal, come and see that God is good.

The Great Thanksgiving
God is with us
We are not alone
Christ is present here
The Spirit moves within us
Let us give thanks to God
In memory and in hope

Blessings be to you, Creator God,
Who in the beginning brought light and life to the world and who continues to bring it love and light everlasting.
Your song of wisdom echoes through the ages, your ancient promise still brings us hope.

Over the ages you have called people to embrace your hope and share your love.
But even when they have closed their ears to the song you did not stop singing.
You sent prophets and messengers to your people, reminding them of the promised time of peace and justice that would surround the world.
They came in the midst of our despair and filled us with hope.

And then you came to a young woman named Mary and laid out the promise in a new way
Promising her a son, who would be called Jesus
Promising her that in her son the world would be changed
And now as we prepare for that child to be born, we echo the ancient cry:
O come, O come Emmanuel

And also we lift our voices in song, singing together the praises of ages (MV #203 tune: Kingsfold)

O holy holy holy God,
O God of time and space.
All earth and sea and sky above
bear witness to your Grace.
Hosanna in the highest heav’n,
creation sings your praise.
And blessed is the One who comes
and bears Your name always

The Story Remembered
Yet even now, as we prepare to celebrate his birth, we remember the life that this baby will live.
We remember how he broke the bonds of human tradition to show all what the Banquet of Hope could be as he ate openly with the despised and the outcast of his world.
And we remember one special meal, foretaste of the banquet that is to come, that he ate with his closest friends.
Gathering them together in an upper room to share the story of liberation, he prepared them for liberation.

And at the end of the meal he took bread, blessed and broke it, then passed it to them saying:
Take and eat. This bread is the body of Life, broken by the world. Eat it in remembrance and in hope.
After that he took the cup, blessed it, and passed it to them saying:
This cup is the sign of the New Covenant. Whenever you drink it remember me, for I shall not eat or drink again until the time of the heavenly banquet.

Remembering the birth of the child in the stable, we remember also his life, his death and his resurrection.
We remember how he poured his love out all he met and look forward to his return and the coming reign of peace, love, and justice.

And in our remembering we sing the mystery of faith (MV #204 tune: Kingsfold)

Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen,
Christ will come again!
Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen,
Christ will come again!

The Spirit Transforms
God, you poured your Spirit on Mary and she sang words of defiance and hope.
Pour out your Spirit upon us gathered here. As we eat and drink may we know your presence.
As we eat and drink may we be opened to the possibilities of your hope and power
And may we be strengthened in our time of waiting for peace and justice so that we will have the courage to make the Christmas promise a reality.

And the people all sang: (MV #205 tune: Kingsfold)

Amen, amen, O Holy One!
Hosanna and amen!
Amen, amen, O Holy One!
Hosanna and amen!

And now, as beloved children of a loving Parent, we pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…

The Pouring and Breaking and Serving
The Bread we break is the Bread of Life
The Cup we Share is the Cup of Promise
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Come and eat, the banquet awaits.

Prayer Following Communion
God of pregnant expectations, God of Christmas promise, God of child-like hope, we have eaten and drunk from your table. May the eating and the drinking fill us with hope in a world of despair. May we be beacons of hope as we wait for the day when the world will be changed. Grant that this taste of your banquet which is to come would give us the hunger for peace and justice in our community and around the world. Amen

Next Year Will be Different

This morning as the secretary and I were talking about the bulletins for the Christmas season it struck me that this month is going by just as fast as October did and I have a shiite load of work left to do for Advent. (Candle liturgy, hymn selection, carols for Christmas Eve, planning sermon/meditations, the Christmas pageant, the Blue Christmas service...).

And so I have resolved that next year I will take a week of study leave in late October or early November to use as a planning week.

Now if someone could just remind me of that around June so I can make arrangements with the M&P committee...

SAy it isn't so!

6 Weeks! 42 Days!

That's it. THat's all the time there is to Christmas. ANd of course Advent starts in only 3 weeks from yesterday. THe Christmas Parade? 12 days from today

Life is so hectic, where do we find the time to actually prepare for this stuff? (practically, liturgically, psychicly and spiritually)

A Sermon of REmembrance

The sermon from this year's LEgion Service can be found here

A MEmorial PRayer for Remembrance Day

God of life and community, once again we gather here to mark the 11th of the 11th. We come together as people from many backgrounds and histories, brought together in one place remembering Jesus’ prayer “that all may be one”.

God of community, you have called us to live with our brothers and sisters in peace and justice. So as we gather we echo the sung prayers “Let there be peace on earth, let this be the moment now” and “all we are saying, is give peace a chance”. Awaken in the hearts of humanity the drive for a world where peace and justice flourish.

But even as we gather to share our hopes for peace we also remember that we, as the people of the world, have all too often failed to hear your call for peace and justice. And so today we pause to remember millions who have been victimized by wars of aggression, wars fought for reasons noble and base, wars fought in many places on this ball of life we share.

Specifically today we remember places with names that sound strange and foreign to Canadian ears: Ypres, Passchendale, Vimy, Ortona, Juno Beach, Hong Kong, Kandahar – places where young men wearing the Maple Leaf fought and died or fought and were changed in the name of God, King, and country. We also remember those who remained, and remain, at home waiting and wondering and worrying.

God of all the people of the world, on this day we remember more than those Canadians who went and fought in strange lands. WE remember all soldiers, those in uniform and those in everyday clothes, who fight on battlefields. We remember those who are not fighters but are instead caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, civilians trapped between fighting forces. We remember people of many nationalities: German, British, Japanese, Australian, Italian, Dutch, Afghani, American, Iraqi – we remember their losses and pray that all who suffer will know your comfort and compassion.

God of life, we give thanks for the love and bravery of all who answer, in many different ways, the call to serve God and neighbour in times of conflict. We think of their commitment, their sense of duty, their willingness to risk all and we honour them.

Gracious God, on this day of memory, when we think of those who went and never returned, and of those who returned wounded in body or in spirit, we also pause to name those from this Legion community who have died since last we gathered in this way (read names).

Now, God who calls us to be peacemakers and peace-bringers, we who have remembered and honoured prepare to return to the world. May we carry with us a renewed commitment to be people of peace. May all who gather in this way today in communities large and small become activists for peace and justice at home and abroad. Help us to remember the importance of seeking peace, true peace, and that this peace will never come from a gun barrel – only from the changed hearts of your children. May we never forget that the cost of peace’s absence has already been far too high.

God of peace the surpasses all our understanding, we pray our remembrances and our hopes in the name of the one called the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Christ, who taught us all to pray by saying together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, ...

Cool

Years ago on THe A-Team Hannibal often said "Gotta love it when a plan comes together"

Well sometimes the best things are unplanned (depending on one's theology of course) --like this that just arrrived in my e-mail

Smile!

Advent is Coming!

Both in meaning and in time that is. In less than a month we will be into Advent. Here is where I am at so far:

Advent 2007
Christmas is…

1st Sunday December 2 – Christmas is waiting and hope
Character (story or monologue) Isaiah & Unemployed person
Scripture
-Isaiah 2:1-5
-Isaiah 35:1-10
-Isaiah 11:1-10

2nd Sunday December 9 – Christmas is life-changing
Character (story or monologue) Mary & modern Mary
Scripture:
-Luke 1:47-55
-Luke 1:26-46

3rd Sunday December 16 – Christmas is carols and children
Character (story or monologue) Pageant Sunday, White Gifts

4th Sunday December 23 – Christmas is chaos and calm
Character (story or monologue) Joseph & modern parent
Scripture:
-Isaiah 7:10-16
-Matthew 1:18-25
-Genesis 1: 1-2, 31-2:3

Christmas Eve – Christmas is light in the darkness
Character (story or monologue) ??????
Scripture:
-Isaiah 9:2-7
-Luke 2:1-14 (15-20??)
-John 1:1-4
-Genesis 1:1-4

The intent is that each week will include a Biblical story and a modern story around the theme. Much of it will be first person or interview style. I am also thinking of playing with the order of worship in here so maybe the character will pop up a couple times during the service (I think Mary would work well that way). Maybe on the 4th Sunday the service will be split between chaos and calm? Still have to come up with hymns, and the Scriptures are somewhat tentative, but I am hoping that now that I have titles the rest will come easily.

THe Sun'll COme Out...

Yesterday the girls borrowed Annie from the library to watch during quiet time today. While watching part of it I couldn't help but be struck by the hopefulness found there.

Even in the orphanage where "It's a hard knock life" Annie still finds the hope to sing about her absent parents coming to get her and to share the promise that the sun'll come out tomorrow.

I wonder, what do we do to foster that kind of hope in our own hearts and the hearts of those around us?

Maybe it helps to remember that "your never fully dressed without a smile".

Called to be Peacemakers

Recently the United Church of Canada launched a new fundraising program called United For Peace. This Sunday evening the focus of our worship (morning worship was potponed yill evening to allow for the Legion Remembrance Day service) will be on peace.

OPENING PRAYER
God, you call us to be people of peace,
but too often the world around us seems to call us into conflict with our neighbours.
You call us to love our friends and our enemies
but the world tells us to fend for ourselves, to compete with our neighbours.
During this hour together, awaken in us the desire for a changed world.
May this time together strengthen our resolve to bring more peace to our lives.
During our worship fill our hearts with hope that peace is possible.
Help us to live out the truth of the words “All we are saying, is give peace a chance”
This we pray in the name of the one who was called the Prince of Peace, Jesus, who taught his friends to pray by saying…

Another Resource

In my continuing plan to get much of what I have written online (and maybe to avoid some work) I have posted another sermon. Click and read COntract or Covenant?

Remembrance DAy Stories

Whenever I preach on November 11 (Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, or Veteran's Day) I use a story. Well this year will be a dialogue, but still something a bit different from a standard sermon. Since the church blog is formatted for expandable posts I posted two of these stories there.

If you follow the links you can read Bill Remembers or The Dreams