Picture Anyone?

We got these arches 3 years ago. Strange thing is that the older two are far more fascinated by them now than they were when they were infants. And Miriam, well she needs to get used to the idea that it is ok to be lying on the floor.

Say What???

THe last case of diapers we bought had something odd (actually we generally use cloth but have disposables in hand for when travelling or while the cloth are being washed). Take the bags out of the box and find on each one a label. A label with an expiration date!

NOw can someone please explain how disposable diapers would expire?

Rain Rain Rain

Actually we could use some rain, preferably a nice gentle 12 hours worth. All we have gotten this year are short strong storms that don't do a really good job of watering anything.

1. Favorite way to spend a rainy day -- A fire, a comfortable chairt, a good book or a good movie. Then again, walking in the rain can be very pleasant as well, as long as the first list is available for retreating afterward.
2. Favorite song about rain -- THe Rainbow Connection from THe Muppet Movie (OK so it isn't really about the actual rain but oh well.)
3. Favorite movie featuring rain -- Tie for Singing in the Rain (love that dance number) or the sequence leading up to and including My Favourite things in The Sound of Music
4. Favorite piece of raingear, past or present -- NO strong memories of raingear at all actually.
5. Favorite word for rain -- More like a phrase "It's clearing over the lake". This is based on a family joke. When my mother was growing up they had a cabin at the lake. Whenever it was raining it was always "clearing over the lake" but never over the cabin. I've had weeks like that.

3 Kid Stories

#1
We are sitting at afternoon coffee and one of the fellows is telling a story. All of a sudden Sarah looks at him and says: "Blah, blah, blah". It was so appropriate and timely. THe three adults just broke down laughing.

#2
ONe night this week the 2 girls are wrestling on the floor. SUddenly we realize that Sarah is saying "listen to Baby's heart" and feeling her sister's belly just like she saw the Dr. doing with mommy. And Devyn is loving it. Took a couple of minutes before eith of us could cleraly say anything, we were laughing so hard.

#3
LAst Sunday I read the Pentecost story from the Family Story Bible by Ralph Milton. As I finished the story and closed the book Devyn pipes up with "The End!" clear as a bell, the whole congregation heard and loved it. I tell you, sometimes I think I may just be window dressing...

LEss than a dollar a day! (Newspaper Column)

What can 90 cents a day get you these days? Not a cup of coffee. Not a can of pop. 90 cents doesn’t do much does it? Well only 90 cents a day ($325 a year) in charitable giving would put you in the top 25% of donors in Canada according to Statistics Canada. (for more details see this article)

Now maybe it is just me but I find that number very disheartening. Three-quarters of the Canadians who gave to charity in 2004, and in fact only 85% of Canadians 15 and over gave to charity, gave less than 90 cents a day. To me that says a lot about our willingness to share, about our willingness to help each other.

A central belief within Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the idea that we have a responsibility to share out of our richness. And for the vast majority of us 90 cents a day is peanuts. It is time that we took a serious look at what we do with what we have. It is time that we challenged ourselves and each other to do better.

The reality is that in many places people would honestly consider $325 a year to be exceptionally generous. But according to the 2001 census data average family income in Atikokan was $50 000. In our Judeo-Christian roots we find the idea of the tithe, 10% off the top. That would be $5000 – more than 10 times $325. Even allowing for a tithe on Net (deducting an overly hefty 30% for Income taxes, CPP and EI) it would be $ 3 500. It seems we have a long way to go.

Part of the problem may well be that we don’t realize how much we have to share. We easily buy into the notion that we don’t have enough therefore we don’t have to share. But my worry is that part of the problem is that we are losing that imperative to care for our neighbour. I worry that we rely on others (or the government) to do it so that we don’t have to.

The prophet Micah asks “What does the Lord require of us?” The answer? Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God. The prophets Amos and Isaiah yell against people who have confused “right worship” with being God’s people. Jesus reminds us that in God’s sight care for people comes before following rules and commandments.

In the end we each know what we have. In the end we are the ones who choose what we can afford – it is rarely chosen for us, despite what we would like to believe. In the end it is up to us to choose how best to share what we have. As for me and my house, a dollar a day is not nearly enough. What choice will you make?

WHat ATonement Theory do we need?

A couple of years ago I wrote a paper about atonement. I chose the topic because I wanted to explore the thesis that there can not be one, universal theory of atonement . THeories of atonement are meant to address whatever it is that is separating us from God(something I find helpful to remember by breaking it into 3 words -- at-one-ment). Not everyone feels separated from GOd by the same thing. For some of us it is guilt/disobedience. For some of us it is fear of death. For others it may be shame that they are "built wrong" somehow. For others it deals with a sense of unworthiness.

THis came back to the forefront of my mind recently (it is always hovering in the background, I think if I ever go back for further study it is something I may choose to explore in some depth) as I was reading The Cross in Our Context:Jesus and the Suffering World In one chapter Hall talk's about the need for a new atonement theory to address the basic question faced by many today. He suggests that this question is based on a sense of meaninglessness.purposelessness. He calls this the dominant anxiety of our times. I think he is right, at least for people in the middle and upper socio-economic strata in WEstern society. Christus Victor and Anselmian Satisfaction theories will not answer this anxiety.

In the end I am fine with there being more than one way of atonement. I think it is mandatory. To claim that there is only one is, to borrow an image from Borg in Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, as if Moses walked into the slave camps and said "congratulations, your sins are forgiven" . "great, what about our freedom?" In preparing the paper mentioned above (which must be on my office computer since it isn't on this one) I used W. Paul Jones' book Theological Worlds. I reccomend it as a tool both for personal spiritual growth and for pastoral sensitivity. (If I remember correctly, I am mainly in World 3 with over/undertones of worlds 1 and 5.)

NOw the Test Begins

For the last 2 weeks we have had extra people in the house. My parents came to ease the transition into haveing 3 kids, to help out witht everything for a bit. They left today. I work one week and then take a week of holidays (which tied in much better with the original plan). NOw we see how well we survive with this house full.

Of $$$$ and Priorities

LAst weekend at the Annual Meeting of Conference they passed a budget. Said budget included a 17% increase in assessments to Presbyteries (where it will then be handed on to Pastoral Charges). Already I can hear the complaint starting to arise in the fall. BUt maybe the problem isn't that we are asking for too much. May the problem is that we have not done a good job of developing Steward ship. Prairie Preacher writes: (that better Shawn? :) )

For the record - at Conference we were told that the annual cost of operating Conference is $12.60 per resident member and $17.84 per identifiable giver (I will leave the rant about the disconnect between the givings of members and givers for another day.). For that we get the staffing skills and resource pool that Conferences offer us as lay and clergy ... It's a tiny expense, particularly when you break it down to a weekly or daily donation ... Imagine what we could be doing if we doubled or tripled our donations??

I hunch that often the story is much the same at the congregational level. Of course we don't really break our income down into X$ per giver/family because we know that some can (do) give more than others. BUt sometimes we are talking about amounts that pale compared to some of the other discretionary spending in our lives. Education seems to be the answer, education and an infectious sense of vision/mission.

I Get to Hold her Too!

Generally I am the one behind the camera. But here is a picture of me with the girls. Maybe next time one where we all actually look at the camera :)

Farewell to a Good Thing

AS I remember it, the only way I was allowed to go trick or treating as a child was if I took an orange UNICEF box with me. ANd as an adult, when I was first living in a place where I was likley to get trick-or-treaters, I made sure to have change available to put into said boxes. It was a goog program. It raised a surprising amount of money (considering we are talking about pennies and nickels $3 million annually is incredible) and it gave a chance for children to talk and learn about what UNICEF does for children around the world.

BUt no more. UNICEF is cancelling the orange box program in Canada. Part of the reason is that dealing with coin is a lot of work, and it is. It sounds like the program will be replaced with something else in a fundraising/educational vein. And that is good. But still there is something redemptive about having kids collect for others while getting candy for themselves. I think that is why I remember having to take the box with me to be allowed to go out.