This morning I got up and found this story on the front page of the paper.
Coverage for prescription drugs (and for other medically necessary things like blood sugar testing strips or canes or braces but this one is just about drugs) is one of the holes in the Canadian medical system. Unless you have a benefit plan through work or a private insurer you are on the hook for any prescription you get. Which means that there are many people (some of whom may already qualify for another program but refuse to use/are unaware they qualify for it) who do not get the drugs they need because they can not afford it.
TO cover off this many provinces have some form of a coverage plan for specific population sectors (often for seniors, often for those on Social Assistance). Some of us believe that there should be national standards for such programs (some of us even would prefer a national plan but since health care is a provincial responsibility under the Canadian Constitution that seems unlikely). The question, of course, is who gets covered and how is it funded.
On the face of it this article describes a good idea. Combine a variety of programs and expand who is covered. Set it up so that those who can afford more pay more. All good. Yes this means that some people, particularly seniors, who are currently covered will end up paying more. But that does not necessarily worry me. SOme people under a blanket plan are in a financial position that they need the coverage, others can clearly afford to pay more and so they should. Yes this is often politically challenging since seniors are a bloc that vote more than say 20 year olds but sometimes the politically challenging stuff needs to be done in the greater interest. But there was a problem as I see it.
How do you claim to be expanding coverage and also claim to be saving that amount of money (claimed to be up to $180 million annually)? That makes me suspicious. There is stuff in this announcement I like and support. But that part makes me suspicious. How will they save that much? Who will pay that cost?
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Vacation Week...
When I was called to ministry with this congregation one of the terms of call was "A week of vacation between Christmas and Easter". The first year Easter was late and so I took off the week of Spring Break, because it seems most fitting to take vacation time when the girls are not in school. However, most years the Spring Break in our area is still actually an Easter Break, in that it begins with Easter weekend. So that is not the normal week I can take.
As it happens however, the regional Teacher's Convention always falls the second weekend of March. Which means it IS always between Christmas and Easter. And has the girls off-school for 2 days of that week. So naturally it is the week I take off (which also happens to allow me to not have to lead worship the Sunday that DST begins and the Sunday closest to my birthday). And that means it is this week that I am off...
So how am I spending my vacation week? Well I started it by working. Last Sunday we had communion and it is my practice to do communion at one of the care homes the Monday after that. I did not want to take this from them so we did that. And then we are in the midst of a 6-week faith study during Lent. To miss this week would put us out of Lent and to miss a week in the middle of a study always throws off the rhythm of the study. So we did that as well. True that meant about a total of 4 hours of work over teh two days but that was not an issue to me.
Then we left town (always the best way to avoid working while on vacation). And today was the planned highlight of the week. This year the Brier (Canadian Men's Curling) is in Edmonton. So we decided to take in one draw. And as an added benefit for the girls they got to take the train to get there!!!!! It was a highly enjoyable afternoon. The first time I had watched that level of curling in person. So glad we took advantage of the opportunity.
Now to relax for a couple days (well I might do up the bulletin for next week since I have registered for an all-day event on Monday)....
As it happens however, the regional Teacher's Convention always falls the second weekend of March. Which means it IS always between Christmas and Easter. And has the girls off-school for 2 days of that week. So naturally it is the week I take off (which also happens to allow me to not have to lead worship the Sunday that DST begins and the Sunday closest to my birthday). And that means it is this week that I am off...
So how am I spending my vacation week? Well I started it by working. Last Sunday we had communion and it is my practice to do communion at one of the care homes the Monday after that. I did not want to take this from them so we did that. And then we are in the midst of a 6-week faith study during Lent. To miss this week would put us out of Lent and to miss a week in the middle of a study always throws off the rhythm of the study. So we did that as well. True that meant about a total of 4 hours of work over teh two days but that was not an issue to me.
Then we left town (always the best way to avoid working while on vacation). And today was the planned highlight of the week. This year the Brier (Canadian Men's Curling) is in Edmonton. So we decided to take in one draw. And as an added benefit for the girls they got to take the train to get there!!!!! It was a highly enjoyable afternoon. The first time I had watched that level of curling in person. So glad we took advantage of the opportunity.
Now to relax for a couple days (well I might do up the bulletin for next week since I have registered for an all-day event on Monday)....
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Lost And Found
In churches that follow along with the lectionary this week's Gospel passage is the story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. I however am not preaching this Sunday (nor am I following the lectionary during Lent anyway) but I do like to preach on parables.
There are two questions I almost always ask myself when preparing to preach on a parable. Where is God in this story? [or more properly HOW is God in this story?] and Where am/are I/we in this story?
The beautiful thing about those questions is that the answers are not always the same. The beautiful thing about parables is that there is not one meaning to them -- despite what tradition may say about them.
One of my frustrations about the lectionary is that it tends to lift bits of scripture out of context and then we lose something. This week is a good example. The assigned reading is the first couple of verses and the we jump over the first 2 stories about lost and found to get to the story of the lost son. Yes, I just changed the name. And really I think that name (or perhaps the prodigal father) fits the story better -- in or out of context.
Luke 15 is all about the God who searches for the one who has gone astray. More to the point it is about the God who finds that the one who has gone astray is as valuable (if not more) than those things which have stayed put. And so, while the son does spend his inheritance like it was going out of style the point of the story is not his frivolousness--it is that he has made himself lost. And the surprise in the story (parables pretty much always have a surprise) is the prodigal love offered by the father. So it is the story of the Lost Son and the Prodigal Father if we are searching to find "how is God in this story?".
So if God is the one who searches for the one who has gone astray, (and I have to point out that it is God who decides what "gone astray" means -- unlike many who like to sermonize on the faults of the Lost Son, or the lost of the world) where are we in this story?
ARe we the one who has been seduced into a path that led to a very different endpoint than was expected?
Are we the one who loves so freely and prodigiously that the embrace is more important than pride and decency?
Are we the one who is affronted by that same prodigious love?
OR of course are we any and all of those at various times?????
Such an easy sermon to preach. And I am on holidays. But maybe the layperson leading worship this week will see this and get some ideas?????
There are two questions I almost always ask myself when preparing to preach on a parable. Where is God in this story? [or more properly HOW is God in this story?] and Where am/are I/we in this story?
The beautiful thing about those questions is that the answers are not always the same. The beautiful thing about parables is that there is not one meaning to them -- despite what tradition may say about them.
One of my frustrations about the lectionary is that it tends to lift bits of scripture out of context and then we lose something. This week is a good example. The assigned reading is the first couple of verses and the we jump over the first 2 stories about lost and found to get to the story of the lost son. Yes, I just changed the name. And really I think that name (or perhaps the prodigal father) fits the story better -- in or out of context.
Luke 15 is all about the God who searches for the one who has gone astray. More to the point it is about the God who finds that the one who has gone astray is as valuable (if not more) than those things which have stayed put. And so, while the son does spend his inheritance like it was going out of style the point of the story is not his frivolousness--it is that he has made himself lost. And the surprise in the story (parables pretty much always have a surprise) is the prodigal love offered by the father. So it is the story of the Lost Son and the Prodigal Father if we are searching to find "how is God in this story?".
So if God is the one who searches for the one who has gone astray, (and I have to point out that it is God who decides what "gone astray" means -- unlike many who like to sermonize on the faults of the Lost Son, or the lost of the world) where are we in this story?
ARe we the one who has been seduced into a path that led to a very different endpoint than was expected?
Are we the one who loves so freely and prodigiously that the embrace is more important than pride and decency?
Are we the one who is affronted by that same prodigious love?
OR of course are we any and all of those at various times?????
Such an easy sermon to preach. And I am on holidays. But maybe the layperson leading worship this week will see this and get some ideas?????
Monday, March 04, 2013
Budget Day is Nigh...
This Thursday the provincial budget is being presented. For most of my life this province has crowed about being the most prosperous province in the country. Still does for that matter. Which leaves some of us wondering why it appears we are being prepared for a budget of service cuts.
This province is growing. Growing quickly (with the accompanying rise in cost of living that goes with such growth) in fact. ANd growing with young families, which means our schools are full -- and then some, which means all our support systems are being stretched. Our infrastructure is aging and has not been well maintained in teh name of "fiscal restraint" under various governments. LAst year the PC party promised a bunch of new and modernized schools. And highway construction. And improvements to primary medical care. And all of these are needed.
But here is the kicker. 20 years ago the party took a severe right turn into the land of limited government and fiscal restraint. Our infrastructure deficit out of that era is staggering--even before you add in oodles of population growth since then which calls for more infrastructure. The government of the day then decided that getting rid of debt (a laudable goal) was the only priority, and then when they had no debt and a surplus decided that this meant they were collecting too much money. [Many of us thought this meant they were not spending enough money] And so they crippled the income tax system by moving from a progressive (earn more pay a higher %age) system to a flat tax, which ends up benefiting higher earners the most. ANd the royalties required from our main economic driver--the oil industry-- were lowered. Now the government claims that they can not do anything to increase revenue (although some polls, as noted in this article, suggest this is in fact what Albertans would prefer) and is crying broke.
Which leads us to wonder what heavy shoes are going to fall on Thursday. At the best of times, due to inflation, a spending freeze really means service cuts. In a place with a growing population this effect is magnified. Honestly it appears there may be both a revenue and a spending side to moving away from deficit. But we have to consider ALL the deficits, not just the dollar one.
I predict a tough budget. Hopefully not as tough as the ones in the early 90's which were marked by horrific and deep cuts to everything. But tough. And while it may help the fiscal deficit, I predict it will be at a deepening of the deficit in service and infrastructure.
This province is growing. Growing quickly (with the accompanying rise in cost of living that goes with such growth) in fact. ANd growing with young families, which means our schools are full -- and then some, which means all our support systems are being stretched. Our infrastructure is aging and has not been well maintained in teh name of "fiscal restraint" under various governments. LAst year the PC party promised a bunch of new and modernized schools. And highway construction. And improvements to primary medical care. And all of these are needed.
But here is the kicker. 20 years ago the party took a severe right turn into the land of limited government and fiscal restraint. Our infrastructure deficit out of that era is staggering--even before you add in oodles of population growth since then which calls for more infrastructure. The government of the day then decided that getting rid of debt (a laudable goal) was the only priority, and then when they had no debt and a surplus decided that this meant they were collecting too much money. [Many of us thought this meant they were not spending enough money] And so they crippled the income tax system by moving from a progressive (earn more pay a higher %age) system to a flat tax, which ends up benefiting higher earners the most. ANd the royalties required from our main economic driver--the oil industry-- were lowered. Now the government claims that they can not do anything to increase revenue (although some polls, as noted in this article, suggest this is in fact what Albertans would prefer) and is crying broke.
Which leads us to wonder what heavy shoes are going to fall on Thursday. At the best of times, due to inflation, a spending freeze really means service cuts. In a place with a growing population this effect is magnified. Honestly it appears there may be both a revenue and a spending side to moving away from deficit. But we have to consider ALL the deficits, not just the dollar one.
I predict a tough budget. Hopefully not as tough as the ones in the early 90's which were marked by horrific and deep cuts to everything. But tough. And while it may help the fiscal deficit, I predict it will be at a deepening of the deficit in service and infrastructure.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Authority....
At the church we are doing a six week study using a DVD with presentations on Emerging Christianity from Phyllis Tickle. Week 1 was a generalized intro to the Great Emergence and the 500 year cycle of "rummage sales" within Christian/Judeo-Christian history. Last week was about authority.
Tickle points out that one of (if not the) defining questions in each 500 year cycle is the question of authority. After the Great Schism of 1000 years ago the Papacy/Curia became the source of authority in the Latin Church (and to a degree in the culture at large) and then with the Great Reformation we see the development of sola scriptura as a principle of authority within the church--all the while the church maintained its self-understanding of being a/the source of authority in the larger culture. Sola scriptura has, arguably, been under attack for quite some time now -- and in fact the concept of Biblical inerrancy was/is more or less a reaction to the beginning of that attack. So what comes next?
Being at the beginning of the new era we do not know yet what the source of authority will turn out to be. One thing that is easily said is that the source of authority within the church will not have the same place in the culture that it once had. I am quite sure that the various versions of Protestantism will continue to include scripture (possibly with less focus on tradition than either Roman Catholicism or the sola scriptura folks have ended up with) as a part of that authority. But it will be an authority based on a different hermeneutic, a different set of interpretive assumptions.
Of more interest to me is are 2 other questions. One is the question of authority in the culture at large. Where will it be located? We are continuing the challenge to authority that really started to hit North American culture 45 years ago. We started with "don't trust anybody under 30" and have moved to the mass protests against the WTO and the OWS movement and the INM protests. As we move forward (Tickle suggests that each "rummage sale" period starts with about a century of sorting out the answers to these sorts of questions), where will civic authority be assigned?
The other question is how we will make these decisions. The century of sorting that followed the Great Reformation was a century of open warfare that shattered Europe, paired with internal repressions and heretic burnings and so on. I am sure that we don't want that again. But can we redefine our understanding of authority in the civic society and avoid bloodshed??? It was openly wondered during all those protests I just named. People were wondering when they might become riots. If more such things are in the future when will they turn into riots???? OR can we avoid the violence? In the church can we redefine authority and avoid schisms (something that has not been done well --or at all-- in the past)?
Tickle points out that one of (if not the) defining questions in each 500 year cycle is the question of authority. After the Great Schism of 1000 years ago the Papacy/Curia became the source of authority in the Latin Church (and to a degree in the culture at large) and then with the Great Reformation we see the development of sola scriptura as a principle of authority within the church--all the while the church maintained its self-understanding of being a/the source of authority in the larger culture. Sola scriptura has, arguably, been under attack for quite some time now -- and in fact the concept of Biblical inerrancy was/is more or less a reaction to the beginning of that attack. So what comes next?
Being at the beginning of the new era we do not know yet what the source of authority will turn out to be. One thing that is easily said is that the source of authority within the church will not have the same place in the culture that it once had. I am quite sure that the various versions of Protestantism will continue to include scripture (possibly with less focus on tradition than either Roman Catholicism or the sola scriptura folks have ended up with) as a part of that authority. But it will be an authority based on a different hermeneutic, a different set of interpretive assumptions.
Of more interest to me is are 2 other questions. One is the question of authority in the culture at large. Where will it be located? We are continuing the challenge to authority that really started to hit North American culture 45 years ago. We started with "don't trust anybody under 30" and have moved to the mass protests against the WTO and the OWS movement and the INM protests. As we move forward (Tickle suggests that each "rummage sale" period starts with about a century of sorting out the answers to these sorts of questions), where will civic authority be assigned?
The other question is how we will make these decisions. The century of sorting that followed the Great Reformation was a century of open warfare that shattered Europe, paired with internal repressions and heretic burnings and so on. I am sure that we don't want that again. But can we redefine our understanding of authority in the civic society and avoid bloodshed??? It was openly wondered during all those protests I just named. People were wondering when they might become riots. If more such things are in the future when will they turn into riots???? OR can we avoid the violence? In the church can we redefine authority and avoid schisms (something that has not been done well --or at all-- in the past)?
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Teacher Strike?
Is it in the cards? I think there is a high probability, and getting higher by the week.
For several months now there has been an attempt to get a province-wide agreement between the Alberta Teachers Association and the Provincial government, instead of ATA locals bargaining individually with local school boards. Such attempts have failed (and of course both sides insist the failure is due to the other side). ANdd now the rhetoric is getting ramped up.
A couple weeks ago there was a news story about the Education Minister musing publicly about a legislated/imposed settlement. Yeah, that will help improve the moods at the bargaining table. NOT!
Then the same minister decided to send out a mass e-mail to teachers directly, bypassing the ATA. Again, will this improve relationships?
Add into the mix the fact that the upcoming budget is expected to be a fairly tough one because oil revenues are way down (and because in all these years the province has yet to find a way to not be so reliant on oil revenues--in fact made it worse in the 90's under a neo-con finance minister who thought a flat tax was a good idea) and the writing on the wall gets clearer and clearer. As I read this article I have to say a strike or other job action seems more and more likely.
I am of a mixed opinion about the effectiveness of teacher's strikes. To be sure a strike is one of the strongest tool organized labour has in its arsenal. On the other hand a teacher's strike is a very fast way for the union to lose any public support they have.
Will it happen? Only time will tell. But an environment where funding cuts to the system are almost certain (even though the province is growing rapidly and the demands on the system are already stretching it severely) and the minister is issuing (barely) veiled threats to the union does not lend itself to a quick settlement.
It should be an interesting spring.....
For several months now there has been an attempt to get a province-wide agreement between the Alberta Teachers Association and the Provincial government, instead of ATA locals bargaining individually with local school boards. Such attempts have failed (and of course both sides insist the failure is due to the other side). ANdd now the rhetoric is getting ramped up.
A couple weeks ago there was a news story about the Education Minister musing publicly about a legislated/imposed settlement. Yeah, that will help improve the moods at the bargaining table. NOT!
Then the same minister decided to send out a mass e-mail to teachers directly, bypassing the ATA. Again, will this improve relationships?
Add into the mix the fact that the upcoming budget is expected to be a fairly tough one because oil revenues are way down (and because in all these years the province has yet to find a way to not be so reliant on oil revenues--in fact made it worse in the 90's under a neo-con finance minister who thought a flat tax was a good idea) and the writing on the wall gets clearer and clearer. As I read this article I have to say a strike or other job action seems more and more likely.
I am of a mixed opinion about the effectiveness of teacher's strikes. To be sure a strike is one of the strongest tool organized labour has in its arsenal. On the other hand a teacher's strike is a very fast way for the union to lose any public support they have.
Will it happen? Only time will tell. But an environment where funding cuts to the system are almost certain (even though the province is growing rapidly and the demands on the system are already stretching it severely) and the minister is issuing (barely) veiled threats to the union does not lend itself to a quick settlement.
It should be an interesting spring.....
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Did You Wear Pink Today???
Apparently today was anti-bullying day. At least to judge from what was popping up in my FB and Twitter feeds this morning.
So what does anti bullying day mean? How do we stop bullying (remembering that bullies beget bullies and that sometimes the bullied then becomes the bully in another setting)? How does wearing pink make a difference? It might, I am just not sure.
I understand bullying. From a deep place I understand it. And because of that understanding I continue to believe that all those "zero tolerance" policies schools and other gathering places loudly proclaim are a bit of a joke. Legislation will never stamp out bullying. Education on manners or respect won't either.
As a person of faith I will have to say that only one thing will bring an end to bullying. NO not the church. [Given how many stories there are of church bullies that would be a very sad joke] But a transformation of human interaction. The transformation needs to happen so that the social stigma/sanction against bullying is strong enough to extinguish it. [For the record the same thing is true of things like drinking and driving or sexual violence or domestic violence or...] And of course as a person of faith I believe that such a transformation is not only possible but is inevitable. As Dame Julian said (and I quote so often in worship) All will be well, all will be well, all manner of thing be well.
And this is, I think where pink shirts come in. I think the pink shirt campaign is a sign that the transformation is happening. Not complete by any means. But it is happening. And that, as Martha Stewart might say, is a good thing. We are, for the most part, in a different place than we were 30 years ago when my classmates were making school life a misery for me and others in my school. [This summer I connected with one of those classmates and we both were able to name that at least part of our adult life choices had to do with healing from our Junior High years] We have a ways to go in schools and sports teams and churches and workplaces and many other places but we the transformation has started. God willing it will continue. God willing it will gain momentum and each new step will be a bigger one than before.
SIDE NOTE: This evening the St. Albert Public School Board (formerly known at St Albert Protestant Separate School District #6) had a meeting at which they were discussing a motion to pass a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy. I believe from notes on Twitter that only one other School Board in Alberta (Edmonton Public) has such a policy. I also believe from a tweet I saw that the policy passed. Given that 20 years ago this same board was deeply divided about the issue of allowing condom machines in the high school (which would mean admitting to sexual activity by those students after all) in the interests of harm-reduction I can't help but think that this is a sign of how the world has changed
Knowing how these issues are such a part of bullying (even if orientation and/or identity are "normal") I think it is highly appropriate that the motion was on tonight's agenda. I am sure it is somewhat of a coincidence not a plan. But sometimes life just fits together that well...
So what does anti bullying day mean? How do we stop bullying (remembering that bullies beget bullies and that sometimes the bullied then becomes the bully in another setting)? How does wearing pink make a difference? It might, I am just not sure.
I understand bullying. From a deep place I understand it. And because of that understanding I continue to believe that all those "zero tolerance" policies schools and other gathering places loudly proclaim are a bit of a joke. Legislation will never stamp out bullying. Education on manners or respect won't either.
As a person of faith I will have to say that only one thing will bring an end to bullying. NO not the church. [Given how many stories there are of church bullies that would be a very sad joke] But a transformation of human interaction. The transformation needs to happen so that the social stigma/sanction against bullying is strong enough to extinguish it. [For the record the same thing is true of things like drinking and driving or sexual violence or domestic violence or...] And of course as a person of faith I believe that such a transformation is not only possible but is inevitable. As Dame Julian said (and I quote so often in worship) All will be well, all will be well, all manner of thing be well.
And this is, I think where pink shirts come in. I think the pink shirt campaign is a sign that the transformation is happening. Not complete by any means. But it is happening. And that, as Martha Stewart might say, is a good thing. We are, for the most part, in a different place than we were 30 years ago when my classmates were making school life a misery for me and others in my school. [This summer I connected with one of those classmates and we both were able to name that at least part of our adult life choices had to do with healing from our Junior High years] We have a ways to go in schools and sports teams and churches and workplaces and many other places but we the transformation has started. God willing it will continue. God willing it will gain momentum and each new step will be a bigger one than before.
SIDE NOTE: This evening the St. Albert Public School Board (formerly known at St Albert Protestant Separate School District #6) had a meeting at which they were discussing a motion to pass a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy. I believe from notes on Twitter that only one other School Board in Alberta (Edmonton Public) has such a policy. I also believe from a tweet I saw that the policy passed. Given that 20 years ago this same board was deeply divided about the issue of allowing condom machines in the high school (which would mean admitting to sexual activity by those students after all) in the interests of harm-reduction I can't help but think that this is a sign of how the world has changed
Knowing how these issues are such a part of bullying (even if orientation and/or identity are "normal") I think it is highly appropriate that the motion was on tonight's agenda. I am sure it is somewhat of a coincidence not a plan. But sometimes life just fits together that well...
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
What Story Do We Have to Tell????
Two days ago I preached this sermon. The title is The Church in the World: Witness & Testimony.
It is always interesting to preach a sermon on evangelism in the United Church of Canada. It is not a subject we broach all that often. And yet...
How can we not be evangelistic? If we truly believe there is something valuable about the church in our lives, how can we not be evangelists?
I think it starts with remembering that being an evangelist does not require us to become a copy of Billy Graham's Crusade or the Crystal Cathedral. Being an evangelist means sharing good news. ANd if we think there is something of value in a faith community does that not mean we have good news we can share?
In the rest of our lives, as I pointed out in the sermon, we share good news all the time. Why is it harder when the content of the good news is why church is a part of our lives?
What is the story of faith you have to tell? What is the good news you have to share? HOw do you share it?
It is always interesting to preach a sermon on evangelism in the United Church of Canada. It is not a subject we broach all that often. And yet...
How can we not be evangelistic? If we truly believe there is something valuable about the church in our lives, how can we not be evangelists?
I think it starts with remembering that being an evangelist does not require us to become a copy of Billy Graham's Crusade or the Crystal Cathedral. Being an evangelist means sharing good news. ANd if we think there is something of value in a faith community does that not mean we have good news we can share?
In the rest of our lives, as I pointed out in the sermon, we share good news all the time. Why is it harder when the content of the good news is why church is a part of our lives?
What is the story of faith you have to tell? What is the good news you have to share? HOw do you share it?
Monday, February 25, 2013
Goals.....
Yesterday we had our Congregational Annual Meeting. As a part of that meeting we presented the goals the Council has set for the next year. There were two that I spoke too:
Now of course comes the work. It is easy to name goals. But how shall we live them out? How does one build community? How does one make a church (a downtown church that has been in the same place for a century and yet some longtime residents drive by it every day and don't know where it is) more visible/known? How do you build community connections?
We have some ideas. Some of them are continuing and strengthening what is already happening (like monthly meal-based events, or strengthening the links we have with outside agencies through our outreach committee). Some are to revive what has been done before but allowed to lapse (like wearing nametags so we know each other's names). One option I have suggested in my annual report was that I want to visit with more folks--and openly asked for invitations (now to see if anyone actually read that part). Maybe we will do something about signage. Maybe finally, after years of talking about it, we will do something to connect with the local college community.
Last year at a council meeting a comment was made that we were the church more people stayed home from than any other church in town. Maybe if we can work at both those goals fewer of those people will stay home??? And even if they continue to stay at home, hopefully we will be a stronger community, and a stronger community presence because we have given attention to those things....
- Building Community Internally
- Building Visibility and Community Externally (co-incidentally--or not--I preached on Witness & Testimony yesterday morning. Maybe a post about that tomorrow...)
Now of course comes the work. It is easy to name goals. But how shall we live them out? How does one build community? How does one make a church (a downtown church that has been in the same place for a century and yet some longtime residents drive by it every day and don't know where it is) more visible/known? How do you build community connections?
We have some ideas. Some of them are continuing and strengthening what is already happening (like monthly meal-based events, or strengthening the links we have with outside agencies through our outreach committee). Some are to revive what has been done before but allowed to lapse (like wearing nametags so we know each other's names). One option I have suggested in my annual report was that I want to visit with more folks--and openly asked for invitations (now to see if anyone actually read that part). Maybe we will do something about signage. Maybe finally, after years of talking about it, we will do something to connect with the local college community.
Last year at a council meeting a comment was made that we were the church more people stayed home from than any other church in town. Maybe if we can work at both those goals fewer of those people will stay home??? And even if they continue to stay at home, hopefully we will be a stronger community, and a stronger community presence because we have given attention to those things....
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Wholistic Fitness
2 weeks ago we took the 3 older girls to see a local production of CATS (an ambitious choice for a community theater group to say the least). And they loved it. But a review of that event is not the purpose of this post.
When talking about the show with my mother she spoke about a radio interview she had heard recently. In it the interviewee was talking about the need to develop cultural fitness.
That comment taps into a pet peeve of mine. We have pushed the education system in many ways, based on the hot button topics of the day. Sometimes we have pushed to ensure a baseline amount of physical activity per day or week. OR we have pushed for more time spent on maths or numeracy. Or maybe it is science that needs more time. Or maybe the concern of the era is literacy. Or maybe technology? BUt I have yet to hear people complaining that the school system is not doing enough to develop cultural literacy (or fitness as the above interview suggested). And this is a problem (in my opinion).
Maybe I should name my bias. 25 years ago I was in my first year of university. I was an Education student with a Drama major. And I knew that the high school curriculum in this province was changing. This change was to highlight science. But the reality was that this round of change would make it very difficult for a student to take all 3 sciences and also carry a Fine Art through all 3 grades of high school. And those of us who wanted to teach Fine Arts courses were a little disconcerted.
But you see I think we are a poorer society if we do not develop cultural literacy in people. And to do that you need to do it throughout life. You can't just expect it to happen as adults. This is not to say that extra time set aside for physical health, or numeracy or science, or technology or literacy are not important, obviously they are. But cultural studies and fine arts are equally important in the long term. In fact it is my belief that one of the requirements for a high school diploma should be at least one fine arts course (music, drama, visual arts whatever). And in earlier grades a more general introduction not only to performance and technique but also to history and styles of these arts.
Developing a society that is culturally literate will (at the least) help us all do better at trivia games. Btu I think we will benefit in ways far beyond that.
By the way the above named changes in emphasis to the education system have had another casualty. My minor in my BEd degree was social studies (history, geography, civics etc) . And a lack of emphasis on those subjects also has a detrimental effect on our effective functioning as a society.
So what do we do? How do we develop an education system that provides a fully wholistic idea of fitness and still have it cost-effective or time-effective? I don't know. Given that I also think all students should be heavily encouraged to learn at least one language fluently in addition to their mother tongue and that all Canadian students should have to travel across the country by land as part of their high school education and that all students should have a basic introduction to World Religions (arguably this should be part of the Social Studies curriculum) as a part of basic education I may not be the best person to ask.
Still we can dream right????
When talking about the show with my mother she spoke about a radio interview she had heard recently. In it the interviewee was talking about the need to develop cultural fitness.
That comment taps into a pet peeve of mine. We have pushed the education system in many ways, based on the hot button topics of the day. Sometimes we have pushed to ensure a baseline amount of physical activity per day or week. OR we have pushed for more time spent on maths or numeracy. Or maybe it is science that needs more time. Or maybe the concern of the era is literacy. Or maybe technology? BUt I have yet to hear people complaining that the school system is not doing enough to develop cultural literacy (or fitness as the above interview suggested). And this is a problem (in my opinion).
Maybe I should name my bias. 25 years ago I was in my first year of university. I was an Education student with a Drama major. And I knew that the high school curriculum in this province was changing. This change was to highlight science. But the reality was that this round of change would make it very difficult for a student to take all 3 sciences and also carry a Fine Art through all 3 grades of high school. And those of us who wanted to teach Fine Arts courses were a little disconcerted.
But you see I think we are a poorer society if we do not develop cultural literacy in people. And to do that you need to do it throughout life. You can't just expect it to happen as adults. This is not to say that extra time set aside for physical health, or numeracy or science, or technology or literacy are not important, obviously they are. But cultural studies and fine arts are equally important in the long term. In fact it is my belief that one of the requirements for a high school diploma should be at least one fine arts course (music, drama, visual arts whatever). And in earlier grades a more general introduction not only to performance and technique but also to history and styles of these arts.
Developing a society that is culturally literate will (at the least) help us all do better at trivia games. Btu I think we will benefit in ways far beyond that.
By the way the above named changes in emphasis to the education system have had another casualty. My minor in my BEd degree was social studies (history, geography, civics etc) . And a lack of emphasis on those subjects also has a detrimental effect on our effective functioning as a society.
So what do we do? How do we develop an education system that provides a fully wholistic idea of fitness and still have it cost-effective or time-effective? I don't know. Given that I also think all students should be heavily encouraged to learn at least one language fluently in addition to their mother tongue and that all Canadian students should have to travel across the country by land as part of their high school education and that all students should have a basic introduction to World Religions (arguably this should be part of the Social Studies curriculum) as a part of basic education I may not be the best person to ask.
Still we can dream right????
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