Happy Hallowe'en!

A Case of Hearts in the Right Place [sic]

In the news today:

TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government will have to consult the public more fully before it can consider becoming the first province in Canada to make every eligible resident an automatic organ donor unless they say otherwise, Health Minister George Smitherman said Monday.

I am a supporter of organ donation. It lists me as a donor on the back of my Driver's License. And I strongly believe we need to do a whole lot more education about organ donation to help increase the number of usable organs that are donated.

But I have to say that this proposal reaches too far. Presumed consent just isn't ethical or pastoral. There has to be a better way to get the message out there.

An Early Look at Christmas Shopping

THe following is a letter I just sent to the local paper to run sometime in November (the paper may be full of election news for the next couple of weeks).

Now that Halloween is behind us it will soon be time to ramp up the preparations for Christmas, including Christmas shopping.

The excesses of Christmas always present a difficulty for me. I know it is great to buy gifts for loved ones (and receiving them isn’t bad either). But I also believe that we have too much stuff as it is. So I am issuing a threefold challenge this Christmas season.

One is to consider not buying as much this year, not because of budget but because we don’t need to buy as much (see http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/ for more on this idea)

Another is to buy what we do buy here in town as much as possible. This way our Christmas celebrations enrich the economy of Atikokan rather than the US head office of Wal-Mart or the merchants of Thunder Bay or Dryden.

Finally, I pledge to donate an amount equal to at least half of what we spend on gifts for Sarah, Devyn and Miriam to a charity in their name. I challenge all of you do the same.

Christmas, it’s about more than buying presents.

OF Being HEard

Literally, not as a metaphor this time.

For the last several months (over a year) we have been borrowing a mixer and amp from a local media outlet (Thanks!!) and finally we chose and purchased equipment of our own, which arrived last week. NOw to use the new equipment we needed to redo some speaker wiring (well it needed it anyway, seeing as when I took the old connector apart the solder joint was about to break). SO today -- after spending an hour trying to get Blogger to post on the church blog, GRRRR-- I had someone come over and we spent part of the afternoon taking care of that and testing the settings on the new system .

NOw the next steps. One is a new wireless mic (currently also on loan from the media outlet). I have suggested to the Board that we get a headset mic since it won't get caught up with cross and stole around my neck. ANyone out there have a suggestion about what to look for (or what not to look for if your experience has been negative)? And then a recorder. I don't write manuscripts. People want to record my sermons (don't ask me why). Given the right equipment it is easy enough. THe recommendation I got was to do it on digital media and burn to CD. Unfortunately I know nothing about digital recorders (I know little about cassette recorders either but they are fairly straight forward). TIme for more research I guess.

Oh well, it is nice to spend money other than my own on toys though.

Important Ideas

Go watch this video.

It speaks for itself.

Halloween Friday Five

You wanna see something *really* scary?...

1. Do you enjoy a good fright? Not particularly. SUspense good, startle, ok, horror no thanks.
2. Scariest movie you've ever seen Hmmmmm, never having really watched scary movies it is hard to say. Because I had grown up hearing aabout it even Psycho wasn't that scary--I knew what to expect. Many of the "horror" I have watched were just plain bad (the later Friday the 13th's for example).
3. Bobbing for apples: choose one and discuss:
a) Nothing scary about that! Good wholesome fun. Never saw the appeal of it myself. NOw apples (or even better, donuts) on a string, that is fun to watch and do.
b) Are you *kidding* me?!? The germs, the germs! Germs, shmerms. It is the drowning risk that bothered me.
4. Real-life phobia mild claustrophobia, fear of failure, looking like a fool on a time other than my own choosing.
5. Favorite "ghost story" Saw a movie by that name once that was quite good. And I heard a couple of really good ones at lunch yesterday about homes and offices (one was an old Anglican rectory that had been turned into office space--stuff jumping off mantles and out of toyboxes while staff were there alone). ANd while it is really an angel story, when my grandmother was having one of her hip surgeries she had a visitor to comfort her during the middle of the night. But as I say, that was an angel story--not a ghost story.

HOw I spent my day...

Spent today at a presentation for the Neighbours, Friends and Families Campaign.

THis is a program aimed at preventing Domestic Abuse. It was a good day. Time was spent talking about public education, about how to encourage, well, neighbours, friends and families to see their role in helping to deal with the issue. It is based on findings from the provincial Death REview Committee (a program of the COroners Office that looks at spousal homicide cases) which said that in almost every cse there were neighbours, friends, co-workers and professionals that had a part of the picture but not enough knowledge, inclination or courage to step in and do something.

A (apporximate, wording may not be exact) quote from the day ...those of us who are frontline workers spend a lot of time pulling bodies out of the water. This program hopes to start working a bit farther upstream...

This is Liberation??

FIrst George W. compares Iraq to Vietnam (an odd political move if ever there was one). Now I read:

The war in Iraq is a "pure failure" that has left Iraqis in a worse state than when they lived under Saddam Hussein, former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said in comments published Wednesday

I'm sure that will play well in the mid-term elections.

Church Out or Government Out?

Of the marriage business that is.

The more I think about this debate that seemingly will never go away (see previous post) the more I wonder if maybe a more wholesale change is needed.

Maybe we need to complete change the language of couplehood and the law. Take the church right out of the legal aspect, and make marriage a solely religious term. THe only legal term would be civil union and it would apply to any two persons wishing to aspire to that status and would only be available from JPs or marriage commissioners--clergy would not be eligible. Marriage would then be a religious rite (or sacrament) bound not by the law of the land but by the theology and polity of the faith community--and would be available regardless of whether or not the couple in question seeks the legal bond of civil union.

It is an idea that has its attractions. It would get the churches out of being agents of the state and back into the business of blessing relationships. And it would do a better job at shoring up the "sanctity of marriage" than arguments about legalities. And it would also call the bluff of all those opponents of same-sex marriage who insist that their problem is with the use of the word marriage, not with the coupling itself.

The only problem is that I honestly believe that "4-wheel-theology" (stroller, wedding car, hearse) is a great outreach ministry of the church. ANd we might lose that if clergy could only bless relationships without doing the legal joining part as well.

Earth to Mr HArper: THere are More Important Issues

A year ago the Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-38, an act legislating equal rights to marriage for same-gender couples. THe vote was semi-free (to stay in Cabinet one had to vote for the legislation, but non-Cabinet members of the governing party could vote their conscience. Most of the opposition parties also allowed their members to vote their conscience). This Bill subsequently passed the Senate and was signed into law by the Governor-General.

THen we had an election. During that election the now Prime Minister Stephen HArper promised that he would call for a free vote asking whether Bill C-38 should be reconsidered (nevermind that thousands of gay and lesbian couples have been legally married since provincial courts started ruling that the old definition of marriage was unconstitutional). And now we have entered that debate.

THe United Church of Canada and our partners are arguing, as are a majority of Canadians according to polling, that this is a bad idea. "United Church Says No to Reopening Debate over Same-Sex Marriage in the House of Commons ". ANd really, I have to ask if it needs the time it is taking?

We have troops in a war in Afghanistan (42 killed thus far). WE have thousands of Canadian men, women, and children relying on food banks to survive. We have First Nations communities that can't drink their water. We have all sorts of other issues that make a difference in people's survival. But lets not look at that, let's reopen a debate about a topic that has already been settled not only by legislation but by a ruling of the Supreme Court. A topic, I might add, which makes no difference in the day-to-day life of heterosexual couples (how same-gender marriage is a threat to "traditional" marriage is beyond me).

Please Mr. Harper, drop this sop to your far right supporters and get on with the business of governing.