Invocation for the Inaugural Meeting of Atikokan Township Council

Next Monday a new council will be sworn in. I have been asked to give the invocation. Here is what I have come up with thus far.

Spirit of Life, who calls us to live and work together in community,
we gather here this evening to recognize those people whom this community has chosen to be leaders, guides, and vision-keepers.

We pray that in their work together they would be ready to serve all the people of Atikokan, resisting the urge to listen solely to one group or another.

Grant them the courage to make decisions based less on what is easy or popular and more on a firm belief and vision of what is best for the community in the present and in the future.

Help them remember that they can have different points of view and still listen to each other with respect, that all are working for the good of the town.

And then, when the decision has been made, may they be able to share the decision, to work towards its implementation, to let go of the debate, and move on to the next issue.

May the 7 people we recognize tonight have the vision, the strength, and the will to help lead Atikokan into a new future.

May we who have chosen them be willing to work with them to grow this town into a place where life in abundance for all is made real. Amen.

THis MAkes My Brain Hurt!

I realized yesterday that in the next three weeks I need to get all the bulletins up to and including January 7 done (the office is closed Dec 21-Jan 9) for copying. I need to finish the Christmas Eve Drama that is about 1/3 written* (actually need to get that done PDQ so that the other two readers can look at it and we can hopefully practice). I need to get prepped for the White Gift service/Congregational Pageant. I have a couple Bible Studies in there too. Oh and anything else that might come up...

How is it the end of November already? Where did all that lead time go????????

Luckily I just finished the Dec 31 bulletin. And Dec 17 (white gift) bulletin is 99% done. ANd hymns are chosen for everything else. But still, my brain hurts.

*THe premise for this drama is that of 3 residents of Bethlehem (the owner of the stable, a midwife, and a wealthy/leading townsperson) discussing this strange birth that has happened the night before. Still have to work out the message part of it and then put that into dialogue.

Truth, Heresy, and Peace

Yesterday's sermon was on truth. ANd it came up last week in Bible Study where the topic was Jesus' Prayer Makes Us One. What is truth? IS there an absolute truth? WHat is the danger of believing that anyone of us has The Truth? HOw do we know when a truth borders on The Truth?

As a part of these discussions I mentioned that often, pragmatically speaking, the truth is defined by whoever wins the argument (or has the biggest bank account, or the biggest club/army). A prime example is heresies.

As it happens John over at Locusts and Honey has a post about heresy where one of my comments apparently marks me as a heretic for disagreeing with 4 of the 5 fundamentals (For the record I have issues with the inerrancy of Scripture, the Virgin Birth, SUbstitutionary/BLood atonement theory, and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus).

So what is heresy? What makes orthodoxy? WHat is Truth and what is false? These sorts of questions are also popping up with some regularity in the Discussion lounge at WonderCafe.

One of the dangers of thinking we have The Truth is that it leads us to do terrible things--the examples of that are Legion. BUt we are called to be people of the truth. How do we find our way?

Maybe part of the way of Truth and Peace is when we recognize, as suggested at Bible Study, that we each have a piece of the Truth, and we need to let each other share it.

THoughts anyone?

In my e-mail (possibly spam?) today was a note from Christian Bloggers saying they had found this blog and inviting me to sign up.

ANyone else heard of them? I did some searching on the website but am still not sure what they are up to. Is it worth signing up?

SO it isn't Friday!

A little late but here it is:

So this is a "Black Friday" Five (aka Buy Nothing Day) in honor of the busiest shopping day of the year:

1. Would you ever/have you ever stood in line for something--tickets, good deals on electronics, Tickle Me Elmo? Nope. Can't think of anything I wanted that badly. Besides I find those people terribly amusing, albeit in a sad sort of way. If I were ever to do the line thing it would be for tickets to something though.
2. Do you enjoy shopping as a recreational activity? Shopping is NOT a recreational activity.
3. Your favorite place to browse without necessarily buying anything. Bookstores, no contest. ALthough in a year or so car lots will be common (the van lease expires MArch 2008)
4. Gift cards: handy gifts for the loved one who has everything, or cold impersonal symbol of all that is wrong in our culture? I think they are very handy and practical gifts for the one who has everything or the one who has nothing. BUt they would be inappropriate where more intimacy is desired as they are, shall we say, less than personal.
5. Discuss the spiritual and theological issues inherent in people coming to blows over a Playstation 3. Get a life people. It is only a game.

BONUS: It seems we got caught in the wash of Black Friday. Friday afternoon (approx 4:30) we went to get groceries (a task we do whenever we are in the CIty on the Lake--to get stuff we can't get, or can't get in quantity, here in town) and we notice that the tills are very slow moving. Our purchases are scanned and I go to pay with credit card. 20 minutes later we are still waiting, along with every other till in the store. THe Interac system is frozen up. FInally, after 40 minutes or so, they do a hand-written credit card slip and I get a cab--Patty and the girls have long left to feed the baby and finish making supper. WOuldn't wanted to have been store management that night or on Saturday.

Um, EWW

THought this was a fairly normal missing person case at first:

The body of a Florida woman who was missing for nearly two weeks has been found — wedged upside-down behind a bookshelf in her room in her family's home.

THen I came to this part:

"I'm sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her," her mother, Connie Weber, told the St. Petersburg Times.
"And she's right in the bedroom."

ANd the piece de resistance:

They said they had noticed a strange smell in Weber's bedroom but attributed it to other causes.

"A strange smell" I don't doubt it was. EWWWWW, glad I wasn't eating when I read this one.

To Our US-an Neighbours

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

May we all, those who are celebrating the day and those who are not, take time each and every day to remember who gifted and blessed we are.

Please Tell me it Ain't so!

Saw this in the news:

Students at Edmonton's Northern Alberta Institute of Technology will attend a campus sporting a familiar name soon — the college's south Edmonton location will be called the Ralph Klein Campus.

TO name anything in the human service fields after Klein is, um, how shall I put this, repugnant. THe man started his term as premier by decimating funding to education at all levels. And it can be argued that the system has never recovered--and this in a province that, in comparison to most of the country, was never badly off economically.

Oh well, at least it isn't a hospital. THat would be truly apalling.

THat was great.

Tonight was the night I had this meeting. I really wasn't sure what to expect (although I was certain no tar or feathers would be involved).

IT was really fun. Good discussion about United CHurch Practice and belief. And very educational too. THe study book being used was American so when it talked about United Church it was taking about the United Church of Christ. SO I learned a bunch about our UCC neighbours to the south while pointing out how the UCCan is similar yet different.

A Bear of Little Brain

First seen at Terrapin Station

Which Pooh character are you?

Indulgence is not a bad word as far as you're concerned, your confidence in being yourself is what matters more than all that.The most loyal of friends and always good fun to be around, everyone needs someone like you in their life.
Take this quiz!

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