Going Home..... well one of the homes

The first time I went to Camp....

 Have you ever noticed that there are some places that are always home? A place that, as soon as you arrive something just feels right?

For me one of those places is Camp Maskepetoon, along the north shore of Pigeon Lake. I went as a camper three time as a child and enjoyed myself greatly. I still have some very clear memories of wide games, of sleeping at outback, of the ghost story The Claw (which we were told the night before going to sleep at outback in 1980--probably not the best timing). I remember a talent show in 1981. I remember campfire singing (where I first learned to sing with glee about the sinking of the Titanic) and telling stories and jokes when we were probably supposed to be singing. We had great times.

Then 8 years later, in my second year of university, I was looking for a summer job. As an Education student I was looking for something that might be slightly career oriented. In the job centre in the Student Union Building was a listing for staff positions at Camp Maskepetoon and I thought it sounded good so I applied to be the Devotions Director. I got an interview (and can still name the three people who interviewed me 37 years later) and was offered the position.

Realistically, I had no idea what I was doing. I certainly had no idea that my  life was about to be changed. It was just a summer job....right?

Cooking at camp
can be...different

I had a great summer. I went back the next year in the same job. Then ended up going back to work in the kitchen for a third summer at camp. Took a few years off, working summer jobs at a golf course clubhouse (which was great, good people but not the same). Then I needed something for another summer and applied to work in the kitchen again. Did that for 2 years.

Then was asked to be on the Board, which I did for three years before going off to finish my degree and start my career. While on the Board I helped hire three sets of staff. And because I had three days or four days off in a row every week (one of the blessings of shift work) I spent LOTS of time out at the lake visiting, singing, and helping with whatever needed to be done.

Camp changed me. Camp changed my life direction. If it hadn't been for those first 2 summers I might not have started to feel called to ministry. But it was more than that.

I made friends at that place. Friends that I have not seen for years but in June when we all gathered for a reunion the connection was still there. I grew spiritually at that place. Eveneings standing on the beach staring at the lake and the sky, nights at outback sitting around the fire, the (sort of) stillness of sitting in one of many canoes as the whole camp group canoes across the  lake. Times that opened my heart and soul.

These were times of laughter. Times of hijinks == the time we hung a bunk in a tree, or the day in 1999 when I came out of the cabin to find that my car (which I had foolishly left the keys in) had been moved to the middle of the cabin area and mummified in saran wrap. There were games played, hiding in the bush, chasing each other around the sports field. It was a place where we were invited to be free to be who we really were. In a time of my life where I had few places where I felt really comfortable Camp stands out as that place. At camp I was free to make a fool of myself (arguably something that came naturally). Before camp I would never have seen myself leading campfire songs.

I would never have thought I might offer the first car I ever owned up for redecoration.

Many years later I moved back to Alberta. My daughters became old enough to go as campers. I convinced them to give it a try -- which was an easy sell as they had experienced church camping before -- and every year as we turned into the driveway to drop them off my heart sang. We always got there early enough to have time to walk around the site before leaving however many of them were staying that week/ I wanted, no needed, to walk around this sacred place, to sit on the campfire benches, to walk down to the chapel. Just to be there for that 45 minutes gave me some renewal.

ANd it worked again. this summer two daughters are on staff (one for the 4th summer) and one is volunteering. For some of us camp seeps into your bones and draws you back.

At the reunion for the 70th anniversary last month I was asked to say a few words about what camp meant to me. The first word that came to my mind was HOME. Wherever I go that place will go with me. Later this summer I am going to spend a week as Camp Dad and general helper. I look forward to seeing what a week at camp looks like now and how it is both the same and different as when I spent all those days there long ago.

If you get a chance to experience church camp ministry TAKE IT. Just be aware that it might affect you more than you expected.

What is Your First Memory of a God-moment?

Earlier this week this discussion prompt was posted in a Facebook Group:

First memory of Jesus being a companion along your life's journey. GO!

It being my sincere conviction that one of the things that is missing in many of our churches is a practice of giving testimony, and also being sure that if testimony is going to happen those of us in leadership (paid and unpaid) need to step up and model that behaviour I knew I had to follow that prompt with this blogpost...

Now my theology (both theoretical and experiential) is much more Pneumocentric [Spirit-centered] than Christocentric [Christ Centered].  It always has been I realize in retrospect.  So I don't really think in terms of Jesus being a companion on my life's journey.  That is not my experience or understanding of God.  But I do have a really clear memory of the first time I remember feeling God's presence in my life.

Palm Sunday 1984.

For a number of years it was the habit in my home congregation to have confirmation services on Palm Sunday.  In the case of our confirmation class we prepared for the event with a closing retreat at a clubhouse facility in St. Albert.  On the Saturday we gathered, had some program (of which I recall almost nothing except for a meal of nations that we did not only there but also at a number of Youth Group events in later years) and then "slept".  I say it that way because once the leader was asleep the rest of us sat up and talked until he woke up and chased us back to bed -- after all we were all in our mid-teens.

For most of my life I have been an early waker.  And so it was that Sunday.  I woke before anybody else and went outside to wander around the attached playground.  This playground consisted of a number of large concrete tunnels and structures.  It was a misty morning and the mist around the structures in the early dawn light had a really eerie quality (potentially made more notable with 30 years of memory attached).  As I wandered around the playground I sang a bit and I prayed a bit.  Not formal prayers, just free-form vocal meanderings.  As a young adult I would find that this was my preferred method of personal prayer.

Something special was there that morning, in the mist and the dawning light.  Looking back I can safely say that the 1983-84 school year was one of the worst years of my life to this point in time (and I have no desire to have a worse one thank you very much). Every day at school was an experience in suffering (again possibly made worse with 30 years of memory).  But there were 2 places I had as refuge.  The church was one of those.  Every Thursday evening that year we met for Confirmation discussions, and it was a safe place.  That morning as I wandered and sang and prayed I knew that I was in the presence of the Holy One.  And it felt good and right.  I remember feeling a sense of peace that was very unusual for me in my then 15 years.

I have had that feeling many other times in the intervening years.  But that was the first.  And first times always stick in our memory.

What is your memory of your first time?

Sacred Places.......

 What makes a place Sacred?  What makes it holy?  Why does it get set apart?

Every continent has sacred places.  Every major religion has sacred places.  This link has a selection of images, this one is divided by country.  In the case of Christianity, I work on the presumption that many Christian sacred places (particularly in Europe) were sacred places for the old religions and then got "baptized" as Christianity took over -- Glastonbury comes to mind as an example. 

Sometimes Sacred Places have buildings on them, or the sacred place is in fact the building.  Sometimes they are natural spaces that have never had anything built on them.  Sometimes there is no building but humans have put a marker of some sort (Stonehenge or Native American Medicine wheels for example).  But there is something about a sacred place.

My Celtic ancestors used to talk about the thin place, which I understand as another way to describe a sacred place.  They are places where the Divine just feels more present than other places.  When enough people feel that a place is "thin" then it becomes more widely known and described as such.

But I think sacred places go far beyond the ones that have been culturally recognized.  I believe that we all have our sacred places.  We share some of them with others and for some they are only special to us, a closely guarded secret we hold in our hearts.

I visited three of my sacred places this summer.  As it happens two are on the same lake.

One is Rundle's Mission, a place that has had special meaning for me for approximately 40 years now.  As I was growing up we had congregational camp weekends at that place once or twice a year.  Over the years it became a very homey place to go.  When I am there, when I have time to wander around, I find peace, I know that I am with the Divine One.  I can't define it, but it is a thin place for me.

I have introduced the girls to it.  I know it will likely never be as special to them as it is to me.  They just don't have the history.  But I can tell them the stories.

Another is Camp Maskepetoon.  Just down the lake from Rundle's, a nice walk takes you from one place to another (indeed sometimes we would walk down to Rundle's from Camp--one year we took the whole camp down the road for a picnic).  I went there 3 times as a camper (1978, 1980, 1981).  But it really became special to me as a young adult.  I applied to be summer staff at the end of my 2nd year of university, got the job, and caught the bug.  Over the next 10 years I would end up being on staff for 5 summers and spend 3 years on the board (during those 3 summers I spent most of my days off out at the lake).  A holy and special place indeed.  It was there that I first felt what became known to me as the call to ministry.  It was there that I started to develop my adult spiritual self.  Without that place I would not be the person I am today.  When I go there I feel God.

And this one the girls, at least the older two who have gone as campers, have started to share with me.

The third is the church of my childhood.  Well technically now it is the sanctuary of my teens and young adult years, the sanctuary of my childhood has long since been redone, changed into the Friendship Hall as part of the 1983/4 expansion--and I have no picture of it as it once was.  This is the congregation that nurtured me, that helped/watched me grow.  We started attending there when I was 2.  There I started teaching Sunday School, there I learned what it meant to be church (both positive and negative).

When I am there for worship, as I do most times I am in town on a Sunday (or a Wednesday in the summer) I feel at home.  Yes the congregation has changed much in the 20 years since I was an active part of its life.  But still I am home.  And God is there with me.

Of course there are many other places.  Cemeteries (pretty much ANY cemetery) are a thin place for me.  I can spend hours wandering around looking at headstones and drinking in the ambiance.  And the odd thing is that some places can be "thin" one day and not the next.  So it is sometimes hard to know what makes it thin. 

What are your sacred places?  Why are they holy?  What makes them special?

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...

One Billion Rising

2 weeks ago I got a phone call at the office.  The caller was arranging an event as part of the global movement One Billion Rising.

This movement is a response to the estimated reality that one in three women will someday be the victim of gender-based violence.  One in THREE!

SO who do you know?  WE all know many women.  Who do you know who has been the victim of violence, of rape, of domestic abuse, of sexual harassment.....?

It is sobering isn't it?

The caller wanted to use the church space for a time to do this dance:


Now congregational policy is that non-congregational events need to provide proof of insurance and that would likely sink something like this.  But congregational sponsored events are under our umbrella.  And it struck me that this was a very good event for the congregation to sponsor.  SO I contacted the decision makers in the congregation to see if there were any objections to making this a congregation-sponsored event.

To tell the truth, had people objected I would have been both very surprised and very disappointed.  This is the sort of issue that churches need to be making statements about.  So I was pleased when the primary response I got back was basically "how can we NOT do this". (Also one of the goals our Council has set for the year is to increase visibility/build connections with the wider community so this fit right in)

Today was the event.  At first the plan was to use the basement (better space for dancing) but the technical requirements for viewing video and hearing music pushed it up to the sanctuary.  And I am so glad we did that.  It makes a much different statement to use the worship space for this event, a much more powerful statement in my opinion.  We gathered and the first thing we did was watch this video:


Then one of teh local dance instructors taught us the dance and we danced.  They even videoed it:


IT went well.  I am glad we did it.

But really.  1 in 3 women!  We all know them.  They are our neighbours, our friends, our co=workers, our family.  As we danced today I thought of the woman I knew who had been raped once and then had a series of bad relationships (which included more than one date-rape).  I thought of the women I worked with who had been sexually harassed by other people with whom we worked.

1 in 3.  Far too many.  It needs to stop.  God help us, and it will.

Be Not Afraid: A New World is Coming -- an Advent sermon

The Scripture readings for this week are:

• Isaiah 65:17-23
• Revelation 21:1-4 (Responsive Reading)
• Mark 13:24-37

Sung response (VU #23 Joy Shall Come Even to the Wilderness)

When I was on my internship I was scheduled to preach the last Sunday of each month. And so I preached the first Sunday of Advent. That week I phoned the lay reader to tell her the readings for Sunday. And she said “they better not be depressing”. What do you think she would have said after reading them?

Actually on that Sunday I did point out that we had the less depressing part of Mark 13 (feel free to check it out). But many people wonder at these readings for the First of Advent. Why do we begin the lead up to Christmas with passages about the end of the world? It isn't joyful is it?

Well no. But then have you watched the news recently?

The original hearers of Mark's Gospel lived in a time when the world was either being shattered or had already been shattered. Mark writes either during or right after the Roman-Jewish war which included that destruction of Jerusalem (one of many times in history that the streets of that city so many call Holy ran with the blood of the slaughtered) and the siege –and eventual mass suicide– at Masada. For residents of Judea/Palestine this was the end of the world. Earlier in this chapter Mark refers to the desolating sacrilege being set up in the Temple. It has happened. For Christians Mark is writing just after the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Nero who, it is said, had Christians burned alive as torches for his garden parties. There must have been many saying that the time was nigh, that the Messiah would come imminently.

And where are we today? Are we in a time of mass disruption and chaos? Are we living in a period of mass dislocation, social upheaval and injustice. Is it reasonable to say that the time is nigh? On one of the Just for Laughs specials Drew Carey talks about reading Revelation and going through it as a checklist: got it got it need it got it. Twice this year Harold Camping has announced that the end is nigh—with a date and a time even! And truly, can we say we don't understand why people would say that the end is nigh?

What world do we find this Advent and Christmas season? Well this week's news included OCCUPY protesters being evicted from their camps, protesters being shot in Egypt, the news that child poverty rates continue to go up in Alberta, and the news that a Attawapiskat, a Canadian community, has been living in an official state of emergency for 2 weeks because people are living in tents (and other very sub-standard housing) and neither the Federal nor the Provincial government have acted yet. The rest of the year has included continuing unrest and violence in Syria and a civil war in Libya and economic turmoil (if not outright collapse) in Greece and Italy. I'll be honest, I had to stop looking for examples to use here – there were way too many.

In a world where the richest few have more than the poorest half have (in the US it is the top 400 who have more cumulatively than the bottom 156 million), in a world where violence seems to be the default so much of the time, in a world where human rights are routinely trampled; can we truly sing and believe...
Sung Response

And so what do we do? How do we respond to a world that is not what it should or could be? Where is there hope this Advent?

Well what have other people done when they have realized that the world around them did not live up to their vision? Well the last chapters of Isaiah were written after the people had returned from exile. The exiles had returned with excitement. Now the Temple would be restored, now the nation would return to its former glory. But of course life is rarely that easy is it. The rebuilding of Jerusalem simply wasn't happening. What to do?

The passage we just heard is full of hope and promise isn't it? It speaks of God's reign coming in full force. It tells of the new heaven and new earth where all is made right. But that is not the whole story. A chapter earlier we read:

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people. (Isaiah 64:1-9)

This Advent do we really want the heavens torn open, is that what it will take to change the world ? And will that create the way to the place where we can sing and believe?
Sung Response

I have a question for you. What is our Advent Hope? What do we hope for this year as Christmas approaches?

In some ways it is the same as every other year. We hope that the world will be changed. Earlier I raised the question of why we start Advent every year with passages that talk about the Second Coming, or the End of Days, or the coming of the Reign of God. Every year clergy ask themselves how to deal with these most un-Christmassy passages. We start there because they are the hope we share in Advent. We share the hope that God will, somehow, probably in ways we don't really expect, break into the world again this year. We share the hope that God coming into our lives in a real and experiential way will move the world toward a better place. We hope that a new world is being born in our midst.

That new world is what our Isaiah passage today spoke about. That new world is how our Scripture story ends. This morning we read a piece from the final chapters of Revelation. Before we get to this vision we have seen a whole lot of death and destruction. But in the end, says John of Patmos, God will have the victory. God said through Isaiah “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth” but John had a vision of it coming to reality.

And what confidence do we have that this is really happening? It is great to have a vision, to have a promise, to have hope. But it is even better to see some sign that our hope is not in vain, that the promise is being kept, that the vision is coming into focus. Where are the signs that a new world is being born?

The movement that began in North Africa as the Arab Spring and then emerged in North America as the OCCUPY movement is one sign of hope for me. In Tunisia, in Cairo, in New York people saw a world that was destructive to human rights and dignity and chose to take a stand. They saw the promise of a different way of being in community together and refused to be moved until they were heard, until change was made. It is my belief that the OCCUPY movement may well be the first labour pains of a new world being born. Of course there is a long way (and a lot of work) to go between the first contraction and the actual birth. But the Arab Spring and the OCCUPY movement (which I believe has made more of an impact than it is given credit for) are signs of hope that the new world is coming.

IN one of my favourite Advent songs we find this line “the world is full of darkness, again there is no room/ the symbols of existence are stable cross and tomb”. It is easy to see the signs that the world is falling to pieces around us. It would be easy to lose hope that things can get better. It is tempting to call on God to shatter the heavens with her might and make the mountains tremble with his power. Is it possible that the world is only changed when God breaks in to it?

Well here is the Advent secret. God is breaking into the world. Again. God is coming to be among us. And that means that the Reign of God is coming closer to reality. The symbols of existence are stable – the birth of hope, cross – the world's attempt to crush the promise, and tomb – God's final word that vanquishes death itself. Christ has come, and Christ will come again. The darkness will be lifted, even if only one spark of light at a time. Deserts will burst into flower, enemies will learn to be friends, and all God's children will live in justice and peace. Deep in my heart, I do believe, God SHALL overcome some day. And so, as a people of hope, we truly can sing and believe...
Sung Response

How Can WE Do IT?

This week we are reading about turning the other cheek, walking the second mile, loving your enemies...

Hard to hear. Hard to live. Jesus calls us to move out of the model where we make sure others "get what they deserve" and payback. Jesus calls us away from a place where the only choices are being a doormat/victim or playing by the same rules of the oppressors.

How can we do that? It seems so, I don't know, natural to live by those rules. I mean I know that some (Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind) were able to internalize these ideas and live them out--although sometimes their followers had difficulty--but in day to day life?????

THe thing is I ssee the logic. As St. Paul and Dr. King remind us, only love can drive out and conquer evil and hate. But how is it possible?

Only one way. By remembering that we are created in God's image and that said image is still part of our core being. And so I think I might play this on Sunday:

Favourite passages

Over at RGBP Songbird writes:

Twenty years ago, I was on a Pastoral Search Committee, and one of the questions we asked the ten candidates we interviewed in the first round was to tell us their three favorite passages of scripture. I loved hearing the variety of verses quoted and even learned some that I didn't know, such as the last line of one of this week's lectionary passages:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) 

For today's Friday Five, list your five favorite passages/verses from the Bible and tell us something about why you love them.

 

Before I start let me say that I am SO glad that wasn't an interview question I was asked. ANd this is a real challenge, so many passages that don't make today's cut.  All the passages below can be read here

1. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 "I have set before you today a choice..." I once used this passage when writing a sermon for Ethics in seminary.  It is just such a great way to remind us that our choices matter.
2. Matthew 25:31-46 The Sheep and the Goats Is there a better answer to "why do good things?" than this passage, this is what love of neighbour means.  Besides I always love that way of telling people to go to Hell in verse 41
3. 1 COrinthians 13 Paul at his finest, the hymn to love need I say more?  OVer used and misunderstood perhaps.  But still the poetry and the vision rings out.
4. Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 a passage I always love to use for weddings especially verses 9-12.  They speak so well of the ideal of mutual support, and the reminder of the third strand in the cord in verse 12 speaks so well of the ideal of Christian partnership
5. Amos 5:21-24 let justice roll down like water I had to have something from the prophets and can you do better than Amos?

ANd of course there are sooooooooooo many others.  Depending on mood and circumstance of course.

Glee-ful Theology

ANd I miss this show :(

Hospitality

This week I have found myself pondering what hospitality, real hospitality, Jesus-style hospitality, might be. For some of my thoughts from early this week you can check here.

I have come to think that while Hospitality has become a (perhaps the) watch-word in church circles these days.  If we just get the hospitality piece down pat then people will feel happy and comfortable and come more often.  If we are friendly and welcoming and say the right things then we will be seen as worth coming back to.  And that may be true.  But if we stop there we are missing the point of Jesus-style hospitality.  We are missing what Jesus and God are calling us to practise.

You see, Jesus in this Luke passage reminds us that hospitality is about "the others".  It is about how well we welcome the least and the outcast.  And this, unfortunately, is where the church tends to fall down.

LAst summer there was a motion at General Council that if it had passed as written, would have required all UCCan congregations to be accessible regardless of physical ability or gender or orientation or marital status or race or....

NOw that is a call to radical, JEsus-style hospitality.  So now the question is, how do I issue the challenge?  |In a downtown church where there are often signs of homeless in the area how do we welcome them?  In a denomination that 22 years ago decided that sexual orientation was irrelevant in terms of being called to ministry how are we doing?  In a world where church congregations are notoriously homogenous in terms of ethinc origin and socio-economic class how do we claim to be truly welcoming?  In a time when churches talk constantly about ministering to families do we appear welcoming to those whose family is scattered or different?

HOw can we practise this radical Jesus-style hospitality?  There are 2 stories I will likely include on Sunday.  One is of a person who is clearly "different" coming in to sit on the carpet at the front of the sanctuary and the elderly elder who joins him there.  The other is of a rabbi teaching the class how to know day has come--when you can look into the face of a stranger and see a friend.  It is just the question of how challenging to be one month into a new pastoral relationship that is haunting me.

PS> in my reflections yesterday it struck me that my entire working life has been spent in one form or another of the hospitality industry.  I have worked in restaurants and a golf course clubhouse--things that are traditionally considered part of the hospitality industry.  But I have also worked and volunteered at church camps---moving a bit out of the traditional definitions but still fairly obviously about welcoming, and moving closer to the radical hospitality taught by Jesus.  Then for the last decade in Ordained ministry--a bit further fromt he traditional "restaurant and motel" definition but most certainly hospitality.  ANd the other one is 3 years at a crisis nursery.  Would we have described ourselves as a hospitality industry?  nope.  But without a doubt the whole nature of a crisis nursery is JEsus-style hospitality put into practice.  It was a ministry setting that was all about hospitality.  ANd so that is another thing that will make it into the sermon on Sunday (a little piece of self-disclosure to continue introducing myself to the congregation).

SUnrise over The River

Taken earlier this week as we got out of bed

A Must See!

I was sent this link in an e-mail this afternoon. Following it I found this video that needs to be watched:

Who Do You Say You Are? -- A Sermon Opener

“Who do you say I am?” Jesus' question echoes through the ages. Not just “what do others say about me?” but “who do you say I am?” “What do you believe? It isn't enough to rely on what others have said, you have to make up your own mind.” Jesus tells the disciples.

(Interestingly, as Mark tells the story Jesus seems to be less than impressed with Peter's reply. In Matthew Peter is praised but here Jesus tells them not to repeat that anywhere.)

But here is the real kicker. We still have to answer this question. One of the reasons we retell the stories of the Scriptures is to see where they intersect with our lives in the here and now. And this story intersects with our faith lives at the most basic level.

One of (some would say THE) defining marks of Christian faith is that we have to take the Jesus story seriously. To be a Christian means making a statement about who and what Jesus was and is. And we are encouraged to find our personal answer. It isn't enough to simply recite the teaching of the church by rote. Our answer to Jesus' question has to have meaning for us.

It has been suggested that if Peter was a modern Jesus Scholar the discussion in today's story would have gone like this:

Jesus said, "Who do they say that I am." They replied, some say Elijah, some John the Baptist, others one of the prophets." And he said, but who do YOU say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the ground of our being, the ontological kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships." And Jesus said, "...What?" That is our answer but yet it is not our answer.

That answer, when taken apart and translated into English, describes a fairly common picture of who Jesus is for us. But it can't be our answer. For starters, who really talks like that? SO the question remains, how would you respond to Jesus? Who is Jesus for you?

And why does the question matter? Well, as I said already, declaring who Jesus was and is is central to Christian faith. And why is it important to be clear about what we believe? We need to be clear about our faith, or at least have a degree of clarity since faith tends to be a moving target for many of us, because that clarity is a source of strength when the world get rough. If we don't know who Jesus is for us it is that much harder to know who Jesus is when the road of faith takes a dark turn.

Because look what happens right after the question. Jesus talks about the road that leads to cross and grave. Jesus talks about the need for people to take up the cross and follow him. And let's be clear. Jesus isn't talking about our “cross to bear” as some sort of inconvenient disease or hardship like we often do. Jesus is talking about the road of faith being a road that leads to persecution and rejection. Knowing who we are, knowing whose we are, knowing what we believe helps us when the cross comes knocking.

Scholars now tell us that this story probably doesn't come from the life of Jesus. Instead it is probably a post-Easter reconstruction as the disciples strove to understand what had happened. IT isn't a story of identification of a a person – it is a story about confessing the faith. When we make the same sort of claim that Peter makes then we make a statement about to whom we belong. We make a statement about whose side we are on. Such statements are not something we should trust to others. Such statements are something we have to make for ourselves. The faith that has been handed down through centuries of the church helps us find our way, but rote recitation of others words is not enough. Who do you say Jesus is? Whose do you say you are? Who do you say you are?

THe Things Kids Say.....

Last night we were returning to my parental abode from that of my sister. Princess has her window wide open staring out into the wind (sort of like dogs do when they stick their head out the window to be totally honest).

Dad: Do you want the window closed?
Princess: Nope.
D: It's not too windy?
P: No, I like the wind (a couple of beats) It's like the spirit


Obviously she is a PK.

Mind you after our communion ervice at camp, while the campers were working on their banners, I turned around and gathered around the table finishing off the bread with great gusto are Princess, Scalliwag and a third PK. Sort of like they knew this is what you did with left over communion bread....

Another Book REcommendation

We in the United Church of Canada have been blessed with many wonderful Moderators over the years, people whom the Spirit has called into the role as chief official of the church.

Our current Moderator is from this Presbytery. In working with David I got a beginning sense of the depth of his wisdom and his ability to communicate to those around him where God was calling. ANd so it was with great anticipation that I bought this book.

My anticipation was rewarded. Check it out.

Good Luck!

Back in the fall of 1996 I was looking for a job. AS often with job searches I sent out resumes to a variety of places. I ended up being hired at Kids Kottage (a crisis nursery in Edmonton), and worked there for almost 3 years before going to complete my MDiv.

The Kottage exists largely through the gifts of others. Every year they have a Radiothon and to day is the day of their 15th Radiothon. May they be blessed with the genrosity of the community today!

Here is a video about their ministry (because that really is what it is after all):

Fall Colours

Sure Signs of Fall...
THis maple is in our backyard. Usually (as it is this year) it is the first tree to change.



This year's crop of potatoes. Not a good one by any means. Onions and carrots were better though.

Bun Making

For Children's Time this morning we mixed up some yeast to see what would happen. SInce we had the yeast started we decided to make some buns:

The dough starts to rise...

This was a first for the girls -- they had never seen buns made before.

Ready for baking

The finished product

ETA: Last night at supper Beloved looks at me and says "I really like your buns" THen giggles, because we are all 12 after all.

Awwwwww...

This link came in my e-mail today. TWin baby moose and mama in someone's backyard playing in the sprinkler.

Verrrrrrrry cute!

Almost MAkes me Wish I knew Greek

The Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, is now online. Here is some more about it:

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible and the manuscript – the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity – is of supreme importance for the history of the book.

Granted, it is little more than a neat thing to look at for those of us who can't read ancient Greek. But still it is really intriguing.You can find it here