Just a random collection of thoughts and events of late…
Always around this time of year I feel ready for a rest. This year is no exception. It’s been a busy time lately, what with a trip to Winnipeg for some study time, the purchase of a new building for our church, building committee meetings, the sale of our present church building, birthdays, changes in the life of our church, transitioning our son to a new school, a trip south for a funeral, and so on. We’ll get some vacation time in August and it will be great when that time of rest arrives.
We celebrated/remembered our tenth anniversary of our ordination this past week. It was kind of bitter sweet as we also received the news of another couple in our session tendering their resignation. In one sense it was quite surprising, but in another it wasn’t. I know that sounds contradictory, but it’s hard to explain. We live in the 21st century, yet we find ourselves serving in a movement/organisation/church that wants to continue harking back to the past. The hierarchy is still a convenience to hide behind when it suits. There are many who talk a good game of change, but when things don’t go the way they want them to, the trump card of hierarchy comes into place. It’s kind of sad. Will it take the last one left turning out the light, locking the door and throwing away the key to realise that there is really little relevance in holding on for dear life to things that really don’t matter in the larger picture of life. It’s a big worry, that’s for sure.
Reading has been hard of late, maybe because of assignments being due and other pressing matters. As usual I have a number of books on the go. I just finished Solzhenitsyn’s ‘For the Good of the Cause’, which was good, but not as good ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’. Included in ‘For the good..’ was some background into the whole censorship and exile that Solzhenitsyn underwent, which was very interesting. I am now trying to get through Pete Greig’s ‘The Vision and the Vow’, which is a very challenging book. It’s a must read, that’s for sure. Other books I’m picking up and including in my reading are: ‘Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper’ (Leonard J. Vander Zee), ‘Everything Must Change’ (Brian McLaren), and ‘Wishful Thinking’ (Frederick Buechner). Hopefully I’ll get through a few of these this summer!
Some of the movies I’ve enjoyed lately include: ‘The Savages’, ‘The History Boys’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’, ‘Cloverfield’, and ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’. We’re looking forward to ‘Wall.E’, which opens next weekend.
We gave Emily an i-Pod shuffle for her birthday, so I finally gave in and got an i-tunes acoount. I haven’t bought much yet, but I’m tempted by much, especially older stuff I don’t have on CD (all my old vinyl is still in the UK) – such as early Iron Maiden, some Blue Oyster Cult, Fish-era Marillion, amongst many others. I still have an e-music account (40 tracks a month for $9.99) and they just added some early Rush stuff to their catalogue, which I downloaded. Some of the stuff that I’m listening to the most lately includes: ‘An Ocean Between Us’ (As I Lay Dying), ‘The Ringing Bell’ (Derek Webb), ‘Messengers’ (August Burns Red), ‘Facedown’ (Matt Redman), ‘U2 Go home’ (U2), ‘Symphony no.6 – Pathetique’ (Tchaikovsky). I eagerly await the soon to be released new U2 album.
I’ve been spending some time at Plurk.com If you join add me as a friend (my user name is wcs53). I’ve also been designing rooms at Webkinz (the kids bought me a couple of Webkinz).
Anyways, that’s enough thoughts for now.
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