The end of summer and other stuff

Summer is almost over and it seems that, weather-wise anyway, it has only just begun. The nights are getting longer and the kids go back to school in a week’s time, so I guess that fall is just around the corner.

I realise I haven’t blogged that much this past while, but there just doesn’t seem to be much that I’ve had to write about. I’ve got my passion for reading back again and that’s probably what I’ve done most of this past while. The new building, watching lots of movies, and holiday time have accounted for a lot of my other time.

The best movies (not all new ones) I’ve seen lately have included: ‘Inkheart’, ‘Stone of Destiny’, ‘The Mission’ (lost count of how many times I’ve seen this one), ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ and ‘Bottle Shock’.

Some of the books I’ve read recently, or am still reading, are: ‘Mudhouse Sabbath’ (Lauren Winner), ‘Pagan Christianity?’ and ‘Re-Imagining Church’ (both Frank Viola), ‘Five By Endo (short stories)’ (Shusaku Endo), ‘Bioethics – A Primer for Christians’ (Gilbert Meilaender), and ‘Wishful Thinking – a Seeker’s ABC’ (Frederick Buechner). I’m also hoping to re-read ‘The Hobbit’ (Tolkien) and ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ (Solzhenitsyn) before the year is out. If you are content with the way of the Christian Church in the west then don’t read the Viola books. If you yearn for something else or are upset with the status quo in the church then drop everything else and start reading them, but beware – they will mess with your mind and bring discomfort. I’m still working my way through what they have done to me as I have read them and they have really got me thinking about what the future holds as far as what I’m involved in presently in my day to day living and working.

I realised today that it is exactly 6 months since I ate meat of any kind. I can honestly say that I now have no yearning to return to eating meat. I am comfortable with the choice I made to become a vegetarian. Oh, and before anyone tries to convince me that I am dishonouring God, don’t bother – I’ve been through it with others on a number of occasions and it gets tedious.

Only three weeks on Wednesday and I’ll be making a pilgrimage to the Rogers Centre in Toronto for the U2 360 Tour. Counting the days!

Anyway, I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing that your summer is going well. If you’re on Twitter follow me and I’ll reciprocate. I’m wcs53. Enjoy the rest of your summer and I’ll try to update more often if I find anything worth sharing.

Growing older, growing wiser?

It’s hard to believe that our little girl, Emily, turned 10 yesterday! It hardly seems like yesterday that I was failing to keep up with an ambulance on the road from North Battleford to Saskatoon, where she was born all those years ago. I wasn’t able to keep up with it and I also found myself initially at the wrong hospital, but I did get there eventually with lots of time to spare, missing none of the excitement.

People always say that their kids grow up too fast, but you can’t keep them young and small forever. It seems already that she has a phone attached to her ear. In the morning before she goes to school we often feel that we are just her answering service! I just hope that as she continues to grow up that we will be there to help and support her as she makes the many decisions she will have to make, just as my parents were for me growing up.

She’s having an all-girl pyjama party tonight, so Cameron and I are heading for Sudbury for a guys night out. The last thing she wants is her little brother crashing her party, so we’ll make sure we’re gone for the evening. By the way, last week Cameron decided that he wanted his own blog, so he set up ‘may the force be with you’ which can be found on the links at the right or just click here. Check it out and give him some encouragement. He promises to update it this weekend.

Some random thoughts

The current economic situation should bring us freedom and simplicity, but for the people that I work for it seems to be bringing a barricading in mentality.

A cold shower first thing in the morning can be a good thing, but it’s not best if it is spraying out of the back of the toilet.

I dislike being told that I ‘have to participate’ in something that I believe is not good for me or for those around me.

The one good thing about the Leafs always missing the play-offs is that it frees up my evenings after the first week of April.

Reading books can seriously challenge one’s complacency and that’s what I like the most about it.

If I’d known what I know now, I may not have chosen the path that I did, but did I really have a choice at the time?

‘Unknown Caller’ is one of the best U2 songs ever.

It all boils down to ‘Love God and love your neighbour as yourself’. Without that nothing else really matters or makes a difference.

One week already

Butternut squash

It’s been over a week now since I stopped eating meat. So far so good. As I mentioned somewhere else, it started as something for Lent, but I am now resolved to it being permanent. I’ve lost a few pounds and I’m discovering food that I never knew I liked before. The above picture was tonight’s supper and, in spite of appearances, was quite delicious. It came straight from the pages of ‘Vegetarian Cooking for Dummies’.

Probably the only reason I didn’t do this sooner was procrastination or motivation. The reasons I am going down this particular path are mainly health and ethics. I feel healthier already and have been making sure that I’m not missing out on any nutrition or vitamins, and so on, that are necessary. I’ve researched the whole thing and come up with something that works for me. As for the ethics, I just don’t trust the whole food industry thing any more. This is something for everyone to come to their own conclusion on and I’m not going to get preachy about my ethical reasons for giving up meat, as well as cutting out as much processed food from my diet as I can. At this point I am still eating dairy products and eggs, but trying to make as much ethical choices as I can there.

I know it’s been only a week so far, but I don’t regret things as they have gone up to now. I don’t expect everyone to understand, but then I don’t understand everyone else, either. E-mail me if you are interested in any of my recipes, or send me some of yours if you have any good ones!

Some changes

These are the two books I am working through just now. Both are challenging in their own way and for reasons of change.

‘Vegetarian Cooking for Dummies’ is being read because on Wednesday I will be starting a meatless diet. For some people who know me that may be a hard one to swallow, but it is something I have been seriously considering for some time now. The main reasons are for health and well-being, but  there are also some ethical and environmental reasons for this choice. It was initially only going to be for the period of Lent, which commences on Wednesday, but I’m now moving towards the probability that it will be permanent. It’s a personal thing, so I’m not urging the rest of the family to join me on this particular journey. Also, if you do come and visit us in Elliot Lake, there will still be meat on the menu if you so choose.

‘Pagan Christianity?’ is challenging in the sense that it questions everything that the Christian church does and the origins of these practices. The present group of Christians that we lead/meet with only have five more Sundays in our present location – we close down the old on Sunday 29 March. We had hoped that the first Sunday in our new location would be 12 April (Easter), but that might not happen, due to some hold-ups with material/construction. Nevertheless we will still close down the old on 29 March. We are endeavouring to move towards a more Organic model of church and ‘Pagan Christianity?’ is helping to work out what some of that means.

It’s been a long journey so far, but exciting changes and challenges lie ahead. All prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Life isn’t like in the movies

I don’t watch much TV. Who can stomach another forensic detective show or unreal reality show? Pretty much all I watch is The Hour, Dragon’s Den, Dr. Who and Seinfeld reruns (although I have all the DVDs now anyway). Instead I watch lots of movies, perhaps at least 120 a year. I also try and read at least 2-3 books a month.

Last night, for the umpteenth time, I watched (here comes a confession) one of at least two movies that always make me cry – Giuseppe Tornatore’s classic Cinema Paradiso (the other is The Mission). If you haven’t seen this classic I won’t spoil it for you, but it is a hauntingly, beautiful story of life and growing up, with the backdrop of the local cinema in a backwater Sicilian village, accompanied by the music of movie composer maestro Ennio Morricone. If you do watch it, do yourself a favour – don’t watch the English dubbed version. Instead watch the original Italian soundtrack with English subtitles (if you don’t know Italian too well). Crank it up and enjoy the music as well.

One of my favourite moments is after Toto comes back from his military service and the following conversation takes place:

Alfredo: Living here day by day, you think it’s the center of the world. You believe nothing will ever change. Then you leave: a year, two years. When you come back, everything’s changed. The thread’s broken. What you came to find isn’t there. What was yours is gone. You have to go away for a long time… many years… before you can come back and find your people. The land where you were born. But now, no. It’s not possible. Right now you’re blinder than I am.
Salvatore: Who said that? Gary Cooper? James Stewart? Henry Fonda? Eh?
Alfredo: No, Toto. Nobody said it. This time it’s all me. Life isn’t like in the movies. Life… is much harder.

Many people who have moved away from home, myself included, have probably experienced what Alfredo talks about.  One of the few constants in life is that things change. Too many people try to live in the past or worry about the future, but spend very little time in the present. That’s sad, because they miss out on so much when they live like that.

I’m glad that life isn’t like the movies, some of them are just awful, but I do enjoy losing myself for a couple of hours or so in something with a good story that can challenge my thinking, make me laugh, make me cry and give me hope for the future. Not all movies can do that, but there are some real gems out there if you take the time to look for them.

Remember

The Shack

It seems like lots of people have been reading and writing about Wm. Paul Young’s bestseller, The Shack, so I thought it was about time I gave it a look. I’m about half way through and it’s been okay so far. I can understand why so many people are getting excited about it.

My favourite quote so far is where Mack is questioning the Trinity about their chain of command and Jesus replies with: “Once you have hierarchy you need rules to protect and administer it, and then you need law and enforcement of the rules, and you end up with some kind of chain of command or a system of order that destroys relationship rather than promotes it. You rarely see or experience relationship apart from power. Hierarchy imposes laws and rules and you end up missing the wonder of relationship that we intended for you.”

Unfortunately that sounds all too familiar. Anyway, I hope I enjoy the rest of the book.

A worthwhile time away

I just got back early on Saturday morning from almost a week away at the Brengle Institute at Jackson’s Point Conference Centre. It was very different from what I expected, in a good way. It is, and probably will remain to be, one of the highlights of my 10 years or so of full-time ministry so far. It was good reconnecting with a few of my best friends from college days and just hanging out with them, catching up with all that’s been going on in the past few years, and remembering some good times. We were also able to catch up with one of our session-mates from college days who is not in full-time ministry now. It’s the first time we had seen him since his resignation, but we all had a great, but short, time together and were pleased to see him in great spirits.

The Brengle experience was quite stretching in ways I never expected. I especially enjoyed the sessions that focussed on the practical aspects of holiness. Holiness is not some kind of abstract thing, it is a life lived.

General Tillsley was the keynote speaker at the welcome meeting. He is still an awesome speaker in ‘retirement’. His best quote was “When it comes down to it there are only two types of churches – loving churches and unloving churches.”

Some of the best times were in the sharing of stories and experiences. It was good to be in an environment where there was no wariness about sharing openly and honestly. As well as renewing some old friendships, I was able to begin some new ones.

The only kind of negative thing about the whole experience was the crammed schedule. There was little time for reflection or times of quietness. Sometimes the changing of gears was very difficult. I did manage some times of reflecting and journalling. I even managed a little poetry writing, which I wish I was better at.

The chapel services, which were led each day by the Smartt’s, were also challenging and inspiring. One day we were challenged to answer the question ‘Who do I reflect?’ Whilst pondering this I was inspired to write the following:

When you look at me

Who do you see?

An angry, bitter guy?

One whose soul is dry?

 

When you look at me

Whom would I have you see?

Am I showing any love

That reflects the one above?

 

When you look at me

I wish that you would see

A life so full of joy

Nothing that would annoy.

 

When God looks at me

I pray that He would see

The real me that He made

Devoid of all charade.

Thanksgiving

We watched this video in church today as a conversation starter and tied it in with Luke 17:11-19 and Deuteronomy 8:7-18. The conversation went well and it seems that more and more people are open to sharing. For our time of prayer/reflection I invited people to write things they are thankful for on a large whiteboard I placed at the front of the church.

Whilst we were sharing in a prayer time after church, the real estate guy showed another prospective buyer around the building. Things are moving slowly and we got the plans for our new place from the architect last week which are now 99% completed. We have a meeting soon to finalise these. The contractor anticipates getting the work started late November/early December. It seems to be taking a long time, but that’s life sometimes.