[THO] Paved Paradise

I have that old Joni Mitchell song playing in my head ever since reading about the ways we are destroying our last fresh water supplies. Probably a good thing, I need to have reminders like this to remember that warm water pouring over my head in the shower comes at a greater cost then the pittance we pay for it represents. Yet, let's be certain that the major players in water waste has to be industry, especially the agricultural industry.

Yeah, I've been reading Blue Gold (Maude Barlow & Toni Clark) in preparation for a paper I'm doing on the ethics of bottled water. It is so easy to ignore the basic facts of our situation. We simply don't want to think about it. Like Joni says, "you don't know what you've got til its gone." This makes me both sad and angry, especially at my complicity in this whole mess.

Studies have shown that simply by laying down pavement we are depleting the total sum of available fresh water on our planet. Water is not able to trickle down into the aquifers, instead we redirect it into rivers which take it out to sea where it becomes salinated, usable only at great energy cost which compounds the problems. Energy use is implicated in the overall warming of our planet which is decimating the great polar caps and glaciers at an alarming rate. For those who think the water levels won't rise, remember much of this mass of ice is over land (Greenland for instance) and will affect the sea level - don't take my word ask a Vanuatian. Sea water also intrudes on the sea coast aquifers we are draining faster than nature can replenish, this is a big problem because we absolutely need fresh water to survive.

So as I dried off from my costly shower, I made myself a coffee and came down to type this up on a computer (the IT industry is very water wasteful) and remember that my body is mostly made up of water! Something to think about.

[THO] Guest Post at Theology and Faith

My contribution to Ben Meyers' recent series on transitions from one faith tradition to another is up. Check it out!

[LIF] Party Review - 5 out of 5 stars!

I have the most awesome wife ever! And I have some very incredible friends! Sharon invited a cross section of my friends, which was amazing. And Bergen and Anastasia helped her serve up an awesome dinner party, one that I'm sure we all will remember for a long time to come. Many, many thanks!

My night started when John and Mari showed up in their orange Element. John came in to get me and Mari wouldn't tell me where we were going. Sharon had left a earlier in the day to make ready at some unknown location. When we finally got there I recognized it was at Bergen and Anastasia's place, a para-transport was parked up ahead and I was excited because that meant my friends Andrew and Lori would be there as well! But alas the bus was there to pick up someone else.

We started into their building and missed the Diagon Alley sign Sharon had put up. But we didn't miss the Leaky Cauldron sign on the door to Bergen's place. So I knew it was a theme. When we went in Anastasia had her shirt on funny, she said it was to dress like the muggles who might show up. Sharon and Bergen also had some interesting arrangements to their outfits. Just inside I instantly saw Andrew! Yay. Andrew and Lori were there as well as Timo and Leah and Jeff and Melanie. This was going to be good. We started chatting and finding our places, the tables all had these amazing name tags on them - Sharon had worked hard! Soon Byron, the best next door neighbour in the world, came holding a beautiful wine box spouting Wild Thing! He had rigged it with a Hallmark gift thing and had a nice bottle of chilled sparking wine inside. Steve came and then my friend Richard to finish the even dozen dinner guests.

Gifts came out, including an expansion to Space Munchkin, a bottle of Port, a beautiful leather bound NET Bible and a copy of Dale Carnegie's Pathways to Success in hard cover. This was really cool because at Chapter six "How to make people like you instantly" there was a surprise! Let's just say you can't read anything past that point until page 535 which has the heading "I Found the Answer". Mari and John really know how to make Carnagie useful.

We were seated and the fun really got underway when out came a cake, black icing, huge candy cockroaches and enough candles to start a serious housefire! It was awesome, I did manage to blow them all out but just barely. I bet there were actually 40 candles on it!

Next the menus magically multiplied for our tables. They consisted of a list of Harry Potter references: Gillyweed Goop, Holly and Pheonix, Firebolts, Puffskein, etc. You got to pick three things and hope that one was a drink and the other utensils, you had three chances in this nine course meal. Timo's table found no cutlery the first go around, but they found out that the Daily Special was messy ice cream cake - fun to eat with your hands!

We figured out the beer was Boarshead (Moosehead beer) so we were set after that. The meal was awesome! We finished the courses, laughing up a storm. After the kitchen was opened up and we all ate our fill.

The best part though had to be surrounded with so many good friends from all over the landscape of my life. Bergen I met at St. Paul, Rich online as a fellow gamer, Steve I've known forever and he stood with me at my wedding, Timo was part of the old Vineyard and has been a good friend for years, Leah was part of the original Freedom Vineyard team, Lori was my friend at St. Paul and the Vineyard, Andrew was my pal from when I taught computer stuff, Jeff is my gamer buddy, Melanie I met through Jeff and is quite a poker player, Byron was the best nextdoor neighbour ever, Anastasia was part of my original D&D group, Mari is a really cool neighbour who became friends with Sharon and her hubby John is a gamer buddy playing in my current D&D campaign. And of course my dear wife Sharon is the best wife in the whole world!!!!!

[THO] Anticipation

Sharon is planning a party for me tonight but there is a lot of secrecy on her part as to what it will entail. I am not even sure who is coming. The feeling is actually quite exciting and it reminds me of the anticipation of the Kingdom*.

Recently I've been chatting with a few folks about the misunderstandings of heaven. In our reading last Wednesday night Mark's gospel tells of an encounter with Jesus and the Sadducees where they try to trip him up over the issue of the resurrection. See the Sadducees didn't really believe in the resurrection, so they thought for sure they were going to nail this would-be prophet. But one phrase catches them and most of us, "You are badly mistaken!" (Mk 12:27b) A lot of us have our ideas of heaven so packaged up that we too are badly mistaken.

Heaven is not a straight forward concept in the New Testament. It exists in the beyond and the unknown. Someone asked if I believe in heaven, and I do. But I think we are often badly mistaken about the nature of heaven.

The primary reason is that we recognize the groaning of this world and it incites our flight response. Wouldn't it be great if we just got to completely start again? I think many of us are convinced that is exactly what will happen. There is a level on which this is true, but there is also the reality of this life that we need to take seriously. In fact it is this reality we should be committed to, because it is the only one we are fortunate enough to have agency in and towards. God knows that. He sent Jesus because of that. He sends us because of that.

Heaven is part of the hope package, but not in terms of a pie in the sky where someday we'll fly pipedream. No it is grounded in something imminently more real than that, and I find even more compelling. Heaven is part of the hope of the Kingdom. It is the utopian edge to this reality. Heaven for the OT prophets is the restoration of the goodness of the whole created order. When we see the Kingdom come, we see heaven break into our time healing, righting, loving and restoring! So indeed we taste the future that is coming in the present that is groaning, longing for the manifestation of all that is hoped to be. Unfortunately we live in the neverland of being badly mistaken and miss the fact that the gospel is supposed to be good news and not a story of destruction, decline and suffering.

In this sense Heaven, and the anticipation of heaven, is very much like me waiting for my party tonight. In some ways I can't wait. In others I am frustrated because it is not yet, which is so evident by my struggle with keeping the kids occupied while I await the promised event (they are mercifully eating lunch right now). Not that I don't enjoy this time right now, the time when the kids are doing things that grab my heart in a good way. Much like we should enjoy this life and the fundamental prelapsarian goodness that creeps around the edges of life. People are amazing. I spent last night with two of my dearest friends, and it was a really good time. But good as those things are the reminders are constant that we are only seeing in part. Injustice abounds at all levels of life. Including my own lack of patience with my kids. But I have hope, heavenly hope.

I have hope that tonight will be another night where the Kingdom of Heaven will shine in around the edges. But my anticipation is the edge that I want to focus on. We want to know who is in, who is out, who is coming, who is not. We want to know what it will be like, just like those Sadducees, we want to know who's wife she will be. But it is the unknowing anticipation that fills us with expectation of the goodness of God pouring forth. It is that sense that anything is possible, especially with God, that God calls us to live in. Not a waiting around for wings and a harp, but a looking for and forward to the Kingdom of Heaven breaking into the now with a taste of the future. We should stop pretending we know what beyond is like and enjoy the now God has graciously given us.

Otherwise we are just badly mistaken. I'm hoping you are not badly mistaken. God is good. We need to live like we really believe that. I'll try if you will? Let you know how the party tonight goes, and I hope to see you in the final party still to come!


* I know I promised a series on the Kingdom of God, and I will get around to it. But at this point things are just too hectic.

[THO] Antichrist

I spent yesterday reading Nietzsche's Antichrist, let me tell you he doesn't pull out any punches! I am giving a short presentation on Nietzsche's critique of Christianity Monday morning. I read a bit more than Antichrist, but the bulk of my analysis is from this work. I pulled out three key criticisms:

1) Christianity precludes the more rational atheism of Schopenheaur and Feuerbach.

This is interesting because from my reading on these young Hegelians, the Christian God is God in man's image. In fact Nietzsche's project seems to be a positive one of trying to adopt Schopenheaur's atheism without also taking up Schopenheaur's pessimism. But apart from my obvious objections to claiming atheism is the only rational option there is something valid about Nietzsche's critique. Christianity hasn't played well with the other disciplines, especially science. While we shouldn't have to sacrifice our theism to engage with science and philosophy, it seems that even in Nietzsche's day fear ruled this crucial relationship. Thank God there are those who have decided to broaden the dialogue partners of theology in our day.

2) Christianity focuses on an otherworld and ignores the natural world.

I've echoed this criticism many times on this blog. I don't buy Nietzsche's efforts to connect this to the slave morality of a vengeful priestly class, but it is an important criticism to consider. Are we too heavenly minded to be any earthly good? I think so. The track record of Christians in response to the environmental crisis is the strongest affirmation of this indictment. There is obviously a need for understanding the Kingdom of God, but it is too easy to miss that the Kingdom is a reality that breaks into the natural reality. It is too easy for talk of heaven to be a lotus causing us to miss the call of the prophets for justice and mercy.

3) The doctrine of sin prevents Christians from growing as moral individuals.

Nietzsche rails against the idea of pity. His concern is that this idea is used to make the claim of equality. Hence the slave morality is enforced and Christians remain content with their lot in life. While Nietzsche takes this in some bizarre directions, he is right that Christianity hasn't been good at developing whole, mature moral individuals. The problem is that we focus so much on personal sin that we miss that there is so much more to life. Nietzsche is heir to the Lutheran emphasis on personal sin, he knows what he is talking about here. We need to be careful not to miss the great themes of life and scripture, yes sin is part of that, but it is not all there is to the Christian life.

Nietzsche is a hard read, like I said earlier he doesn't pull his punches. While I am not convinced by his philosophy of morality, I do find his critiques worth wrestling with. Maybe I'll try something a little less inciting next time though.

[LIF] Eco Tip #1

One of the things that has been frustrating has been finding eco-friendly alternatives for products we use frequently in our home. We are a busy family and it so unfortunately we rely on things like our dishwasher and our vehicle. I posted a while back that we managed to lease a VUE hybrid, and although it is probably the worst of the hybrids, it is better than nothing. Next time we are hoping the plug-in hybrids will be out!

On the cleaning product front we had found one product we really liked and then it was discontinued in Canada. Imagine how frustrating that is. It was a People Against Dirty product, not sure why Shoppers kept their spray products and dropped the dishwasher soap, but they did in Ontario at least. Sharon works for Shoppers and still couldn't get it. The problem with a lot of eco-friendly stuff is that it just does not work as well. It isn't like we can use extra elbow grease in the dishwasher, so I am ecstatic to tell you about our find!

Seventh Generation makes a dishwasher detergent that is non-toxic, chlorine and phosphate free, not tested on animals, free of perfumes and dyes, and get this - it works! In fact it is probably one to the best dishwasher detergents I've used!

We picked it up at Rainbow Foods, it is a bit more expensive than your typical dishwasher detergent, but personally I think having a home planet is worth more than the added cost!

BTW if you have found other really good solutions for the toxic products we keep putting into our drinking water, please let us know.

[THO] Inconvenient or Irrelevant Truth?

We watched Gore's An Inconvenient Truth tonight in class, I've wanted to see that one for a while now. Gore does a pretty good job, although he speaks primarily out of a stewardship paradigm, that is the Earth is up to us to manage so that we have something for our children to inherit. He is also quite anthropocentric in his approach, dealing primarily with the potential impact on humanity. But that aside it is a good assessment of the ecological crisis.

But there is one assumption that I think is flawed. He calls us to a moral judgement of our ecological impact. He says that we have a moral obligation to this world, and assumes that the reason we don't respond is because it is highly inconvenient. He is right it is highly inconvenient, but I think there is a worse reason why so many turn a deaf ear to the ecological crisis. Too many see it as simply irrelevant.

Our culture gorges on decline narratives, we love to look at the signs of the times like the ecological crisis and imagine they are speeding along the demise of this fallen world. Why would we want to stop that? This is the danger of the otherworldly view we have of ourselves. We don't see ourselves as residents, but as aliens waiting for the real show to start. This is so incredibly sad.

The reasons for this are quite complex. The mechanised view of the world, the misplaced confidence in our ability to force our way through any situation and other ideologies have overwhelmed our sensibilities. They have blinded us from even getting to the point of inconvenience, we are still stuck on Gore's vision as an irrelevant truth.

[LIF] Busy, busy, busy

I imagine a number of you are wondering where all the posts have gone, I have been really busy lately. CanGames last weekend, exams this week and next, papers to write and a blog post for Ben Meyers to finish. But more importantly I have had to carve out time in there to be with my family. It is so easy to let the busyness of life override what is most important. So the other day when Chelsea asked me to pick her up from daycare early - I jumped at it. We went grocery shopping together and had a great time. Those moments are too few in life, I'm better one on one than with the whole group of us. So while it meant not getting a paper in this week, I think it was worth it. I hope you all don't forget the important things this week. No worries, I'll be my usual prolific posting self soon enough.

[LIF] Hockey and Church

Normally I don't follow sports, but when you pick up your four year old from pre-school only to hear, "Go Sens Go!", you realize that this is really big for your city. Last night was our service, but also it was the chance for the Senators to shut out Buffalo! I knew I was in for a competition, our hosts are really into the game.

I arrived late because one of the people I pick up was stuck waiting for her employer (she's a nanny). We arrived at church to find only a few brave souls risked missing the game to come out. And they were sitting, eyes glued to the game! Michelle asked me how churchy I felt tonight. I smiled and said we'll have worship at intermission, watch the second period (a really good one!) and then I'll give short message at the second intermission. And it was a lovely evening. Too bad the Sens lost, but they sure played a good game. The first period was sort of lazy, they were dancing around but not making any real progress. But something happened in the second period that energized them - perhaps it was the wonderful worship time we had (we missed some of the start of the second period, but the Sens waited for us to start scoring). I really enjoyed my own message, but perhaps it was a little flat for the Sens who couldn't overcome the one point lead of Buffalo. I'll try better next time lads.

Church is something that happens in the midst of life, so often we think that it is a separate event. This leads to a whole notion of separation that neuters our witness in the world. If we really believe that God loves the world, then we need to be like Jesus, right there in the thick of it. Sharing the triumphs and disappointments of life with all of humanity. Last night was a great lesson for me, not that I want to do intermission church again anytime soon, but that our lives are one, not two: one in the church and one in the world. But one and that glorifies God even when the Senators don't win.

Go Sens Go!

[THO] Good News on the Activist Front

Sometimes the state of our world can be pretty overwhelming. Illegal armed conflicts (yeah I'm talking to you G W Bush), ecological ruin, HIV/AID pandemic, oppressive systemic poverty, a culture that has sacrificed morals on the altar of Capitalism, so much in this world just makes you want to throw up your arms and quit. Once one gets past the initial shock a realistic view of the world affords, there comes a second realization: either we find some hope or we plug our ears and hope this is all just a bad dream. As a Christian, I believe hope is the order of the day. So I try to do my part. We replaced our van with a fuel efficient hybrid, we have been trying to eat locally, including buying local, organic meat. We have been ridding our selves of some of the nastier plastics, especially the ones we place our food and drink into. We don't drink bottled water. We have been opting not to use grocery bags (I always have a bin or two in the trunk) and I insist on ceremac cups for coffee - I've walked away from places that do not provide a reusable option.

But the other thing that I've gotten excited about is writing companies and the government on issues that I take seriously. I recently received a very encouraging response from the Environment Minister, John Baird, which echoes my concern over cluster bombs, now if we could only get him to be as concerned about the environment! Also a very quick response from Petro-Canada that since April 2004 none of their gasolines contain the neurotoxin MMT. I know where I am buying my gas from now on. All this reinforces my hope that even a single voice, like my own, can make a difference. For those that don't know MMT is used to increase the octane of gasoline and is one of the cheapest alternatives for that process - and the Canadian government was sued by big corporations whey they tried to ban it! We paid out something like $16million (tax payers dollars) to the companies we inconvenienced by telling them not to f^%& up our brains with toxins! MMT gets into our water and our air and causes Parkinson's like symptoms! I have been fuming ever since I heard that my taxes went to pay this fine. At least I know there is an alternative. The best I have been able to determine there is a bill to ban MMT going through the house - you better believe I will travel to protest if big corporations try to sue us over that one.

The state of our world should make us angry. Angry enough to do something about it. And our hope comes from a conviction that God works with us to make change happen. God longs for the liberation of all of creation. God cares about the world we leave our children. God is with us in the project of saving the world. That gives me great hope. The only throwing up of my arms will be to worship such a great and wonderful Saviour!

[LIF] House Concert

Last night Rik Leaf and Tina Newlove came to share their art with us. It was a really great evening and Rik, as you can see here, sang his heart out! Our church hosted a house concert, which is an idea Rik introduced us to way back when we were first starting out as a church. A house concert is friends getting together with an artist for an evening of stories and songs. Last night Rik graced us with poetry as well, and Tina painted the whole while.
I'm not sure what Tina was trying to paint (that doesn't sound right - I mean I am not sure I am interpreting this painting the same way Tina intended), but several things really struck me as the image developed. First was the variety of stances and ethnicity of the people in her image. One is turned away, one is very ceremonially dressed (ornate kimono, so beautiful BTW), and even one Christlike figure was looking out from around a big stone, which spoke to me of Resurrection as just being a normal part of this scene. Also earlier there was a face that emerged from the crowd looking up, it was in profile in the upper right hand corner. I kept seeing that as an image of the Body of Christ (the Church or the crowd!) looking up towards God. There was a sense of longing and expectation there. But then almost at the end of the night this face was swallowed up by houses. And even more startling, the stone of resurrection seemed to morph into a highrise apartment. I found this so encouraging, especially considering words that were given to me in Montreal and in a recent email.

After the concert we just hung out and chatted. It was pretty nice to just share a slice of life with these two travelling artists. Rik and Tina, you are both welcome at Freedom anytime!

[THO] EcoFraud

I keep finding myself more and more upset with our present government in Canada. Of course my current readings aren't helping! This semester I'm doing two courses in Ethics, one is a history of ethics and the other is more of a liberationist course on ethics and economy in a globalized world. Personally I find much of what happens in classic moral philosophy (ethics) becomes so focused on a particular ideology (deontology, teleology, etc.) that it is unable to cope adequately with the complexity of life. But that is to be expected from my background in liberation theology.

What kills me is that we continually work for solutions that are potentially worse than the problems! Take the new light bulb plan of the Harpur government. I haven't found any of these new light bulbs that do not contain mercury. Mercury is nasty shit! So how about one of these lights breaking in your kids room? It happens. Plus they might last a long time, but what do we do with burnt out mercury filled lights? I agree that we need to cut our power consumption, in fact I am planning on doing all I can to ensure we cut our usage at least by 10% this summer. But we have to step back and really think through the problems. That is where the liberation theology methodology really helps.

An easy way to understand LT methodology is with the slogan: see - judge - act. But this is not to be mistaken with an immediate response to a percieved need. LT is self-critical of its own responses. The problem with shortsighted responses is that they come back to bite us in the future - like those mercury filled bulbs! See is the most important part of this, you need to understand, really understand what is going on, what are the implications and who stands where in the situation. Obviously the government has a lot of balls to keep balanced in the air. I appreciate that, and that is why we elect a government. But we also expect them to think it through. It isn't about trying to make the least amount of voters pissed so you can get re-elected. It is about doing what it right for Canada and the world. Harpur and his Conservatives fail on both accounts.

LT methodology also adds another component. There is no LT without action, and we realize that actions sometimes create different injustices. That is why the cycle starts again and again. I wish our government would be more self-critical than trying to tread water until the poles seem to be in their favour. I really want a government that is willing to do what is right instead of what they can get away with.

I offer you the site EcoFraud, the Suzuki video alone is worth the browse.

[LIF] Dimanche du Bon Berger

Hey all, I have been enjoying my one week off immensly. I started by guest worship leading at Hosanna and ended yesterday guest speaking in Montreal. It was a hoot to have a translator and what a great congregation they have at Vineyard House X! If you live in Montreal I heartily recommend checking out this church. We went to Bofingers after for ribs, holy mackeral they were the best ribs I've ever had!

I have been reading Peter Singer's One World and it isn't helping my "America love" any. Singer can be a bit on the radical edge, but he makes very good points about the importance of Kyoto. I am still upset at my own governments half-ass efforts on issues of the environment. We really need a change politically. Thank God for David Suzuki who has the nuts to stand up against our environment "minister".

I have also been trying to get ready for CanGames which is next month. I am really excited because this year I am running five game sessions (D&D minis and Injurious). I'm still making terrain for our uber match, and I should have enough terrain at the end of this to last me a lifetime.

Classes start again for me tomorrow. I only have two left, History of Philosophy and the Ethics of Globalization (hence the Singer book). I am so stoked for the Ethic course as the prof. is a friend of mine from the school, she just finished her doctorate in Feminist Economics. I have a lot of respect for her work. Should be awesome.

My French studies are progressing, slowely but they are coming. I used powerpoint slides in Montreal and did most of the translation, with corrections from my friend Gabriel. I was happy that I did as well as I did on them. It is really painful trying to articulate something in a language that you have limited vocabulary with. I'm confident I'll get there by the end of the summer, I won't be conversational but I will be able to read. There is a lot of French radio for me to semi-immerse myself here in Ottawa. I just have to make the plunge into conversational French at home and with my francophone friends.

That's what has been keeping me from posting. I still have lots to do before I go back to school tomorrow night.

[THO] Worship Postlude - The Church in Worship

Some of you will remember the series I did on worship a while back. I explored a lot of different aspects of worship, from very practical to semi-theological vantages. And this past Sunday I was guest worship leader* for a local Vineyard. In fact my friend Tim was guest speaker and it was interesting the role the worship in song played in that service.

I had a wonderful backup musician, Nathan, playing djembe with me. We did a simple guitar/djembe combo for the music. That's the second time I've worked with Nathan and he is very nice to work with. In Hosanna's liturgy, the open with the singing but I had a sense in the prayer room that God was standing in front of the congregation with his arms stretched towards them - a sense of blessing. So I strummed a chord to get their attention, called the people to order and then prayed into that over them. Then we launched into our worship set. I punctuated it with the days reading from Revelation, however I'm not sure anyone but me knew it was the lectional verse. And we started very up and moved into some fairly intimate worship. I usually like to bring the congregation back to an up place before the next part of the liturgy (announcements in this case). But I had a sense we were going to rest for a while in intimate worship singing my friend Andy Winmill's song I Want To Be.

There was a word of encouragement spontaneously shared from the congregation and we moved into the song I thought we'd use for outro singing: Lord, Come Now. That one modulates a bit and I started it in G, so I had to distance myself from the mic on the chorus (such fun). And we finished up with some ad lib stuff based around the chorus from The Wall (not Pink Floyd). A nice place to end and 5 minutes early (I like to be on time).

So the pastor, Jimmy, got up and had some short announcements. But then one of the elders got up and shared his heart on some stuff the church has been going through. It was good, but long and heavy. During that time I'm praying for Tim because I didn't know if he knew this was on the agenda. Turns out he did, but it was an interesting space to start speaking from. So sensing this Tim asked me to come do another song - it was interesting how this made the shift that was needed. Roger the elder was basically calling the Church to turn to God in this time, and Tim would do the same in his message, but sometimes you need to transition and that is where worship in song can really help. So I came up with Nathan and we re-did a song from early in our opening set: More Than Anything. It was a new song, but being simple I noticed a high degree of congregational participation before, making it an obvious choice. It was really nice and this also allowed me to pull out Dwell for the outro worship (which it turned out fit beautifully with Tim's message).

The worship in song was weaved all through the service. I think that is so important for this congregation. When we are faced with difficult times, that is when we need the comfort that comes from God's presence. And singing is one of the easiest ways to mediate that presence. Well, at least in this church - they love to engage with worship. I think that is one the things I like best about going there to lead, I am always blessed by how much the congregation just wants to abandon themselves to worship.

When we are planning worship for our liturgies (services), one of the most important things is to be flexible. It is important to have that stability of structure, but some of the most important moments happen when we break out of the structure just a bit and make room for something fresh to happen. I've seen this in the celebration of the Eucharist where there is this sense to add or shift things just a bit, and those become so special and intimate times. Without the structure it is easy to get caught up in muddling through, but the structure gives us room to break out and open ourselves up to recognizing God in whole new ways.

Thanks Hosanna for letting me come share my gifts with you. I think I get the better deal cause I always walk away blessed.

*note: I am primarily referring to worship in song in this post.

[THO] Finally Done!

I'm looking down at my last exam. Don't worry it was a takehome, due tomorrow. I wrote in less than eight pages (Prof. Eaton appreciates brevity) a primer to Liberation Theology and a short essay on how we could do Liberation Theology from a priveleged society like Canada. The first essay is better, but I'm happy with them both. It sure feels great to be done. The second essay included a rant over the schenanigans our conservative government is pulling to try and bail on Kyoto. No kidding it will impact the economy, but I'd rather wrestle with the economy in my lifetime than leave a burnt out husk of a planet for my kids. Liberation Theology begins from righteous indignation, and that is right where I started today after hearing the news. Ok, got to get this to the school.

[THO] Our Debt to Humanism

I posted the following over on MySpace, mainly because of an ongoing conversation I have with some friends there. I often get called a humanist and a liberal over there which bugs me when it is done in a derogatory way. But actually I'm convinced we wouldn't have had a Reformation without Humanism. So here is a little piece to that effect. Love to hear your comments.

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This semester I took a wonderful course in Early Modern Church History, which is the period of Reformations in the Church. Some of it is very frustrating, especially how railroaded Luther gets (from all sides) and how short sighted a lot of the Reformers were (I have even less respect for Calvin after this course). But what is probably the most suprising insight is the debt those of us who come from Protestant traditions have to Humanism. I know this is a derogative name for some, but in reality there would never have been a Protestant Reformation if it hadn't been for Humanism.

Luther was a Nominalist, a school of thought that emerges from Humanism in response to Aristotelian Scholasticism. His Augustinian roots really forshadow this as the Augustinians tended towards Nominalism and the Dominicans were stuck on Aristotle via Aquinas. I'm not so comfortable picking sides, but I do live in a much different age. We have the advantage of hindsight with regards to some of the more regretable aspects of the reformations - especially the constant schisming that still occurs.

Also Zwingli was influenced by Erasmus. Erasmus, the father of Humanism, was the driving force behind vernacular Bible translations from the Greek, as opposed to the troublesome Vulgate. This led to insights like repentence being about metenoia not pennance, Luther made great use of this too. If you enjoy having a Bible in your own language then you need to tip your hat to Erasmus.

Calvin was also a Humanist, much as I am not a fan of Calvin, we do come by our solid pastoral formation practices from him. Even Trent follows Calvin's lead in this regard.

So next time you want to dismiss the Humanists, remember they are an integral part of our history. They made us think in new ways about the role of religion in the world. Sometimes we might not like where that landed us, but we would not have many of the things we take for granted if it were not for the Humanists in history.

[FUN] Birthyday Party

Each year the girls are allowed to invite one friend for each year old they are. For some reason my oldest is turning seven and having eight kids over (oh yeah, Chelsea didn't count - that makes sense). Because it can be quite a game keeping up with inviting who you are socially supposed to, we decided to opt out of that and let our kids decide. For the most part it works well. Elyssa has invited almost all classmates, including two boys!

We also try to do something really fun for the kids. So this one is a cat show. Each kid brings a stuffed cat and they are going to have games. I am so happy with the main game - a hunt for Peanuts. Peanuts is Elyssa's favourite stuffed animal, a white (used to be anyway) cat! Well Peanuts is going to disappear just before the party and when Elyssa asks for her we will tell her Peanuts is preparing a big surprise for her and hand her a DVD that she can watch with her friends. I'll post the video I made, it is hilarious. Basically Peanuts says for her birthday surprise she is playing her favourite game with all the kids - hide and seek. She gives a clue to lead them to the first egg, inside is a clue that leads to the next one. They aren't too hard, but full of flavour (Peanuts says Meow-pad all the time, that is in there!). I have five clue eggs hidden that lead to Peanuts.

Once they find her we will take polaroids of the kids with cats that they can stick on their Cat Show Registration forms. Then the pageant begins! It is going to be great fun. Now I'm off to carefully place the eggs.

[LIF] Plastic Nightmare

Recently we have been concerned about the amount of plastics in our diet. Rather the amount of and types of plastics that we surround our selves with, especially our food! There was a scary article in the Globe and Mail (Saturday, April 7, p.10-11) on the leeching of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic esterogen, into food and drink that is stored in it. The main culprit is primarily #7 plastics, there are exceptions in the #7 world but there is no easy way to determine that. BPA is a hormone so it doesn't behanve like other toxins where you need quantity to kill, hormones are best active at miniscule doses when they don't overwhelm the receptors in your body. They have been linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, early signs of puberty, declined testicular testosterone and damaged eggs.

We decided to rid ourselves of this pesky plastic and do some more research. Well, almost anything hard and clear is a #7, including the big water jug that we use as a reservoir for our Britta water cooler! That sucks, because you don't want to get me going on the evils of bottled water. Our kids cried when we told them we were no longer going to be using the cooler, they were equally upset when some of their favourite bowls and cups were also culled from the shelf. We are phasing out all the plastics on our shelves because of what our further research revealed.

Turns out #1, #3 and #6 plastics are also all bad! That included the bottle our organic ketchup comes in, other soft plastic containers and the fleece blankets our daughters sleep with every night!!! It is completely overwhelming. I realized through our children's tears that the reason we continue in this madness is that we have immersed ourselves in plastic, become so dependant on it, that we can't face that it is slowly killing us as a species.

While not all plastics are bad, and it is really hard to tell the difference right now. It is also almost impossible to imagine life without plastics. A lot of the convenience foods we eat (even canned food sits in a plastic barrier waiting for consumption) are housed in plastic of some sort. We are finding out how expensive it is to replace our containers with glass and stainless steel. But for me the health of my kids is worth it.

The most bizarre thing about this is that BPA is part of the hardening agency in these plastics, creating strong plastics that don't transfer any plastic taste to the products (those 'nice' Nalgene bottles are #7 for this reason). So we don't taste what is killing us. The Romans did a similar thing by transferring water through lead pipes, it might have been delicious but that doesn't mean it isn't deadly! Just a little food for though.

[LIF] Good Friday Sensory Service

Just put the finishing touches on this one. Should have a nice little group (8 or so) come and celebrate the passion of our Lord. As part of our service there are six sensory stations set up for folks to interact with. I'll have to post some pics of the stations later, but here is the flip side of our order of service sheet. I'm playing Peter Gabriel's Passion (soundtrack for the Last Temptation) in the background, that CD is contemplative and eerie all at the same time.

The Cross (mantle) – this cruel instrument of torture has become one of the most recognizable religious symbols. Often crosses are worn or carried by the faithful as a personal reminder of their faith in the crucified God. A small vessel of holy water rests at the foot of the cross; traditionally the holy water is used to mark your forehead with the sign of the cross.
Reflect: Jesus’ asks you to take up your own cross and follow him.

The Passion (tv) – soundless this film provides a visual depiction of the Stations of the Cross. This film gives a strong sense of the depth of suffering Jesus bore for us. Luther was very disturbed by the tendency, in his day, to beautify the cross (rosy cross, where we get Rosicrucianism), it is important that we never forget that the death of Jesus is an absolute scandal. Yet, Jesus willingly bore all the indignity of his passion for us.
Reflect: Jesus was willing to suffer the scandal of the cross for you.

Prayer Station (living room) – from the Eastern tradition, a small candle represents our prayers ascending towards heaven. Please light a small candle and melt the bottom of that candle to stick it to the board. Please make sure the candle is firmly attached before leaving this station. A pillow below the table serves as a kneeler for those who so desire.
Reflect: Jesus faced the suffering of the passion strengthened by a life of prayer.

Stations of the Cross (I-XIV) – for most of us a yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem is not feasible. The tradition of the Stations of the Cross comes out of a desire for the faithful to walk the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows). In many traditional churches the stations are sculpted into the walls of the sanctuary, seven on each side. The pilgrim is encouraged to stop at each station and reflect on the long and painful journey Christ made to the tomb.

The Garden (dining room) – Matthew, Mark and Luke each give us a rich narrative of night of our Lord’s betrayal. In this blended reading, we are encouraged to reflect on Jesus’ struggle with all that was ahead. Interestingly, only Luke adds the dramatic angelic visitation and “sweat as great drops of blood.” But this is fitting imagery for Jesus’ preparing to enter the God forsakenness of the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
Reflect: Christ knows intimately the struggle to do the right thing, no matter the cost.

The Eucharist (dining room) – The Lord’s Table is central to our Christian faith, it is also where the passion narratives start. For those wishing to participate in common cup, please use the provided clothe to wipe the rim of the cup. Other cups are provided for those who wish their own.
Reflect: Jesus’ longs to share this meal with you.

[LIF] End of Semester

Things are wrapping up, I wrote my last non-exam paper of the semester tonight. I have a bit over a week before my first exam is due. This is the time of the semester when the stress on my family is the greatest. Sharon hasn't seen much of me since the paper crunch and the times we have had together have been really catching up on what's going on in each others lives. That is freaky considering we sleep in the same bed every night. I really need to hire a sitter and take her out for dinner or something, just the two of us.

Today we went to buy me some much needed pants - a lot of my clothes are getting worn out simply because I don't have the time to buy new ones. I bought three pairs of jeans, good ones that will last a while. I need desperately to replace my orange GAP sweater, but they don't make the pullovers like that anymore. Sharon needs to get out shopping too, but our lives are pretty packed.

I have two weeks off after exams and then I take on two summer intensives. Good news is that will complete my degree, bad news is it will be June before I get a real breather. I'm just glad I don't have another year of my undergrad left.

J’ai faire bien progrès en français. Je pourrai pour comprendre la français. Bientôt, j'espérer. As you can tell it is still pretty bad, but a few weeks ago I wouldn't even know where to look to try and figure out to say that (whatever I said in them there words, Steve help me out buddy.) It is going to be an intense Summer. If I don't post so much it is because my head is buried in a book.