LineaLanoie's Weblog

Tonight I have been busy – not much time to spend in front of the computer.  Worship practice and then coffee with a friend and a good long chat. 

I have been reading Blue Like Jazz again – I picked up a few copies so I could give some away.  As the book opens Donald Millar says in his first paragraph;

“I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seemed God was down a dirt road, walking toward me.  Years ago he was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear His singing.  Soon I will see the lines on His face.”

It just occured to me that “close enough to hear His singing” is already a sweet place to be.  And as He gets closer how much better it will become still.

Maybe friendship and a good chat is a small preview of heaven too.

Jordan Cooper has linked to a very interesting and imformative article on women in top positions in the workplace.  Read it here.

Now, I’ve got to run back to the business I partially own.  It gives me the luxury of running home at noon to eat leftovers – just a five minute drive from home.  The down side is that if I’m not working, my staff, who need to work to live, end up shorted on their income.  And expenses go on and on.  So sometimes work becomes a slave. 

Randall reflects in his blog on what pastoring us has been like over the past six years.  What he says is pretty much true. 

One of the things I was reflecting on this morning were the following verses from Hebrews 12.  I think this is also true of the work he has done  – he has led us a lot by example. 
Hebrews 12: 12 and 13
“So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.” (NLT)

Last night as our group of women met, one of the things we discussed was our need to live our faith in such a way as our children will see it and will see the power of God working in us.  We were looking at the way the ressurection changed the lives of the disciples – they never went back to unbelief that Jesus was the Son of God after seeing the ressurected Christ.   They went on to change the world and so here we are.  I like those couple of chapters in Hebrews where we are reminded of how we follow each other on this path of faith – a great cloud of witnesses has preceded us.  And it reminds me of how I also want to be part of this succession to those coming long following me.

This afternoon, I spent a good part of the time sitting in my office chair – it’s a big old recliner, not a work chair – reading.  The CD player was on and I listened to U2, a Worship Together disc and Joshua Bell’s Gershwin Fantasy.  In the living room are three sleepers – Dave, Annette and Kieran, our grandson.  This is the way I love Sunday afternoon’s to be.  Lots of good reading time, cozy and quiet.  And I was commenting to Leo that it feels good to have our kids home under our roof.  Its one of the nicest things about having them return to worship with us – besides the faith which is coming to life in them – these Sunday dinners together and then a quiet lazy afternoon.

God’s grace is an incredible gift.  Now this is a fact I have been aware of for a long time but today he just showered it on me in an incredible way.  Something old, hanging on to me, that I needed to get rid of.  Something that it is good to be free of!

It made me put on some U2 and listen to their song Grace”

Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace, it’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside Of karma, karma
She travels outside Of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stains
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace finds goodness in everything

What left a mark no longer stains” 

It can’t get any better than that!

Today was another school day – up at Vincent Massey checking on kids teeth again.  Today only 28 little and bigger mouths to check – not like two weeks ago when we hit an alltime record of 57. 

But after checking out teeth came the more difficult part of my job – helping to deal with some conflict that has been building between staff. 

They say that Scandinavian people do not deal well with conflict – that part of me that is Swedish sure doesn’t.  I hate it.  It is stressful and generally makes me feel depressed even if I have no part in the conflict. 

So that is what I was doing for the last two hours of my day.  Actually, I have been working on this particular problem since the middle of December.  Collected some data, talked to some of those involved and wrote up a small report.  I’m glad I did that background work.  It gave us a starting point in our discussion and since I tried to focus on how we were falling short of meeting certain objectives rather than on the personality clashes, we had a non-threatening document to look at.  It helped us to have some positive common goals to strive to reach.  Rather than focus on the failures of part of the team to meet expectations, we were able to consider ways to solve the problem and meet our goals. 

Now all I have to do is sit down with the administrator and work out a way to put some changes into effect.  Then we have to try and get the two people with the hardest heads to work together. 

Well, can’t say we don’t have high ideals! 

You know, getting women to work together in peace is tough.  I hope I can say that since I am a woman.  Men seem to look at conflicts such as this more objectively and fight and get over it or get out, I think.  The women I have to deal with – employees and other women I supervise – seem to harbor such grudges and stew over them longer.

Me – well I just store it up till I’m home.  Then watch out kids and hubby!  You may be the first moving targets I see and you are going to get fired on.

Of course now I can blog about it and get rid of all that stress.

Leo scared them enough to make the front page again.  This time he is talking about the flu pandemic of which he says “it’s not a matter of if, but when, the pandemic will occur”.

If you read the Prince Albert herald you can read it all on the front page.  Most of you are not so priviledged – so sad.

Anyway to those of you out there suffering now from the flu – what you have is not the big one.  But next year get that flu shot.  And please wash your hands!!!

There seems to be a lot of talk about women in positions of leadership in the church emerging or not.  And on how men and women can or cannot be mentors to each other.

As to leadership – we don’t check our brains at the door of the church you know.  We come with all the skills and talents we put to use out in the big old world business savvy,  ability to create, abilities to work with people, abilities to nurture and lead others, even abilities to use technical skills, etc, etc.  We can do pretty much anything we wish to do and often can do it better than a man.  Just as men can do pretty much anything they wish to do and often can do it better than a woman. 

The only roles where we cannot cross over are specific biological ones related to gender and reproduction.  Pretty much every thing else can be done by a person of either sex. The job may be done differently but still be well done. 

In spite of a lot more restrictive traditional roles of women in the world of New Testament and Old Testament culture, women played a variety of roles from prophetess to mother.  And Jesus didn’t let the men around him put women down not a single example that I can think of.  On the other hand the Pharisees and leaders were always being put in their rightful places. 

If God created us to have all these abilities and skills, does it not make sense that he would expect us to use them?  I believe God calls women to do things for him as loudly as he calls men.  An obedient woman should follow God’s call in spite of obstacles the world puts in her way. 

There are women where it is very obvious God has called them into ministry and blessed them with special gifts in this area.  But there are not many women in ministry relatively speaking and if there is no one available to teach me does this mean that I should not be led into a deeper relationship with God by discussing my faith one on one with a male pastor or friend? 

I know the dangers.  But if there were no female physicians and I was ill or in need of medical advice would I not go to a male physician?  I know there are strict standards of ethics and would expect him to abide by those.  I also know that a male physician is aware of the risks and takes precautions to protect himself.  Intimate one on one sessions would be taking a risk and could result in disaster.

In my profession, when I go to meetings, I often will find myself sharing information with a male colleague after all, women are still in the minority in dentistry too.  I don’t know that I would put myself in a position where I would go off into a bar with a male colleague in a one on one situation unless I knew the guy well.  If I knew him well and went anywhere with him it would be because I trusted him.  I also would have to trust myself.  My choice to be joined to and love one man is serious and I know that I will not violate that promise made to my husband.  I trust myself to keep this promise.  My husband trusts me too.  This mutual trust gives us a lot of freedom to be with people of the opposite gender without feeling that by entering into deep discussions or a one on one situation we are somehow violating our exclusive relationship with each other.

I would hope that pastors and others involved in ministry (male and female) could have this type of relationship too.  A freedom to be with other people because they know they can be trusted to keep promises of fidelity to a spouse, to themselves and to God. 

Thats a bit of a long rant – but off my chest!

Parenting is such a complicated job.  Just when you seem to be going along well, up comes some huge snag and all the answers you thought you had just don’t seem to be relevant any more. 

All I really hope to do is give my kids a solid basis on which to make good decisions.  But it seems that I come across as grumpy half the time and who wants to follow a model that is grumpy?

It is so much easier to be a dentist than a parent.  I do what I know how to do – what I’ve been trained to do.  I can do it well and I can find out how to do things if I am uncertain or if there are new methods.  I have textbooks, continuing education courses and lots of information.  So I can confidently do what I do to the best of my ability and feel good about it.

I have no idea if I am doing the right things as a parent.  I barge in and do what I think is right and seem to make mistakes left, right and center.  And I have no idea if I am actually making mistakes even. 

Anyone have the latest manual?

I really enjoyed reading a quote from an article about Barbara Brown Taylor which Steve has posted over at Ponder This.  I especially like this :

Her authenticity is especially evident as she explores the ambiguities of life. Taylor is uncannily comfortable with the many philosophical tensions which are part of the Christian faith: grace and good works, the already and the not yet of the Kingdom, the unity and diversity of the Trinity, the enigma of `unanswered’ prayer, and a host of others. Rather than succumbing to the pressure most preachers feel to explain these conundrums, Taylor does the most disarming and effective thing possible. She explores them, then simply says, “I don’t know”. In leaving these mysteries with the listener, she encourages contemplation and prayer and faith, and avoids the presumption of speaking where God is silent.

It is from this heart of worship that Taylor does her most effective work. Her goal is not to tell the listeners what to do, but to lead them into an experience of God. As Taylor writes in The Preaching Life, “where [a good] sermon finally leads both preacher and congregation is into the presence of God, a place that cannot be explained but only experienced. When a sermon like this is over, it is not over. Everyone involved in it goes away with images, thoughts, and emotions that change and grow as the process of discovery goes on and on and on.”

Steve has underlined his favorite parts from the article.  My favorite – the fact that she will say “I don’t know” and in so doing encourages contemplation and prayer. 

Maybe it is a in a woman’s nature to be content with not knowing, with accepting mysteries.