February 21, 2010 · 2:17 pm

Listening as I work

To Joan Baez’s Album Day After Tomorrow 

This may not be orthodox theologically but I love the song. 

God is God – lyrics by Steve Earle

I believe in prophecy.
Some folks see things not everybody can see.
And once in a while they pass the secret along to you and me.
And I believe in miracles.
Something sacred burning in every bush and tree.
We can all learn to sing the songs the angels sing.

Chorus:
Yeah, I believe in God, and God ain’t me.

I’ve traveled around the world,
Stood on mighty mountains and gazed across the wilderness.
Never seen a line in the sand or a diamond in the dust.
And as our fate unfurls
Every day that passes I’m sure about a little bit less.
Even my money keeps telling me it’s God I need to trust.

Chorus:
And I believe in God, but God ain’t us.

God in my little understanding, don’t care what name I call.
Whether or not I believe doesn’t matter at all.
I receive the blessings.

That every day on Earth’s another chance to get it right.
Let this little light of mine shine and rage against the night.
Just another lesson
Maybe someone’s watching and wondering what I got.

Maybe this is why I’m here on Earth, and maybe not.

Chorus:
But I believe in God, and God is God.

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February 19, 2010 · 10:04 pm

My head feels fuzzy but I keep plugging away at all this course work.

Maybe the long title is an indication that I can’t think well enough to come up with a catchy title.

But…

Tonight I faxed off my final quiz in Greek.  Yeah!  That feels good.  Of course I still have a few pages of a review section in my workbook to complete and then all those pages need to be packaged up and sent off for marking. 

It feels as if the end is in sight.  In that class at least.

Meanwhile, I am getting geared up for the term paper; reading like crazy. 

The Old Testament class is heavy on reading too and there are constant assignments it seems.  We need to interact on-line at least twice a week and have a Skype connection with a smaller group once a week.  I’m not sure it takes any less time than attending a class full time – just that all the other stuff of life is also going on – and that is where things get complicated.

Of course it would not be bad if I wasn’t working about 45 hours a week on top of studying.

My head feels a bit fuzzy tonight.  I think I’ll go have a glass of wine to clear it.  Then to bed.  Tomorrow promises to be a repeat as far as studying goes.

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February 15, 2010 · 8:32 pm

A couple of quotes

From Roxburgh and Romanuk (The Missional Leader) on the changes a congregation must undertake to move from church as we know it to becoming a church sent into the world:

God enters among people who don’t get it, who are often compromised beyond hope, and there God calls forth new imagination. Christian imagination is about announcing that God does a new thing by entering into the very real places where we are formed, to transform them. p31 

And this one:

Culture change happens in a congregation when God’s people shift their attention to elements such as listening to Scripture; dialoguing with one another; learning to listen; and becoming aware of and understanding what is happening in their neighbourhood, community, and the places of their everyday lives. Instead of seeing these places and relationships as potential for church growth, they come to be seen as the places where God’s Spirit is present and calling us to enter with listening love. This shift sees God at work in one’s context and seeks to name what God might be up to. It is about seeing the church in, with, and among the people and places where we live, rather than in a specific building with a certain kind of people. p 63,64

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February 13, 2010 · 10:34 pm

Another week is just about done

Today has been quite a day.  I’ve done pretty much nothing but studying. 

It seems as if this is what my weekends are going to be like for awhile.  But I got two of my readings done for my Old Testament class, pretty much completed my next to last chapter of Greek and finished one of the books that was required reading for the Missional class. 

Good thing it was rather cold outside because I didn’t miss much by not going out. 

And since I am covering call for R who is off to a romantic getaway I am also glad it has bee a quiet day as for emergencies.  Not a one to disturb my working brain.

Just thinking that this is really a pretty lame excuse for a post.  But I am still here.  Just not too much of interest to share with anyone.

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February 7, 2010 · 10:43 pm

My Saturday Blessing

As a congregation we go to make and serve soup about every 6 weeks or so at the Salvation Army Outpost down on Central Avenue. Yesterday this was our responsibility again. MJ was there early making the soup. I got there at about 10 am. There are things to do ahead of time – buns to cut, butter and prepare. Tables to set up, coffee and juice to make. There were about nine of us – all ages pretty much – getting ready.

We served 150 or so bowls of soup. It was great soup too. I had a bowl myself sometime in the course of the day.

At some point in the process of serving bowls of soup, I sat down to chat with an older woman who had brought her own package of what looked like chicken strips and fries. Maybe she was just there for the coffee, who knows. But she was there and not a real part of the usual street people crowd. I made some small comments about the weather asking how she was doing, etc. Just small talk to say how are you.

She began to chat, telling me about her husband who was now up in a nursing home. Perhaps her own memory not so sharp any more since she couldn’t remember the name of it, just that it was by the hospital. She had children who “followed the Lord” going on some mission trip to someplace that she couldn’t remember either. She sort of rambled on for awhile and I found myself having to make a deliberate effort to give her my attention.

I wondered a bit if I should take my leave from her and get back to my business of serving soup but she seemed lonely and needing to talk. So I figured that talking to some lonely woman was at least as important at that moment as serving someone food. So we talked and as I finally got up to go back to work, she thanked me for the visit saying, “I don’t get to talk to someone very often. I’m just an old woman and most people don’t bother to be nice.”

That was my blessing for the day.

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February 2, 2010 · 5:39 pm

A lost boy or just a loser?

Thank God that my children are not total idiots like the young guy I saw today. He was squeezed into my full schedule as an emergency. Got in a fight Saturday in Edmonton. Says proudly that, yeah, he threw the first punch and the taxi driver is charging him. But he won – so he says.

Except he has a front tooth pushed back a few millimetres so that now he can’t really close his teeth together. And that tooth is (surprise, surprise) dead and needs a root canal and braces to realign it – or it will need to come out. Oh, yeah and a black eye.

His idea of winning is totally lost on me.

Sounds to me as if he is one big loser – or at least horribly lost.

Can’t help reflecting that this guy is so far from the kind of human being that I believe God intended any person to be. Evil comes in different forms but causing such human waste is part of how I see evil at work.

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January 31, 2010 · 7:55 am

I am still here

Things are getting a bit crazy but I am still here – up in my little study.  Studying.

There has not been a lot of time for anything else although I am speaking this morning.  Fortunately when one takes a seminary class, it provides lots of stuff to speak about.  At least in this case when the class is about the missional church.

The class I start tomorrow may not – Old Testament I.  It will be heavy on history and I am not a historian.  However I have my own personal historian on site and I think he will like me asking him all sorts of questions.

I am also working to finish up my Greek class as quickly as possible to get it off my back.  Three classes at once since I am still needing to write my term paper for the class I took in January.  

I may not post very often.  I won’t likely do anything much but study and work I guess.

 

On the bright side, Leo and I booked our flights for Europe this July.  We are going.  Belgium, Portugal, Spain, England.  Hope we can do it all in 6 weeks. Toronto is on the list to visit as well on the way back.

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Filed under Day to Day, Studying, Travels

January 23, 2010 · 12:55 pm

Gateway’s Business

Today is a snowy day for our church’s annual meeting.  We meet in a few minutes and I am sure that the business we will deal with will help us in our activities for the coming year. I think we have some new members joining us this year and that is a good sign.

DSCN1997

But are we ready to get out of the building and really get out into our community?  I hope so.  There is much to do in this city and our faith needs to be translated into ways that can be understood by those who do not know the life changing activity of Christ.  And they can’t know if we don’t live it out ourselves.

So, here goes.  The organization that we call Gateway Covenant is really more of a community and yet we do this business stuff, which is not very exciting unless we can translate that into action.

I guess I may be elected again to council too. 

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January 21, 2010 · 8:01 am

Solitude

I got this little bit of wisdom from Henri Nouwen this morning:

The Voice in the Garden of Solitude

Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness."
Let’s keep returning to our solitude.

This is where I am needing to go again.  Into solitude.

Just seems that no matter where I go these days I take a little Greek voice in my head that repeats constantly, “You should be studying” (subjunctive mood by the way)

I need to finish this course so it will be silenced.

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Filed under Devotional Reading, Quotes, Studying

January 18, 2010 · 10:23 pm

Back again

I got back from Chicago late last night.  It was a long day of waits in airports starting at 2 pm and ending at about 2 am in the early hours of the morning.

Back at work this morning and it was a busy day, what with one assistant sick.  At least my hand is almost back to normal – except if I push against the first knuckle just so – then it kind of gives out on me.  But I can manage.  And it is getting steadily better. 

The day has been long and I am off to bed shortly.  I am back at the studies – Greek and the Missional church and soon will have to add Old Testament to the mix.  Got to get this Greek done, and the term paper for the missional class before I am overwhelmed. 

And did I mention that I am tired?

 

Nite all.

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