Opening Doors

 

 

7Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened for you Matthew 7:7

Since the atrocities in Paris two weeks ago we have heard the doors slamming shut around the world, and nowhere louder than in the United States. I am appalled by the xenophobia expressed so freely in the US these days, with Buffoon in Chief Donald Trump leading the charge. This is American Thanksgiving, a day to celebrate doors being opened and bounty shared by Native Americans with Europeans in desperate need, but that seems lost on many. 

Here in Canada it isn't as bad, but there are plenty of conversations where folk express their desire to keep doors closed. One member here offered wisely that many Canadians hide behind their own niqabs of internet anonymity to express their negative opinions.

There is an installation at the Aga Khan Museum which we unfortunately missed by days when we visited recently. It features the work of Abbas Kiorostami and it's called Doors Without Keys. Here is a portion of the description:

Walls and doors are both boundaries and barriers. Yet doors offer us hope of entry or of escape — hope for connection, for finding another world, for finding freedom. With this evocative premise, Abbas Kiarostami presents the world premiere of his installation piece, Doors Without Keys. Photographed over two decades in Iran, Italy, France, and Morocco, these weathered doors have been witnesses to the many lives lived behind, through, and before them. Presented at life size on canvas, they are works of art that transcend their origins of time and place.

 https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/abbas-kiarostami-doors-without-keys#sthash.UisCcVGt.dpuf



Perhaps we will get back to see it. I hope so.

What has your experience been when it comes to the current refugee situation? Are doors being opened or closed in your circle? What about your faith community? Is discipleship in Christ a door-opener?

The Beatitudes (BZV)

Baraka Kanaan

I like Brian Zahnd who is an evangelical pastor and writer in the States. He doesn't fit some of the stereotypes of the breed. He is thoughtful, opposed to violence and wrapping the flag around Jesus. But he loves Jesus and calls us to faithful discipleship. It looks as though he is in Israel and visited The Mount of Beatitudes once again. Here is his version of the Beatitudes, the BZV.

The Beatitudes (BZV)
Blessed are those who are poor at being spiritual,
For the kingdom of heaven is well-suited for ordinary people.

Blessed are the depressed who mourn and grieve,
For they create space to encounter comfort from another.

Blessed are the gentle and trusting, who are not grasping and clutching,
For God will personally guarantee their share when heaven comes to earth.

Blessed are those who ache for the world to be made right,
For them the government of God is a dream come true.

Blessed are those who give mercy,
For they will get it back when they need it most.

Blessed are those who have a clean window in their soul,
For they will perceive God when and where others don’t.

Blessed are the bridge-builders in a war-torn world,
For they are God’s children working in the family business.

Blessed are those who are mocked and misunderstood for the right reasons,
For the kingdom of heaven comes to earth amidst such persecution.

Brian Zahnd

These work for me. How about you?

Happy...Thanksgetting?

We have all heard of Black Friday in the United States, the orgy of spending following American Thanksgiving, which is the last Thursday of November. Black Friday has seeped north of the border, but is not quite the mania we witness in the States.

The frenzy seems to fly in the face of the true spirit of Thanksgiving, but the most outrageous admission that it is now about getting has shown up in an ad for Verizon. I was appalled when I saw their Happy Thanksgetting ad on television and wondered how a holiday of gratitude which once has strong spiritual overtones has become one more push to buy, buy, buy.

Should we be surprised though? Christmas has gone that way, and we see the encroachment into Easter.

What do you make of all this? Perhaps we simply hold fast to what is important to us, and don't worry about the commercialism. I am still shocked when it is so blatant, but perhaps it's time to let go.

What do you think?

A Firm and Generous Foundation

Yesterday the building which is Bridge St United Church was filled to overflowing with activity related to our 200th anniversary celebrations. There was a midday concert featuring our pipe organ and bell ringers. Then an encore of The Circuit Riders, a dramatic retelling of the story of early Methodism. The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, toured our sanctuary before joining us for our dinner.

The delightful surprise of the day was the "fair" which featured two dozen booths with exhibits from organizations which have received funding from the Bridge St. Foundation through the years. Because the Foundation funds national and international initiatives for health, shelter, play, we wondered how many exhibitors we would have. Not only did twenty-four organizations with a local base respond, the public came to view what they had to offer. One organization has received a number of grants for it's play program for children with developmental issues. The total for them is more than $30,000 through the years. Other have received a single grant as seed money for an initiative. The Alzheimer's Society was given a grant recently to get a Music and Memory program off the ground, and we are the only funder. Ten Thousand Villages was there, and a representative for a health program in Nepal, and a school in Central America.

In just over forty years the Bridge St. Foundation has fulfilled its mandate and ministry admirably, giving away approximately $5.5 million.

I know that the directors were gratified by the turnout and there was the pleasure of meeting the people behind the applications. The Grants Committee works so diligently to respond to the many needs, and falling interest rates has made this even more of a challenge.

I felt God's Spirit in that room yesterday. Thank God for the ministry of the Bridge St. Foundation.

"En Mutation"

A young dad in our Bridge St. congregation texted me the news about the purchase of a United Church building in a nearby town. An amalgamation of three congregations meant that a large and historic church structure was superfluous. These decisions are always tough and rather sad. It happens all the time though, but the newsworthy aspect of the story is that it was sold to become an Islamic centre. I texted back that I could hear stalwarts of the past whirring in their graves. That might not be fair. What do I know about their points of view on other religions? 

There is often pushback against selling churches to be used by other religions. A Baptist church near my former community was sold through a third party to a Muslim congregation and is now a mosque. Some folk were very unhappy and there was some pathetic vandalism when it became an Islamic place of worship.

The reality is that more and more church structures are being sold off in many parts of the world. In Quebec 434 churches were "en mutation," awaiting transformation into something else. A chapel in a former Grey Nuns building in Montreal is now a Concordia University reading room. The majestic Erskine and American United Church is now Bourgie Hall, Why not? And why not convert (no pun intended) a church to a mosque rather than a condo complex, as is happening in nearby Kingston? The Queen St UC Kingston (above) project is 35 luxury condominiums.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/an-architectural-conversion-for-quebecs-disused-churches/article27049161/


Bourgie Hall

In France there are thousands of near-empty churches which could be re-purposed as mosques, although there is resistance amongst elements of the very secular population. This will surely deepen in light of the horrendous killings in Paris this past weekend. But again, how can we begrudge people of faith using buildings to which our society has grown indifferent? http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-11/who-owns-france-s-churches

How would you feel if your church building became a mosque or a temple? Would you rather there be a faith-related purpose, even if it isn't your faith?

Coren's Epiphany

I used to watch the Michael Coren Show on television and then I stopped. Coren was a Roman Catholic, a theological conservative but a smart and articulate guy. He would include interesting guests in his roundtable discussions of various topics, including those who didn't share his perspective. I stopped watching because of his nastiness toward the United Church and his sneering blanket statements about those in it. I was also shaken by his vicious attack of a guest (not UCC) who made what were admittedly gratuitously disparaging remarks about RC priests. Coren was totally unprofessional, letting his temper get the better of him.

When the province of Ontario and eventually the federal government took steps toward making same-gender marriage legal Coren spoke at an anti-gay marriage rally in the area where I was living at the time.

I have noticed in the past couple of years that Coren has changed his mind and his theological outlook. He is still orthodox in his Christianity, but now an Anglican, in part because he couldn't reconcile his changing views on homosexuality with the exclusionary doctrine of the Roman Catholic church. I've heard him reflect on this, and read his reasonable views on the sex-ed curriculum in Ontario, along with other topics. I appreciate the intelligence I admired originally, but it is the --dare I say it?-- more inclusive and kinder approach that impresses me.

Coren may still have little use for the United Church for all I know. He is actually considering the Anglican priesthood. Still, I appreciate someone who can and will change his mind upon reflection and prayer. There is an article in the latest United Church Observer which is well worth reading called The Conversion of Michael Coren. http://www.ucobserver.org/faith/2015/11/michael_coren/

Coren has a book coming out (so to speak) called Epiphany: A Christian's Change of Heart and Mind over Same-Gender Marriage. I imagine it will be worth reading. I think epiphany is a better description of Coren's change of heart than conversion, but why quibble.

Thoughts?

Belief, Oprah Style

Life. Is. Busy.

These words really shouldn't mark the beginning of a blog entry, but they serve as a reason (excuse?) for being slow off the mark for musings these days.

Have any of you been paying attention to Oprah's series called Belief? The website is shiny and bright, as you might expect with the resources at her disposal. And the topics are intriguing. Here is a description of the series from the Huffington Post.

The production team condensed more than 800 hours of footage into seven one-hour episodes that feature, among other rituals, a boy preparing for his bar mitzvah in Budapest, Hungary, where a tiny population of Jews remain, and a former professional skateboarder from Northern California taking part in the hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The series also features lesser-known traditions, such as an Aborigine teaching his grandson ancient songs that connect them to their Australian ancestors, and a South Pacific religious ritual in which men — including a young boy — make a dangerous dive off a high tower of bark and vines in hopes of a successful annual harvest.

The series, co-produced by Harpo Studios and part2 pictures, also includes those who don’t embrace a particular faith, from an atheist climber who finds meaning as he mounts a desert cliff in Utah without harnesses or ropes to a father and daughter who take part in Nevada’s Burning Man festival.

The new series follows the trajectory of Winfrey’s career, which has included touring with former evangelical pastor Rob Bell and interviewing Pakistan activist Malala Yousafzai.

“Her passion has always been for faith stories and for the spirit, in the sense of spirit that animates people’s journeys,” said Marcia Z. Nelson, author of “The Gospel According to Oprah.”

As always Oprah is savvy about soliciting support, gathering one hundred faith leaders for screening of the episodes followed by dinner at her home. Who could resist? Oprah is also tapping in to the deep hunger of those who may not chose a bricks-and-mortar experience of religion or spirituality.

I'll probably take a look...when I get some time! Have you watched? Will you?

http://www.oprah.com/app/belief.html

Downton Big House in the Country

I believe the last season of Downtown Abbey has come and gone in Great Britain and is eagerly anticipated in North America, where PBS will once again be the host station. I suppose the Downtown junkies on this side of the Pond have already found a way to view the final episodes.

Have you noticed that there is next to no religion in Downtown Abbey, despite the historical fact that it would have been important in the lives of the aristocracy of that period? I do recollect some huffing and puffing about Roman Catholics by Lord Grantham and a "left-at-the-altar" wedding debacle in a chapel.

There is nothing, however, to suggest that worship and prayer and God Almighty made a scrap of difference in this fictional family's lives. And that is the scrupulously executed intention of the show. There was much soul-searching (can that phrase be used?) about using the word Abbey in the title, which seems absurd. No meal is depicted at its beginning because a blessing would have surely been said, yet can't be shown. Alastair Bruce, the historical advisor entrusted with the task of keeping God out of the Crawley's life comments:

In essence you hardly ever see a table that isn’t already sat at. We never see the beginning of a luncheon or a dinner, because no one was ever allowed to see a grace being said, and I would never allow them to sit down without having said grace. I think that the view was that we’d leave religion out of it, and it would’ve taken extra time too. I suggested a Latin grace, but they decided that was too far, and no one would’ve known what was going on.

Mr Bruce said that he was even banned from featuring napkins folded in the shape of a bishop’s mitre, for fear of breaching the religious edict. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/media/11997169/God-banished-from-Downton-Abbey-says-shows-historical-advisor.html



Why, oh why? Because Britain has become so secular that even these modest historical realities have been expunged so not to offend. Pulleeze. It's crazy because the British still observe Remembrance Sunday in an official way, and royal weddings get the full Church of England treatment in Westminster ABBEY.

My interest in Downtown Abbey waned after the first two remarkable seasons. I suppose I will say a prayer and watch the godless concluding episodes.

Does anyone else find this amusing and bemusing? Is it just not cricket, or a sign of the times?

Sacred Wonder

Teach me, God, to wonder,
teach me, God, to see.
Let your world of beauty capture me.
Praise to you be given.
Love for you be lived.
Life be celebrated, joy you give!

Walter Farquharson

"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." E. B. White

I've just started into William Brown's new book Sacred Sense: Discovering the Wonder of God's Word and World. Brown is a Hebrew scripture scholar, but in this book he looks at texts from older and newer testaments to explore the nature of wonder, not to mention wonder in nature. He is always an insightful and deeply spiritual writer and in the first pages this book doesn't disappoint. I'm looking forward to delving in.

There is always a danger in religion to forget just how central wonder is to the spiritual experience. Brown quotes Anne Lamott's Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers in which she reminds us that "Wow means we are not dulled to wonder." Great thought, but we often do have the shine rubbed off our sense of wow.

A few months ago son Isaac sent us a wee video of grandson Nicholas running back and forth between their house and the one next door. It was raining and water was gushing out of the downspouts from both buildings. Nicholas had to get his boots under both torrents and delighted in the race back and forth. Wonder and wow.

Wonder doesn't have to be complicated or involve a trip to a distant place and children and grandchildren can reteach us the spiritual pleasure of wonder.  

Do you still have the capacity for wonder and joy? Do you need a wonder transplant? What holds you back from wonder?

Crimes against the Planet?

Over time there have been trials for war criminals, bringing to justice those who have committed violence against other human beings. The most notable may be the Nuremburg trials, an international court of justice for those who perpetrated the Nazi atrocities of World War II. There have been prosecutions of individuals such as Slobodan Milosevic in the International Court of Justice, as well as those who were key figures in the mass killings of Rwanda. I pray that one day in the not too distant future the Syrian despot, Bashar al-Assad, will be held accountable for the crimes against his own people.

Is it enough though to address the wrongs committed against human beings? Will there ever be an international court of justice for those who willingly do harm to the planet? Recently we heard that scientists in the employ of the fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil knew of the impact of climate change for decades and that the company suppressed sharing the information with investors. Of  course ExxonMobil denies this.

I will be careful about comparing the conniving ways of a corporation to mass murder, but we do know that climate change poses at least as great a threat as war to the wellbeing of Planet Earth. At some point we have to ask how corporations are held accountable for their actions.

The attorney general of the state of New York is considering whether to lay charges against ExxonMobil. While I'm dubious about this because of the power of these corporations, we did see Big Tobacco brought to justice, after a fashion, for fudging the truth about their cancer-causing products.



Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York,
shown in May, issued a subpoena Wednesday demanding extensive financial records,
emails and other documents from the company. Credit Hans Pennink/Associated Press        

Justice is a central theme in scripture and God knows we need a new and more honest script for our planet. The greedy actions of corporations and governments are sinful in my view, but then I am a lowly pastor!

In my very first blog entry in 2006 I expressed outrage that Exxon had realized a ten billion quarterly profit despite the fact that the coastal waters of Alaska were still recovering from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and we are told that 25 years later the majority of monitored areas still haven't healed. We are now realizing that the effects of climate change far exceed that of any spill.  



Do we need to consider corporate greed and suppression of the truth as actual crimes, rather than simply calling it immoral? Are you encouraged to hear that a jurisdiction is investigating a corporation for contributing to climate change?

Since I wrote this earlier I've discovered that this topic was featured on CBC's The Current today http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-november-13-2015-1.3317292/allegations-exxonmobil-used-big-tobacco-tactics-on-climate-change-1.3317331

The Privilege of Giving

In the past couple of days we've been told that our new federal government in Canada is committed to bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees here before the end of the year. That is an average of 500 a day and honestly, as much as I would like this to happen I'm dubious that it can in a way that is in the best interests of the newcomers. I don't want this to be a determined attempt to fulfil a political promise if it any way jeopardizes the wellbeing of the people who are entering the country.

On the other hand, this may be the challenge that Canadians need. Yesterday I saw a list in The Guardian of the ten most generous nations on the planet and Canada was listed at number four, which ain't too shabby. We are surpassed by New Zealand, the United States, and (drum roll) Myanmar. Could you find Myanmar on a map!
http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/gallery/2015/nov/10/the-10-most-generous-nations-in-the-world-in-pictures?CMP=twt_gu?CMP=twt_gu

Don't get too puffed up now. Apparently we Canadians are more generous with our time than our money, and our charitable contributions are shrinking. I wonder if that's because the older base for charitable giving is dying off and younger people are less inclined to contribute financially. That's what churches are finding.  

Our Belleville United Church refugee sponsorship initiative is receiving lots of support. I'm hoping that folk open their wallets a bit more, but we are solidly on our way with furnishings and volunteers in every sphere of integration. Now we just need to get our family of five here.

I pray that we all realize the breadth of our blessings and respond with practical compassion. I don't think it's any accident that the majority of sponsorships are coming from faith-based groups. It is the mandate of most faiths and certainly a central aspect of Christianity.

We may be considered one of the most generous nations on Earth but we can't rest on our laurels.

Do you consider yourself generous or are you a piker? Do you give of your time, and talent, and money? Does your faith motivate you? Have you become more or less generous through the years?

As you know, I'm thrilled that you read this blog, but this is a time I would really like to hear from you!

Remembering...Jesus?

Many of us will be at local cenotaphs or taking time to listen and watch broadcasts of Remembrance Day observances tomorrow. It is a meaningful and touching experience. given that few of our World War Two veterans are still with us. This past Sunday we acknowledged the man who is our last WWII vet because the other two died in the past year.

There is a growing call for municipalities and businesses to lay off the Christmas decorations until after Remembrance Day, which still allows six weeks for the holly, jolly decorations. There has even been some public shaming of those who don't demonstrate sufficient respect to those who have served and the solemnity of November 11th. A store in Manitoba is quite direct in its choice to forgo Christmas decorations and merchandise.



Am I the only one who finds this a tad ironic? I'm all for honouring our veterans, but how about a little respect for the baby Jesus here! I'm not inclined toward the whole "war on Christmas" thing, but why do so few seem to care that the infant has disappeared under an avalanche of consumer hoopla and the frenzy to buy, buy, buy?

 We have turned Christmas into the very opposite of the child born in the simplicity of a manger, and preached a message of radical trust in God to provide. Jesus decried wealth and acquisition, and yet this is the defacto "reason for the season" in our culture.

Does anyone else find the indignation somewhat contrived, or just plain odd?

Will You Pray for the Climate?

During the month of November we are including prayers in our bulletin for the upcoming international climate change conference which will take place in Paris from November 30th to December 11th. It is known as COP 21, the twenty-first such conference of Conference of the Parties (hence the COP)  to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.



I have encouraged our folk to pray every day of this month and who knows whether anyone will take the time to do so. It does have a "dear God, the world is going to hell in a hand basket, so please turn the heat" feel to it. What exactly do we pray for? Do we actually have any faith that the leaders of nations will finally take off  their fossil-fuels rules, the-economy-is-everything blinders in order to develop a collective vision for addressing climate change?

It does seem futile when some scientists tell us that even if we repent and change our foolish ways as a result of the conference our planet home will continue to heat up and sea levels rise. Many scientists are convinced that many major coastal cities will be under water by the end of the century and nothing we can do today will change the outcome. They also tell us that there are record concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. As climate scientist and Christian Katherine Hayhoe points out, this isn't about whether we "believe" in climate change, it is about the scientific evidence.

I'm going to keep praying. I'm going to ask God to give me wisdom and determination to make a difference through my personal choices and in my expectations for every level of the governments for which I have the opportunity to vote.

I was convinced that the previous federal government willfully ignored and even suppressed the scientific evidence around the effects of climate change and became an environmental pariah amongst the nations of the world. I am encouraged that the new government will be well represented at COP21 and has invited provincial premiers and leaders of other parties. I'm choosing to view this as an answer to prayer, although it didn't quite fit my timeline! I'm not counting on miracles, but I will hope for change.

Will you pray for a practical agreement and effective change out of COP21? Are you dismayed by what you hear? Would you accept radical change in your lifestyle for the sake of the planet and future generations?

Discerning Eyes and Ears

Last evening more than 300 people attended a performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah at Bridge St. United Church. It was a big deal with more than fifty members in the chorus, four exceptional soloists, and a guest organist playing our restored Casavant. Our Music Minister Terry Head conducted and he did an impressive job of bringing the performance to fruition.

The composer Mendelssohn was born Jewish, but his family converted to Christianity. Elijah is in some respects an homage to his religious heritage, along with the "superhero" prophet whose story unfolds in 1st and 2nd Kings. Along with the key stories from Elijah's life, including the rescue of a starving widow and her son, and dust-ups with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, other biblical passages from Isaiah and the Psalms are interwoven in a deft manner. Of course the "still small voice" story is included and quite beautiful.

The dominant drama in the first act is the encounter between God's prophet Elijah and the prophets of the false god Baal. It is a story of blood and gore and it certainly caused me to ponder the "texts of terror" in scripture, many of them tribal and ugly. This portion makes good choral excitement, and it was musically stirring, but it sure doesn't seem consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is not a criticism of our performance of Elijah! It is a reminder that we must always read the bible with a discerning eye and listen with the perspective of Christ's call to a new way.

Elijah and Weather Warlocks

 

He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ I Kings 19:11-13

 

Tomorrow evening the oratorio Elijah will be performed at Bridge St UC and it will be a powerful musical experience. Elijah is one of those enigmatic and God-driven biblical figures who is a fitting subject for such a grand musical enterprise.

 

What did Elijah hear in the raging storm of the wilderness when he fled Ahab, the evil monarch? And was there music in the silence? Read this Orion piece about a musical initiative which "plays" the weather

 

QUINTRON, an experimental musician from New Orleans, has invented an instrument called the Weather Warlock. It’s an analog synthesizer that plays, and is played by, the rain, the wind, the sun, the slide of the thermometer’s mercury from one temperature to another. The synth’s base station, which lives in Quintron’s home studio in the Ninth Ward, is a box studded with knobs and switches. Fifty feet away, on the front porch, sensors mounted to a post detect changes in kinetic energy.

Says Quintron: “Analog electronics are breathing things, physical elements of the earth, very touchy and squishy and beautiful, and if you let them hold hands with nature, it’s pretty fucking awesome what they can do together.”
Indeed. For the past week I’ve been streaming the Warlock’s strange, dreamy, drifty, meditative music on my laptop, listening to it through headphones. A drone without beginning or end, an E major chord that goes and goes, it reminds me of the ambient electronica I loved spacing to back in high school. Lying in bed, eyes closed, the song spreads wide in the sky of my mind, morphing slow as a cloud, twitching with lightning, trembling at dawn and dusk. It rises and falls. It pulses. It pushes forward without thought or haste, twenty-four hours a day, all year round.

Says Quintron: “I wanted to make music that feels like looking at a fire or staring at waves, something where it’s repetitive and the same but also always fluctuating and bubbling with unexpected differences.” The Warlock succeeds in this task. It creates textures, fabrics of mood, not symphonies. In a sense, the instrument inhabits a space between nature and art. On the one hand, it gives voice to the more-than-vocal world: the latitude and dew point and moment-to-moment specifics of place that we don’t normally think of as music. On the other hand, the harmonies and tones the Warlock produces lack the structure and conscious intent of all that stuff we do tend to think of as music: the Mozart concertos, the Led Zeppelin riffs.

Says Quintron: “What happens when we take away the human design, the artistic choice to play this or that? What happens when an instrument’s not being played by anybody with any sort of emotion or desire, when it’s just kind of being plucked by blind random weather fairies?”
Eyes tight shut, headphones on, I feel as though I’m hearing this question both asked and answered. Despite lying perfectly still, some deep part of myself is in motion, moving as it has moved countless times before when those blind random fairies, those sprites called raindrops and sunrays and hailstones, plucked at the sensors of my own animal body. I dream. I drift. Memories come and go—lazy afternoons in a hammock, evenings floating across a calm lake, blizzards on alpine ridges, dry desert air, a double rainbow, a dragon of fog, a sweaty t-shirt clinging to my back as virga gauzes the far horizon.

Says Quintron: “I can imagine giving these synths to various climates all around the world. I can imagine tide sensors. I can imagine snowstorms.” The song swerves as a gust rushes up the street in New Orleans. http://weatherfortheblind.org/

Okay, the general weirdness of this, not to mention the use of the word "warlock," would have some making the sign of the cross. To me it sounds at least intriguing and maybe even fascinating.

What are your thoughts? Oh, tickets at the door for Elijah!

God's Hotel

At the moment I am reading the book God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine, a combination of memoir and treatise that reads like a novel by physician Victoria Sweet. The title, God's Hotel, is the anglicized version of Hotel Dieu, a name which appears on hundreds if not thousands of hospitals around the world. It reminds us that our modern hospitals have their roots in the medieval

I am enjoying this book because?...because. Sweet is an excellent story-teller and not afraid to take us along on a personal pilgrimage which is purposeful but not predictable. She ends up at Laguna Honda hospital in San Francisco which is an almshouse, the last of its kind, a shabby yet beautiful place which is "last chance" for many of its patients, and a refuge where grace is often evident in surprising ways.

Sweet agrees to work at Laguna Honda for two months and stays for twenty years. Along the way she gets a PhD focussing on the medical model of medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen. She explores the garden/gardener relationship of patient and physician in pre-scientific medicine, in contrast with our machine/mechanic model today. Dr. Sweet certainly values modern medicine but asks important questions about slowing down how we go about it, and how to take a more integrative and balanced and even spiritual approach. She also tells us about walking the Camino, the pilgrimage across Spain that our son Isaac and others we know have completed.

Sweet describes her approach as "slow medicine" and it bring to mind the CBC radio program White Coat, Black Art which looked at the Lean model for managing healthcare. It is based on The Toyota Way of efficiently building cars and is now being employed by hospitals in Ontario and Saskatchewan. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/from-assembly-line-to-er-1.2810299



I'm sure Lean has its merits for efficiency, but I'm not a vehicle, and perhaps because I have higher mileage I wonder about this approach. I like what Sweet has to say about the merits of inefficiency and would certainly commend her book to you.

Have any of you read God's Hotel? Does my description, which may be highly inaccurate, intrigue you?

Oink if you Love Jesus?

An Ontario woman, Anita Krajnc, has been charged with mischief and is awaiting a hearing after being a Good Samaritan, at least in her eyes. You know Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan  in Luke 10-- religious types pass by an injured man in the ditch because they're in a hurry. A supposedly suspect Samaritan is the one who assists the poor schmo. Jesus tells this story in response to the question "who is my neighbour?" He offers the parable and then asks who has been neighbourly.

On a hot day in June the woman gave water to some pigs in a transport vehicle. She ended up in a confrontation with the truck driver who threatened to call police. Apparently she told him to call Jesus, which in my view is an excellent retort. How do you respond to that one? Well, the driver did call the police and she was charged. Go figure. Couldn't she simply have been cautioned? Is this worthy of tying up time in our overburdened courts?

I'm cautious about sticking my snout in this without more information but I often look at those trucks on the highway and cringe, although I try not to think of them when I'm swooning over my occasional breakfast of bacon and eggs. When Jesus told his parable he didn't specify who might be the recipients of our neighbourliness. Jesus had an unfortunate encounter with swine which resulted in a porcine avalanche, but he also said "and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." Could a pig qualify as a "little one?"

What do you think about Anita's actions? And how about invoking Jesus?

On Vultures Wings

The vultures are circling and I'm okay with that. My Twitter account has been inundated with vultures because of a campaign to save threatened African vultures. Vultures are in tough shape in many parts of the world because of pesticides and human encroachment. While we might think of them as ugly birds they are nature's clean-up crew, designed to effectively address carrion --road kill to you and me. The Zoroastrian religion has traditionally depended on vultures to dispose of human bodies but the decimation of vultures in India has changed the practice. https://kriticalmass.com/p/saving-natures-clean-up-crew/email/0

Vultures just weren't around when I was younger but now we see them everywhere in Ontario as they have been gradually moving northward. Recently I noticed a kettle of forty to fifty vultures swirling above highway 401, near Newcastle, the most I have ever seen together. What was happening in town that day? Maybe we don't want to know!

In her excellent book Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to Birds of the Bible, Debbie Blue gives attention to vultures. In an interview about the book she says this:

I had really never considered the vulture as anything other than horrific and ugly. Culturally, they represent doom and gloom, and that’s how I felt about them too. When I studied them I found they really are beautiful creatures--they take in what’s dead and toxic to everything else, and it gets purified and made nontoxic. The word “nesher” in the Old Testament is often translated as “eagle,” but it’s just as likely to mean “vulture.” Think about the words of Isaiah and imagine them in that light: “The weary will rise up with wings like vultures” and “God bears us up on his wings like vultures.” Vultures rise with the currents. They might even be my favorite bird now.



Hm. The hymn Eagles' Wings as Vultures' Wings?..." And God will raise you up on eagle's wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn"... Well, not exactly catchy, but as Blue observes in the book, vultures depend on air currents for lift and they teeter on the dihedral. Maybe this is better imagery than the big, bold eagle to describe our life in the Spirit.

Who knows, we may be able to save the vultures and the spiritual imagery as well.

Thoughts?

Practical Hospitality

Later this week a Belleville resident who emigrated from Syria forty years ago will translate as we attempt to phone the Syrian family of five which will be sponsored by local United Churches. The family is still living in a refugee camp in Lebanon, but they have a cell phone, so we will try to make the call to establish contact, ask some practical preparatory questions, and encourage them that we will be ready for their arrival.

Our collaborative efforts are coming together, and we pray that their transition will be expedited by government officials in Lebanon and Canada. The family of fifteen --FIFTEEN!-- sponsored by a coalition of groups including churches in Prince Edward County arrived this past Friday, so it could be soon. Here is a prayer by Lynne Hybels, shared by Brian McLaren, which invites us to hospitality in Christ's name.

 God, what is mine to do? None of us can do everything, but we can all do something — big or small, according to what we’ve been given. And if we all do something, we can change the stories being lived out across deserts and oceans, at country borders and in the hearts of men, women and children just like us.

More than borders, I think it’s been hearts that have been closed to the suffering masses seeking refuge. But a photograph of one small child opened a crack in millions of uninformed or hardened hearts. As one who believes that we are all part of the same human family, I pray that the gates of our hearts will continue to open — like never before.

This is real folks! The photo above is of refugees arriving in Montreal. We will pick up our family in Ottawa. We need your support financially, and in all the other heartfelt ways.

Comment?

The Grace of Thin Places

This is All Saints Day, which along with All Hallows Eve and All Souls Days comprise a Christian festival which goes back many centuries. The Christian Celts appropriated it from the Druid Celts and while it was solely a focus for Roman Catholics, in more recent years Protestants have come on board. For the Druids this was Samhain, a "thin place" between heaven and earth. Jack O Lanterns were a way of warding off the bad spirits on the loose during All Hallows Eve. The multi-billion dollar scariness industry stems from this tradition, even though hardly anyone realized this today.

Yesterday, Halloween Day, we were in Ottawa for the opening of the Monet exhibit at the National Art Gallery. We did a lot of wandering through the galleries of this Canadian treasure and for some reason as we were making our way through an early Renaissance area I walked over to a Madonna and Child painting (not the one above) which was almost exactly 600 years old. I reached out my hand to this modest sized image, not to touch it, but to be more in tune with it. I never do this, bye the way, having great respect for artistic works. I felt a surge of energy through my body and a warmth which took me off guard.

I asked Ruth, my wife, to do the same, but she didn't experience anything. She did wonder aloud later if this was a "thin place" for me, both an encounter with the holy and the artist of a distant time of place. Perhaps it was. All I know is that what I experienced was powerful and real enough to invite Ruth to join in.

Have you ever had "thin place" experiences? I will be exploring this in my "The Grace of Thin Places" sermon this morning. Are there thin place locations for you?