Daily 5 - Day 69

Today's Daily 5:

1. Managing to sleep a bit last night
2. Getting mostly unpacked and even some of the laundry done quite quickly
3. A relatively smooth return to the office
4. An uneventful grocery shopping trip
5. a handful of peanut m&m's
   

Daily 5 - Days 59 - 68

As promised, I am updating the daily 5 lists that I kept in my journal while I was away. I think there was one day that I missed. I'm hoping to write some about the trip, and maybe even upload a few pictures in the next little while, but as I mentioned this morning, this week is incredibly busy and I'm not certain quite when I'll carve out the time to do that.

October 9 - Day 59

1. A flight without the illness and panic that has accompanied so much of my travel the last two years
2. Hugs from A.
3. Finally on vacation
4. Working on memory verses (if not making much progress) on the flight
5. Plans coming together for a great holiday

October 10 - Day 60

1. Standing on the highest observation deck in the world at the CN Tower
2. A quick early morning walk to the library with A.
3. The name of the subway station we'll be using all week being St. Clare West
4. Sleeping (sort of well) last night
5. Laughter and hugs from friends

October 11 - Day 61

1. Buying a cute sweater at Kensington Market
2. Visiting Casa Loma
3. Random adventure in eating Peruvian food for dinner
4. So much laughter with friends
5. Being calm and peaceful and joyful in the midst of a slightly trying adventure in being locked out of the apartment

October 12 - Day 62

1. A hug from S.
2. A beautiful day celebrating Thanksgiving with friends
3. Learning a bit of Spanish from Alex
4. Laughing and being with people I love
5. Fall colors everywhere as we drove.

October 13 - Day 63

1. Seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls on display at the Royal Ontario Museum
2. The Ten Commandments scroll being on display the one week we were in Toronto
3. Dinner and a long chat with A. while L. was at dinner with a friend from New Zealand
4. A simple supper (and late night snack!) of chicken cesar salad
5. Being with friends like A. where pretending and being guarded isn't necessary

October 14 - Day 64

1. Prayer time together with A. and B.
2. The lavender shop in the Distillery district - it smelled so lovely... and buying sachets to bring home.
3. Sharing meals together with friends
4. Walking through some older neighborhoods - Cabbagetown, the Danforth (Greek Town), and the U of T Campus
5. The blessing of good weather, if a bit cool, all week

October 15 - Day 65

1. Ice wine tasting at Jackson Triggs Winery
2. riding the Maid of the Mist
3. Driving through beautiful terrain to get to Niagara
4. No major hitches with the rental car service
5. customer service at the hotel being flexible

October 17 - Day 66

1. Seeing Lake Huron with S. and L.
2. Vietnamese leftovers for dinner
3. A long day of driving with friends and beautiful scenery
4. The fun of having a much anticipated giving of a gift be well received
5. laughing with friends

October 18 - Day 67

1. "Fresh Wind"
2. Being at Stratford all day
3. Praying with S.
4. Crowns, swans, slides, leaves, laughter
5. twirling by the river

October 19 - Day 68

1. A goodbye hug (though tearful on my part) from S.
2. A funny conversational partner on the plane home
3. managing to sleep a bit on the plane
4. Shopping at the bookstore in Mississauga and getting recommendations from the man who works there
5. Home, to sleep in my own bed
   

From Henri on Eucharist, and the Church

It's been a while since I shared any bits and pieces from Henri Nouwen, but I found a few good ones sitting in my inbox on my arrival home from holidays, and thought I'd take the opportunity to pass them along.

A Place of Vulnerability and Trust

When we gather around the table and eat from the same loaf and drink from the same cup, we are most vulnerable to one another. We cannot have a meal together in peace with guns hanging over our shoulders and pistols attached to our belts. When we break bread together we leave our arms - whether they are physical or mental - at the door and enter into a place of mutual vulnerability and trust.

The beauty of the Eucharist is precisely that it is the place where a vulnerable God invites vulnerable people to come together in a peaceful meal. When we break bread and give it to each other, fear vanishes and God becomes very close.

The Church, Spotless and Tainted

The Church is holy and sinful, spotless and tainted. The Church is the bride of Christ, who washed her in cleansing water and took her to himself "with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless" (Ephesians 5:26-27). The Church too is a group of sinful, confused, anguished people constantly tempted by the powers of lust and greed and always entangled in rivalry and competition.

When we say that the Church is a body, we refer not only to the holy and faultless body made Christ-like through baptism and Eucharist but also to the broken bodies of all the people who are its members. Only when we keep both these ways of thinking and speaking together can we live in the Church as true followers of Jesus.

Believing in the Church

The Church is an object of faith. In the Apostles' Creed we pray: "I believe in God, the Father, ... in Jesus Christ, his only Son º in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We must believe in the Church! The Apostles' Creed does not say that the Church is an organization that helps us to believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No, we are called to believe in the Church with the same faith we believe in God.

Often it seems harder to believe in the Church than to believe in God. But whenever we separate our belief in God from our belief in the Church, we become unbelievers. God has given us the Church as the place where God becomes God-with-us.

Catching Up

I am playing catch-up today.

My day started crazily when I discovered that the road I generally drive to get to work after driving L. at the train is closed, and that the detour is rather time consuming.

I've waded through close to 85 emails, with about 35 or so that are going to require follow-up.

I've sorted through accumulated mail.

I've met with four different staff members to catch up on the bits and pieces I missed while I was gone.

I'm pondering crisis mode and putting out fires. I'll probably write more about that later today. About thoughts on that topic as I come away from the first real extended time of rest that I've had in two and a half years.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend my lunch hour playing catch-up on some personal errands and so forth that were neglected while I was away, and following work tonight, my roommate and I will be going grocery shopping so that we can eat for the next week or so. After groceries, my objective is to get unpacked from the trip, and maybe even do a bit of laundry. We'll see how that plan goes.

If I owe you an email, it'll come. I'm not sure how soon, but it'll come. This week is incredibly busy both professionally and personally, and I'm fighting off a cold that I caught at the tail end of my holidays.

So, excuse me while I play catch-up. I'm hanging around here, even if it stays a bit quieter than usual for the next few days.