- Podcasts.... particularly these two: "Entertaining Ideas" by Rik Leaf. Made me laugh out loud, and possibly even think a little bit! "Untodeep Cast" by Marty Nish. I've listened to it once and will listen again and then leave my response on Marty's blog, but I like the way he's thinking, and it's inspiring some mental wrestling in me.
- Jacob and Lily's new CD "The Cathedral" - arrived in the mail last night, and I've been enjoying it ever since. I've been waiting all month for it to arrive, and was delighted to find it waiting for me when I arrived home from work last night.
- The converstation going on here at Lauren's blog about the things I wrote in my post titled "The Moral High Ground". I'm always excited when people are talking about the importance of love versus the importance of being right. It makes me happy when someone starts seeing people instead of issues.
- Passion tea. I bought a box from Starbucks, and it makes me happy. Plus, it warms me up after the fifteen minute walk in the freezing weather from the c-train to my office.
- The fact that the weather is finally going to warm up a bit. I'm running out of sweaters to wear to work.
- Youth ministry. I suddenly find myself in youth ministry at the church I've decided to settle into for this next season. Totally excited, a little nervous as I spent quite a bit of the last several years being told that I had nothing to say, or nothing to contribute, completely anticipating what God might be doing with this group of young people. I see traces of Him in the fact that a tiny church (like 90 people), that has until about two months ago offered nothing for youth, has 15-25 youth filling the back two or three rows every Sunday. Mostly kids who don't come from a Christian background at all, and met Jesus somewhere along the way, and are hungry to know more about Him. So fun! Planning coffee and tea dates, and thinking about the Bible study I'll be doing in the new year.
- Driving standard. This is not so happy. I think I hate it. I don't particularly like driving to begin with, and the whole standard thing stresses me out. I'm okay as long as there isn't heavy traffic, or I don't have to stop a whole lot. The icy roads have not been helping. I drove to pick up my brother last night, and by the time I got there, and phoned to let him know I'd arrived, the only thing I said on the call was "I'm here. You're driving home." I feel like I have hardly any control of the vehicle on the icy roads, and that makes me nervous, especially since the car is a loan from my best friend who is currently enjoying warmer weather in Nepal.
- Looking forward to the weekend. It's my job every year to decorate the Christmas tree, and I'm going to do that this weekend. I'm also looking forward to going to my brother's Christmas choir concert on Friday night. He may hate the fact that he's in choir, but I do love the majesty of the group of them singing - and I love Christmas music too!
- My brother is still navigating what exactly it means to be a guitar student, in music school, who is not allowed to play the guitar. Choir is a requirement of his program, but he hates it. We were talking the other day about whether he'd continue to work at our church as a worship leader, using just his voice, and his comment, which cracked me us was, "I'd rather lead worship naked, with my guitar, than fully clothed without it." Do all musicians think this way?
- Have a good day!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
On my radar this week
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Why we speak...
I came across these two quotes in Shane Claiborne's book, "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical" and was quite struck by them.
Sometimes we speak to change the world; other times we speak to keep the world from changing us. (p.123)
Our programs revolve around the needs and gifts in our community and are always changing. They never define us, for we set out not to start programs but simply to be good neighbors. (p. 125)
(By the way, if you can pick this book up, I reccommend it. Claiborne simply tells stories, make suggestions, talks about the community he's involved in, and what he believes following Christ should actually look like. My friends Andy and Marty were raving about it after reading only a chapter or two each, so I picked it up and haven't regretted it.)
Sometimes we speak to change the world; other times we speak to keep the world from changing us. (p.123)
Our programs revolve around the needs and gifts in our community and are always changing. They never define us, for we set out not to start programs but simply to be good neighbors. (p. 125)
(By the way, if you can pick this book up, I reccommend it. Claiborne simply tells stories, make suggestions, talks about the community he's involved in, and what he believes following Christ should actually look like. My friends Andy and Marty were raving about it after reading only a chapter or two each, so I picked it up and haven't regretted it.)
Monday, November 27, 2006
Moral High Ground?
A month or so back, Kirk put this post up on his blog. It's haunted me every now and then ever since.
When he put it up, I responded to it in this way:
Kirk, thanks for sharing this, and for loving this young man, and carrying him and his story along with you each day.
I have an aunt who is a lesbian - long time committed relationship with her partner. A friend's uncle is gay, and most likely dieing slowly from HIV AIDS.
It's not worth it to me to take a militant stance on gay marriage or really anything else. It's all about people. We are blinded by the issue and stop seeing the people, and then things get dangerous, and messy, and we get video games that depict Christians laughing as people are slaughtered. I just want to love on people the way Christ loved on me and brought healing in my life. I wrote about that this morning on my blog... sharing the love and mercy that was passed on to me.
Gray areas are clarified and intensified in the cleansing mercy of Christ, the mercy that identifies us all equally as sinners and, if we choose to receive it, equally as saints.
I still feel like this. If we lose the people in the midst of the issue, why bother? The person is so much more important than protecting some sort of moral high ground. I'm tired of a Christianity that is so much more concerned about the way it looks, and the power it has in a culture, than it is about the people of that culture (be it North American or elsewhere). I'm tired of the moral high ground. The high ground is lonely, and there is no variety in the people it contains.
I've been thinking about a comment Jason Upton made in the teaching that Marty loaded onto my ipod from the conference we were at a few weeks ago. Upton was speaking about this striving in the church to be relevant to culture, and he made this observation that has caught at me ever since... "Jesus was not relevant. He was common." Wow. Huge difference. Forget the moral high ground, let's become common and really love people. Maybe if we love them, we can introduce them to the reason for that love. And if not, well, we loved them, and that is never something wasted.
When he put it up, I responded to it in this way:
Kirk, thanks for sharing this, and for loving this young man, and carrying him and his story along with you each day.
I have an aunt who is a lesbian - long time committed relationship with her partner. A friend's uncle is gay, and most likely dieing slowly from HIV AIDS.
It's not worth it to me to take a militant stance on gay marriage or really anything else. It's all about people. We are blinded by the issue and stop seeing the people, and then things get dangerous, and messy, and we get video games that depict Christians laughing as people are slaughtered. I just want to love on people the way Christ loved on me and brought healing in my life. I wrote about that this morning on my blog... sharing the love and mercy that was passed on to me.
Gray areas are clarified and intensified in the cleansing mercy of Christ, the mercy that identifies us all equally as sinners and, if we choose to receive it, equally as saints.
I still feel like this. If we lose the people in the midst of the issue, why bother? The person is so much more important than protecting some sort of moral high ground. I'm tired of a Christianity that is so much more concerned about the way it looks, and the power it has in a culture, than it is about the people of that culture (be it North American or elsewhere). I'm tired of the moral high ground. The high ground is lonely, and there is no variety in the people it contains.
I've been thinking about a comment Jason Upton made in the teaching that Marty loaded onto my ipod from the conference we were at a few weeks ago. Upton was speaking about this striving in the church to be relevant to culture, and he made this observation that has caught at me ever since... "Jesus was not relevant. He was common." Wow. Huge difference. Forget the moral high ground, let's become common and really love people. Maybe if we love them, we can introduce them to the reason for that love. And if not, well, we loved them, and that is never something wasted.
-39 Celsius
That's what the temperature is with wind chill. And I'm about to spend the next hour either walking in it, waiting for a train in it, or riding on a drafty train in it. And the forecast for tomorrow is exactly the same. I've thought about taking the chance and driving, but the roads suck, so it would be a HUGE chance just to prevent my freezing to death. So, outside or on a drafty train for the next hour and a bit.
Have I mentioned that everywhere I'm thinking of moving is either coastal or significantly south of Calgary, or both?
Have I mentioned that everywhere I'm thinking of moving is either coastal or significantly south of Calgary, or both?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Quiet Weekend
I'm thankful for a relatively quiet weekend. I did little things. I practiced driving (by the way - there could not have been a worse week of weather for me to be attempting to learn to drive a standard - freezing cold, snowing, and icy roads.) Tomorrow I will take the train to work again, because I'm not confident enough yet to drive on major roads in icy conditions. It's going to be -25, but -38 (celsius) with the windchill. Lovely. I don't think I own enough clothing to layer up and keep me warm as I walk from the train to my office.
The Christmasy busyness starts this week with my brother's choir concert. I heard them sing some of the songs tonight, and they sounded good. (He hates choir, by the way. It's a requirement of his program - guitar major - at school. He has to wear this awful lavender colored dress shirt, and he mostly just hates singing. In fact, he has to work to smile during performances so people don't know how painful he finds it.)
I'm meeting tomorrow night with one of the pastors at the church I've settled on attending for this next season while I'm still in Calgary. We're going to talk more formally about how I can be involved with the youth and young adults in the church - how I can help him out since he needs a female leader. (I'm driving there - pray that I won't crash or something!)
And with that, I'm off to read and journal in bed for a bit. I'm tired - seems to be a pretty common state these days. To be honest, winter tends to send all thought and emotion more deeply internal within me, and then I spend half my time exhausted and the other half figuring out what the issues, thoughts and emotions are that are making me so exhausted!
The Christmasy busyness starts this week with my brother's choir concert. I heard them sing some of the songs tonight, and they sounded good. (He hates choir, by the way. It's a requirement of his program - guitar major - at school. He has to wear this awful lavender colored dress shirt, and he mostly just hates singing. In fact, he has to work to smile during performances so people don't know how painful he finds it.)
I'm meeting tomorrow night with one of the pastors at the church I've settled on attending for this next season while I'm still in Calgary. We're going to talk more formally about how I can be involved with the youth and young adults in the church - how I can help him out since he needs a female leader. (I'm driving there - pray that I won't crash or something!)
And with that, I'm off to read and journal in bed for a bit. I'm tired - seems to be a pretty common state these days. To be honest, winter tends to send all thought and emotion more deeply internal within me, and then I spend half my time exhausted and the other half figuring out what the issues, thoughts and emotions are that are making me so exhausted!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
