Urbana

So, those smart folk from Urbana have already got some AV streaming from the conference... boy, have I got envy, but good envy! So happy for Francis, Jimmy, Eileen, Steph, etc etc etc who are over there! Go kids go!

An Xmas Carol

You know, I got all teary-eyed hearing the CBC's narration of A Christmas Carol on the radio this year (not such a great thing to do when one is driving), but I can't shake the vague "Scrooginess" that I get every Christmas. Maybe it's because there's no snow. Maybe it's because Jesus was born in the summertime, and Saturnalia is really not a festival we should be appropriating. Maybe it's because I want to vomit any time I get near a mall for the whole month of December (and most of November). Maybe it's because every symbol that we hold dear at this sentimental time of year, really has nothing to do with the Magnificent, Terrible and Awesome Event that occurred. It has nothing to do with getting together with family (with +/- squabbling), eating way more than is necessary, gift-giving, beautiful trees (though I do like them very very much), big fat elves, rampant consumerism and debt, running around trying to 'see' everybody that you're supposed to over the holidays, drinking too much, too much chocolate, reindeer with sleighbells and red noses, roasted chestnuts, and the whole sentimentality of going 'home for the holidays'.... The Holy Family were actually homeless shortly after they came together....
How did all this mess that we call Christmas come from a dirty, smelly manger of an apparent bastard, refugee child, born in manure, surrounded by illiterate shepherds and foreign, non-Jewish religious men, yet having the heavens singing and dancing for joy for the Saviour had been born? How did we become so syncretistic?
Certainly, I LOVE Christmas trees, and I quite like chocolate, and wine, for that matter (and eating, and parties, and the cocooning we do this time of year). But I wonder: Why do I run like mad, trying to achieve I'm-not-entirely-sure-what, when really, I miss Advent entirely year after year, and the Event that makes the season is -almost- (note I say almost, not is) secondary to the rest? Why do I not fall down and worship in the manure and the hay, and say, The Anointed One, The Ancient of Days, YHWH Himself has brought Himself here, and lament and love the fact that He has chosen to lie, squalling in a feedpen, as wretched as we? Isn't that what Christmas is all about?

The great Q

So, it's finally over now: the hour long commutes, the amazing and gifted speakers, the piles of homework (OK, that's not completely done yet, but it's happening)... but it was totally worth it! Enough so that we'll do it again next fall! Holy cannolli, I am convinced that we could start a small earthquake if we do it again downtown, so downtown we shall go! Warning to all thinking and sentient beings, as I am sure that you need to come along too!

FFT

I'm not sure where she found the poem, but I just thought I'd link it; impressive work from such a young man...
http://lisachildofgod.blogspot.com/2006/11/stand-people-of-west.html

Representin'...

So I was talking with some friends about the Disney Princesses line. One girl, in fact, STILL loves the Princesses line. You know, the whole Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are all friends thing, so that little girls everywhere will buy all the purses/underwear/dresses/toys/DVDs/etc etc etc that Disney can possible push out of China...
At any rate, we realized some discrepancies... certainly, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are the highest echelon princesses, the triumvirate, the ultimate trinity of princessdom... but then you throw in Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and it starts looking a little whitewash, if you ask me....
We did concede the fact that Disney has wisely thrown in Mulan, Pocahontas and Princess Jasmine to represent the yellow people, the aboriginal peoples and the brown people, but a black friend of mine wisely pointed out, "And who do they have to represent the black people? All I've got is Nala, and she's a LION!!!! I've got no representation!"
So, hence the problem: Five white girls, one from each other minority group, and the black people represented by an animal... is there something here that nobody else has noticed?

Look both ways before crossing the street...

Again, I think safety sometimes is highly over-rated. Case in point: just got a big lecture of why would I consider going to the Middle East, if I'm just going to get bombed/kidnapped/raped, or all three at the same time? That would certainly put a damper on any trip, I am sure. "You know, that time in Bagdhad? Remember the way we were pistol-whipped and blindfolded and left out in the desert? Yeah, that kind of sucked... but at least the falafels were good... "
However, if we are convicted that people are lost, and there's only One Way to help them out of the quagmire, then safety should not be our greatest concern, nor our greatest goal.
Now, this is partially sheer bellicosity on my part, as I myself lack great courage and great conviction and quite like the common Western comforts of home. As CT Studd once said, "Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." Wow.
I know some well-meaning people try to make me feel comfortable in my skin, saying it's OK to be blessed by God and it's OK to appreciate His massive blessings as long as I use them wisely, but I wonder how much of that, in our drowsiness and spiritual stupor, is simply us drinking at Belshazzar's feast, awaiting the writing on the wall?

Bookworms

OK, I just measured the stack of books that I've bought, just over the past few months: it now stands over a metre high....

Jerks, and other pieces of excrement...

People often wonder why I'm not totally psyched about my job, waking up each morning (that I actually go to work) thinking, "Gee whiz! I'm going to work! How excited I am in being in the midst of God's will for my life!", that I seem a bit non-committal, or less than enthused, about the nature of my job.
The reasons are manifold, and not necessarily just because I don't like my work; that's not actually true at all.
However, case in point: Got threatened with a lawsuit (again!) because someone had a cold and I refused (in my medical opinion) to give him the antibiotics he craved; was told I was a "clown" and "not worth my medical degree", and that, if he shows up in clinic tomorrow still sick, then I will be looking at the commencement of a lawsuit, which, makes me mad, but also makes me roll my eyes, since there's really nothing that holds water.
Or my colleague, when dealing with a patient who didn't agree with her diagnosis, questioned her along the lines of, "Your medical education is worthless! Where'd you get it? China?" which (I don't blame her; she's normally a very nice girl) made her blow her top.
Or the fact that I had to call CAS (again!) for idiotic parents who have no right to be raising children, shouldn't even be allowed the privilege to have any, should be publicly sterilized and sent away to some penal colony where they will always leave children alone, and can never inflict themselves on children ever again.
All in one day; it wrecks all the other lovely people and interactions that happen the rest of the day...

Though there is always light at the end of the tunnel...

You know what is truly tragic? When there are folks who love each other a helluva lot, but, for whatever reason(s), just aren't able to make things work this side of eternity...

Bread, not circuses

It's kind of nice when someone understands your point of view and doesn't think you're a total Scrooge for being anti-OCC. But, hey, anti-OCC I am, and in discussion with said understanding-type person, I think I've refined my reasoning for being so, so for that, I am grateful.

The dance card

You know, having to turn down a chef is almost heart-breaking, when you think of all the potentially delicious things that could be made for you to be eaten... bah

Prophecies and lies...

There has recently been a lot of discussion around the issue of same sex marriage lately; whether it's good or bad for society, whether we should or shouldn't be bringing it back to the House for another round of talks, whether or not the sky has fallen, as some had surely predicted, since the legislation has passed...
I remember also having several relatively heated discussions at the last election as to my electoral preferences, as, for some, the election was a one horse issue, mainly having to do with sexual morality. Forget climate change, forget child care, forget education or health care: the issue was that of sexual mores.
So, having been brought back to the fore again, it just makes me shake my head.
I think the issue that really is at core is that of reactivity vs proactivity. Personally, I think that we should've been proactive twenty, thirty years ago, as it was an issue already germinating and percolating around that point in time. How much more of an impact can we make in changing and shaping culture, rather than simply reacting to it, reacting to something that was already there, and is simply doing its logical dénouement?
I am not surprised that evangelicals, especially on the fundamentalist side of things, are losing ground to some of the more loosey-goosey teaching. It really is too bad, surely, as it seems that there is a shift to what 'tickles men's ears', rather than solidly standing on the Word. However, in not being responsive to society, in keeping blinkers on and not seeing where culture is going, where it is at, how can we respond in hope and compassion? If we cannot be relevant, how can we legitimately have a voice?
I would like to shape culture, to envision and change the course the history, rather than wait for something to happen and have a tantrum that I didn't see it coming... anybody with me?

Sugared plum dreams...

Walking through the bookstore, and, surprisingly/stunningly not emerging with a new book in hand, I realized I could probably start listing some wishes... this is completely self-serving, and not meant to be taken seriously, especially as I'm not much of a believer in the allegorical value of Christmas presents...

Anton Conbijn's U2 & i (what a big surprise; no need to list any of the other relatively new books on the market, as I've already bought them all, sheepishly)
Martha Stewart's (are you serious? Yes!) Baking Handbook
Stephen Lewis' Race against Time
John Stackhouse's Finally Feminist

Well, those are all I can think of in this moment...

Let them eat cake...

I'm never really quite sure how comfortable I should be with being too bourgeois. Case in point: went to the Royal Horse Show the other day, which encompasses harness racing and show jumping, all jodphurs and jingles. Went in formal dress too, because we were asked to. Felt a bit silly doing so, until I noticed that everyone in our section was completely decked out. But then felt a bit silly again, when realizing we were basically the only minority peoples in the whole stadium.
It felt, I don't know, bourgeois. Like all tea and crumpets and God save the Queen and tut tut and opera glasses and tiaras and oh darling, look at the poor plebecites and all that. Though it was really cool to watch the horses jump around and do all that stuff, it was a bit strange trying to reconcile whether it was right. Certainly, admiring the ability of man to demonstrate dominion over these beautiful beasts is one thing, however, the inherent undemocracy (is that even a word?) of the sport left us scratching our heads a bit.

seeking the welfare of that belle ville...

I couldn't quite put a finger on it, until someone pointed out to me: There is an oppressiveness palpable in the streets of Montreal. I think one can see it in the despair of the eastern stretch of St Catherine, which boasts even more sex shops than even Yonge St could even handle. The "someone" is a missionary friend of mine who works in city of Montreal, having been called there years ago due to the appalling lack of light. He says when he gets the opportunity to come home to Toronto, which isn't often, he can feel the blessing that "Toronto the Good" has, which refreshes him and helps him go back into the battlefield. I think I could understand and relate to that, listening to his perspective on the spiritual barrenness of that province... it calls for more 'knee-mail'...

FFT

(Though it's a film-based, not a text-based, FFT.)
http://www.sermonspice.com/search/%22heart+of+God%22/all/1/
Watch the first one. Though I'm sure the other one is just fine too. :)

... and I feel (kinda) fine...

So it's official: Fish scientists confirm that, at the rate that we are going, global fish stocks will collapse (ie. no more sushi anymore, ever) by 2048. Climatologists state that we have, at the very latest, until 2050 before irreversible changes in our atmosphere occur, if we are not almost there yet. Population growth academics believe we will hit 7 billion people on this planet by about 2020. This fact seems a bit strange to me, considering HIV scientists speak of the plague and scourge of HIV/AIDS, killing tens of thousands by the day, infecting thousands around the planet daily. Most secular scientists now agree that we are heading towards irreversible destruction and possible extinction, likely within our (but not the baby boomers, who happen to be most of the scientists, and thus, won't be around, the lucky punks) lifetimes.
On the plus side, missiologists speak of how we are very close to telling the good news to all nations, also possibly within our lifetimes (whether we shall catch up with the millions infected with HIV/AIDS to be able to speak hope into their lives is a completely other issue). This is amazing (and admittedly scary) news.
Personally, I think this points to several obvious conclusions, though it is odd: speaking to some sisters the other day, one vehemently disagreed with me... which left me scratching my head...

FFT

There is no instance of an Apostle being driven abroad under the compulsion of a bald command. Each one went as a lover to his betrothed on his appointed errand. It was all instinctive and natural. They were equally controlled by the common vision, but they had severally personal visions which drew them whither they were needed. In the first days of Christianity, there is an absence of the calculating spirit. Most of the Apostles died outside of Palestine, though human logic would have forbidden them to leave the country until it had been Christianized. The calculating instinct is death to faith, and had the Apostles allowed it to control their motives and actions, they would have said: “The need in Jerusalem is so profound, our responsibilities to people of our own blood so obvious, that we must live up to the principle that charity begins at home. After we have won the people of Jerusalem, of Judea and of the Holy Land in general, then it will be time enough to go abroad; but our problems, political, moral and religious, are so unsolved here in this one spot that it is manifestly absurd to bend our shoulder to a new load.”
-Charles Brent

of de Beauvoir and Loren... (ick...)

A friend of mine has been trying to challenge me on my relatively conservative view of women and femininity. Heck, he's (note: it's a -he-) a pretty radical feminist from a Church perspective, all things considered. Though I think his viewpoint deserves merit, I must admit that I carry a fairly stereotypical traditionally Protestant viewpoint of women, which, I must also admit, is not likely to be the best viewpoint. However, in light of these stats, I can understand why perhaps many in the church, myself included, must change, or at least modify, our understanding of these matters... 'Women make up 35% of the world's paid labour force, head up 33% of all households, make up 95% of all nurses, perform 62% of all work hours, yet receive 10% of the world's income, own 1% of the world's properties, make up 70% of the poor, 66% of illiterates, 80% of refugees, 75% of the sick...'

FoodSharing

Certainly, I'd like feedback from others who were there, but I think the inaugural dinner/salon/soiree was a relative success. Sincerely, the meeting of such interesting, fascinating minds and hearts did me good. Discussions ranging from creation stewardship, to missional strategy, to the role of prophesy, to speaking healing into people's lives, to politics... Wow! I am humbled by the brilliance and the diversity of His children.
Certainly, we shall do this again, hopefully, with a few more bottles of Riesling and Shiraz to go around... :)