Today we introduce our stewardship program and this year’s theme, More than Enough. That is meant to capture a way of thinking that opens our lives and hands in generosity to others.
How well are we doing at that? One survey of 153 countries puts Canadians in the top five in the world when it comes to giving our money and time to charity. Congratulations! That’s impressive.
The survey also found that people are more likely to donate their money than their time. That’s intriguing. I’m not sure I know what that means.
Does this mean that our schedules are more valuable than our money?
Does it mean that we find it easier to write a cheque than to volunteer? Does it mean we need to put more of our time into opening doors for our church community and others to find a meaningful way to become involved?
Or maybe we don’t feel that we have more than enough time. Some people seem to have all the time in the world. Others are caring for children, parents, or friends and don’t feel they have a spare moment for themselves.
And still others are finding new meaning in sharing themselves with others.
One of the best stewardship testimonies I’ve seen recently came from Theo Fleury, the former NHL hockey player and abuse survivor. He said, “The experience of getting your life back together makes you a quality human being. You’ve got so much more to give,” Well said, Theo.
Peter
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Jesus, Wine and Celebration
I regularly visit Home-brewed Christianity and recently saw a blog about What Would Jesus Brew? It sparked some thoughts. Since I am getting ready to get back into home brewing, thanks to a friend who passed on his equipment, this felt timely.
I wonder if a few years from now Emmanuel might have it’s own little Oktoberfest. If we can’t serve God’s hoppy gift at our bazaar maybe we could do a visit to VanKleek Hill and try out some of that wonderful Beau’s Lug Tread Lager at their Oktoberfest next year. There’s a reason this company is winning awards.
Jesus drank with the best of them. And with those with whom society did not sit down with. And his purpose was not escape. His purpose was to widen and deepen the circle of faith. Celebrating a wedding, he made 150 gallons of wine. That’s about 800 bottles. This was a celebration of a new union and a time to rejoice.
In those days it was less dangerous than today. Instead of driving home in a dangerous weapon, all you did was fall off a donkey. Still the social issue of alcoholism and dangerous driving must be considered. But the Bible is able to speak to the dangers while still lauding the gift.
We could learn from that.
Peter
I wonder if a few years from now Emmanuel might have it’s own little Oktoberfest. If we can’t serve God’s hoppy gift at our bazaar maybe we could do a visit to VanKleek Hill and try out some of that wonderful Beau’s Lug Tread Lager at their Oktoberfest next year. There’s a reason this company is winning awards.
Jesus drank with the best of them. And with those with whom society did not sit down with. And his purpose was not escape. His purpose was to widen and deepen the circle of faith. Celebrating a wedding, he made 150 gallons of wine. That’s about 800 bottles. This was a celebration of a new union and a time to rejoice.
In those days it was less dangerous than today. Instead of driving home in a dangerous weapon, all you did was fall off a donkey. Still the social issue of alcoholism and dangerous driving must be considered. But the Bible is able to speak to the dangers while still lauding the gift.
We could learn from that.
Peter
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Love of God Creates Moderates
Just because a pastor and congregation in Gainesville did not go through with a threat to burn 200 Qur’ans does not mean the end of hatred towards Islam. Qur’ans were burnt in Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee. Pages were torn out of the Qur’an outside the White House. Two people died in riots in Afghanistan at the thought of this action.
According to Religious News Services, Laleh Bakhtiar, the first woman to translate the Qur’an into English sees in this controversy, a theological difference between both Muslims and Christians who see God as a vengeful or a loving presence.
“If it’s fear of God , then you get these extremists. When you teach the love of God, then you become a moderate.”
It would be good to see the moderates become more vocal about this loving, peaceful God, more intentional about building bridges. Canada needs communities like this.
Peter
According to Religious News Services, Laleh Bakhtiar, the first woman to translate the Qur’an into English sees in this controversy, a theological difference between both Muslims and Christians who see God as a vengeful or a loving presence.
“If it’s fear of God , then you get these extremists. When you teach the love of God, then you become a moderate.”
It would be good to see the moderates become more vocal about this loving, peaceful God, more intentional about building bridges. Canada needs communities like this.
Peter
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Moving House
Seeing a reference to the this book of poetry by Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, I thought of the many times I have had to move from one home to another. Including university and moving for summer jobs, its around 24. There are always a few boxes I never get to. Most of us have had that sense of dislocation packing, moving, unpacking and adapting to new surroundings.
As a congregation we are living through that communal dislocation of moving house in our worship our committee meetings and our activities. I hope we have moments in the chaos when we realize that even these times can be life-giving. One of the traditional prayers in a funeral service encourages us to learn the lessons we can only learn when we are faced with mortality. Being "all shook up" can shake some grace into our lives.
O'Donnell's life began in a harsh and loveless coal-mining home in Pennsylvania. Her poems include her own miner father: "No poem for you my father/ I was always too afraid. Your quick anger, your dark days." She feels his frightening presence and after his death, we recognize the bond as she feels his absence, "hoping to find you again, my father."
As she grows into adulthood, a more hopeful new house emerges. Her sons delight her, as she watches them play basketball through the window and she asks, "Can I wish me a blessing?"
Can we wish ourselves a blessing? Why not?
Peter Lougheed
As a congregation we are living through that communal dislocation of moving house in our worship our committee meetings and our activities. I hope we have moments in the chaos when we realize that even these times can be life-giving. One of the traditional prayers in a funeral service encourages us to learn the lessons we can only learn when we are faced with mortality. Being "all shook up" can shake some grace into our lives.
O'Donnell's life began in a harsh and loveless coal-mining home in Pennsylvania. Her poems include her own miner father: "No poem for you my father/ I was always too afraid. Your quick anger, your dark days." She feels his frightening presence and after his death, we recognize the bond as she feels his absence, "hoping to find you again, my father."
As she grows into adulthood, a more hopeful new house emerges. Her sons delight her, as she watches them play basketball through the window and she asks, "Can I wish me a blessing?"
Can we wish ourselves a blessing? Why not?
Peter Lougheed
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Where you go, I will go
Tis the season for weddings and that will continue on through the fall season. couples will be fretting over getting the right flowers, music, poetry and maybe even scripture texts for the readings.
It doesn’t get used so much these days but over the years when presented alternative texts, people used to choose the words of Ruth, “Where you go, I will go.”
Athalya Brenner in a recent Interpretation magazine wonders why this text has been romanticized. Not only was Ruth a female, she was also a foreigner and a migrant worker which put her in a precarious position. Brehner says, “There is nothing romantic about being a fugitive, or about seeking economic asylym. What Ruth needed is what aliens and immigrants need today - human rights. Unlike civil rights, human rights are primarily matters of physicalities like eating, sheltering, multiplying, speaking and breathing.”
We appropriate stories from other ages to our own uses, but taken in their original context, their message is far more challenging and provocative than a superficial reading would indicate.
Peter
It doesn’t get used so much these days but over the years when presented alternative texts, people used to choose the words of Ruth, “Where you go, I will go.”
Athalya Brenner in a recent Interpretation magazine wonders why this text has been romanticized. Not only was Ruth a female, she was also a foreigner and a migrant worker which put her in a precarious position. Brehner says, “There is nothing romantic about being a fugitive, or about seeking economic asylym. What Ruth needed is what aliens and immigrants need today - human rights. Unlike civil rights, human rights are primarily matters of physicalities like eating, sheltering, multiplying, speaking and breathing.”
We appropriate stories from other ages to our own uses, but taken in their original context, their message is far more challenging and provocative than a superficial reading would indicate.
Peter
Monday, May 24, 2010
Prayer - From The Heart, Or Not At All
---
Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith
Barak Obama left a prayer at Jerusalem's Western Wall. Stephen Prothero admitted to reading this private communication, if it was indeed private. I mean what celebrity puts a prayer in the most famous prayer site in the world and expects it to remain private. Some seminarian stole the prayer and published it. Prothero says he was struggling with how to pray himself and so gave in to that common but questionable habit of looking over someone else's shoulder to read what was not intended to be public. Turns out it was nothing remarkable. In the end the only true prayer is one that emerges in honesty from one's own heart. It needn't be pretty or erudite or even polite. It does need to be real.
Prothero says that if he was to return to the Western Wall today he would leave a prayer for Obama and McCain. He'd pray that each of them would listen to what the Wall has to says about power and vulnerability, and the delicate and dangerous dance between them. That's Prothero's understanding of transcendence -"the significance of any human being, however large, is dwarfed by the mystery of millions of things we will never fully understand, not least the practice of prayer itself."
Peter
Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith
Barak Obama left a prayer at Jerusalem's Western Wall. Stephen Prothero admitted to reading this private communication, if it was indeed private. I mean what celebrity puts a prayer in the most famous prayer site in the world and expects it to remain private. Some seminarian stole the prayer and published it. Prothero says he was struggling with how to pray himself and so gave in to that common but questionable habit of looking over someone else's shoulder to read what was not intended to be public. Turns out it was nothing remarkable. In the end the only true prayer is one that emerges in honesty from one's own heart. It needn't be pretty or erudite or even polite. It does need to be real.
Prothero says that if he was to return to the Western Wall today he would leave a prayer for Obama and McCain. He'd pray that each of them would listen to what the Wall has to says about power and vulnerability, and the delicate and dangerous dance between them. That's Prothero's understanding of transcendence -"the significance of any human being, however large, is dwarfed by the mystery of millions of things we will never fully understand, not least the practice of prayer itself."
Peter
Monday, May 17, 2010
Revitalization Realization
This past Sunday, we had a meeting of the congregation to deal with some unexpected news about our anticipated CE Hall revitalization. Already on a tight timeline to get this done before the cold weather returns; already committed to a carefully debated cost estimate, expecting to be passing the final motions that would give the project the final go ahead, it was a shock for all of us to discover there were new expenses that increase the budget by about $400 k.
The good news, and let's remember that is our raison d'etre, is that none of us has to carry this burden alone. We have the wisdom of our community to lean on. We have experienced and sensible committees that are meeting to help us find a way though this situation. We have a history in this congregation of rising to clear some serious hurdles. And there is this fairly significant presence in our midst called , God. "Have a little faith" is a refrain that keeps reasserting itself into exasperated conversations.
I don't know what the outcome will be, but I am guessing that "having a little faith" will be important.
Peter
The good news, and let's remember that is our raison d'etre, is that none of us has to carry this burden alone. We have the wisdom of our community to lean on. We have experienced and sensible committees that are meeting to help us find a way though this situation. We have a history in this congregation of rising to clear some serious hurdles. And there is this fairly significant presence in our midst called , God. "Have a little faith" is a refrain that keeps reasserting itself into exasperated conversations.
I don't know what the outcome will be, but I am guessing that "having a little faith" will be important.
Peter
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