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| http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/newsroom/index_e.cfm?fuseaction=displayDocument&DocIDCd=CR070702 | ||||
Morden Designated a Cultural Capital of Canada for 2008MORDEN, Manitoba, June 27, 2007 – On behalf of the Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, Brian Pallister, Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar, announced that Morden, Manitoba, has been designated one of the 2008 Cultural Capitals of Canada in the under 50 000 population category. Mr. Pallister is participating today in a celebration to highlight this important designation. "Morden recognizes that arts and culture are important to making a community stronger by contributing to the economy and quality of life of its citizens," said Minister Oda. "Thanks to its special programming on the theme of Chautauqua Spirit, in 2008 Morden will offer both its community and visitors a year full of cultural discoveries, notably through a songwriting contest and the Back Forty Festival showcasing the richness and diversity of Aboriginal cultures." "I’m extremely proud that Morden has received this prestigious award, which recognizes that arts and culture have a very special place in this beautiful part of our country," said Mr. Pallister. "Canada’s New Government is proud to support communities like Morden, which clearly demonstrate that the arts are not the sole domain of our large urban centres." "The Town of Morden is honoured and excited to be named a 2008 Cultural Capital of Canada in the category of population under 50 000," said Morden Mayor Doug Wilson. "This prestigious award will give us the opportunity to showcase the community’s exceptionally talented people, as well as promote and invest more in our arts and culture. The fact that it will leave a positive legacy will be an added bonus." The Cultural Capital of Canada designation is awarded for merit, which is determined by the quality of a candidate community’s proposed project as well as earlier achievements of that community which demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the arts and culture. An independent advisory committee of experts in the field of arts and culture reviewed the applications and presented Minister Oda with unanimous recommendations on the communities chosen. The funding provided helps support special projects celebrating the arts and culture and the amount varies according to the size of the municipality. With a population of under 50 000, Morden may be awarded up to $500,000. The funds will be used to create and produce a new performing arts festival, as well as four exterior murals to be painted by young people and artists from the community. The other Cultural Capitals of Canada for 2008 are Surrey, British Columbia (in the over 125 000 population category); Nanaimo, British Columbia (in the 50 000 to 125 000 population category); and Sackville, New Brunswick (joining Morden in the under 50 000 population category). All municipalities, as well as governments of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities can apply for this program. The application deadline for the 2010 Cultural Capitals of Canada designations is December 1, 2007. Applications for 2009 are now being evaluated. For more information on the projects proposed by the 2008 Cultural Capitals, the funding they will receive, and the other municipalities that applied, please see the attached fact sheets. Names of past Cultural Capitals can be found on the Department of Canadian Heritage website at www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ccc/index_e.cfm.
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| Date created: 2007-06-27 | Important Notices | |||
Month: June 2007
Jim & Casper Go To Church
So I picked up this book the other day as a reprieve from the very good but exhausting Jesus of Nazareth I have been reading by Ratzinger. The subtitle of the book is – Frank conversation about faith, churches and well-meaning Christians. The book is essentially the result of a Seattle pastor hiring an atheist to tour churches across the United States with him and then dialogue and off critique of the experience.
As a pastor the content was invaluable to me because it does essentially what pastors wish they could do – that is experience other churches and get a sense for what they are doing well and incoprorate it into their own church while at the same time learning what they are not doing well and either purging or avoiding that.
So Jim Henderson is the 59-year-old pastor with 30 years experience in the role and Matt Casper is the 37-year-old copy-writer/writer/musician atheist offering his opinions.
The book is a quick read. I read all 169 pages in a day and I am typically a slow reader (I even had time to mark in the margins). This is because what you read in this book is really the dialogue between Henderson and Casper who come across very much like the Ebert & Roeper of church reviewing.
The content is engaging and at times brutally frustrating because its like being put into a room with someone and hearing them critique something you love but you’re unable to rebut. This is partly the point of the book though as it admonishes Christians to become better listeners. Dialogue not debate as the book suggests.
I won’t steal the book’s thunder but I will say what impressed Casper most in his church visits was when he could clearly see the church and the members having an impact on the community and world. The "doing" of the people was of critical importance to Casper. If the doing was not there it was not compelling at all. He was also turned off by churches that had clearly spent a LOT of $$$ on high production values, equipment, fascilities etc.
Interesting and worthwhile read. Check out www.churchrater.com for a sense of what these guys are about.
Heart
Well there’s a
beating beating beating
unseen hidden underneath
Godly clockwork
endless miracle
this grave engine
dark ensheathed
a marking marking marking
of time still passing on
like the steady
drum drum drumming
of an endless rhythmic rhyme
and every moment
every hour
tick tick ticking
passing by
a lifetime’s worth
of joy and love and grace
of pain and hurt embrace
of breathing breath’s
sweet first and fitful final sigh
no more then,
marking days of dark and light
a quiet cold, cold, cold
the winding hand
reach down and in and past
filling void with newness
needless measure
eternity takes hold
Great Quote
Here’s a pretty awesome quote from Tom Shadyac, director of the forthcoming Evan Almighty as well as previous films Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Patch Adams:
"I don’t think Hollywood’s ever been afraid of faith-based movies. I think they’re afraid of bad movies."
Ruth Bell Graham 1920-2007
"Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support. "I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we’ve had in the mountains together. We’ve rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."
– Reverend Billy Graham
The Breach
W.R. came over last night and brought The Breach to watch. The breach is a movie based upon the two months leading up to the arrest of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent turned most notorious spy in US history. I have to say that actor Chris Cooper was phenomenal in the role of Hanssen. He stands head and shoulders above all of the others in this film.
The movie is actually a fairly tedious affair but you lose sight of that if you immerse yourself in the character of Hanssen. You don’t really want to like this guy but you can’t help but sympathize with him and you begin to understand how he was so difficult to catch. There are many aspects of Hanssen’s life you wish were explored more but the movie is focused on how his cover unravels in the two months preceding his capture.
I would definitely recommend the film for those who have patience and attention to detail.
On a similar note the movie points out another interesting facet of human nature – our tendancy to see the good in the most evil of characters. Hannsen’s clerk in the movie rapidly comes to respect him and you can tell he regrets the ultimate humiliation that Hannsen will undergo in capture. Of course we see this reiterated over and over again throughout art and film from characters like Darth Vader all the way back to the character of Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost who is initially presented as something of a tragic anti-hero. Even modern re-interpretations of Scripture like to try to redeem Judas Iscariot. Canadian writer Morley Callahan’s book A Time For Judas comes to mind.
Redemption and the possibility for it are strong tendencies within the human psyche. Perhaps it is a reflection of our personal desire to be saved from our own personal evil. We see in the salvation of others hope for ourselves. It is attractive.
Bartok and the Geranium
In the midst of great conversation this evening I was reminded of this poem by Canadian poet Dorothy Livesay – it’s called Bartok and the Geranium and on the surface it is about the observed interplay the poet imagines between the music of Bela Bartok and her geranium. Of course there is much to this poem but even on the surface it is brilliant.
===========================
Bartok and Geranium
She lifts her green umbrellas
Towards the pane
Seeking her fill of sunlight
Or of rain;
Whatever falls
She has no commentary
Accepts, extends,
Blows out her furbelows,
Her bustling boughs;
Towards the pane
Seeking her fill of sunlight
Or of rain;
Whatever falls
She has no commentary
Accepts, extends,
Blows out her furbelows,
Her bustling boughs;
And all the while he whirls
Explodes in space,
Never content with this small room:
Not even can he be
Confined to sky
But must speed high and higher still
From galaxy to galaxy,
Wrench from the stars their momentary notes
Steal music from the moon.
Explodes in space,
Never content with this small room:
Not even can he be
Confined to sky
But must speed high and higher still
From galaxy to galaxy,
Wrench from the stars their momentary notes
Steal music from the moon.
She’s daylight
He is dark
She’s heaven-half breath
He storms and crackles
Spits with hell’s own spark.
He is dark
She’s heaven-half breath
He storms and crackles
Spits with hell’s own spark.
Yet in this room this moment now
These together breathe and be:
She, essence of serenity,
He in a mad intensity
Soared beyond sight
Then hurls, lost Lucifer,
From heaven’s height.
These together breathe and be:
She, essence of serenity,
He in a mad intensity
Soared beyond sight
Then hurls, lost Lucifer,
From heaven’s height.
And when he’s done, he’s out:
She leans a lip against the glass
And preens herself in light.
She leans a lip against the glass
And preens herself in light.
Harnessing Chaos 