Well – we adopted a child. A three-month-old male yellow lab that we’ve named Jericho. Jericho was at the animal shelter and fit one of the two categories we look for in dogs – Boxer or Lab. He’s got a great temperament and is very relaxed and gentle which is awesome. Our 7-year-old boxer is completely fine with him as well, which is good. We’ve tried to tell her that it’s the son she could never have. We’ll see how that goes. Here are some pics.

 

There’s the past

a grey-orange light

shaking and swinging

like a lantern on an old

bent branch

making shadows

throb in and out

till vertigo comes

and you fall headlong

back to today

 

There’s the past

where pain fell away

like leaves in fall

and nothing stuck

but the tar on the tracks

in August

and I could walk forever

past the farms

of southern Ontario

starving and loving

being lost

 

There’s the past

broken old father

of this shining boy

hidden away

safe inside an aging chest

dreaming of reckless 60 foot dives

into Elora quarry

plunging deep into dark

frozen cold and free

 

There’s the past

and I know it happened

’cause it left me here

as evidence

of a life once lived

 

But this time now –

present stands full-fleshed

hot in bright same sun

song of a beating heart

and boy’s blue eyes

come along for the ride

 

still

 

there’s the past

long shadow cast

falling behind

but never gone

always holding on by the heels

calling soft and firm

‘remember me’

 

This shadowy cage

grey bars signal light behind

casting bright patterns

 

For some reason I have risen to the rank of 127 out of about 6,000 reviewers on Amazon.ca. If you want to help push me into the Top 100 reviewers feel free to visit the following page, read some reviews, and, if you like any vote "Yes" to the question "was this review helpful?"

 

 

You have to click on the link that says "see all 17 reviews".

 

It’s these random, seemingly mundane things I enjoy for for some reason.

 

 

 

I like Hem. Hem is an indie folk rock band. I like a small song of their’s I heard on a show tonight. The song is called We’ll Meet Along the Way. It’s very evocative. You should listen to it. If you’ve heard of the group let me know ’cause I’m usually the last to know about a group I think is reasonably new. I’ll say:

 

"Hey have you heard that new group <INSERT NAME HERE>?

 

and someone will respond:

 

"Oh yeah, I’ve been listening to them since 1789. Great group."

 

and I’ll say:

 

"Oh."

 

So let me know if this is another one of those groups that you heard of way back in the pre-TV days or can I legitimately claim them as a reasonably new, small, cool group.

 

 

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

 

Thanksgiving is nearly here in Canada and despite its name it can be hard to see the point past all the great turkey and gravy (which I like a whole lot). When we pray in thanksgiving it is often out of a sense of gratefulness for the tangible blessings of health, family, friends, shelter, employment, food etc. All good things and surely blessings.

 

Perhaps we need to take a step back however and ask ourselves whether our gratitude hinges upon the material blessings in our life? Do we, perhaps, need a joy based upon something eternal? If all our hope and happiness hinges upon things that rust, decay and die will not our hope also rust, decay and die?

 

Bonhoeffer seeks to remind us that gratitude in any circumstance is what will enrich our lives. To have gratitude in any circumstance we must place all our hope in Christ. In Him we have an eternal, unchangeable blessing far beyond anything we can receive out of this world.

 

I am the married father of three. I am healthy and employed. I pray I find a nearness to Christ that would allow me to rejoice in the wealth, health and abundance of my neighbor even if I am sick, poor and experience loss. This is my prayer for you as well.

 

So I’m reading this book by Eldon Jay Epp, president of the Society of Biblical Literature, about Junia referenced in Romans 16:7. Epp argues well and convincingly that Junia (or Junias depending upon your translation) was female and for the first 1,500 years or so of Christianity she was recongnized as such.

 

Why, you ask, does it matter what gender Junia was? Well because Junia is referenced as well-known among the apostles. If Junia was female then we have a female apostle and points go to the egalitarian camp in theological circles.

 

Why, you ask again, do people waste their time with such things when there are more important Kingdom-oriented things to be about? Once again, astute observer, good question. I can only respond by reminding you that, alas, we are all (including theological eggheads) only human.

 

Back to the subject matter at hand. Simply put – egalitarians believe that women should be able to hold positions of authority within the church (hence their desire to see Junia as a female apostle). The other side of the equation are the Complimentarians – those that believe that although equal, men and women were designed by God to hold different, but complimentary roles. As such, women should not hold positions of authority in the church but rather complimentary roles.

 

To his credit, Epp very clearly identifies his bias as egalitarian right up front.

 

Now, as I am reading through the book, I get my latest edition of one of my favorite magazines – Touchstone ( www.touchstonemag.com ) and what is the cover story? Junia the Apostle? The article was written by John Hunwicke, former Head of Theology at Lancing College in England. Touchstone and Hunwicke are staunchly complimentarian but are not quite so upfront with this as Epp is with his egalitarianism. Hunwicke’s article is very good. Essentially Hunwicke agrees with Epp’s primary argument that Junia was female.

 

So what’s the problem you ask? Well – Hunwicke effectively renders Epp’s book invalid by arguing that the keystone in the Junia passage that determines whether egalitarian or complimentarian benefit is not Junia’s gender but rather whether Junia is really referenced as an apostle. Touche. For reference sake here’s the passage in question, Romans 16:7:

Hunwicke argues that the passage could just as easily be interpreted as "they are well known to the apostles…" Personally I think that Epp is more persuasive then Hunwicke but Hunwicke’s goal is not to convince but simply to inject reasonable doubt. He succeeds and I have lots more reading to do.

 

Well…I AM WIPED!

 

We had a town-wide food drive tonight called Drive Away Hunger sponsored by Farm Credit Canada. All of the youth groups in our town spread out across the town and went door to door gathering a HUGE amount of food. Then they all converged on the Alliance and unloaded. We had somewhere between 150-200 youth in our gym drinking juice, hot chocolate and donuts. Pastor S. gave a presentation on FCC’s food drive and then we had a speaker talk about the impact this will have on our community.

 

The youth easily gathered four times what the FCC trailer could hold and we had to load another trailer. It was a fantastic event.

 

=======================

 

Morden – 4,207 pounds

Winkler – 3,870 pounds

 

I should declare my biases up front here. I think Margaret Atwood is probably the best writer that Canada has ever produced for loads of different reasons (I’m probably the only evangelical pastor who thinks this). Her poetry and novels are incredible. Her work as an editor putting together anthologies of Canadian literature and now her foray into non-fiction with a new book about debt are just a few reasons.

 

Art is not a universal (sorry purists). Art is a combination of talent and timing (Andy Warhol would agree). Some art sits unrecognized for decades before people begin to be drawn to it. This is because the artist’s timing was off. To be polite we often say the artist was "ahead of their time" which is really a euphemism for "nobody liked it until they were dead". One of the reasons Margaret Atwood is the great artist she is has as much to do with her timing as it does with her talent. Her novels in the 70’s that chronicled what it was like growing up woman in Canada in that age were perfectly timed for where the culture was.

 

Her classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale was partly an exploration of where a Reagan/Thatcher world might go if left unchecked and it was published at the perfect time. Now – her latest work is called – Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth. I REALLY want to read this (then again, I really want to read just about everything). This book grew out of her commitment to the upcoming Massey Lectures and was borne out of ideas she had as far back as 2003. As we sit in midst of seismic global economic change Atwood proves her talent as an artist once again by landing an apt book at just the right time. Other books that will be published over the coming months by more opportunistic types may get the timing right but they will lack the other critical ingredient that could categorize them as artists – talent. Atwood has both.

 

Atwood will be in Winnipeg delivering her Massey lecture on debt next week. I hope to be there. The details are:

Friday, October 17 – Winnipeg, Manitoba
8:00 pm, Pantages Playhouse
Tickets: General $20, students and seniors $10, High school and under 17, $5. Plus local taxes and fees.
Contact Ticketmaster for more details.

If anybody wants to go with me or meet me there let me know. Maybe I can get her to sign one of my books.

 

I have become a fan of the 1930’s black quartet – The Inkspots. It’s a little weird because I shouldn’t really even know who they are. For some reason The Inkspots sound has become synonymous with post-apocalyptic yearnings for the Golden Age of America. According to Wikipedia it was the great classic Ridley Scott movie Blade Runner that first featured their music. More recently I had become familiar through gaming shooters like Bioshock and the trailers for the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 (which I am hoping to get).

 

There’s something very evocative about wandering around in the burnt out shell of a city while "If I didn’t care" or "I don’t want to set the world on fire" plays in the background.

 

Anyhow – they have very unique vocal stylings and Yes, most of their songs do start out with the same guitar opening. If you want to listen to something radically different then what you’ve been listening to – look up The Inkspots. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the background music to the return of Christ.