(Someone asked in the last conversation if anyone has seen Rocky Balboa, and I have not, but feel free to continue that conversation!)
I'm reading another book on my never-ending pile - it's called "A Sensual Orthodoxy". Terrible title, right? (But I bet you'll never forget it!!) It's written by Debbie Blue, a minister in (I think) Minnesota. (see "house of mercy" link to the left)
I am GREATLY enjoying it! It's a collection of short sermons that in my opinion, could be used as devotionals. Forget the definition of "sensual" that comes to mind first - think "5 senses". She talks about the stories of Jesus in a way that makes it a real flesh and blood experience. Her premise is that we clean up the stories of the Bible too much, and make them all neat and tidy and clean. And they SO are not. For instance, the Son of God entered the world - through a flash of light? Did He get beamed down? Did singing angels surround Him as He slowly descended on a cloud, hands raised in gracious majesty? Nope. He came through a birth canal, which is messy and painful, and I'll stop there.
(At this point, I repeat my disclaimer that I have rarely found a book that I ENTIRELY agree with, in every way. I enjoy books that stretch my thinking, and force questions. So if you read a book at my recommendation...don't swallow it hook, line and sinker, just because I said I liked it! Value the right to think for yourself!)
Speaking of devotions...I had an idea...tell me what you think.
Anyone care to join me in a Bible-reading plan for a particular time frame? We could read Proverbs in January, i.e. a chapter a day...or we could adopt a read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan...or a number of other options in-between. No meetings, no tests, but maybe we will comment on it from time to time in this space, and maybe it's helpful to know that others are reading the same thing you are.
If that's not helpful to you - maybe you already have your own plan, or you don't like to be tied down to a plan - that's OK.
I await your feedback!!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
from me and charlie brown
As we go hither and yon over the holidays, and blog conversations are possibly sidelined....
and
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
andHAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Looking forward to chatting with all of you in 2007!
Monday, December 18, 2006
people of a lesser age than me
Moments of Note this weekend....
When Santa came to church, and was talking about a "Child" who appeared in his sleigh, impacted his life, and then suddenly...was gone! One listening kid's response - "maybe he fell out of the sleigh."
Then there was that wonderful moment when Santa oh-so-gently woke up an adult who had dozed off....
Not to mention another child's whispered question..."Why are you so skinny?" Santa thanked her for the compliment and acknowledged that he may have lost some weight. She seemed satisfied with that answer.
I've said it before...I'll say it again...kids make me LAUGH!
One more kid, that just leaves me shaking my head - this is from an e-newsletter that I subscribe to called, "This Is True". It's written by Randy Cassingham (I think that's the name), and each week, he pulls events out of the news as they are reported, just to point out some of the crazy things happening out there. I laugh, I cry, I rant when I read his newsletter. Here's an item in the most recent one:
An armed man forced his way into an apartment in Durham, N.C., and held the occupants at gunpoint, including a 5-year- old girl and a baby, while ordering the adults to give him money. That's when the girl's younger brother, Stevie Long, 4, came to the family's rescue. Stevie heard the commotion and quickly got dressed -- in a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger outfit -- and grabbed his plastic Mighty Morphin sword. "Get away from my family," the boy yelled as he burst into the room, swinging the sword with punctuations of "yah, yah!" The robber, and an accomplice who stayed outside, ran. "I scared the bad guys away," Stevie said. A counselor says Steve needs to work on improving his distinction between fantasy and reality. "He fully believed he morphed," his aunt said. (Raleigh News & Observer) ...With several years of intense therapy, he can be cured so he's frozen in fear just like everyone else.
When Santa came to church, and was talking about a "Child" who appeared in his sleigh, impacted his life, and then suddenly...was gone! One listening kid's response - "maybe he fell out of the sleigh."
Then there was that wonderful moment when Santa oh-so-gently woke up an adult who had dozed off....
Not to mention another child's whispered question..."Why are you so skinny?" Santa thanked her for the compliment and acknowledged that he may have lost some weight. She seemed satisfied with that answer.
I've said it before...I'll say it again...kids make me LAUGH!
One more kid, that just leaves me shaking my head - this is from an e-newsletter that I subscribe to called, "This Is True". It's written by Randy Cassingham (I think that's the name), and each week, he pulls events out of the news as they are reported, just to point out some of the crazy things happening out there. I laugh, I cry, I rant when I read his newsletter. Here's an item in the most recent one:
An armed man forced his way into an apartment in Durham, N.C., and held the occupants at gunpoint, including a 5-year- old girl and a baby, while ordering the adults to give him money. That's when the girl's younger brother, Stevie Long, 4, came to the family's rescue. Stevie heard the commotion and quickly got dressed -- in a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger outfit -- and grabbed his plastic Mighty Morphin sword. "Get away from my family," the boy yelled as he burst into the room, swinging the sword with punctuations of "yah, yah!" The robber, and an accomplice who stayed outside, ran. "I scared the bad guys away," Stevie said. A counselor says Steve needs to work on improving his distinction between fantasy and reality. "He fully believed he morphed," his aunt said. (Raleigh News & Observer) ...With several years of intense therapy, he can be cured so he's frozen in fear just like everyone else.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
grown-ups
haha!!!
my grade 10 science teacher, who seemed like a strictly serious man with no sense of humour, once told our class that peanut butter was made in huge lid-less vats in the middle of jungles, and thus was full of ground-up worms that had dropped into the vats.
i believed him.
didn't eat peanut butter for years. stared at it longingly, because i LOVE peanut butter...but i just couldn't eat it.
---
my grandpa used to quietly advise me that if i STAYED on my butt when Mom's loving-but-firm discipline loomed, she wouldn't be able to spank it. didn't work.
---
our childhood neighbour across the street used to sit on his front porch, watching the world go by. (that was a big activity in a town of 4,500 people) i would go across and sit with him, and ask him if in all his years (he was 150 years old or so, i figured) - had he ever seen a blue sky with NO CLOUDS AT ALL. he said yup, and i was deeply impressed.
---
any grownups stand out in your memory?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Christmas likes / dislikes
I've been thinking about the things that I REALLY LIKE about Christmas (which of course, leads to the things I REALLY DON'T LIKE...)
CHRISTMAS SONGS: REALLY LIKE "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - if I was an artist, I would paint a series of pictures to express the mystical wonder of this song. (Also LIKE Rosie O'Donnell's song, "Gonna Eat for Christmas"!) REALLY DON'T LIKE "The First Noel" - it's the song with an infinite number of verses that don't say much, and the tune is not user-friendly for most of us.
CHRISTMAS FOOD: REALLY LIKE pinwheels - little rolled up desserts made from leftover pie crust, with brown sugar and cinnammon throughout. REALLY DON'T LIKE eggnog. It's gross. Christmas cake is iffy.
TREE ORNAMENTS: REALLY LIKE an antique ornament made of broken glass bits, all glued together to make a shiny smooth ball that reflects light in all directions. A gift from my sister-in-law several years ago. REALLY DON'T LIKE those tinsel-icicle things, but that's because the cat eats them, and things go terribly wrong.
CHRISTMAS EVENTS: REALLY LIKE a candlelight service and the Encarna in Waterdown (link to the left - it's next weekend!). REALLY DON'T CARE FOR huge cantatas, but that's just me. I know others love them. Also REALLY LIKE walking through the Christmas outdoor display in my hometown, if there's snow. The walk ends at Tim Horton's. As a child, that meant Horton's hot chocolate, which I REALLY DON'T LIKE, but now I'm grown up and can have coffee.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS GIVEN: I REALLY DON'T LIKE trying to find the perfect gift for someone I have no ideas for, and I have a hard time letting myself off that hook. I REALLY LIKE the year I got Jeff a big wall picture of the Leafs past and present - he was actually surprised AND thrilled at the same time, and he's a hard guy to surprise!
CHRISTMAS GIFTS RECEIVED: OK, there's never a gift that I REALLY DON'T LIKE, but once, someone gave me a cell phone caddy. I don't have a cell phone, so I was at quite a loss to find words for the thank you card. But I REALLY LIKE the chocolate covered cherries that my sister gives me every year, without fail. And I also REALLY LIKED the year that Jeff wrapped gift certificates in different sized boxes, so I couldn't tell what they were until I opened them - and then he went shopping with me! I also have had a number of people over the years that gave me tree ornaments they had made themselves - I REALLY LIKE that - reminds me of them every year when I decorate the tree.
CHRISTMAS EVE: I REALLY LIKE the peace of Christmas Eve. I also REALLY LIKE laying in bed late at night, looking out the skylight at the stars, and happily pondering the thought that just because grown-ups don't believe in Santa, doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't exist. (I only ponder that on Christmas Eve - the rest of the year, I am properly mature, and don't entertain such silly thoughts.) I REALLY DON'T LIKE shopping on Christmas Eve.
CHRISTMAS CARDS: I REALLY LIKE receiving them. I REALLY DON'T LIKE sending them.
How about you? Likes? Dislikes? Let's hear them!
CHRISTMAS SONGS: REALLY LIKE "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - if I was an artist, I would paint a series of pictures to express the mystical wonder of this song. (Also LIKE Rosie O'Donnell's song, "Gonna Eat for Christmas"!) REALLY DON'T LIKE "The First Noel" - it's the song with an infinite number of verses that don't say much, and the tune is not user-friendly for most of us.
CHRISTMAS FOOD: REALLY LIKE pinwheels - little rolled up desserts made from leftover pie crust, with brown sugar and cinnammon throughout. REALLY DON'T LIKE eggnog. It's gross. Christmas cake is iffy.
TREE ORNAMENTS: REALLY LIKE an antique ornament made of broken glass bits, all glued together to make a shiny smooth ball that reflects light in all directions. A gift from my sister-in-law several years ago. REALLY DON'T LIKE those tinsel-icicle things, but that's because the cat eats them, and things go terribly wrong.
CHRISTMAS EVENTS: REALLY LIKE a candlelight service and the Encarna in Waterdown (link to the left - it's next weekend!). REALLY DON'T CARE FOR huge cantatas, but that's just me. I know others love them. Also REALLY LIKE walking through the Christmas outdoor display in my hometown, if there's snow. The walk ends at Tim Horton's. As a child, that meant Horton's hot chocolate, which I REALLY DON'T LIKE, but now I'm grown up and can have coffee.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS GIVEN: I REALLY DON'T LIKE trying to find the perfect gift for someone I have no ideas for, and I have a hard time letting myself off that hook. I REALLY LIKE the year I got Jeff a big wall picture of the Leafs past and present - he was actually surprised AND thrilled at the same time, and he's a hard guy to surprise!
CHRISTMAS GIFTS RECEIVED: OK, there's never a gift that I REALLY DON'T LIKE, but once, someone gave me a cell phone caddy. I don't have a cell phone, so I was at quite a loss to find words for the thank you card. But I REALLY LIKE the chocolate covered cherries that my sister gives me every year, without fail. And I also REALLY LIKED the year that Jeff wrapped gift certificates in different sized boxes, so I couldn't tell what they were until I opened them - and then he went shopping with me! I also have had a number of people over the years that gave me tree ornaments they had made themselves - I REALLY LIKE that - reminds me of them every year when I decorate the tree.
CHRISTMAS EVE: I REALLY LIKE the peace of Christmas Eve. I also REALLY LIKE laying in bed late at night, looking out the skylight at the stars, and happily pondering the thought that just because grown-ups don't believe in Santa, doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't exist. (I only ponder that on Christmas Eve - the rest of the year, I am properly mature, and don't entertain such silly thoughts.) I REALLY DON'T LIKE shopping on Christmas Eve.
CHRISTMAS CARDS: I REALLY LIKE receiving them. I REALLY DON'T LIKE sending them.
How about you? Likes? Dislikes? Let's hear them!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
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