Curling

This week the Canadian Olympic curling trials are on in Edmonton. My grandson, star soccer player and typical teenager just rolls his eyes when I begin to talk about curling. How can I find such fascination in such a boring game? I don’t even try to explain it to him. But maybe you’ll understand. There are just so many reasons to love curling!

It’s slow. There’s no need for video replay (except to appreciate some genius shot). Men and women can and do play equally well, even quite equitably together. The same is true for old and young. A fun fact of these trials is that one of the male skips wasn’t even born when his competitor skipped his first match.

I like that Randy Ferbey chooses not to play the sexy last position because his third is just better at it. And that veteran skip Russ Howard took third place on Brad Gushue’s very young Newfoundland team who went on to win gold in 2006. I like that we get to know the curling families. Russ’ brother Glenn is a fixture in the finals. The Middaughs, husband and wife, are both active in the sport. I don’t think the Jones girls are related, except by curling. Colleen is a Maritimer and Jennifer is from Winnipeg.
I much prefer curling as a life metaphor to the usual sports analogies, baseball or golf, and certainly hockey! In curling, like life, you just have to keep sweeping! There are always rocks in your way and it generally seems that everyone else has a better view of what you need to do. They keep yelling until something crashes. But nobody ever appears to hold your mistakes or misses against you. Your team just goes on from where you landed.

There are no secrets in curling. Teams discuss strategies right out loud for everyone to listen in. And win or lose they all stay friends, ending a match with hugs and handshakes all around. Word has it everyone meets for drinks afterwards, no matter how tense the actual game. Now there’s a lesson we could all learn. No bones get broken; no mean body-checks get thrown; no grudges are held. Friends and foes are likely to turn up on each other’s team next season.

Curling is a nice accessible Canadian sport with real ice and history and tradition, but not so much risk as to send anyone to hospital or to force a retirement if you really want to keep playing. Trades are pretty much voluntary.

Most of the time we don’t know how the match will turn out until the last rock is thrown. Unless you’re a real fanatic you can still enjoy the journey whoever tops the scoreboard at the end of the day.

So there you have some of the reasons I’ll be following the curling. Why not join me?

Levels

I have often been struck by the way faith seems to work on many different levels, whether so subtle that we are unaware of it, or so profound that we are lost in wonder at the majesty of our beliefs. Either way, there can be no doubt that our faith and beliefs matter to us.

Even among those who take their faith very seriously, people do not believe the same. Some people’s faith in God is based on a literal understand of scriptural propositions. Others’ beliefs may be much more ethereal, but those concepts will be every bit as important to those who hold those positions. Isn’t it interesting that faith matters so much to both of them?

There is one potential problem in using the term “levels” to describe this phenomenon. What we are discussing is nothing like peeling an onion, for instance, because that might imply that one type of faith was somehow deeper than the other and that is not my intent. Who am I to judge that? I know people in both camps, and their faith works for them. Oh, they may look at each other somewhat askance, but their suspicion of each other’s faith is not the point here. Each believes, and that faith matters. They may understand the nature of God differently; they may approach the Divine in dissimilar ways and have different ways of communing with the Sacred Presence, but for each of them, their faith makes their life richer and more meaningful.

Isn’t it interesting that faith in God works for people, even though they conceive of God quite differently from each other? It is simply another miracle of the divine-human encounter.

Feathers

Clearly the angels have been shedding. As I walked into the fellowship hall the white tree in the corner had been well and truly trimmed by a team whose decorating principle is "fill every single inch with something bright and shiny."

The floor around was covered with white feather fluff. It trailed through the room into the next, up the stairs, into the sanctuary. Much angel activity has been going on as the children are getting ready for their roles in programs that will be unfolding over the next few weeks of Advent.

A couple of questions about the source of the "mess" were answered with a stern look and a clear message that there will be feathers where there are angels, and there are definitely angels present here. (The feathery wings lay on the table along with tinsel halos, several shepherd and wise man robes and a baby!)

That settled it. No more questions. Where there are angels there may indeed be "mess" but that's just the way it is.

It was part of the message of the morning as well. Although we are in the business of preparing the way, we still have issues of real life to deal with. We will still need to forgive each other, make way for one another, be patient with those whose perspective does not exactly match our own. We will need to come to the table, in repentance and seeking healing and reconciliation.

But other signs are also there. Jesus is coming. There are angels here. Ignore the stray feathers. With real life some feathers will be shed. At some point the vacuum will come out. But for now, sing Hallelujah! Make ready to receive Him.

Oatmeal

This is a very “oatmeal morning” for me. It’s your typical late fall day. There were some pretty cold droplets in the air this morning—not quite snow, but certainly not summery. Trees are bare of leaves, except for the row of spindly oaks that hang onto their dead brown foliage through whatever ice and snow winter will throw at them. Our snowless November has enabled most people to get their leaves raked and composted or bagged or vacuumed up by the city. Lawns are trimmed and ready for what’s to come.

And we’ve got omens of “what’s to come.” In our parking lot the neon-tipped stakes are pounded in to the at-risk corners and edges so that over-zealous snow plows can stay on track and not dig up the lawns as they do their job over the next several snowy months.

But back to oatmeal. For me it’s a great comfort food that gets me going on such a morning. From experience I already know that oatmeal is one of those trigger words that prods memories in the brains of many people. Maybe for you it’s a reminder of home. “Nobody makes oatmeal like my mom, or dad, or grandma.”
Maybe it takes you back to camps of your youth, or of last summer. Was it Ruth or Robert, Irene or Isabelle who stirred up that perfect pot of oatmeal and plopped it in front of you every morning?

We could get into long discussions (I know; I’ve done it!) about what the just right topping is for your oatmeal. Brown sugar, maple syrup, raisins, cinnamon, coconut, prunes, heavy cream, butter…Several of you possess the secrets that keep the lumps at a minimum, that ensure the texture is creamy or oaty or whatever magic oatmeal word was used in your kitchen, or around your dining hall table, at your campsite picnic table. I know it; I’ve used this magic word before!

Now let’s all just take an oatmeal moment and bask in our good memories. It will make the grey day a bit brighter.

Sacaba

Sacaba is the name of a village in Bolivia where a most remarkable venture is happening. In this town, a group of young Bolivian women from the local congregation of Community of Christ run the Light of Day Bakery. This little group of women gets up every morning and gathers at 4:00 a.m. They have prayer together, and then begin to bake bread. They do it day after day, providing wholesome and safe bread for the people of the village where they live, at reasonable and affordable prices. The amazing thing about this, however, is not how early they get up, or how hard they work, but the fact that they do this without pay! Their compensation is a few pieces of bread with which to feed their own families.

Why would they work so hard without pay? How can this little group be so dedicated? What motivates them to this service? The answer lies in their desire to serve their neighbours and share the light they have found. That is amazing dedication! Would I do the same? It seems unlikely, and I am truly humbled!

But the dreams of this little group do not stop there. They have their eyes fixed on other projects of service for their community. Noting that their region can grow a lot of vegetables, even though many people are not used to eating vegetables, they dream of starting a project related to nutrition, so people will be healthy and have better lives. Talk about sending/serving ministry! This is wonderful, extraordinary generosity! May Heaven bless these women, and return to them the love they give.



You can learn more about this project by watching the following video. Simply click on the link below, and then on the link for the appropriate bandwidth.

http://www.cofchrist.org/broadcast/default.asp#news

Solutions

I'm thinking of just how many people have told me about solutions they're part of. You know what they say, if you're not part of the solution you just may be part of the problem!

Some of the problems are huge ones--AIDS, war, hunger and homelessness. And you might think you can't be the solution to those ones. But look again. Today (I'm writing this on December 1) is International AIDS Day and there are the folks in Stratford organizing and attending vigils and creating awareness and support for real solutions.

We think of our good friend Rod Downing who keeps reminding us via his Peace newsletter and truly putting pressure on countries and their leaders to move on solving such huge issues as Darfur. It may be a global issue, but there are things to be done, even by one person.

Many CEM congregations have found community problems they can do something about: GTA West make sandwiches for the homeless hungry; Providence Bay ensures families without means can join in the community skating time; Hamilton provides food and fellowship for their neighbourhood seniors. Many congregations support local food banks and adopt families at Christmas time. You can add to this list I'm certain.

As Christmas approaches you, like me, may be receiving all kinds of pleas to help with this or that important cause. Let's not just reject them all. Let's give some thoughtful consideration to how we can be part of the solution.

We've been considering our various ministries to bring our healthy congregations into greater balance. As the season of giving is upon us, this is a time to answer the call to serve others. What are the calls into community that tug at your heart? Can you moblilize your family, a few friends, even your whole congregation to make a difference, to be part of the solution?

Share your story here.

Momentum

If one were going to sail across the universe on a voyage of discovery, the journey would begin with several years of activity before the ship ever left the gravitational confines of earth. There would be the need to design and build an appropriate space craft, or at the very least modify and fit an existing one. A crew or staff would need to be recruited, trained, and prepared. We would need to make lists of the tools required. We might even need to create those tools, and then teach the crew how to use them. A long list of supplies would be formulated, collected, and stored. Test flights would need to be taken to see if the vehicle was really up to the rigors of the journey. The list of things needing to be done would go on and on.

It feels like an apt metaphor for CEM. The past week saw several important steps in preparing for that kind of voyage for Canada East Mission of Community of Christ. We are preparing for a journey of discovery and transformation; a courageous trip into the future. Once we embark, the voyage will change us, and there will be no going back to the old and familiar.

A lot has happened in the past week. The twelve pastors in our first CEM CPI cohort met together for a week of formation studies in order to prepare and equip themselves to be better ministers and leaders. The directors of our camps, reunions, and retreats met together for a weekend to talk about how to design safer, better, more effective camps. Our new Camping Commission met together for the first time to begin discussing how our training programs might be able to go to the next level. The “Merrie Bande of Bishops” met with CEM leaders to begin creating a map that will take us where we need to go. There is activity. There is building momentum.

In President Grant McMurray’s famous sermon a decade ago when he launched Transformation 2000, he challenged us with the following words. “We are packed and ready for the journey. Will you come?” In CEM we are not yet packed, but we are preparing. Workers are needed for the crew. Would you like to come aboard?