Author Archives: Gillian

Young and Old in Church

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I had a letter read on CBC radio last week. It was a bit of an event for me… nearly everyone else in the family has managed to get on CBC (well, my sister has anyway), so now it was my turn. The letter was in response to a short documentary aired on the Vancouver Island morning show on Radio 1.

In this program, the interviewer was looking at spirituality amongst younger people in Victoria. Apparently only about 2-5% of the population of Victoria attends church on a regular basis (compare that to about 20% nationally and closer to 45-50% in the United States). However, we are one in one of the most spiritually rich places in North America. They then investigated some churches that are working to reach out to the “20 & 30-something” demographic (of which I am a part). One of the church leaders interviewed is the leader of a church-plant by one of the break-away Anglican groups in North America. In the course of the interview, it was revealed that this church, as well as the other featured church, aim their services exclusively at the 20-30’s in Victoria. I say exclusively because the interviewer could not attend a service because he was “too old”.

Too old?! Since when is anyone too old for church? One of the techniques (if you can call it that) is the cafe-style of church where participants sit around in groups and each, in turn, expound on the topic of the day. Call me crazy, but I am sure that there are some in the older generations to whom this would appeal and there are as many in the target generation who would benefit from the wisdom of their elders.

With that in mind, I sat down and wrote a letter.

“Maybe I am an abnormal 20-something, but I know I am not alone amongst 20-somethings in these sentiments: I go to church on a near-weekly basis and, even more shocking, go to a church with a number of people who could be my parents and grandparents. And I love it. Excluding older generations from church is not only presumptuous but a little short-sighted. One of the things I value about my “church experience” is the opportunity to interact with multiple generations. Where else can people interact with kids, teens, young adults, middle aged and elderly adults all at once? I have learnt many, many things from these older generations both about life and faith. By preventing that interaction, young adults leave themselves without mentor-ship and close themselves off to a world of experience and growth. Maybe they’ve forgotten, but those 80-year-old’s were 20-somethings like us once and a lot of them were trying to push the boundaries of church then the way we are today.”

They read it on air.

Thoughts? Do you like going to church with multiple generations? Or would you rather spend your Sunday morning/evening with people solely your own age? Have you gained anything from worshipping with older folk or does it detract from your experience?

Running, Clear Night Skies, and Good Teachers

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“Are you a runner? Because you look like a runner.”

I’ve had strange comments from patients at work before… The last time I had one about athletics was a few years ago when Silken Laumann asked me if I was a national rower.

For some reason, I answered the running query with “Yes, but not lately.”  The last race I ran was in 2002. The last time I did any serious running training was probably closer to 1999.

But it got me thinking, why not run again? I’ve been sitting on that thought (quite literally, actually. My rear has now melded to the couch) for the last couple of weeks. Every day, I have had a great excuse for not running until today when I finally told myself to stop being stupid and get out there. Did I mention that I pulled some muscles in my back yesterday and it has been sore all day?

I’m glad I went. The overcast sky of today has cleared up and the clear night sky is beautiful. The moon is nearly full and it casts a glow over everything. I head down the street and through the park before turning up the hill towards the university. The park is in a little dip and it always seems cooler in there than at our house half a block away. As a result, there is slippery frost on the path. As I run through the dark park and up the hill, I look up and see that the sky was clear and all the constellations can be seen. There is majestic Orion standing straight up below the moon. Beside him, Taurus, the zodiac sign I was for one day. Then the Pleiades, Casseopia, the Dippers, Gemini…

I began to think back to my love of staring at the night sky. Where did it come from? I remember being drawn into stargazing on Offshore when we could sit for hours at a time under a huge black umbrella of the sky – an umbrella with millions of pinpricks of light all over it. It got to the point where I could tell if the helmsman was off course just by looking at the sky.

I loved the sky before that. I may have not known and been able to identify all of the constellations, but the interest was there.

Keep running… cross Gordon Head Road, good thing I have a light because there are actually cars on this road… Through the university. I love the pathways with arches of trees overhanging. I’m surprised I haven’t run into any deer yet. Through residences… I’m surprised how few people there are out tonight, though it is 10:30pm and a little chilly. I’ve got two thermal running shirts on, plus an old soccer jersey. I’m through the university now, to Sinclair Road. I came the better way: this hill is much nicer to go down than up.

I had the same teacher for both grade 5 and grade 6. Mr Shurrock was one of the best teachers I ever had. After a fairly disastrous Math experience in grade 1, he was the first teacher that actually believed I could do Math and, unsurprisingly, I excelled in his class. I may not have ever become a Math-wiz (as my college transcript can attest to), I did well at Math for the rest of my elementary and high school career. With Mr Shurrock, we studied all sorts of interesting things, including astronomy. I remember researching constellations and drawing them out in our notebooks. I think this was one of the first places where I encountered these stories in the night sky.

Down the hill, loop south along Cadboro Bay Road. Still running. The initial cramp has long-gone and I’m actually enjoying this. Who knew? It is colder beside the ocean, but the air is lovely and fresh. Annie Lennox, Ella Fitzgerald, and Moxy Fruvous are shuffling on my iPod. I have no idea how this combination made it together on the player.

Up the long, slow incline to Cedar Hill X Road. This is my road, but it is a fair ways to go yet. The last part is downhill and I turn in to head back through the park. I slow to walk through the park and take a few minutes to look up and enjoy the sky once again.

Thirty minutes. Seven and a half kilometres. I guess that isn’t half bad for not having run in a long time.

May Some Light Enfold

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This is taken from (and adapted with my own photos) Episcopal Cafe Art Blog.

I feel myself in need
Of the inspiring strains of ancient lore,
My heart to lift, my empty mind to feed,
And all the world explore.

I know that I am old
And never can recover what is past,
But for the future may some light unfold
And soar from ages blast.

I feel resolved to try,
My wish to prove, my calling to pursue,
Or mount up from the earth into the sky,
To show what Heaven can do.


Words by George Moses Horton (in “George Moses Horton, Myself”)

Photos by myself: Trial Island and Mt Baker; Solitary Paddler, Munda, New Georgia; The Boathouse, Thetis Island; On Top of the World: Tavish on Moorea, French Polynesia.

Things I Have Done This Week:

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  • Made (and eaten) chocolate chip, apricot, pecan cookies
  • Counselled my first client as an almost full-fledged counsellor
  • Been to yoga twice
  • Read 2 books
  • Been on three dates
  • Built myself a new profile website here
  • And another site here
  • Drank a lot of coffee
  • Watched half a season of Gilmore Girls
  • Knitting
  • Almost been hit by a pickup truck
  • Reorganized my bedroom furniture

(Not) Friday Photo

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I missed out on posting one last week, so I’m putting one up this week. Partially because I took this one in Edmonton last week and I’ve taken more photos since then that I can use this week. Partially because it is a picture I like. And partially because I don’t want to leave my whining post at the top any longer but I really haven’t anything else insightful to say at the moment.

Transitions

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I rang in the New Year sitting on my friends couch with a tired dog sitting on my feet. It was great to spend time with good friends. New Years always seems fairly anticlimactic. Is this just a holiday invented for parties and drinking?

Anyway.

I nearly reached my goal of a book per week. The 5 weeks of two courses and the two months of leading a grief group/organizing a discussion series/school/work took a toll so I was three books shy… but it isn’t about numbers. I read some great books in 2010, and some less than fantastic (and a lot of parts of text books).

A bunch of things got crossed off of the list this year, and there are many works in progress.

The close of 2010 also saw me finishing off all of the coursework for my Masters. Only the practicum remains. I start 2011 with a certain amount of apprehension. My life is completely changing as of this week. I am dropping down to two days of work per week, meaning I am going to have to budget finances closely to break even with living expenses. I am hoping to be getting 20 hours per week of practicum spread between two sites. However, as of right now, I have no appointments booked. So now I have the concern of actually finding people with whom to work on top of the nerves of actually counselling real people.

On a positive note, Christmas in Edmonton was a lot of fun. I have had an unusual amount of time with my sister this year, between a week in San Francisco and a week in Edmonton with just the two of us. We lazed around, walked endlessly, and enjoyed doing nothing and still a lot of things. We managed to connect with nearly everyone in the family, including a Christmas morning skype with Dad and Colleen in Malawi. So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!