Tag Archives: church

Coming Soon, to a Church Near Me

Posted on by

I feel like nothing noteworthy has happened over the last two weeks though I know that is completely untrue. In reality, I’ve been working my butt off organizing things for church this fall, keeping up with school work (and trying to learn things at the same time), going to concerts, and working 20+hours a week.

It is the first thing, fall programing at church, that seems to suck up all available time. I have a few theories about why that is. First of all, we’ve decided to undertake a fairly ambitious project this fall and I have ended up unofficially spear-heading it. We will be hosting an interdenominational moderated panel discussion of Brian McLaren’s book, A New Kind of Christianity. I’ve been working with a bunch of others, with varying levels of motivation and productivity, to draw together a group of people from within Victoria to speak to one or more of the questions Brian raises in his book. Each evening will also have some small group discussion time and a space for questions and answers. It has the potential to generate a lot of good conversations, continuing on some of the ones began back in May with the conference we hosted.

The time consuming part has been the liaising with various people to get them to be involved and the endless number of committee meetings that seems to entail. As much as I try to empower people to take initiative and make decisions for themselves, there seems to be an ingrained culture at church (my current one anyway, I have not seen it at every church I have been a part of, thankfully) where we cannot breathe without having someone hold our hands. In the process of planning large events, that usually means fortnightly committee meetings so we can go around and around in circles discussing the same issue repeatedly because we are not sure we are allowed to act independently. It drives me mad.

But, the sessions are going to be really good. I am excited about some of the panelists we have lined up and the conversations that will ensue. There is more information on the Facebook page if you are in Victoria and want to check it out.

Change

Posted on by

After a day of listening and learning, sharing and discussing change and church and all the variations found therein, I came back to St David of Wales tonight to take part in the for the Eucharist for Haiti. In the minutes leading up to the service, I found some wifi and checked in on the happenings of school and facebook friends, and then began to read through some of the blogs on my rss feed. Mike, who I’ve now met in person at the Brian McLaren conference a of couple weeks ago though I’ve followed his blog for about a year, had posted this today. I was immediately struck by its application to our setting and the discussions that had been going on and are continuing to go on throughout the conference here.

“Incremental change is usually limited in scope and is often reversible. If the change does not work out, we can always return to the old way. Incremental change usually does not disrupt our past patterns–it is an extension of the past. Most important, during incremental change, we feel we are in control…

Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope, discontinuous with the past, and generally irreversible. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control.”

Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change (p. 3)

That being said, something one of the people who shared yesterday, Dwight Friesen (lectures at Mars Hill Divinity School in Seattle) also grabbed me: “People don’t fear change, we love change! People fear loss.”

Either way, the consensus seems to be that we need to take risks. Try something new – sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t. Either way, you won’t know until you’ve tried.

Friday Photo

Posted on by

Vespers

Yesterday was the opening afternoon/evening of Episcopal Village West in Portland. There are 5 of us from Canada down here, 4 from Victoria and 1 from Vancouver. It has been interesting to hear from our brothers and sisters in the US about what they are experiencing and to see the similarities and differences in our situations. We have a lot to learn from and share with each other.
Follow the conversation here.

Break from Regular Programming

Posted on by

(not that there has been anything regular about my writing) to remind you that there is a conference going on this weekend.

I’ll be there. If you’re in Victoria, you should be too! (If you’re close to Victoria, you should think about coming!) Besides, if you come, you’ll be able to wish me Happy Birthday. 🙂

Things that Make Me Happy

Posted on by
  • New music from the public library
  • Being able to wake up without the alarm clock
  • Dinner with [new] friends
  • Productive meetings for exciting things
  • Taking a break and resting in God’s presence
  • Quiet reflection and peaceful moments
  • Wind and rain to remind me of God’s power in creation
  • New toys to play with
  • A clean bathroom
  • Life calming down (for now)
  • Finally getting permission to take 2 courses at once this summer meaning I’ll be done all my course work before I go to Myanmar in November
  • A fantastic new dress
  • Possible trip in June

Synod

Posted on by

The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia had its synod this past weekend. I was not a delegate so I didn’t sit in on the endless hours of debates, but several friends did. They were tweeting the proceedings so the rest of us could keep up. And then there were the post-synod meetings in the pub to debrief…

Another result of this is a lot of press across the country: everyone is looking at the Diocese of BC to see how we handle our report suggesting church closures. We are the first diocese to really tackle these changes head-on. Another friend has been involved in the process and was interviewed in the Globe and Mail today. He talks about himself and others tweeting synod. (As well as talking about more serious and important things!)

The Primate was in town for synod, as was Sr Elizabeth Ann of the Sisters of St John the Divine. Friend and priest of a church slated to close made a presentation at synod about a group I’ve been involved with getting established. Exciting times may be ahead.

The Season of Lent: Add More Things

Posted on by

Why do we, in the church community, see the need to add more to our lives during special seasons? Each Advent and Lent, I get overwhelmed by the multitude of activities available to me to help my spiritual/personal growth. Yet at the same time, we are told that these seasons are supposed to be times of renewal and reflection. Maybe I am alone in this, but I find it hard to reflect and meditate when I am constantly “doing.” Adding more to my life will not give me the increased time I need to have a meaningful contemplative lifestyle. I think that these studies are wonderful, but my real spiritual growth comes out of reflection on God, not endless discussion of some theological truth.

At the same time, these interesting studies seem to only come around during seasons like Advent and Lent, when there are already extra services at church, so it would be a shame not to take advantage of them. (Though this year I am leading a Lenten study at the Cathedral, so I can’t really get around that one.) Wouldn’t it be nice if we had our studies during Ordinary Time so we would be free to reflect and restore ourselves during Lent? Or, wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of an intense study, we had meditation time set aside during Lent. Just a thought.

Two Letters

Posted on by

To: The two young mums sitting in front of me at church this evening.

I know we didn’t get a chance to talk, and I regret that, but I wanted to tell you that you have some very adorable little boys. The young one sitting directly in front of me, how old was he? Two? Three? His big brown eyes were open with such wonder and his excitement at the pipe organ and candles was beautiful to see. I think that is where the phrase “wide-eyed wonder” comes from. I am guessing, from his reaction to everything, that you don’t come to church very often. I’m glad you came tonight for the Nine Lessons and Carols service! It was pretty full, there must have been 800-900 people there. I’ve been slow at getting into the “Christmas Spirit” this year, but your children reminded me of what it should be like – wide-eyed with excitement at the joy and wonder of Christmas.

I wish I had taken the opportunity to lean over during a carol and whisper to you that not all people at church are like the two old ladies sitting directly in front of you. I was happy you were there and would love to see you another Sunday if you choose to come back again. I hope you didn’t feel pushed aside when someone mentioned the soft-space for kids at the back of the sanctuary. It is more kid friendly back there and your boys probably enjoyed themselves more. Were you still able to enjoy the service from there? I wasn’t enjoying it much after you left, and I was still in my seat, close to the front, with a good view of the choir and the readers. I was troubled by how you were treated and I hope that you don’t think that is how all church people are. Most of us are loving and welcoming and would be overjoyed to have young families like both of yours join us on a regular basis.

If I ever see you at church again, I promise I will come over and talk to you and I hope you have a better second experience.

To: The two old ladies sitting two rows in front of me, directly in front of the two young mums.

Have you no idea what you did tonight? Do you really think that repeated turning around to loudly “shush” a two year old is going to make your church service better? Is cursing the toddler’s mother really the way for you or her to hear the Good News of the birth of Jesus?

I was so embarrassed for you. I wanted to take you aside after the service and humiliate you the way you humiliated them. But I didn’t. I did not think that would be the best option and since I could not think of a good way to word things, I let it be.

But I still wonder, did you listen to any of the Scripture readings tonight? What about the short paragraph before each reading. I’m talking about the parts describing the marginalized and downtrodden in society; how they were the the one’s God chose to appear to, not the high-and-mighty religious folk snug in their pews every Sunday. Sound familiar? I know that you like everything to be “just so” and that the little boy’s squeals of delight over the new sights and sounds of church were too out of the ordinary and disruptive to your comfortable little church life. Did it ever occur to you that the reason why Jesus came was to hang out with the people you just cursed? Has it occurred to you that your actions may have pushed two people and, by extension, their children, away from church? Is it any wonder that our churches are shrinking when folks like you are doing your best to scare people away?

Please, don’t ever let me catch you doing anything like that again at my church. Next time I don’t think I will be able to contain myself.