Our Annual Lecture Series

The Cade Community Lectures

“On Being Human”

Annual Lecture Series

Lethbridge Public Library

Wednesdays

7:00 pm

January 19th - “What collecting has taught me about being human”

Erin Phillips, Chaplain, Ecumenical Campus Ministry

January 26th - “What policing has taught me about being human”

Hugh Richards, Criminal Justice, Lethbridge College

February 2nd - “What facebook has taught me about being human”

Jennifer Davis, General Studies, Lethbridge College

February 9th - “What volunteering has taught me about being human”

Mike Mahon, President, University of Lethbridge

Sponsored by Ecumenical Campus Ministry, the President’s Office, University of Lethbridge, the President’s Office, Lethbridge College, and Lethbridge Public Library

Just one more reason why I love this time of year

Bags collected by Ascension
This is what approximately $10,000 in groceries look like!
Two of our student volunteers!
The line-up
Checking out the goodies
Maureen Mahon, whose husband is the new president of the U of L, helps out!

Yesterday was the day we handed out campus care parcels at the university. For a month my admin assistant has been distributing grocery bags to south Alberta churches. The university has had a bunch made for us but this year the budget didn't allow that so Safeway generously donated a lot of their bags. Last week Beth started gathering up a lot of bags and some of the churches started dropping theirs off to Immanuel Lutheran who graciously offer their hall for our depot. I brought in the bags Ascension donated and some that were dropped off at my house from one of our rural congregations. Then Saturday a bunch of us sorted the bags. Yesterday was the day we distributed them! IVCF staff and students came and helped Maintenance load them all up and drive them down to the University where they unloaded them and then the fun began.

Students began lining up a half hour before we began the hand out and we managed to hand out 442!!! bags in 20 mins. An hour later when I checked my email there were two lovely messages from students thanking us for the food and the encouragement. I love my job!

Observations on Giving

A number of years ago the college Student Association did a food drive for the college food bank. All the clubs went out as groups and sang Christmas carols while collecting food. I went out with the Student Association itself and we started in an older neighbourhood. Most of the people were seniors or students and everyone who was home gave us something.

Someone in the group decided we'd get even more food if we went to one of the ritzier, newer, ie. richer neighbourhoods. Sadly, after a few blocks they began to sing, "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch." At house after house people told us that they had given at the office, or had nothing in the house to give, or even refused to come to the door but stared at us rather hostilely through the window. The students began to ask how people who lived in such big homes could claim they had nothing to give. I suggested that they probably spent beyond their means and that they were house poor. I suggested we return to the poorer neighbourhood but they said, no, let's go to the rich neighbourhood (the old money neighbourhood).

If people were home in that neighbourhood they gave generously but mostly they weren't home. These are people with lots of Christmas commitments and no doubt they were out at some Christmas function while we patiently rang their doorbells.

When we returned to the college and compared the haul the club that had collected the most food was the club that had gone to the poorest neighbourhood in the city. The students didn't understand how this could be so but it struck me as consistent with the pattern in Canada where the poorest province, Newfoundland, gives the most per capita to charity.

Just thinking about this lately as I prepare for all my Christmas programming. My congregations may be aging, and membership may be declining, and they may be the subject of doom and gloom articles in media but they give and they give generously. At this time of year I am so grateful to all the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United churches in South Alberta for the ways they open their hearts and their wallets to care for our students. I am so proud of their deep sense of hospitality and their compassion on stressed out young people. I am so blessed to serve as chaplain to our two campuses and as pastor to one of those small loving congregations.

Carl Granzow

This weekend a member of the faculty at the University of Lethbridge and a close friend of my close friends died. I didn't know him well but I liked him and I knew how important he and his family were and are to my friends which made him part of my extended fictive family. Jim has posted a very moving tribute to his friend here.

This was a jolting reminder to me that Easter isn't really about chocolates or crocuses coming up but some deeper hope in the face of sorrow.

May Carl rest in peace and rise in glory.

Another Blog to Check Out

Here is another blog worth checking out by a member of our political science department. Read Harold Jansen here.

Peter Erb's upcoming visit

I'm very excited that my teacher, Peter Erb, will be coming here to give a series of lectures for ECM, the U of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College. When I went to WLU to do my MA I didn't know about Peter but five minutes into our first conversation and I knew I had found my teacher. He taught me to read carefully and introduced me to so much of the Christian tradition.

Here is a great article on his latest work on Christianity and murder mysteries. How wonderful to know that reading mysteries isn't a waste of time!

Here is his schedule here:

Sunday, November 16th
2:00 pm
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
2406 11 Avenue South
"Ecumencial gift exchanges: What Lutherans and Anglicans have to offer the Church at large -- a Roman Catholic perspective"

Monday, November 17th
7:30 pm
Lethbridge Public Library
"Christian Killers and Atheist Heroes: Religion and Detective Fiction 2008"

Tuesday, November 18th
12:15 pm
University of Lethbridge, Turcotte Hall 277
"Can Christians be Citizens?” A Victorian Debate in a Twenty-First Century Setting

Sponsored by Ecumenical Campus Ministry, the Office of the President, Lethbridge College, the Office of the President, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge Public Library and Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd

Glorious Concert

At yesterday's convocation at the University of Lethbridge Ben Heppner was given an honourary degree and then today he gave a concert to raise money for music scholarships. It was a glorious concert! There were four standing ovations including one in the middle of the concert. He was incredible.

The heart of the concert for me were two operatic pieces. The first was from Massanet's opera Le Cid. It is this beautiful prayer - the lines that especially moved me were "O sovereign, O judge, O father, always hidden, ever present, I loved you in times of good fortune and I bless you in times of sadness!" The piece that did me in though was the next aria from Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano. It is an indictment of French nobility who turn their backs on the plight of the poor and the final line is, "love is a gift divine, do not despise it, the moving spirit of the universe is love!" Dad was very present to me while Dr. Heppner sang that piece. I wish it had gone on a lot longer.

Today I was very proud to be associated with the university.

Being Thankful

I like to spend Thanksgiving weekend doing a lot ot thinking about things I'm thankful for. I got encouragement in doing so last night at the Tagg-Yoshida lecture at the U of L. Norman Wirzba, formerly of Columbia College in Kentucky and now of Duke Divinity school, gave a delightful talk on giving thanks for the land. Norman is from here originally and came back two years ago to speak for the chaplaincy on sabbath rest. Last night he was addressing issues basic to how we see land, food, and place. He has done a lot of stuff with Wendell Berry and he quoted him often in his talk. I love Berry's poetry and have begun to read his essays. Challenging stuff.

More on that another time. Tonight, as I go to bed, I am reflecting on where Norman began his talk: "Gratitude is the heart of what it is to be a good person."

IVCF doing some good stuff at the U of L

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Gay and Lesbian Integrity Association, and the Nursing Students group are working together to support the Spring For Life project at the University of Lethbridge. What a great way to support the Lethbridge HIV Connection, an organization doing great work locally to end HIV and support those living with it. This is the notice from the U of L site:

SPRING FOR LIFE 2008!

During the first week of spring, Canadians can help end AIDS by simply buying a bouquet of beautiful gerbera daisies for $5. The Spring for Life program kicks off on Tuesday, March 18 in malls, subway stations and office towers in eight Canadian cities. More than 60,000 bright and beautiful gerbera daisies will be sold to support both the CURE and the CARE sides of the fight: HIV/AIDS research and support services across the country.

Spring for Life is an annual national HIV/AIDS awareness and fundraising campaign headed by the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). This campaign galvanizes people to end AIDS in Charlottetown, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Moncton, Truro and Sydney as well as Lethbridge. Spring for Life aims to raise $60,000 nationally through the flower sales. In Lethbridge, all funds raised benefit Lethbridge HIV Connection Society.

Lethbridge HIV Connection Society, in conjunction with IVCF, GALIA and the Nursing Students' Association, will sell gerbera daisies at these locations:

March 18
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
U of L Sports and Wellness Centre and Atrium

March 19
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
U of L Sports and Wellness Centre and Atrium

You can also PRE-ORDER bouquets (before March 13th) by filling out the order form (http://www.lethbridgehiv.com/pdf/springforlife-orderform08.pdf) and faxing it to the LHC office. This is a great opportunity to extend staff/ client appreciation or just to liven up the office! We will deliver for orders of 10 or more bunches.

Please support our local sponsors:

-DIMNIK AND ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICE
-UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE STUDENTS' UNION

*CATWALK salon^spa *Dr. William Shields *GALA/LA *Runner's Soul *Stafford Pharmacy & Home Healthcare *The Ugly Mug Coffeehouse *Two Guys and a Pizza Place*

Visit www.springforlife.ca for more information about the sponsors, partners and the campaign.

Internet friendships

Peter Leclaire, vp academic.
Our final lecture in the friendship series took place last night and it was a big success. Peter Leclaire, the VP Academic, came from the college to introduce Marko Hilgersom who is a very popular teacher at the college. He's receiving a NISOD Excellence in Learning Leadership Award this spring (I think learning leadership is some new way of saying 'teaching'). He teaches all sorts of culture/film/religion courses at the college and is developing a new course on narrative. And he's my neighbour.

Marko brought clickers along to allow him to poll the audience (about 50 people ranging in age from 15-70+) which was a lot of fun. For the first half of his talk he mostly polled us about our attitudes towards friendship, how many friends we had, what qualities we most valued in friendship... Then he introduced Aristotle's categories of friendship and related what we had identified to those. And then he talked about the qualities of friendships mediated solely by the internet and asked the question of whether these really counted as friendships. His answer was a qualified yes. He suggested the same qualities can be present in these relationships but they are easier to fake. And he suggested that ultimately true friendship required face to face meeting although we debated that in the discussion afterwards. My counter example was the friendship between Helen and Frank that is described in the book 84 Charing Cross Road - a true story of two people who become significant friends through letters but never meet.

It was a great evening and a really good way to end our series. Now we look forward to the fall when we will do another mini series, this one of religion and fiction.

Friendship Talk

Last night we began our lecture series on friendship. Bill Cade, the president of the U of L, gave a very funny and interesting introduction to the series using examples of friendship from the insect realm and then I gave my talk on whether it is possible for Christians to be friends. More on that later.

Annual Lecture Series

"Why Can't We Be Friends?  possibilities for friendship in the 21st century"

Eight Annual Lecture Series
Wednesday Evenings
7:00 pm
Lethbridge Public Library


Jan. 23rd      Erin Phillips, Ecumenical Campus Ministry,
"Can Christians be friends?"

Jan. 30th      John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge,
"Can Canadians be friends?"

Feb 6th     Bruce MacKay, University of Lethbridge,
"Can people with disabilities be friends?"

Feb 13th     Marko Hilgersom, Lethbridge College,
"Can e-Friends be friends?"

Co-sponsored by Ecumenical Campus Ministry, Office of the President,
Lethbridge College, Office of the President, University of Lethbridge,
and Lethbridge Public Library





  

Retreat

I just came back from a retreat with our student chaplains and it was sweet. We went to the Martha Retreat Centre across the river from the university and did some great planning and bonding. The sisters are wonderful and we ate well and felt really cared for. Sr. Claire took this picture of us looking over to the university. I'll write more later about some of what we talked about - I have to get the powerpoint presentation ready that we're giving to Christ Trinity Lutheran Church tomorrow. But it was a sweet time.

NSO

Today was NSO at the university - that is new student orientation for those of you not hip to these things. It was a lot of fun handing out candy and brochures with two of our new student chaplains. The president of the university, Bill Cade addressed the crowd and got them fired up. Which is pretty good because a lot of them looked like bunnies in the headlights when I was chatting with them. Many of them said that they felt really overwhelmed. One of the great things about working on campuses is I get that first day of school rush every year myself. Gotta love it!

And all shall be well

This morning at Ascension was lovely. We sang some favourites, we welcomed back folks who have been away, and we welcomed visitors. I preached on traveling light (beginning with reflections on my own struggles to get rid of clutter) and how this is grounded in trust. Then I explored the relationship between trust and hope and the choices we make to be trusting and hopeful.

There is a quotation from Viktor Frankl that comes to mind now that really sums up what I was trying to say:

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

It seems to me that hope isn't so much about hoping for some particular thing (whether it be descendants or winning the lottery) but a more basic attitude of trust that God wants good for us.

I realize I could have used the well-known words of Julian of Norwich:

All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of thing
shall be well.

The problem is that we do experience things that cause us to question God's goodness. (I've been sitting in on my friend Paul's theodicy course and thinking about this a lot lately) I spoke about the children's memorial at Yad Vashem - you enter a dark room in which the names of the 1.5 million children who died in the Shoah are read. A candle is reflected off of a thousand mirrors creating the image of the stars in the sky. My friend Paul talks about the power of the rebuke of God as the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would number like the stars in the sky is contrasted to the death of so many children under the Nazis. I talked about this in light of the readings from Genesis and Hebrews about the promise made to Abraham and his faithful response and the Jewish struggle to make sense of God's covenant post-Shoah.

Then I talked about the challenges to faith we often face in our own lives. And I talked about an attitude of hopefulness that choses to look at the reasons we have in our own experience to trust in God. (See the Buechner article below)

As I look out at these people I love so much knowing some of the things they've suffered I am so moved by their faithfulness. They are so hopeful and so gracious in the face of suffering. This is why we can't be solitary Christians. When my faith is shaken or uncertain I count on the prayer, the support, the example of these people to carry me when I'm unable to walk for myself. Father Bob Cowan, may his memory be a blessing, said to me once when he was dying that when I was praying for him I wasn't just interceding for him but I was literally praying in his place because he was unable to pray the office any more.

Being a part of this community is one of the reasons I trust in the goodness of God.

Brahms Requiem

Prof. Tim Pope of the Modern Languages Dept. read these words of Brahms' Requiem at our memorial service for the victims of Virginia Tech today.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
They go forth and weep, and bear precious seed, and shall come again with rejoicing bringing their sheaves with them.
For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls.
Be patient, therefore, beloved until the coming of the Lord.
The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a few handbreaths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.
Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up, and do not know who will gather them.
And now, 0 Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in Thee.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.
Ye now are sorrowful; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy from you.
As a mother comforts her child so will I comfort you.
For here have we no continuing place, but we seek one that is to come.
Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the hour of the last trumpet.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?

There was a very big turnout and many people signed the memorial pages that we will be sending down to Virginia Tech. One of our community who has a friend who works at Virginia Tech had made ribbons in the maroon and gold school colours which we all wore.

St. Drogo's Cafe

St. Drogo as you may already know is the patron saint of coffeehouses (and really ugly people). Starting this Sunday evening at the university in the chaplains' office we will be opening St. Drogo's Cafe. We've gotten a new espresso maker and we will have some food that came in too late to be handed out with the campus care parcels. So if you are studying around the university Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening stop by between 8:30 and 10:30 pm for a little refreshment.

Virginia Tech

We'll be doing a short memorial service on Friday at 12 Noon in the atrium at the University of Lethbridge. There is also a memorial book set up in the Student Union right now which will be moved down to the atrium on Friday. Everyone in the area is welcome to come.

This morning I read on the NY Times site through the profiles on all the people killed. It is heartbreaking to read these short items and to become aware of the families and the friends grieving.

All Quiet on the Blog Front

I've noticed this week that the blogs I read regularly are pretty quiet - must be a combination of end of term craziness and post Easter slump. And maybe it is the nice weather we are enjoying. Or the advent of baseball season. (Note: the Jays are in first place - it won't likely last since their pitching isn't very deep but let's enjoy it while we can!)

I got an email this morning from a friend I haven't talked to in 20 years. She's a journalist in Rome now and I've spent the morning reading articles she has written. Wonderful stuff and very fun to get connected again. Between reading and cooking spaghetti sauce it has been a really nice morning. Now I'm off to hear a talk on narcissism and sex in the 18th century. Should be fun!

Fun Day

It has been a very full but fun day....this sounds like deja vu all over again. I seem to be having a lot of these kinds of days lately. This morning began with the gym, and then I met with a group of folks over at Immanuel Lutheran Church to sort a bunch of donated food into bags which we will hand out to students at the U of L next Wednesday. The local LDS church had donated a whole pile of tinned goods and with some financial donations we bought granola bars and other good things to add to the bags. Those got added to the bags which were donated from local churches. It was really exciting to get some new churches participating this term including Immanuel and the Christian Reformed Church in Iron Springs.

We started this programme about four years ago to try to give students support at the tough end of term. The university provides really nice cloth bags and local churches fill them with $10-15 worth of food. We've had as many as 700 bags of food donated in the past. This time some of our big churches didn't do it though so we ended up with about 200 bags. But that still means 200 happy students, and since the students tend to share the bags it will probably translate into more like 300 happy students.

James and Claire Penner brought a group of their ISCF students over to help and when we were done the folks from the university sprang for pizza for the gang from my favourite pizza place. No Mediterranean pizza sadly but the Hawaiian was good. Thank goodness I had gone to the gym. For the rest of the afternoon I did some visiting with friends and picked up some supplies for our new espresso maker. Can't wait to create our little coffee heaven at the office. Then it was a wonderful evening with dinner at Miro's Bistro, the food was heavenly, and then the university production of Angels in America. The play was really well done. I enjoyed it the best of the four plays I saw this year.

All in all a very nice day.