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.

Lent - Day 28

In the most sublime homily ever given, Christ closes the book and says, "These things have been fulfilled today."

That is what a homily is: saying that God's word is not about times past, but a living and spiritual word that is being fulfilled here. Hence our effort to apply God's eternal message to the people's concrete circumstances.

Archbishop Oscar Romero, January 27, 1980

Thanks to http://bogners.typepad.com/church/oscar_romero/index.html

Lent - Day 27

"There are moments too of unconstructed love and loveliness in which we are found and lost and found again. The impertinence of beauty and the tensile strength of truth startle us afresh, loosening our grip on things.

These are the blessed beginnings, ordinary graces."

Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude

Lent - Day 26

"It is not easy to identify the word, which both concentrates and extends one's life. More obvious to a few, it is usually a long process of discovery for most. Like Jacob we each have an angel to wrestle with, the messenger who reveals our true name which is both wound and blessing."
Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude

Lent - Day 25

"Here I am in an empty church. In it, between the rows of pews, on the tile floor, under the silent cross, I walk along a boundary, a place in between heaven and earth. The Celts call it thin space. Some places are thinner than others..."

Nora Gallagher, Things Seen and Unseen

Tired

It has been a long day. I officiated at a memorial service and then taught this evening. It was a good day. It was a privilege to share the day with the family and I enjoyed the material we covered in class tonight. And I used power point for the first time! Of course I wouldn't have been able to if one of my students didn't come to my rescue. Tomorrow I go to our local United Church presbytery to report on our year in chaplaincy. I really enjoy the folks there so it should be fun.
Now very very tired.

Lent - Day 24

In Memory of Hazel Tennant

Proverbs 31
10 A capable wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from far away.
15 She rises while it is still night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her servant-girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
for all her household are clothed in crimson.
22 She makes herself coverings;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the city gates,
taking his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
she supplies the merchant with sashes.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her happy;
her husband too, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.