felix hominum

elvis has left the building

the office is now cleaned out

so long, U of A

quaecumque vera

verily, I say, I shall not blog again,

until I blog anew in my Father's kingdom. 

Or at least in my new position as rector of St Tim's.  See you all in the New Year.

you call that a Santa? I'll show you a Santa

now here's a visit from St. Nick:

I mean, sure some guy who thinks he is Santa Claus makes the rounds these days, pretending like he can just steal the mantle from old St Nicholas.

But this guy is the real deal.  SJ enjoys a visit from Bishop Nicholas.

get ready for boxing day

you know, the day after Christmas, when we put Jesus back into the packaging and exchange Him for something more comfortable...

shepherds' field, near bethlehem

I took this picture to prove that the biblical account of the nativity is unreliable as history.  Here we see that the shepherd's field is only open for a certain amount of time, thus it is impossible that they were watching their flocks by night.

The angels either came on the morning shift, or in mid afternoon.

photo:jw

The Anglican-Lutheran Hymn Text Competition for General Synod

And here I was wondering what I was going to do over the Christmas holidays...

You just know the creative juices are going to be flowing on this one.  I invite you all to consider submitting your entry.

sculpted nativity

One of the great things about tossing out our TV many years ago is that it gives us a bit of extra time to do some other things with the kids.  This year we did a home sculpture project of nativity scenes with the kids.  Pick up some clay at a craft or art supply store, and just have fun.  Then give them away.

Of course, we have nothing on the collection of the World's Worst Nativity Sets.  Or maybe we do.

the guy's guide to christmas and jesus

I have an area of expertise.  I am a guy.  I have been a guy for about 40 years.  And I am a parent.  I have been a parent for about 7 years.  Therefore, my “guy skills” are greater than my “parenting skills” by a ratio of almost 6 to 1.  Christmas is about that thing that frightens guys more than anything else in the universe, except for a local playoff blackout – Christmas is about birth. 

Yes, Christmas is about birth.  Now I am at a disadvantage when it comes to this topic.  Because what I know about birth really comes only second hand.  Something I have discovered over the last 7 years is that holding a baby is an acquired skill – at least for guys.  Guys are not natural baby holders.  Guys know how to hold things – BBQ utensils,  remote controls, seasons tickets.  But guys learn how to hold babies only by comparing babies to footballs.  You sort of cradle it in here and tuck it like this so that no one can tackle you and take it away.  That is how guys learn to hold babies.  It’s just not natural for us. 

It’s an acquired skill – it takes practice, and sometimes we would rather just hand off the baby to someone else.  It makes us feel self conscious – am I doing it right?  What if I drop it or it starts to cry?  And the question which is most often on guys’ minds in these situations;  “Do I look stupid?”    We are like that with Jesus.  We really don’t know what to do with Him. We don’t know how to hold on to Him.  We are afraid that if we actually try, we will look stupid.

Then there is the birth announcement.  Guys are usually excited, but don’t know what to say.  If you are lucky, you get a few phone calls, you might even go whole hog and put something in the paper.  Not this baby.  What does His Father do for a birth announcement?  Let’s put a star up in the sky, and get a few singers: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”.

And then there is the question – so what’s he going to be when he grows up?

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

Got high hopes for your boy, do you?  If you come back to visit Jesus at Easter, we will see that He is grown.    Sometimes we are amazed when we haven’t seen someone for a while.  Then we come for another visit and we see how they have grown.  God not only has high hopes for his boy, He has high hopes for you.  Higher hopes than you have for yourself.

After they all come home from the hospital, guys discover one more thing about babies that they had never considered before.  Something that they knew about, but had never really given much thought to.  Something so mysterious and awe-ful and stupendous that most of the guys I know, myself included, simply pretend that we don’t know how to do it.  And here it is.  It’s called change. 

Where ever there are babies, there are going to be some of these – diapers.  Babies and diapers go together like – well, let’s just stop right there.  Babies are all about change.  As a father of 4, I can say that babies are about constant change.  Everyday.  Small changes, and big changes.  Some changes are easy to deal with.  Some are rather messy.  The highest level of alert in our house is called a “hose down”.   

The good news about this baby – Jesus – is that you don’t have to change Him.  Instead, he is going to change you. Big messes, small messes, daily messes.  Change is a necessary part of this whole picture.  What kind of change does God want?  God became like us – Jesus was born,  so that we could become like God – we can be reborn. 

The last thing that I have noticed about parenting is the ultimate test.  One of the tests of a person for me is “do they like my kids”?  If you like my kids, then you are okay in my books.  And that is God’s only requirement.  The heavenly Father sits up there in heaven, looks down, and says “So how do like my son?  What do you think of Him?”  And most of all, he asks  “Do you love Him”?  That is what God is really interested in.  Do you love Jesus?  Do you make time for him?  Do you want to get to know Him. 

Even guys, in the very center of their beings, know that there is something real to this thing called love. 

an advent funeral

We buried Mary on Friday.  She died at the age of 81 years.  I had been her priest in two different parishes.  She died with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.  An Advent funeral.

The Mary of the Gospels waited with expectation for the birth of her Son -  Jesus, Immanuel.  In the midst of the Christmas carols we will sing,  is a reminder of a second kind of birth, for which we must wait.

mild he lays his glory by
born that man no more may die
born to raise the sons of earth
born to give them second birth
hark the herald angels sing
glory to the newborn king

The Christian waits.  Waits for the promises of God.  Waits for fullness of life. Waits to be fully and eternally 'born again' into the kingdom of God.   Waits to be resurrected at that last day.   In the Advent waiting for the birth of the Messiah is also a second waiting.  We wait for our own birth.

What is this resurrected life that Jesus promises? It is life as God intended it to be, before sin and the power of death entered the world.  It is not the life of ghosts or childish imaginations, of memory, or wishful thinking, or dreams of “what used to be”.  It is fullness of life as God intended it to be.  All the joys and loves and adventures of this life are, at their best,  but pale imitations of the life God intends for us.  All that is best and good and worthy in this life is only a small reflection of the life that is yet to come.

We therefore commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.

'And I will raise them up on the last day.'

moving in the prophetic/patristic

Over at The Age to Come, there is an interesting thread in the comments about what it means to have and exercise the gift of prophecy in the church.  The first commenter stated something that many Anglican Christians might identify with: 

I’m from a traditionalist Anglican background, and while I’m open to the idea of charismata such as prophecy and tongues, I’ve never seen anything which I could look at and simply say “this is obviously the work of the Holy Spirit.” Would you be kind enough to explain “how it all works” ?

Peter (the blog author) goes on to elaborate a bit about what it means to 'move in the prophetic'.  Have a look.  I tend to move in the patristic. (some would say I move in circles).

One Spirit, many gifts.

switchover - macbook pro

blogging has been a bit light, as has email correspondence.  those of you in the know remember how son #1 decided to toss a wooden building block at the screen of the ole' ibook G4.  it is now in recuperative mode.

in the meantime, AKW has graciously permitted the early arrival of a Christmas present - the new macbook pro, upon which i am currently writing.

yowsers, this is a good machine, perhaps good enough for live blogging at our upcoming General Synod 2007.  I'm trying to decide if that would be a good thing or a not good thing.

the L'arche Christmas pageant

We took in the annual L'arche Christmas pageant last Friday evening.  Only half of the felix household could make it, as one third of us were busy nursing one sixth of us, who was having a cold at the time.

It was, as usual, a marvellous event.  It is always unrehearsed;  the core members and the assistants and various members of the wider community all show up and somehow the story of the nativity gets told, and sung, and shown.

The shepherds all had "Zechariah syndrome";  none of them could speak.  The players helped us to see the meekness of the Nativity.  Those to whom God sent his angels were again the ones least glamourous or influential or 'important' in the world's eyes.

The place of Jesus' birth was again a place where the values of the Kingdom turn the world upside down.

prayers for the people

Last Friday we had a grand festive meal for our local Cursillo community.  It was a welcome event for new members, and was held at St Timothy's church, where I will be moving as of January 1.

I skipped out of the hall for a bit to go into the sanctuary and pray for the people of the parish.  That sort of thing is rather good for a priest to do, you know...

patristics blog carnival at hyperekperisou

Phil over at hyperekperisou has got a selection of blog posts related to Patristics up on his site.  H/T to Codex on this announcement. 

What I really meant to write was that following up on Crouse's analysis of 'pilgrimage' in the Trinity, we have the parallel idea of the Neoplatonic exitus-reditus (the going forth or emanation of the divine and then the return of all to the divine);  Augustine's theme of perigrinatio which has been looked at elsewhere by lots of folks, and then a whole bunch of stuff comparing the origins of Christian notions of divine Trinitarian 'pilgrimage' (God speaking his Word as Son who returns, the Spirit being sent and returning with re-newed  creation) with the Neoplatonists'  idea of exitus-reditus, and then looking at a bunch of stuff and shouting down the Gnostics and all that sort of thing.

It's all there.  Work it out for yourselves and send me the draft copy...

That sort of thing just gets me all a-shiver!

Advent: the illusion of breathing exercises

One of the advantages of being the father of 4 kids is that you soon realize that all the various preparatory things you do in anticipation of childbirth are essentially illusions designed to give the false impression that you have some measure of control over the event.

I dutifully went to the prenatal classes before the birth of of first child.  Matronly advice was given to me:  I took notes on what my role was to be, how I could help, what sorts of things I needed to do.  Everything from placement of the pillows to the rhythm of breathing was discussed and practiced.  As if to convince me that when the time came, I would be able to control, manipulate or steer the course of events.

It was not so.

One of the great lessons for the father in the delivery room is that when the time comes, the truth is that he is a participant in that event only by invitation.  And even then, armed with my notes, my reading list, my practiced breathing exercises - I realized that I had no hope of controlling the event.  At best I suppose I thought I had a "part to play" (which indeed I did, and was reminded of the same).  But as to the event itself, my hope of control or manipulation of the sequence of events was quickly dashed.  Eventually I was allowed to hold the baby.

So it is with Advent.  While it is a time of (joyful) expectation, it is also a time for me to remember that the Nativity is momentous event, one over which I would like to exercise some measure of control.  I would like to hold the baby:  that bit I can manage.  But before that, lost in the "Hallmark-ness" of the season, is the absolute recognition that the birth of the Christ comes about without my help and beyond my control. My practices and exercises and reading (religious, liturgical, prayerful) are even at best, but poor preparation for the fullness of the One who was, and is, and is to come, who renders my attempts to manage Him useless.

Ian's photography

Don't forget that Ian has a few submissions to JPG magazine...

my army of remote control drones

...has enabled this humble blog to reach the podium in the Canadian Blog Awards.  felix hominum has been awarded 2nd place in the best religious blogs category.  Thanks to all who were looking forward to the haggis.  To those who are visiting for the first time, you can find either the ridiculous or the sublime in the best and worst of felix hominum.

As a means of celebrating, we will be giving the children an extra helping of turnips tomorrow.

Happy Advent.

update: ooohh here it comes:

and thanks to Robert at my blahg for hosting the awards.

robert crouse on pilgrimage

We had a marvellous planning meeting for our pilgrimage to the Holy Land this coming spring.  As a beginning point, let me say that there is a difference between a pilgrimage and what other adventurers might call a "voyage of discovery".  A pilgrimage is, among other things, an intentional journey, which leaves one changed.

The fundamental and all-encompassing theme of spiritual life is  pilgrimage: its images are the images of wayfaring, of exile and  repatriation, of alienation and reconciliation, images of journeying  through wilderness to gain the promised land. The Bible abounds in  imagery of that kind, from the beginning to the end; from man's ancient  exile from the paradise of Eden, in the Book of Genesis, to the vision  of the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. Indeed, the Scriptures  represent the whole of our existence, the whole of natural and  spiritual life, under images of pilgrimage: from the descent of all  things from God in creation, to their return to him in the final  summing up of hell and heaven. The theme is all-inclusive, and cosmic  in dimension. As St. Paul explains (Rom. 8:19-23), "the whole creation  groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now .... awaiting the  adoption", when "the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of  God".

Pilgrimage - pilgrimage to glory, pilgrimage to liberty - is the  life of all creation, and the meaning of all natural and human  history.

The work of God for man's redemption is represented, too, in just  such imagery: the descent of God the Son into the world to do the  Father's will, and his return, through a wilderness of suffering and  deprivation, to the homeland of the Father's glory; the descent of God  the Spirit upon the infant Church, giving unity and order to the chaos  of conflicting tongues, and the return of God the Spirit in the  Church's life of charity, of penitence and adoration, making  intercession "with groanings that cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8:26).

Finally, in a difficult and profoundly important sense, pilgrimage  is the very life of God himself, the Holy Trinity: the outgoing of God  the Father in his own self-knowing, which is the eternal begetting of  his Word; and the eternal procession of God the Holy Spirit, whereby  the knower and the known are bound in mutual love. Thus, the very name  of God, as love, bespeaks the timeless pilgrimage of God. What, then,  is man's imaging of God, but a timely imitation of that eternal  pilgrimage? What is man's vocation, but the call to take the pilgrim's  way, to be caught up in the drawing of that supernal triune love which  (as Dante puts it) "moves the sun and the other stars"?

Robert Crouse:  Images of Pilgrimage:  Paradise and Wilderness in Christian Spirituality

[could only find the Google cache of the original...] will search further...
a copy of this fine short book should be available through St Peter Publications.

Itinerary and registration info can be downloaded here.
I hope to have the detailed packing list & visa info etc, up there soon. 

related posts:  patristics blog carnival at hyperekperisou, 

L'arche Christmas Pageant

will be held this coming Friday, December 8, 2006
at 7:00 PM St. Thomas d'Aquin Church,
8410-89 Street

be a part of the story

sol cafe - dec 3, start of a new year

On Sunday, December 3, 2006, starting around 5ish at Cafe Dabar, the sol cafe will be welcoming in the new Christian year with the Revised Common Lectionary, a shared calendar of Bible readings. There's more information in our food-for-thought section on the RCL, but the beginning readings are as follows:

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

the arts & the tory candidates in Alberta

The folks over at studiosavant have given us a run-down of where the three front runners seem to stand on some issues affecting the arts in our province.

Tim & co. -- gig at Transcend

Tonight at Transcend Coffee, go hear Tim & Alex lay down the tunes... starts at 7:30, tix are $5 at the door.  Tim also has a few songs up at Garage Band, a site where musicians can upload their music for others to hear.

Canadian Blog Awards - the final update

UPDATE:  we are on the podium...

Today is the final day of voting in the Canadian Blog Awards - anyone on the internet is welcome to go over and vote - the blog with the most votes wins (read the rules*).  The category I'm listed in is #12 - "best religious blogs".  A commenter raised the distinct possibility that we may not be completely familiar with the other 4 finalists.

So in the spirit of trying to look good and capture the moral high ground in the event I come in last pure Christian love and affirmation, let me give you the references to the other blogs we are up against.  In alphabetical order they are:

• Aaron's Head  Aaron is an Episcopal seminarian studying in Toronto.  Some of my friends might remember him as the author of an article about church and blogging last summer which was published in the Living Church.  His article met a bit of criticism over at Titusonenine.  But I think he emerged unscathed, although he did recently have an interesting exchange with The Sheepcat.  Aaron was last year's winner, and best of luck this year.

• (e)mergent Voyageurs  Jamie lives and ministers in Winnipeg, where he has been involved in a number of projects.  I've visited his blog from time to time.  I stole his material to make this post.  He has an interesting project on the go - a neighbourhood bookstore drop in sort of thing.

• felix hominum  that's the blog you are reading now.  And the one you will vote for.

• Jesus Drives an SUV  a joint blog by Shawn and Blaisteach, both of whom appear to be ordained ministers in the Universal Life Church, and I think in BC somewhere.  Bit of an unknown quantity to me, as this blog has been around for 2 months, with about 8 or 10 posts, but if you pop over you can get a flavour for them.

• Jordon Cooper  Jordon lives in Saskatoon, has a new church plant, and is one of the blog feeds that I subscribe to.  He blogs on a variety of topics, and is one of the founders of resonate (over at the sidebar links).

So go on over and vote.

ps - I've given them what every blogger really wants...

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

ps - remember you can drop by HUB 169 or SUB 011 to find a computer & cast your ballot!