felix hominum

Ministry in Michener Park

I was chatting with someone last night about Michener Park;  about the possibility of doing some kind of ministry there over the summer.  Michener is a "family residence" complex here at the U of A which houses a great number of international students, often with their spouses and young children.

I'm not the sort of person who sees many unusual promptings from God.  However, part way through morning prayer (after the first reading - Isaiah 25:1-9), I started thinking about the phrases from verse 7 - how God will "destroy that shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations."  I started thinking about all the international students we have here.

I found myself getting up and wandering to the north entrance to our building, which faces the International Center here at the U of A.  Along comes a fellow I know from South Africa, who proceeds to ask me about possibly doing some sort of ministry at Michener Park.

I'm just sayin' that's all.

I'm not a very smart man, but I think I might try to connect the dots on this one.

Chaplain's Annual Dinner

For the locals:

Yes, it's that time of year again.  Here's the announcement as I saw it posted in the diocesan news:

Annual Fundraising Dinner and Silent Auction in support of the Anglican Chaplaincy will be held at the U of A Faculty Club on Thursday, May 4, 2006.  Rev. Joseph Walker will be sharing a range of experiences in a talk entitled: “From Generation to Generation”.  For tickets, to donate an item for the Silent Auction, or to make a tax deductible financial donation directly to the Chaplaincy, please contact Rev. Joseph Walker at 492-4620, or by e-mail at walkerjj[at]ualberta.ca.  Please make this event known in your parish.

There you have it.  Do us a favour and announce this in your parish, or cut & paste & force it on your church secretary.  And if you can, let me know (just send an email) in which parishes you've advertised it.

Here's a small downloadable poster .

I'll buy you a beer.

thoughts for maundy thursday

personal sketches on foot washing from John's Gospel

13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.

What we need to know about Jesus is told to us in the first few lines of this gospel reading.  “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”  Jesus is about loving us, and loving us to the end.  What does it mean to love someone to the end?  Maybe it will help us to think about Judas. Judas is already planning to betray Jesus.  And yet Jesus invites even Judas to share in this last supper with him.  Jesus even loves Judas while he is betraying him.  Jesus  even loves Judas to the end.  Jesus loves Judas enough to give Judas the freedom to betray him.  Jesus does not stop him from doing this.  Neither will he stop you.  He gives you the freedom of choice to accept or reject, just as he gave that choice to Judas.  Jesus will love you to the end.  Even when we betray him, he loves us.  God never leaves us, we leave him.  Tomorrow on Good Friday we will see just how much we turn our backs on God.

And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,  got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

How do you picture Jesus?  We all have images in our minds of people that we know.  The way we imagine them when we think about them.  What is Jesus doing in your picture of him?  We have seen many pictures of him in our lives  - from Sunday School to Christmas cards.  There He was – in a manger, while Angel choirs sang around him, and wise men from the east offered him gold and frankincense and myhhr.  During Epiphany we saw him doing miracles – healing, feeding,  changing water into wine – amazing the crowds and the disciples with his feats of power.   He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with shouts of joy.  He has performed every miracle there is  - he made the blind see and the lame to walk - he showed his power in walking on the water in the midst of the storm.  He is the Son of David – the Messiah – the King of Israel – the very Word of God who created the universe and everything in it –  He was with God the Father and the Holy Spirit from before time existed – from all eternity. He will come again as the Judge of the World.  How does HE want us to picture Him?

And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,  got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

What would I do if God had put all things into my hands,  what would I use all that power for?  Would I use it for the sake of others, or would I use it for myself?

The gospel tells us that Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he had come from God and was going to return to God.  Jesus knew where he came from and where he was heading – he knew who he was.  It was not a threat to him to get down on his hands and knees and get dirty.  He wasn’t embarrassed, or ashamed, or self conscious.  He didn’t care what he looked like, or what other people thought of him. He wasn’t afraid of doing the right thing, even if it made him look  - well -  look stupid.  He was free from other peoples’ opinions of him.  If you know you are from God and you are going to God – you will live freely. 

Jesus knew where he came from and where he was going – do we?  Jesus knew who he was;  it wasn’t a threat to him to serve others.  How could he show them one last time what his message was, what God was like, how we should live?  By serving in a very humble way.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"  Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."  Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

Why does Peter want to refuse Jesus’ request?  Why would any of us refuse this request from Jesus?

A    Peter is perhaps embarrassed.   After all, if someone tells you that you need a wash, it’s not usually taken as a compliment.  And it’s even worse if it is in front of your friends.  We don’t like to have attention drawn to those parts of us that need to be washed.  We don’t like attention drawn to those parts of our hearts and lives that need to be washed by Jesus.  We don’t like to have God say to us “You’re dirty there” – especially if we are afraid that someone else is watching.    We prefer to keep those things secret.  Our private sins – our angers, or jealousies, our private lusts and desires,  our pettiness, our selfishness, our greed. 

Jesus says “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”   We tend to forget two things – number one:  Jesus only points out our dirtiness so that he can clean us;  and number two:  everyone else is dirty too.  Peter was not the only disciple at that table who needed to have his feet washed;  and neither are you.  It’s actually freeing to admit that we are all on equal ground here – we all need Jesus to wash us.  Nor is it any good pretending.  It’s better to admit that we are all sinners and get on with the job of letting Jesus make us into saints.

B    Perhaps Peter thinks that this is somehow “beneath” Jesus.  After all, washing feet is a slave’s job.  Jesus is supposed to be doing something big and spectacular, not something ordinary and lowly.  Peter doesn’t understand what Jesus is doing.  Of course he doesn’t, and neither do we most of the time.  Peter objects to what Jesus is doing.  “Wait a minute Jesus, you are supposed to be God’s Son, this stuff is for other people.  This is not important work, this is menial labour for slaves to do.  Let one of the servants do this kind of thing.”  I want you, Jesus, to do something big and impressive. 

Too often we say to God, “don’t do that, do something else, do something magnificent and glorious, do something wonderful that will make us all oohh and ahhh.  Don’t do something so lowly and paltry and foolish.  Do something big!!! “ 

    How often we want God to do something big and glorious in our lives, or in the lives of others, and instead he disappoints us with the lowly and mean and ordinary.  Before Sarah Joy was born – we wanted a miracle – something big and impressive from God.  Instead we got more of the ordinary -  more nights spent in the hospital with countless other ordinary people – parents, husbands, wives -  who did not receive a miracle.  It is God’s gift to us to give us someone who requires more of the ordinary everyday care than usual.  Someone who needs more help with ordinary things like sitting in a high chair learning to use a spoon,  more help with ordinary chores like putting on a simple piece of clothing.  More chances for us practice what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples about love.   – about becoming like him in the day to day.

    We want Jesus to show up in a big way, and do something glorious and amazing.  We forget that what God thinks is glorious and amazing is performing simple acts of love for one another in our day to day lives.   

C    Perhaps Peter had a bit too much pride to accept this act of service from someone else.  Most of us don’t know how to accept a compliment, let alone someone like Jesus getting down and washing our feet.

We live in a “self-help” culture.  Be self sufficient, don’t rely on anyone or anything else – all you need is within you.  Jesus tells us that we need to learn to accept his help.  And we need to learn to accept help from one another.  God has designed his church so that we grow by learning to accept the gifts and help that we can bring to each other.  Each of us is here to give, but before that,  each of us is here to receive.

We have to learn how to accept help from others, we have to learn how to accept God helping us, we have to learn how to accept Jesus getting down and washing our feet.  Too often we would rather say, “No thanks, I can do it by myself.”  I can fix my own problems.  I don’t need your advice, I don’t need your prayers, I don’t need your pity.   I don’t want you to know that I have my weak spots.  Pride.

If you don’t know how to accept help, chances are you really don’t know how to offer it.  That is part of the lesson that Jesus is teaching his disciples.   Learn to accept help from God – he wants to serve you. 

last day of classes

In case you haven't noticed, there is a giant inflatable Kokanne can in the quad.  Along with several large pavilion tents and something that promises to be a BBQ.

I'll be, ummm, 'busy' for the rest of the afternoon.

Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan Speaks

“The obligations that Afghanistan has taken on, insofar as international human rights instruments are concerned, reflect what should be considered universal values now: freedom of religion, the right to association, freedom of speech—those aren’t culturally specific anymore, if they ever were,”


Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan David Sproule , speaking at the University of Alberta

Of Chariots & Cadillacs, Gospel & Blues

When you sing the blues, you ride a Cadillac.  When you sing Gospel, you ride a chariot.

rough notes from an evening of jambalaya and jammin’

There are times, as Frodo and his companions discovered in the house of Tom Bombadil, when singing seems more natural than speaking.  We all know those times – when mere words don’t quite express the depth of what is going on, either for good or for ill.  It’s as common as the I-IV-V;  the chord pattern around which so much of the old blues & gospel is musically built.  Something is missing in mere description – putting it to music is like adding a third dimension to a photograph. 

Blues & gospel - the psalmist complains for us & to us – how can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land, in the midst of our captivity?  The lament itself is given in the form of a song.  That’s all we can do in this foreign land – sing.  We like the solitude and silence of our unhappiness, but at some point we need to give it voice, or we will burst. 

Blues is the hopeless cousin of gospel music. Blues is about old beat up Cadillacs, finding a good woman, losing a good woman, and fixin’ to die.  Blues and Gospel both have roots in sorrows. 

We sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion.

Gospel knows the sorrows too, unlike much of what passes for Christian music these days.  If there’s no sorrow, there’s no Gospel.  We’ve ridden the Cadillac – the ’63 with the rag top that don’t go up no more, and so when “we gotta ride in the rain, we get soaked to the bone.”   Gospel knows what the psalmist knows – how can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?  Blues and gospel both know sorrows, but gospel knows that an end to sorrows is coming.

We can sing it because we were made to sing it.  When Aslan “sings” Narnia into existence, CS Lewis is picking up on a very old idea.  When Augustine in his Confessions tries to explain the creation, he talks about Ambrose’ hymn “deus creator omnium”.   Somehow the singing of a song expresses the deeper truth (what Lewis might call the Deeper Magic) of creation. 

Run, run, run,
Run to the City of Refuge…

Our sorrows need expression, as does our praise. The psalms contain both.  We know a day is coming, because a day has come already:

When the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

In the midst of Job’s lament is the reminder of the song of joy.  Sorrow is not the final word, neither is silence.   Our last word, like the first word, is song of praise.  "Let everything that breathes, praise the Lord"

O sinner, let’s go down
Down to the river…

There is only one wrong way to sing these songs – and that is singing as if it doesn’t matter.

The blues rides a Cadillac, but Gospel rides a chariot.

Islam - a Barbaric Religion?

That's the theme for Islam Awareness Week here at the University of Alberta.   I encourage folks to try to make it out to some of the events this week.  I'm sure there will be some interesting and educational conversations around campus.

how to get a proper Hebrew Tattoo

Tyler has some great advice over at Codex for those of you who are interested in getting some Hebrew body art.  There may not be much of market for this sort of thing, but if you are gonna do it, do it right.

Note well his advice that the script for "love" can also mean "leather" (cf Hosea 11:4;  Song 3:10).

By the way, for those who aren't in the know, he also has stuff of a more elevated academic standard.

Irshad Manji @ the U of A

Irshad Manji is coming to the University of Alberta next Friday, March 3, 2006.   The title of her presentation will be  'Islam, Human Rights, and Reform in the 21st Century'.

Ms. Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam,  is scheduled to speak at the Tory lecture theatre 12, at 3 pm.  The location may change.

the link is now updated for the event...

why I'm at the U of A and not GMCC

We have Career and Placement Services here at the University of Alberta, a major research and teaching institution of higher education.

At Grant MacEwan Community College they have an evening with porn star Ron Jeremy as he shares his career choice and life experiences.

They say tuition is less at GMCC than at the U of A.

You get what you pay for.

(I just know I'm gonna get lots of Google traffic off this one...)

early heads up

On the plans for the next hiking retreat in the summer of 2007.   We are currently looking at two options for this upcoming summer:  the Skyline Trail in Jasper, and the Berg Lake Trail at Mt. Robson.   We'll be starting some planning in March, so if you are interested, give me a shout.

campus cartoon controversy round up

According to CBC, the University of Prince Edward Island student paper has reprinted the (in)famous cartoons, but the school then yanked the paper.   In addition, Peter March (logic prof at St Mary's in Halifax) has posted the cartoons in his classroom.

Here at the University of Alberta, the Gateway featured an opinion article on the controversy.  What are local Muslims saying about the events?   Local blogger Memoirs of a Traveler has posted the reply by the Muslim Association of Canada.

I'm hoping to look around a bit more when I get the chance to see how this is playing out on Canadian campuses.  If you have any other links, let me know.

international Week - U of A

For all you slackers who don't read the Gateway, next week is officially International Week here at the University of Alberta.  Headliners include Stephen Lewis, whom some of you know from his presentation on AIDS/HIV to the Anglican Church's General Synod a while ago.   

Another event of interest is the philosopher's cafe on the subject of euthanasia.  Be there.

this kind only comes out by beer

In light of the fact that I mentioned that theology has become scary,  I thought I would ease people into the topic in a rather convivial manner.

So Dr. Tom Oosterhuis & myself have been tossing around the idea that perhaps we would offer a bit of a get together on something of a more theological nature, and prove that it is not as scary as you might think.   We think we will offer a study group on Colin Gunton's book  "The One, the Three and the Many" - based on his Brampton Lectures.

We are also thinking as an added bonus that we would meet in the comfy surroundings of the Faculty Club, as an antidote to the usual surroundings of the weekday Bible studies in HUB or SUB, and a bit of a break from the Power Plant.

And in the great tradition of the Whitehorse Inn (where great theologians gathered to drink, under the guise of talking about God), we might even buy a pitcher of liquid thought.

sex in public

No, not that kind.  More of a follow up of recent class conversations around the issues of family and human sexuality.  We had a bit of a panel this morning (one of several such on various topics) around issues in human sexuality and the church's response.  We had a variety of opinions represented, and myriad directions of discussion.  Let me zoom in on just one aspect of the conversation.

Don't ask me where I'm going with this - I don't even know, myself.

We have all heard PET's famous line that the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.  But is the opposite true as well?  What I mean is this:  is human sexuality an entirely private matter, one that has no connection whatsoever to the common and public good?  Or should human sexuality, like other gifts to humanity, find at least part of its reference in the context of the common or public good?

No idea.

Anyhooo... Part of this arises from the radically individualistic vision of our lives.   As Christians, we find our primary identity in and as "church" - a living community connected to Jesus, and through Jesus, to one another.  That is the first and fundamental form of our existence - you know, all that stuff about branches in the vine - cut yourself off and you tend to wither up.  All we are is somehow tied to the church, the body of Christ, to the wider fellowship, and to the rest of creation.

BELIEVE

Tuesday, November 15
Jubilee Auditorium
7:00 pm

A night of worship on the U of A campus.

reminder: U of A Human Rights Lecture

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, will deliver the University of Alberta Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights on Wednesday October 26, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Alberta’s Myer Horowitz Theatre.

Khan will be the eighth speaker in the annual U of A Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights. Established in 1998, the lectureship has brought many leading human rights advocates to campus, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi. Tickets for the lecture are $10 and available through Ticketmaster.

on the "truth" of the bible

Scott Bourgeois has given us an interesting article in a recent edition of the Gateway.   There are more than a few things in the article I would like to address, but for now let's say that it appears to be based on Ruth Gledhill's article in the Times, which has been addressed throughout the blogosphere (like here). 

A reply to the Gateway:

Mr. Scott C Bourgeois has given us an interesting article on the Catholic Church’s “new” attitude to Scripture.  I may be incorrect, but from the text of his article it appears he is borrowing quite a bit from Ruth Gledhill’s recent article in the TimesOnline, an article which has been fisked for its misinterpretation (google it) since its publication.

The original document in question (The Gift of Scripture) points out that there are a variety of genres of literature in the bible – some claiming to be what moderns would recognize as “literal-historical”, some claiming to be “symbolic-poetic”.  This understanding of Scripture is not “new”, it has been around, well, for a couple of thousand years.  A reading of Augustine’s “On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis” (4th C) is evidence of that.  Distinguishing between genres may be a thorny issue for Christians, but the existence of such genres is not.

Mr. Bourgeois has presented us with a false dilemma – either all of the bible must be “literal”, in an Enlightenment-scientific sense, or none of it is “true” in any sense.  I think of the bible’s Song of Solomon:  “Your lips drip with honey” one lover says to another.  Did a kiss take place?  Evidently so.   Was there honey involved?  Perhaps not.  Are we being told that lovers must be like Winnie the Pooh after a foray into his famous jar?  What, is this not literal, is it not “true”?  The poetic image is conveying a truth, the full depth of which, in my personal experience of a particularly excellent kiss, goes beyond a limited literal and scientific description of such an event.

yours, etc...

 

how to pay off student loans

Just in case you've wondered how to avoid debt at today's university prices, you might take a hint from Alex Tew.  The 21 year old business major in Britain has raised thousands of dollars in a rather simple fashion.

You can find his homepage here.

loneliness

I get more than a few emails, calls or visits that seem to boil down to one thing:  loneliness.

In our part of the world, said Nobel Prize winner Mother Teresa, “there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West”. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)

Every year thousands of students come to this place.  Some come from small, rural communities.  Some come from overseas.  Some move out of their family house and find a place in the residences, or shared accommodations nearby.  For everyone there is some kind of break with “home”.  And with that break comes, for some, loneliness. 

Loneliness can be a by-product of institutional life.   You come here and you are assigned a student number among the 35,000 others who are in line ahead of you.   It is usually about this time of year that the excitement and novelty of university life starts to wear off for freshmen, and becoming a small fish in a very big pond becomes a reality.

Loneliness can be hard to deal with, but there are some great people working here. The U of A Student Services is a great resource for helping you find your way.  There are a variety of Chaplaincy services, each one headed up by someone who is willing to lend an ear.

For those of us who are “Christians”, we need to avoid the “holy huddle”.   Jesus calls us to share his love.  And sometimes that means just noticing and talking to the student next to me.  You don’t have to invite someone to a “church” event;  you can just invite them to study together, to order pizza, to watch a game.  Take interest in them as human beings, made in the image of God. 

This coming Sunday is Thanksgiving.  Sometimes holidays remind us that we may not have a special place to go with family or friends.  There is a potluck at sol café – (on Whyte Ave:  10816 82 Avenue).  The internet café will be open all afternoon – if you haven’t been to sol café – feel free to wander in.  If you are a sol café regular, find someone to invite.

Amnesty International leader to speak @ U of A

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, will deliver the University of Alberta Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights on Wednesday October 26, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Alberta’s Myer Horowitz Theatre.

Khan will be the eighth speaker in the annual U of A Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights. Established in 1998, the lectureship has brought many leading human rights advocates to campus, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi. Tickets for the lecture are $10 and available through Ticketmaster.

For more information go here.

Gateway articles (for the locals)

As unusual as it may seem, an article  dealing with Christian evangelism appeared in the recent edition of The Gateway , the student newspaper here at the University of Alberta.   Andrew Teal, the author, also wrote an interesting piece about faith and doubt  a week or so ago.  Both are worth a look.

diggin for coins

It's Sunday afternoon.   In a day or so 35,000 students will descend upon this campus.  There will be the usual mad rush from all sorts of student groups and clubs and organizations to get people "signed up" for every possible kind of activity - sacred and profane.  For many years we've done the same thing in campus ministry - booths and give-aways and flashy posters and special events.   

This week I'm getting rid of all the coins on my desk.   I'm going to spend the majority of my time in the local campus pub - the Power Plant .   They have recently upgraded their pool tables, and only $1 a game.   I'm going to go hang out with the students who are not into Christian displays, clubs or organizations, and who wouldn't sign up for a "seeker's bible study" if it meant instant graduation and a room full of cheap liquor.

I want to spend some time bumping into people and getting into conversations.  I'm pretty sure He does too.

[Note to the many generous donors who give to Anglican Campus Ministry - I'm about to blow some of your hard earned money on beer and pool.]

rock & hard place

Just a bit of my grizzled face after some time in the mountains.   

Somewhere just below Mumm Peak in Robson Park.  Berg Lake in the background;  you can catch a bit of the Berg glacier down and to the right.  On sunny days you can hear the thunder as it calves huge chunks into the lake.

On another note, one of the bridges on the lower trail had been washed out due to a flash flood.   With a bit of footwork and fording techniques, we got across.  Nothing wakes you up in the morning quite like a crossing at a glacier-fed river in the Canadian Rockies.  It's all part of that great Canadian lie:  "the water is warm once you're in & get used to it."

christian ministry at the university of alberta...

Just had a great conversation & coffee with Scott from the U of A Navigators , and we chatted a bit about our various plans for campus ministry in the upcoming year here at the old U of A.  One of the things that seems to be coming back to me is prayer.   Part of being away for the last few weeks has given me a chance to rethink and pray about the various things I "do" as part of the various "Christian programming" on campus.   And while there is a necessary place for activities and programs of all sorts in campus ministry, I sense that God is continually calling me to more and deeper prayer.   Not sure where this is going,  but I want to spend more time in prayer for our campus, our residences, our faculty, ourselves.

There are some great Christian ministries at the U of A  (a few links on the sidebar, I'll add some more for the locals as the terms gears up).   

Pray.
Pray.
Pray.

good news for U of A undergrads

Sometimes things just go your way.  Check out the latest academic findings on drinking and thinking .  And then join me for a pint before calculus...

side bar notes

have been reorganizing & and updating some links on the side - & I know Matt will give me a better tag line for the house blog...

more thanks and praise

Prayers of thanks to God and encouragement for Tianye, an engineering student, who was baptized at the Easter Vigil at St George's, and for Michael, who is currently preparing for baptism.

"My word will not return empty"

the burlap sack

"The Burlap Sack" is a semi regular feature in The Gateway , our student newspaper at the University of Alberta.  It is a place where deserving individuals are placed in a metaphoric sack and assaulted in print. Today's copy shows we've hit the big time:

This verbal set of steel toes to the teeth is directed at the global Anglican Church.  See kids, the primates of the Anglican Church have issued this nifty little ultimatum to the Canadian Anglican Church, stating that they're not allowed at the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council unless they smarten up on same-sex marriage.  In other words, "Do what we say, or we're taking our ball and going home."

For a church that prides itself on encouraging debate and welcoming diverse views into its community, to threaten to cast out a large portion of its community because of their views is utter folly.  I'm sure even Jesus would have a few kicks of his own for these bastards.  If it wasn't for the whole pacifism thing, that is.

Patrick Ross

Hmmmm....a golden opportunity of free publicity....any thoughts?

he carries on his work

Just a quick note to say that another student from one of our campus Alpha courses has become a follower of Jesus and would like to be prepared for baptism.   God never ceases to amaze me.