God in the Common Places

I was in my "office" again today - the Second Cup coffee shop at Promenade Mall. I have a hard time being productive when I'm just sitting at my desk in the basement of my house. It helps me focus when there is a lot of "white noise" activity going on around me. I get more reading done. I can journal better. I can even write better sitting in a busy place.

But that's not the only reason I go to the mall. I like to watch people. I like waiting for divine appointments. I like to see the interactions that happen "in passing." I wrote this following article for a newsletter a few years ago as I was trying to understand the concept of what I now know as Missio Dei or "the missional God" - the one who becomes like us and goes out from where He is to be with us. He is the incarnational God - God with us - Immanuel. Here's the article ...




It’s 11:30 a.m. on a Monday. The regular crowd shuffles in. I have a large Paradiso Dark on my table and a Billy Joel tune floating through my mind. I can hear the gentle splash of the fountain providing a pleasant white noise in the background. It’s highlighted by the staccato clank-clank of spatula against grill from the Japanese food outlet. There’s that unique hubbub a hundred voices make in a large room - occasionally punctuated by the excited scream of a toddler or the high pitched beep of a cell phone.

I watch the people. It’s amazing: the diversity of humanity that you see in a public place. The retirees sitting alone reading the paper. An older woman writing a dollar store birthday card to her granddaughter. An impossibly young teenage mother pushing a squirming, straining baby in a stroller. A nervous young guy with a black Roots toque pulled low, waiting for his dealer to come by. An old man with a full grey beard, and grey lifeless eyes, drinking coffee – looking all the world like life has used him up. The group of four or five older men having an animated discussion in a language I don’t recognize. The four teenagers from the high school, cutting class to meet with their boyfriend or girlfriend. The weird, but harmless looking guy with the silly grin, who picks up his coat and bag to change his seat every five or six minutes. He’s changed his spot eight times since I’ve sat down.

At 12:03 the place starts to buzz with the growing lunchtime crowd. Teenagers are ten deep at the McDonald’s counter. The tables fill up quickly. Security makes an appearance – standing around the edges, keeping an eye out for trouble. The guard stares for a moment at four young guys at a table near me and quickly walks over to them. I wonder what they’ve done wrong. “Sorry guys. No card playing allowed.” Crazy Eights is apparently a restricted activity here.

By 12:40 the room has become quieter again and there are no kids from the high school anymore. Only the real regulars are left – the harmless, weird guy, the seniors, moms and their kids, the unemployed guy going through the want ads, and a few “suits” still on their lunch break. Especially endearing is the older gentleman sitting two tables over, hands in his lap, patiently waiting for his wife to return from shopping. You can tell he’s done this a thousand times before.

I love to watch people. I enjoy interacting with people. I especially notice the people sitting alone, reading the paper – or more often than not, just looking around. Once in a while I have a conversation. Sometimes I see someone I know.

Yes, I’m at the mall. The mall has become the modern public square – the modern marketplace, the new human crossroads. A busy mall may see tens of thousands of people come and go every day. It provides employment for a thousand people at any one time. It’s a place people go to shop, to access professional services. It is increasingly becoming a place to go when there’s nothing else to do. It has become something of a social outlet for many – especially for youth, seniors and for others looking for connections. As a result, a mall not only provides commercial products and services, but has become in many respects a meeting place, a place to hang out, a living room.

People come to a mall because they are lonely and looking for human contact; looking for something to change their desperate existence. They may come because the prospect of facing four walls with only a TV for company is too daunting.

People come longing for things they may not be able to afford, filling their credit cards with debt they can't handle. It’s where tired mothers go when they don’t know what else to do with the kids. It’s a place estranged fathers take their children - struggling to entertain them during their one visit a week. Teenagers go to the mall – desperately wanting to fit in with the crowd at the food court – and willing to do almost anything to find acceptance. These are not just financial and commercial issues. These are social issues. More importantly these are spiritual issues.

The public crossroad places of life (malls, coffee shops, school parking lots, book stores) are places of safety and familiarity for people. For one reason or another people do not perceive the church to be a safe place any more. People tend not to share their innermost longings, doubts and self-destructive, sinful habits with the complete stranger at the equally strange church fellowship time – especially if they think (rightly or wrongly) they are going to be judged for being sinful. Why reveal yourself too candidly to people who you perceive to be “holier than thou’? Paradoxically, they will share their innermost longings, doubts and struggles to overcome destructive habits with a complete stranger at the coffee shop, knowing that they may never see that person again.

I believe people deeply need to be listened to. They are desperately interested in the healing touch of God, something that can transform dull, impotent, sick, meaningless routine, into vibrant, useful, healthy and purposeful living. People are seeking to be changed.

In order to be effective in the new millennium, we need to prioritize our time to be purposely spent, not in church meetings, but in the public crossroad places of life being with people. Can we take time to listen to people who are willing to speak candidly in an anonymous atmosphere free from fears of judgement? Can we hear the longings of the lonely? Can we read between the lines of conversation to discern the doubts, self-recriminations, and dreams of the people? Are we willing to take the risk to invest our lives encountering people we have not yet met?

The mall is one of those common places where people hang out, waiting for connection, and longing for transformation. God is in the common places. Too bad the church isn’t.

Around the World in 800 Days

My nephew Andrew Gardner and his friend Ryan are sailing around the world in what looks like a 35 foot sloop. (Well he's not actually my nephew - he's the son of my wife's second cousin.) Quite an adventure for a couple of guys just out of university. They will be posting their journeys on a blog Ryan and Andrew... Sailing Adventures Around the World.

Sail On!

The Saints Go Marching On

A couple of significant people within the Christian community passed away this week.

The first is Dr. James Kennedy, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. You may know him better as the founder of Evangelism Explosion or from his radio ministry Truths that Transform, or the author of a number of books like What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?. I had attended his church a number of times during vacations in Florida and was actually in Florida when we heard of his heart attack last December. We can see the steeple of the church from the balcony of the condo at which we were staying. A couple of the comments from the Sun-Suntinal article:

"The 76-year-old pastor died "peacefully in his sleep" in his Fort Lauderdale home around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, September 5th, according to publicists for the 10,000-member church. By his side were Jennifer, his daughter, and Anne, his wife of five decades.

The Rev. Kennedy had suffered from several ailments since a cardiac arrest on Dec. 28. He underwent treatment at Holy Cross Hospital, then rehabilitation in Michigan, but never returned to the pulpit. His last sermon was on Christmas Eve.

In contrast to the folksy, Southern style of many televangelists — a term he disliked — the Rev. Kennedy crafted an urbane, intellectual approach, blending history, logic, rhetoric and Bible interpretation. He sought to reach not only ordinary people but government, cultural and academic leaders — "influencing the influential," he called it." There is also a nice tribute on the Evangelism Explosion page.
EDIT: Christianity Today put a list of reports and tributes together at their site.

The other person was Madeline L'Engle, a Christian author whose childhood fables, religious meditations and fanciful science fiction transcended both genre and generation, most memorably in her children’s classic “A Wrinkle in Time.” She died on Thursday, September 6th in Litchfield, Conn. She was 88. She earned a write-up in the New York Times.


A Beautiful Day

We went down to the Beach again today – Brigitte, Kirstyn and I (Jared was off to London to see off a friend to university). That's Brigitte and Kirstyn sitting on the bench and the last picture is Kirstyn silhouetted against the sky. It was one of those late summer days that was just too beautiful to spend indoors. We brought books to read as we sat on a bench. We met some old friends from our Stone Church days.
It was a “longing” day. I don’t know why but this type of day creates this deep sense of longing in me for … I don’t know what really. Maybe it is just melancholy and childhood memories. Maybe it’s just that summer is almost over and those long, lazy days are just about gone for another year. Maybe it’s that I’m remembering other beautiful days that are steeped in warm fuzzy memories of days I will never have again. I don’t really know what it is that I’m longing for but days like this really bring it out. It’s an almost tangible ache.

Of course the conditions are perfect … a beautiful, cloudless sky, the late afternoon sun dappling through the trees, the fresh breeze blowing in off the lake bringing that sublte but distinct water smell to my nostrils, the view of the sparkling water and the sailboats skimming across the surface of the lake. And I had two of my favourite people by my side.

Then there’s the boardwalk and the people … the little boy running in that waddle that only two year olds can manage, arms and legs pumping furiously; the kaleidoscope of nationalities where you hardly hear anyone speaking English; where you see people dressed in bathing suits, three piece suits and everything in between; and the only place in the city where the dogs may actually outnumber the people.

It was an amazing afternoon. It stirs me even now as I reflect on my day. That sense of longing always points me to God. It is that feeling that convinces me that we are not alone in the universe. Someone once said that the longing for eternity shows that we were built for heaven. A day like today proves it.

Virtual Pastors

This is different. Virtual Pastors ... Hmmm.

"We have the technology" (remember the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man?) Well now we have The Virtual Preacher Man. You've heard of search committees looking for pastors for a church. Well with this concept you can keep changing your pastor every week. There is a company that has developed virtual pastors - computer generated characters that preach (from sermons on the internet) and tell jokes and have various life experiences that they share with their congregation. The congregation gives electronic feedback after every sermon to further refine the personality and style of their "pastor."


Does this remind anyone of Max Headroom?

This is hilarious - it sounds like many of us may be out of a job. Read the rest of the story here.

Tammy Faye Heads Home

Evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner's Battle with Cancer is Over at 65
After not hearing her name or thinking about her for years she was mentioned at a meeting I was at Thursday evening and she was on Larry King Live Thursday evening and passed away Friday morning. I can't say I ever really enjoyed the PTL Club, but my parents watched it and many people loved the show. I was talking with my neighbour yesterday and he said he saw Tammy Faye on Larry King and that his Jewish mother used to watch the show all the time.

"Our family is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Tammy Faye. She lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade.'" -Jim Bakker (Kansas City, Missouri)—Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, the former televangelist and Christian singer died Friday morning of inoperable cancer."

The full story is here.

Heritage Villiage (the former site of The PTL Club - or Praise the Lord Club) is now owned by a number of Christian organizations who are operating a number of ministries from that site. Morningstar Ministries, a Christian conference centre and a 24 hour prayer ministry all host their ministries there.

Friends

Yesterday I was able to go up to Muskoka Baptist Conference grounds to visit a friend from Stone Church days. It really is a pleasure to see someone move forward and exceed both your expectations and your own abilities.

Paul came to Stone Church when I was on staff there in the late eighties or early nineties, dissatisfied with his fast-paced but destructive lifestyle and hungry for a change. God met him and I had the opportunity to coach him and encourage him a bit. However it was he who spurred us all on with his passion for prayer and commitment to the things of God. He was a pastor's kid who had drifted away so there was some residual stuff that remained in his heart and head because he grew up "sleeping on the pews."

I know it was a long process but the growth in his life was steady and the results amazing - and the time seems to have flown by. He dealt with the issues in his life, he went to seminary for his Master's degree and then on for his PhD in New Testament and now he is teaching at Azusa Pacific University - astounding me with his growth over the years and with many of the insights he has in Christian leadership. He and his wife (Cahleen) have also been involved in foster parenting and have recently adopted two children (a brother, Jonathan, and sister, Emily). Although the challenges of fostering and adoption are great, they make great parents.

The reason for the post is that although we only see each other a few times a decade, I still feel connected to him. I still would go two or three hours out of my way to connect with him and I still find that when we meet it is like iron sharpening iron. The challenge to many of us in our fast-paced, travel anywhere on earth, lose touch with friends, kind of world, is to reconnect when we can and enjoy the reconnection. These friends with whom we infrequently connect actually bring perspective into our lives. They remind us of our history and of the things we used to love to do. They teach us that we influence one another and that influence is significant and long lasting.

Because of our meeting I have resolved to send some more emails and to continue going out of my way to connect whenever possible.

The Search to Belong III

As we continue to look at Joseph Meyer's book, "The Search to Belong" we see him describing the various spaces in which people make connections. Although he goes through all four spaces in two different ways in two different chapters, I thought I would collate the information and organize it according to the space described. So we start with ...
Public Space
This is where we make connections with strangers and acquaintances (like the grocery store, the gym, ball games, etc.) and where we might recognize someone but not necessarily ever know their full name, where they live and may never meet them outside of that context. These relationships give a sense of belonging in a neighbourhood or community without which we would feel like a stranger or out of place. We should not be surprised that mere acquaintances (site specific and episodic relationships) can hold significance in one’s heart and mind.

Public belonging happens when we connect through outside influences (not shared personal information). It isn’t about connecting person to person; it is about sharing a common experience (like being a fan of a sports team, shopping at the same store, taking the same bus to work, etc.). In fact if these people were to exchange personal information, they by definition move to a different space in one another's life (social space). There is a difference between a public belonger and a stranger. The stranger is not and does not feel connected. Once a stranger connects he becomes a belonger.

Public belongers are not “on the fringe” – they are committed and participate – but on their own terms. It is not necessarily true that they need to be closer to be committed. We need to validate that there is public belonging that is important to people and find ways to affirm their participation. Much of Jesus’ ministry was connecting to people in public space – the Centurion, the rich young ruler, blind Bartimaeus. Too often we treat these as casual relationships and devalue their importance to life. In fact public belonging is a space where we need numerous significant relationships in order to experience a sense of healthy belonging and community. We need to develop more connections in this space than in any of the other three. True community can be experienced in public space – it is not mere togetherness; it is connectedness. It is in many ways family.

An essential key to developing community is the maturing of our competencies for growing significant committed public belonging. Public belonging occurs when people connect through an outside influence. People who have a healthy sense of public belonging possess the following competencies (meaning an understanding of ways of behaviour and an ability to conform in these ways):
+ public belongers are able to share a common experience, team and/or personality without being compelled to pull these relationships “closer”
+ they practice social conformity – they abide by socially accepted rules and practices for public life
+ they develop the skills to welcome strangers as belongers
+ they participate significantly in one-time, episodic and site specific ways
+ they find appropriate visual focus – this visual focus does not convey a social, personal or intimate “touch” (for example: eye contact for more than a glance communicates a desire to be in a space other than public).
+ they develop a sense of humour – this humour offers a degree of detachment.
+ they have developed a peresence that conveys that they are comfortable in public space and that they mean no harm to those around them
+ they are comfortable with little or no physical contact

My response to this description is that these public belonging behaviours are in many ways culturally bound (North American) and will probably vary (and may be more or less enforced) from one culture to another. Some people would call these "competencies "social skills." Many people don't like functioning in this "public" or more distant way and constantly "invade your space" or cross these public boundaries. Street people often have no sense of relating as public belongers and well get into your face to ask for money or favours and often make others on a bus or on the street feel uncomfortable. "Needy" people often cross these behavioural boundaries and make functioning in a small group difficult.

The Warehouse Mission

Yesterday afternoon, Jared (my son) and I went downtown and attended a service at the Warehouse Mission (part of the Salvation Army). About 60 people squeezed into a small second floor room not much larger than my living room and laughed and prayed and worshipped God with the abandonment that only those who have lost everything can display. The crowd was mostly older (ie 40+) street people. Street people means people who are not necessarily homeless but live most of their lives identified with some aspects of the street culture, often accessing services that assist the poor and homeless (food banks, meal programs, support services, drop-ins, employment training, I.D. access, etc.).

It was a good afternoon. The Warehouse Mission is run by Ron and Linda Farr - both Lieutenants in the Salvation Army. (you can check out an article about them written in Christianity.ca here.) There is also a personal connection here - Linda used to be my secretary and office manager (then kitchen manager and street youth worker) when I worked at Evergreen. They have been good friends for many years (even though I don't see them much these days). Ron and Linda started this ministry by just going around talking to the people who were hanging out on the street in the St. Jamestown (Parliament and Wellesley) area of downtown Toronto. They are doing a great job.

The service itself was the right blend of down home warmth, country music, Salvation Army culture, and lots of laughter. Ron and Linda have made the Gospel real to these people and have incarnated Jesus in a way that perfectly fits this context. It's worth a visit and worthy of your support.

Ruth Graham

According to an AP report, Ruth Graham-wife of renowned evangelist, Billy Graham-died on Thursday, June 14th at 5:05PM, at her home at Little Piney Cove, North Carolina. She was surrounded by her family and husband, who had earlier in the day been "huddled at her bedside."

A lovely lady putting up with a travelling salesman (one of the best) for a husband (smile). See the full story here.

Road Trip

Well, we're heading out to the Maritimes. My son has finished exams and it's time for a road trip. Jared and John and I will be taking a week and making stops in Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and Halifax. I'll be posting pictures and hopefully some kind of regular update - depending on internet access along the way. Pray for nice weather - the last time I was in Halifax in late April it was very cold and they still had snow on the ground!

A Few More Quotes

A few more quotes from The Irresistible Revolution ...

On the "church as an agency" ...
The social work model of church produces clients and providers – facilitates the exchange of goods and services, putting professionals in the middle to guarantee that the rich do not have to face the poor and power doesn’t shift – inequality is carefully managed. Church becomes a distribution point where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff. Both go away satisfied but no one is transformed.

On the illusion (and danger) of safety ...
"Most of us live in such fear of death that it’s as if no one really believes in resurrection any more. Jesus said that we shouldn’t fear those things that can destroy the body but that which can destroy the soul (Mt 10:28) so we need to avoid things like safety, numbness, complacency, comfort – subtle demonic forces. Jesus is not safe – but He’s good."
"Lukewarm – the old school way of saying “cool”! You don’t get crucified for being cool. You get crucified for living radically different from the norms of all that is cool in the world – and it’s usually the cool people who get most ticked off." 231

Dropping a few famous names ...
Tony Campolo: “If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of NA.” 269
Brennan Manning: “The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” 270
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?” 270
“Throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our houses and threaten our children and we will still love you. Beat us and leave us half dead and we will still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.” 276

On church buildings ...
"As we enlarge the territory of the corporate property, private property remains comfortably sacred. So as congregations build larger buildings gyms and food courts we find ourselves less likely to meet in homes and kitchens and around dinner tables. We end up centralizing worship on corporate space or "on campus" (i.e. the church campus). Hospitality becomes less of a necessity and more of an optional matter – a convenient privilege. On the other hand as members open their homes and yards and share vehicles and recreations spaces, less and less corporate property is necessary. God is ultimately in the process of bringing down the towers of Babel – the great prostitute Babylon – eager for power and wealth. Rather than our towers and temples reaching up to heaven the God of heaven reaches down to earth and lives among us. In the New Jerusalem, there are no church buildings, no temple because God will live among us."

Don't Tiptoe

Just read this quote and want to share it with you. It is from Shane Claiborne's book, "The Irresitible Revolution" and he's quoting a former professor of his (whom he fails to name).

"All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, dance, just don't tiptoe!"

And how about this quote from Emma Goldman (also from "The Irresitible Revolution")
"If I can't dance, then it is not my revolution."

Jesus said: "Except you become like little children ..."

Johnny Hart Passes Away

I found out today (on a couple of sites so I won't link to them) that Johnny Hart, the creator of the comic strip BC and Wizard of Id passed away on the Easter weekend. I found an exerpt of a news report that I copied below.

"Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning "B.C." comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott. He was 76.

"He had a stroke," Hart's wife, Bobby, said Sunday. "He died at his storyboard."

"B.C.," populated by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes it.

Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy.

A strip published on Easter Sunday in 2001 drew protests from Jewish groups and led several newspapers to drop the strip. The cartoon depicted a menorah transforming into a cross, with accompanying text quoting some of Jesus Christ's dying words. Critics said it implied that Christianity supersedes Judaism.

Hart said he intended the strip as a tribute to both faiths."

I really enjoyed his comics because they had some great themes and very direct Christian content (like the example given in the article). Here's another good one.



May we all choose so wisely.

A Friend's Father

I was at the funeral of a friend's father yesterday. Father's are so influential. They affect us so deeply and in so many way - and in ways that we don't realize until a crisis situation or until it's too late. It was interesting to hear of all the things this father went through - terrible things really - as he grew up. The pressures of life on a farm, the narrow religious views, the horrors of war and disease. We of this generation, with media scrutiny and information access and medical breakthrough and broad education, don't realize the difficulty of the times our parents and grandparents experienced. Children worked on the farm (summer vacations were work time) and school work was often sacrificed for the more pressing needs of harvest time or spring planting. Men were supposed to be men, tough and unfeeling, and raised their sons that way.

And yet in the middle of the difficulties, grace abounds. Fathers love their sons - not always in the ways their sons want to be loved - but loved more than they could ever know. That was my friend's experience and he was able to celebrate a generous hard working man who brought four children into the world - each successful in their own way, each following Jesus and each one parents of their own children now. Thanks for letting me be a part of this story.

Evangelicals and Israel

Just connected with a site reporting on the most recent AIPAC confereence (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) where Rev. John Hagee was speaking on why Christians support Israel. He didn't really say a lot of new things but the reaction of the mostly secular Jewish crowd is quite amazing.

The video is youtube and not great quality but the sound is good. It's in three parts.

Read some of the comments below the video link. They are also quite interesting.

Check it out here.

An Interesting Guy

I talked to a very interesting guy yesterday. He's my son's friend and has just gone away to college in the Hamilton area. He was looking for a church to attend and decided to go and visit a number of churches to see what they were like. His criteria were "Were these churches friendly and accepting?"

Not so interesting you say? Actually, it's the way he went about looking for a church that caught my attention. He dressed up like a homeless person (adding appropriate smells) and went church to church, Sunday by Sunday to see how he would be received. There were some who accepted him, others who suggested he clean up before he comes in and still others who told him to leave. No one offered him money or a meal (except for a church that was having a meal for visitors that Sunday).

He went back to some of the churches dressed as most people would attend church and found that many of them were not much more accepting than when he was dressed as a homeless person.

As someone who has worked with the homeless for a number of years, I'm left feeling a little uneasy. Now it's not because I haven't been tempted to do the same thing (because I have). And there were times when we actually "set-up" the churches I spoke in, and had a staff person come into the church dressed up as a homeless person interrupting my message. Let me tell you that created quite a stir.

I'm not sure if I'm uneasy about the churches or the activities and attitudes of this young man. Some questions come to mind. What is a "good church?" Why do you attend one and not another? Can you determine whether or not you would attend a particular church based on one visit? Does visiting a church and attending its services really give you any basis for knowing whether or not it is a good church? Sometimes I think that what happens during Sunday services is almost irrelevant to what a church is really all about. Too often we think that church is a place or an activity rather than the gathered body of Christ. Should a church be judged on how people are welcomed at the door or by the kind of relationships it has among its own members and with its community? Does outreach happen on Sunday morning at church or on every day and in every situation?

I would also wonder why a homeless person would come to a church in the suburbs. It takes a great deal of energy to go so far out of your way. If that happened during one of our church services I would try to determine the person's need - because normally it is not "Hi, I'm just checking our your church to see what you're like." It's usually an acute need - whether it be spiritual, physical or financial, or an invitation by a friend - that would drive them so far out of their way to come to Suburban Community Church.

A church should definitely be a good neighbour and have compassion for the poor but most suburban churches will be very ineffective if they based their ministry to the poor on the number of homeless people who came through their doors on a Sunday morning. There are suburban churches that have effective ministry to the poor but they usually do it by partnering with an urban church or mission and supporting them with people and finances. To measure a church's effectiveness we should look at their financial records and activities of their members and perhaps their list of programs.

But then maybe I just analyze things too much.

Remembrance Day

I spoke briefly at a Remembrance Day service at our local hospital's (York Central) long term care facility. The stuff I used is in no way original (I included the author of the main part of it)) but I thought you might like to see it as a Remembrance Day reflection. The next post will be another thing I used as an illustration during the talk. For those of us over 40 thinking that the soldiers in most wars are young kids really, it makes me very thankful for the exuberance of youth and sad to know how many lost sons and brothers and husbands fighting for our freedoms. I's a bit long but worth the read.

Veterans Day Reflection 
[most of it by Donald Sensing]

On November 11, 1918, the guns stopped firing along the western front in France ... World War I, the bloodiest war in history to that date, was thus ended by an agreement between the allies and Germany to cease fire. The allied powers soon memorialized the day the guns stopped. In America, November 11 was called Armistice Day. In 1954, President Eisenhower proclaimed the day would be called Veterans Day, intended to honor living veterans of military service. 

In Canada, November 11 was (and still is) called Remembrance Day. Here and in other nations November 11 serves the same purposes, honoring both living veterans and those who died in service to their country. I preserve the distinction of the observances. Veterans Day honors living veterans, Memorial Day honors those who died in service. But we must not leave in limbo those who survived their service and died later, so we should remember them also. 

Today is the 88th anniversary of the end of World War One, and we have just finished remembering the fith-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. War came then to us in the first time in over a century. Some commentators have said that because of that fact, perhaps we need to reconsider what the definition of veteran is.


Peggy Noonan, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote:
On Friday, Sept. 14, I went with friends down to the staging area on the West Side Highway where all the trucks filled with guys coming off a 12-hour shift at ground zero would pass by. They were tough, rough men, the grunts of the city – construction workers and electrical workers and cops and emergency medical workers and firemen.

I joined a group that was just standing there as the truck convoys went by. And all we did was cheer. We all wanted to do some kind of volunteer work but there was nothing left to do, so we stood and cheered those who were doing. The trucks would go by and we’d cheer and wave and shout “God bless you!” and “We love you!” We waved flags and signs, clapped and threw kisses, and we meant it: We loved these men. And as the workers would go by – they would wave to us from their trucks and buses, and smile and nod – I realized that a lot of them were men who hadn’t been applauded since the day they danced to their song with their bride at their wedding.

And suddenly I looked around me at all of us who were cheering. And saw who we were. Investment bankers! Orthodontists! Magazine editors! In my group, a lawyer, a columnist and a writer. We had been the kings and queens of the city, respected professionals in a city that respects its professional class.

And this night we were nobody. We were so useless, all we could do was applaud the somebodies, the workers who, unlike us, had not been applauded much in their lives. And now they were saving our city.

I turned to my friend and said, “I have seen the grunts of New York become kings and queens of the City.” I was so moved and, oddly I guess, grateful. Because they’d always been the people who ran the place, who kept it going, they’d just never been given their due. But now – “And the last shall be first” – we were making up for it.

Science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein wrote the best definition of veterans that I have ever read. He said that there is only one distinction between veterans and non-veterans. It isn’t intelligence or education or class. It is only the fact that veterans are those who have put their own mortal bodies between their loved ones’ homes and the war’s desolation. Veterans are those who love others enough to risk laying down their lives for them, especially people they do not even know. That’s all patriotism is, really: the willingness to risk yourself on behalf of people you do not actually know.

So the firemen and police and rescue workers of New York and Arlington, Va., are veterans of a new kind for a new kind of war.

This shared risk is crucial glue. There are no jobs in the service that are absolutely safe. Most living veterans as traditionally defined saw their service during wartime, but relatively few veterans were in actual danger during their service. More than five thousand sailors crew an aircraft carrier yet only a few dozen fliers from it face danger over enemy skies. Yet there is always the potential of dangerous service for all, even in peacetime.

In William Shakespeare’s play, Henry V, King Henry is informed of the great strength of an enemy army on the field, and the comparatively few numbers of Henry’s army. Henry is advised by Westmoreland that some of his men have deserted and others want to. Henry replies that anyone who “has no stomach” for the fight may depart with pay and a safe-conduct pass. “We would not die in that man’s company That fears his fellowship to die with us,” Henry says. Then Henry’s lines are some of the most stirring in all of the Immortal Bard’s plays:

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, . . .
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names ...
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he e’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhood cheap whilst any speak
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Let us remain united now, because we are now really all in this together, somehow. Perhaps it is the sense that we are living in shared danger, however remote the risk may actually be to most North Americans. And there are police and firefighters who were in New York and Northern Virginia who shall stand on tip-toe when Sept. 11 is named. They shall remember what feats they did that day. And the police and firemen who shed their blood together that day are brothers henceforth.

And so will the troops who toppled Saddam’s regime, and destroyed the Taliban rule and freed Afghanistan. So will those Canadians fighting in Afghanistan – even amidst the confusion and debate and wrangling back home about whether or not they should be there. They are there. They are dying so we don’t have to.

I received an email this week honouring Canadian troops in Afghanistan [see next post].

On this day I wish only to say to other veterans, part of my band of brothers and sisters, Thank you for our freedom. God keep you and be with you, “From this day to the ending of the world.”

God Speaking

Sometime you really wonder if God is speaking a message in the specific events of our lives. This has been a year of funerals - for our family at least. In February my sister's mother-in-law passed away after a long battle with cancer. A week later my aunt passed away from pneumonia. Then in March my uncle passed away in Germany (he was 81) and in August my grandmother died at 95. And then on Sunday my mother passed away. She was only 73. Although I've still not processed it all, I'm kind of happy for her. She had been in a great deal of pain. More than anyone really knew (except maybe for my dad - and he certainly didn't say much about it). But now she is with Jesus and with those who have gone before.

Jesus seems quite near to me during this time and I had a half-asleep dream about my mother walking in heaven with Jesus listening to Him as He spoke. I sensed He was telling her of how He was taking care of all of us who remain here. I feel like I'd been given me some clear direction for the funeral on Thursday.

EDIT: Another death! On Wednesday my wife's aunt died in Germany. She was 80. Her parents are heading over there for the funeral.

Some Sad News

Well Sunday morning during church my mother passed away. ( EDIT: I should have said that we got news during our Sunday morning service that my mothr had passed away. She was in hospital in Hamilton.) Being a housechurch, it put an end to the planned agenda for the day and everyone dispersed into small groups and prayed and talked while I went to make some phone calls to my siblings to inform and to find information.

My mother, Christel Krause passed away somewhat unexpectedly on Sunday morning and we got the news during our morning service at Hills. She was 73. Although her passing was unexpected, she had been having a number of health problems and was in a significant amount of pain. About six years ago she began having serious kidney problems and needed to begin a special type of dialysis (which could be done at home). This caused some circulation problems and a cut on her foot refused to heal to the point where her leg needed to be amputated below the knee. Dialysis was increased to three times a week at the dialysis clinic in Guelph - and then more recently four times a week.

She had gone into St. Joseph's Hospital this past Friday (September 22) for thyroid surgery. This was undertaken to try to reduce the calcium buildups in the stump area of her leg which caused her a great deal of pain and made wearing a prosthesis next to impossible. Although the surgery went well and she was quite chipper on Saturday, her blood pressure increased rapidly early Sunday morning and caused severe breathing difficulties. We believe her heart failed and she passed away at around 7:30am.

We have finalized the details for the funeral. The visitation will be on Wednesday, September 27th from 2-4pm and 7-9pm at the Wall-Custance Funeral Home, 206 Norfolk Street, Guelph, Ontario N1H 4K3. The funeral itself will be held on Thursday, September 28th at 1:30pm at Crestwicke Baptist Church.

My father has asked me to conduct the funeral service - which I consider an honour - but I will need lots of prayer and a kleenex box or two. Brigitte will be playing piano and Kirstyn is going to sing and Jared will be one of the pallbearers. This is especially tough on my dad so please pray for him.