So, the birthday party was . . .
A bowling game – actually two.
The first game was won by my wife. Three women and six men – only one could triumph.
The next game was won by Arlene. Another triumph for the women.
My brother used to run triathalons. He qualified for the Iron Man. His battle cry was “never get beat by a woman.”
Too bad, Gary.
Women rule!
One of our friends died today. We had come to know Harry Piluk in the past few years. Some of that time was spent in enjoyable conversation, the last few years he lived in the fog of memories that he couldn’t quite put together.
We spent noon with the family, eating Kentucky Fried Chicken and discussing plans. Tonight, some of the family are with us, using our basement for a place to sleep and relax.
We all live on this earth as travellers. Harry was known for his coffee times at Dairy Queen, for his walks down the street constantly being interrupted by friends, and for his hard work and cribbage games. His ship of life had a gangplank for others – I like to think that this was the way he encouraged others to fellow-ship with him.
The funeral is at 2:00 on Wednesday. You are invited to join the family for this celebration of life and as a reminder of the greater life yet to come – a life Harry is enjoying now!
USAtoday reported recently that Canadian churches are in decline. The actual report is more about Anglicanism. For those of us who have good friends in the Anglican church (at least for the moment!), this is not new news. Outside of mainstream Christianity in Canada the story may be better, but even there I imagine there is a tendency to stagnation.
… at the present rate of decline — a loss of 13,000 members per year — only one Anglican would be left in Canada by 2061.
… Nationally, between 1961 and 2001, the church lost 53 per cent of its membership, declining to 642,000 from 1.36 million. Between 1991 and 2001 alone, it declined by 20 per cent.
Supposedly people do not identify with a denominational brand now-a-days – they just say they are Christians. Or, as the article states – in my paraphrase – people are making up there own categories of who they are, calling themselves whatever they want.
This is the result of postmodernism in action. We create our own communities of people that we identify with and they become the only "truth". And when we actually look more closely, even our identifying with a community is tenuous. Whenever we do not agree with them or feel we have been wronged, we create a new "community", until (my guess) we finally come to the end of life and have broken relationship with so many people we have no one left!
How different from the Christian proposal for community! Jesus called for love of God, neighbours and enemies. Even when we are about to give a special time of worship to God (bringing our offerings), if we have something hindering a relationship with another flesh and blood person, we leave the offering and go to that person.
Not that Christians always follow up on that, but that is the desire. What a great ideal to hold up in the midst of an increasingly disillusioned postmodern generation. Better yet, what a great life to live!!
No, not the drink type! These are actually the “peashooter” type.
Our youth group had fun tonight. First shooting at moving targets (some of the adult sponsors!), then accuracy in shooting (filling a garbage pail) and finally a time to shoot at each other (thankfully marshmallows are soft and fluffy!!).
Afterwards we sat down and talked about faith and actions. Not always the easiest to put into deeds! The youth had come from a day at high school where a drug bust and a “girl fight” had taken place.
How do you live out your faith in that type of situation? A good question. What bring is home is that the girl being beaten attends our youth group intermittently.
We’ll see what shows up in the lives of the youth over the coming weeks. I trust we can indeed take what we believe and put actions to our words!