Okay, a lot of the discussion around here ultimately comes down to "how do you interpret and understand The Bible"?

If one is a Christian, The Bible is something that one has to reckon with and develop some kind of understanding of.

But why The Bible?

If you are of the conservative, fundamentalist, or traditionalist wings, there's no question of why. The Bible is the basis of Christian faith because it says it is. The fact that that is a circular argument doesn't seem to matter.

Just curious to know - with so very many versions of the Bible in publication, which one do you like to read, use, learn from?  What makes it your favourite?   

Which Bible would you recommend to someone (adult) relatively new to the United Church who wants to explore? 

One of the realities of living in our community is that as we age, the balance between the number of men and women changes.

Part of this is the simple fact that women outlive men. Often men are in higher risk occupations (although that is changing).

Those who have lost a life partner are called widows (or widowers if they are men).

You might be surprised to hear that in Owen Sound there are nearly 1600 women and just 315 men who are widowed. That compares to 118,000 men and 495,000 women who are widowed in Ontario.

I have posted my draft of the story and message for Sunday, December 9 in a blog.  The message includes two stories: one about Robert Fulgum on appreciating the love directed our way and one whose origin I have lost on our continuous option of making positive choices.  Overall, my message considers reasons to hope, making the choice to hope, and making the choice to make our hopes real.

 Here are my current drafts of my story and message for December 2, 2012

Seeing Hope

What's everyone's thoughts on the new book by Pope Benedict XVI? Is he biblically right about the accounts of the birth of Christ or is it an attack by satan?

Ask the Nominees for Moderator: "What is one of your favourite Bible passages?"

See what they nominees said here:

http://www.gc41.ca/ask-nominees-week-6

The whole "The Song of Solomon is an allegory for Christ/God's Love" interpretation just doesn't fly with me. It smacks of a an effort to justify the book's presence by underplaying the book's real subject. While it may make the book more palatable as a part of the canon, it also neuters the real power of the text.

A friend asked me recently if there was a good Bible app I could recomend to her for her smart phone.  I am not that savy with the smartphone/apps thing so I said I would throw it out in the Cafe for some feedback.  As Len Sweet said we are living in a post-Google world, so a bible could be something contained on a smart phone as well as a book. Your help is greatly appreciated, thanks.