It's been a long time - again - since I blogged. LIfe often takes us on twists and turns that we least expect. That happened this year, in a big way. In July I saw a vacancy posted at Humber United in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. By mid-August I had said yes. It had to be the shortest search in the history of the church.

On November 7th, I said farewell to my congregation of five years, Glen Ayr United in Scarborough. What started as a one-year supply had stretched over five years, and many changes. It was a wonderful farewell, and a wonderful end to a good chapter.

I expect thousands of people will be watching television later this evening as rescue teams in Chile begin carefully bringing the 33 trapped miners to the surface.  I know I will be.

The capsule ride to the surface will take approximately 20 minutes, round-trip an hour, so it will be at least 33 hours until all the men have been lifted to the surface.  I can't imagine being the last one - alone and anxious.

Their lives are about to change dramatically.  

I'm posting this in R&F because, for me, it’s how we conduct ourselves in our daily life that’s the true measure of our faith.

Read the following in an article about Woody Allen. It's from a press conference that he gave for his new movie (You Will Meet a Talk Dark Stranger) which has been playing the festival circuit (including TIFF). I'm still digesting it myself, but thought it was good WC fodder.

The full article is here.

[quote=Woody Allen]

I live in Moncton. One of the astonishing things about this town - and maybe yours - is that the churches seem to go into hibernation from Sunday noon till next Sunday morning. No wonder they're declining. The only church that seems at all active is a very commercial Wesleyan outfit down the street from me. It appears to be a sort of religious MacDonald's.

I for one am happy to see the new iWonder being used to ask some new questions and spark some new debate here at the Cafe'.  I think that in some ways the WC has gotten a little predictable; liberal, conservative, non-believers and others ask questions or start topics meant to stir up others at their tables.  Those for or against the topic  then line up with arms linked like it was a game of British Bulldog and try and break through each others armour. 

Quite some time ago, I told Geo that he had helped me out with a nagging issue I had with the metaphor of "many paths to God."

I promised him that I'd write an article expanding on the idea, and, several months later, here it is -

Destinations and Journeys - why neither "many paths to God", nore "one path to God" are the right metaphor

The essay Heraclitus at the Crematorium would also have fit in the Health and Aging area but I'm more interested in café members thoughts from a faith perspective.

The author concludes his story, a reflection on the death of his father due to Alzheimer's, with this (the quote is from Heraclitus):

I found this article in Psychology Today magazine, and it resonated with me on a very visceral level, as I was in training for the ministry in back when I decided to leave Christianity behind me.

[quote]

An Atheist in the Pulpit

There is much discussion about Calvinism on the boards. I've spent the afternoon doing some reading and reflecting, since, for now, my family's out of town and I have the whole house to myself. I don't call myself a Calvinist - partly because I wouldn't completely qualify and partly because I think it starts to fall into the trap Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians (you know - some follow Paul and some follow Apollos; or - today - some follow Calvin and some follow Arminius (not the one on this board - although he may well have followers :-) and some follow Borg and some follow Vosper, etc.