For Everything There is a Time.

The Revised Common Lectionary uses the following passage as one of the readings for New Year’s Eve. Many of us know the first eight verses, maybe not the words exactly but the back and forth contrasting style of the “times”. These words have be made popular musically and they ring true in our lives. There is a time for good and bad, for happy and sad, for singing and silence. Our lives are contrasts.

I wondered why the lectionary passage continued past the familiar first eight verses. It seems to move into another territory. And yet, tucked away in the words of toil, is that small statement that says so much “moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds”. We are able to compare one time to another. We can write our Christmas letters from memory. We can dream about what the future could hold. What a gift!

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ²a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; ⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

⁹What gain have the workers from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.¹¹He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; ¹³moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-12, NRSV)

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are a good time for remembering and dreaming. We have been blessed here in this household again in the past year. God continues to walk along beside us on our journey (it’s a good thing because He knows the destination). We continue to look forward to what the next days, weeks, and months will bring. I hope that you can as well.

Happy New Year

 

Christmas 2011

We are two-thirds of the way through our 2011 Christmas celebration. Our kids began arriving on Tuesday and by Friday night all three were here with their significant others and various pets.  Our house feels a lot smaller.

Yesterday, Saturday, we gathered in the church basement for my parent’s Christmas. I don’t think you could call us a close family, but we have kept up the tradition of coming together at Christmas time to celebrate mom’s birthday and Christmas. We eat together, sing carols, watch as the younger children receive gifts from their grandmother, eat some more, and spend some time catching up. This was the first time in a number of years that all of our kids were able to be there.

Today, we went to church and reflected on the gift of Christmas, described in God’s love letter to us. A big Christmas lunch followed. Both turkey and ham, the amazing mashed potatoes, two kinds of stuffing, great wine, and more. There were lava cakes for dessert. After cleaning up and some naps we went for a walk through the blowing snow in the bush with two very energetic dogs.

Right now, It’s just before 8 pm. There is a game of Risk going on behind me with more than a little bit of blue air being created. Daughter J is playing a computer game. At least two people are sound asleep. Mostly, it feels peaceful.

Tomorrow, its J’s family Christmas and then off to Toronto to get the travelers close to the airport for their Tuesday morning flights. J and I will do some shopping during the day with J and M.

So far, Its been a good Christmas. We are blessed.

The Christmas Letter

Over the past couple of weeks we have been receiving Christmas letters from friends and relatives. For many, writing this letter is an annual event which chronicles the events of the family over the past year. I’ve often thought we should do one as well since our family, in my estimation anyway, is as interesting, or, in fact, even more interesting than those  recorded in these missals. I know, it all has to do with perspective.

Ours is a family of bloggers so , this format seems to be an appropriate one.

The Way

The one key event that 2011 will be remembered for is our walk on the Camino de Santiago in May. We travelled to Spain with a group from Concordia University as part of a course on the history and theology of pilgrimage.  Something happened on that journey. We went to look at, study, pilgrimage and somehow the experience changed us in ways that we have been unable to really quantify. It was a humbling experience filled with metaphors and symbolism. We only walked 270 of the 780 km route and talk about the day we will go and do the rest of it. J in particular would like to go back just to prove that her body is not going to hold her back.

The rest of our holidays paled in comparison to the Camino, We spent a week on the Bruce peninsula walking the Bruce trail, and some time with friends biking in Niagara’s wine country. We spent a week at a cottage in the Muskokas with all of our kids and camped Thanksgiving weekend as well. We are really enjoying the freedom that comes with a life without a real job.

Our family is also doing well . R (daughter) and JW continue to work on PhD’s at the University of Alberta. They are hoping to be finished at the end of 2012 and then see where life takes them next. They and their two cats, Molly and Jack, are enjoying their new apartment (south-facing) on the edge of downtown Edmonton.

J (son) and L announced their engagement this year. We are looking forward to a June 9 2012 wedding in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. L is a wonderful young woman with a great sense of humour. She is going to fit in well with the families other “crafty” women. Both J and L are employed by Google.

J (daughter) and M have had the most upheaval and excitement in their lives. They bought a little “fix-r-upper” house in Toronto and before fixing it up, moved in. With the help of family and friends they turned their little hovel into a very livable house and a two bedroom apartment. They live there quite happily with their dog Mocha and their cat Pekoe. J works as a technical writer for a medical software company and M as a junior engineer aiming for his PEng certification.

J (my wife now and not the daughter above) started working as a Wellness Instructor at a new YMCA that opened this fall in a nearby town. She enjoys helping people meet their fitness goals. She leads a cycling class and has started a running class using the indoor track in the new facility. The major downfall comes on Thursday mornings when she has the morning shift and gets out of bed at 5 am. We didn’t get up that early when we milked cows!

I have continued my journey into the world of academia. This year, I pushed straight through the summer with course work. Hebrew has dominated the last eight months. It was really hard getting this strange language to penetrate this old mind. I wouldn’t say that I in any way know Hebrew, but I do know a lot more than before. J and I disagree on the value of this learning. I think, in the end, it was good.

I have also continued to put in a couple of days a week working with Threefold Consulting. Much of this work is nutrition advice for sheep and goat producers. I am also doing a number of different sorts of training.

We put an addition on our house this summer. It’s really just a roof to cover our hot tub and an outside, covered, sitting area. The building itself was constructed by a local contractor. J and I put in the patio that is under and around it. It was very satisfying doing the manual labour and ending up with a pleasing result.

We have been blessed again this year. All of our immediate family has enjoyed good health. God has watched over us and continues to walk beside us as we journey on. (It would be nice to have some indication of the destination though)

I hope that you too can feel His leading and care in this coming year.

Messiah

Handel’s Messiah is a Christmas tradition that fell by the wayside for me for a while. I first sang in a performance of the oratorio in the early 1990′s when i sang with a local, fairly high achieving, choir. We did it every other year for a while. Learning the part back then was tough, but has become a valued skill.

The last time I sang it with that group, I had a cold. We had a matinée and evening performance. I ate a pack and a half of Fisherman’s Friends to keep the vocal cords working. I sang my heart out right to the last Amen. The next morning, the voice was gone, it hurt to yawn. It took over a year to get better and when it was I had gained two lower notes and lost two or three in the upper range. I didn’t sing it again for more than a few years.

Then daughter J started taking violin lessons. Part of her training was to be part of the orchestra for an amateur Messiah to allow these students the experience of performance. If you are going to do the Messiah, you need a chorus, so, as almost an afterthought, folks were found to sing. I was invited and continued with the group for the next six years. Singers would come together to practice, theoretically, six times. Sometimes we would meet new basses on the night of the performance.

For a number of years, life got in the way.

We went to a performance last year at which I could barely keep myself from singing along. (the women on both sides of me made sure of it)

Messiah 2011

This year, I pushed life aside and went to a few practices. Many of the faces were the same as they were four years ago. We open our books and sing, with little or no time spent on notes. Its wonderful.

Last night was the performance.  It was awesome. I came home with a very raw throat. We sang the Hallelujah Chorus as an encore, full-out, no holds barred.

Christmas is here!!.

I preached this morning with a bit of a gravelly voice.

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Isaiah 40:1 (NRSV)

Ten Days to Christmas

The Season is here. Christmas is only ten days away.

J has the house decorated. She did it while I finished those last papers a week ago. Apart from bringing the tree up from the basement, I wasn’t much help. We have a garland on the porch railing and a big wreath outside the front door.She devised a new kind of decoration for the inside railing that includes our collection of special ornaments, “Our First Christmas 1980″,  ”Baby’s First Christmas 1982″, the Bernese Mountain Dog figurine, and mementos from other events and travels. She also decorated our dining room chairs with ribbons and balls, an idea she got from a Christmas open house tour in a nearby village.

Our tree is a small one, sitting in our bay window, this year surrounded by the nativity scene. J is starting to think that her nativity scene is starting to look tacky. I disagree. It is a display of her handy work and does as good a job of telling the story as any other, more elaborate, display that I have seen. The sheep and the manger were added last year. Until then Jesus slept in a Tupperware container filled with cotton batting.

Our Christmas traditions begin as well. This Saturday I will sing in the Messiah. It’s been a few years since I was part of a local choir that puts on the performance, but, I am really looking forward to it. Sunday E.and C hold their annual “at home”, something that we have attended with friends and neighbors for over ten years. In the evening we will go to the Candlelight Service at the church. I still remember the first one, likely in the early 70′s, put on by the Evangelism committee. It really didn’t do much to bring our community into the church, but it was magical.

Our kids will all be home this year. This was an unexpected surprise. It won’t be a long visit, and we will have to share them at two family Christmas celebrations, but it is a gift.

In it all, we will remember that the real gift of Christmas is that baby in the manger, God incarnate. Hallelujah!!

The Way

On Friday night we went to London to watch “The Way”, a new Martin Sheen movie that tells the story of a father who spreads the ashes of his dead pilgrim son along the Camino de Santiago. We did not go to see the movie as much as to relive the experience and the scenery that the movie depicts. We went to be reminded  our own experience of the Camino.

As we sat together in a nearly empty theater, that had not been changed in 40 years, we did indeed rekindle some of our experiences. We saw Sheen in Burgos, in a restaurant that we had been inside; in Leon, on the  plaza in front of the cathedral that we had explored; in the ancient village of O’Cebrero; and of course in the cathedral in Santiago. The movie did a good job of capturing the flavour of the Camino and the relationships that can be built there.

The story itself was a little lame and predictable, but, we weren’t there for the story.

After the lights came up, I asked the folks behind us if the movie had inspired them to walk the Camino. They all said yes, but most seemed to have a convenient excuse that would keep them from actually doing it.

We went away, wondering, all over, what happened to us on that journey and feeling like we really need to go and do it again. (maybe)

Hebrew is Over, Was it Worth the Effort?

Yesterday, I finished my last Hebrew assignment, an exegesis of Genesis 12:1-3. Nothing on this journey has been as difficult as the three courses of Hebrew that were required by the Christian Reformed Church. At times I felt overwhelmed. I put in hours upon hours trying to get the words and the grammar to stick in my head. The credits that I got for these courses took far more energy than any of the other credits. The question has to be asked: Was it worth the effort?

The question is particularly relevant because I have not yet found a Christian Reformed minister who actually uses his or her Hebrew training. All of them passed the courses or else they would not be ordained, but it seems that it was little more than something that needed to be done rather than a skill that is valuable to their work in ministry or, if it was once seen as valuable, the skills have been allowed to fall by the wayside in the busyness of the work of the church. Some will argue that the computer tools available, make use of the actual language unnecessary, all that is needed is an understanding of it.

I am glad that I was forced to put in the effort. I’m glad that my prof did not just do enough to get me through, but, challenged me to think in new ways. For me, the time spent has been worthwhile. I can find meaning in the Hebrew words, grammar and syntax. With so many good translations used today you might wonder what the point of actually reading the  text yourself would be. Nine months ago I would have said the same thing, but how do you know which is right when they differ.

Here is an example: Genesis 12:1 is part of the text of the exegesis paper. It is the record of the call of Abraham. The New International Version, which is found in most CRC’s, says:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

The NRSV, says:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

They look pretty much the same, don’t they? They are, except for the word “had”, which doesn’t seem like that big a deal.. “Had” also shows up in the King James version and  changes the tone of the call from something that has just happened to something that has happened a while ago, maybe even a long time ago. Abraham’s response in verse four is:

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him Genesis 12:4a NIV

“Had” changes the tone of Abraham’s response in verse four  from an immediate leaving to, perhaps, a longer,  drawn out response. It changes the message of the verse.

“Had” is not part of the Hebrew text. Without the last nine months of work, I would have a hard time knowing which of these translations was right. Now I know.

So, why is it there? The best argument  I can find, is to make the text match  with Stephen’s sermon in Acts seven. There, Stephen says that God’s call came to Abraham when he was living in Ur of the Chaldeans. The last part of Genesis 11 has Abraham living in Haran not Ur.  ”Had” is added to put the call further in the past, in Ur.

The the translators, who wrote the KJV, apparently attempted to match the words  of the Hebrew Bible with the New Testament.  The NIV, in some cases, has followed the example set out by the KJV whether or not it was correct.

There are, of course, many other cool reasons to work with the original language. This example for me is one of the more troubling ones. Unfortunately, it’s not the only example.

Of course, my stated determination to keep, and grow, this language skill may be nothing but hot air. If I don’t find ways to work at it, I, like so many others who took the courses, will return to Hebrew illiteracy.

Done!!!

It seemed like a long pull, but, the last paper of the semester was submitted half an hour ago. It was Hebrew Exegesis and I was looking particularly at Genesis 12:1-3. It’s amazing how three short verses can turn into 4000 words and still not give the feeling that enough

Done!!! Inage courtesy http://billyjohnson.wordpress.com/

has been said.

The prof was good enough to give me an extension to take a bit of pressure off at the end of the term. It was appreciated and I don’t think I abused his generosity, but, the extension may have lifted a little too much pressure. The paper was originally due on Tuesday. I worked on it Tuesday, after finishing a New Testament take home exam, and on Wednesday as well between rations and phone calls. Thursday I made farm calls for Threefold Consulting as I did on Friday morning as well. Friday afternoon and evening were taken up by a funeral and a movie (more on that later). So, by this morning it was starting to feel like the generosity was turning into a lack of motivation to finish. Deadlines are a good thing.

More than three full weeks are stretched in front of me. I really want to read a few real books. Lose myself in novels, in fantasy, in fiction. I miss reading for fun. There will be a bunch of farm calls to do and some training sessions, but no 4000 word papers.

Of course, Christmas is part of the coming weeks. Everyone will be home which is exciting. Distance makes it impossible for our family to be together very often. It is a real treat that it is going to work out this year.

A contented sigh.

A Tough Week

Its been a tough week. It seems like I spent a lot of it in my office, tied to my desk and my computer. The list of papers to write and presentations to do has gone down. There are still some left for next week (6000 words with 2000 of those written as a first draft). It feels a little more manageable. My Hebrew prof even gave me an extension so that these last efforts can be a little more spread out (Who says there is no grace in the Hebrew Bible?). I’m getting tired though, and that leaves me wondering if I just should have stayed where I was, selling feed.

The week has been tough on other fronts as well. The mother of a good friend passed away this week. He’s on his way to Holland, right now to attend her funeral. I’m glad he can go. One of my professors suffered a heart attack earlier this week. She’ll be fine but, again, we come face to face with the fragility of life.

With these things in mind, since it was my turn to lead devotions in the worship class (co-lead by the a fore mentioned prof) I reached back and picked up the Heidelberg Catechism and brought the words of Lords Day One to my largely Lutheran class. Coupled with a reading from James Schaap’s Every Bit of Who I Am it helped me, and I hope my class mates as well, not to understand, but to take comfort.

Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.