Melancholy Year End

It's been a good Advent and into Christmas, all told. Things went well on Christmas Eve, to the point of an unexpected applause after the sermon. Caught me off guard to be sure. The past few days since have been reasonably good, catching up with friends talking to family on the phone. But then there was tonight's phone call from my Dad...

My Grandmother, Ina Crowdis (nee Ripley) died tonight at 86 years old in St. John New Brunswick. My last surviving grandparent, and really the only one I've had for the past 16 years. It wasn't a complete surprise, given that she was in hospital with sepsis, which is very serious. She died while my aunt was feeding her supper... Strawberries. Kinda fitting really.

I'm glad we made the trip this past summer to see her, and so that she could meet Megan. The picture of me to the left of this blog entry was cropped out of a larger picture that included her, Megan, my Dad and myself in a four-generation picture that we won't get the chance to do again. She won't be buried until the spring, as she's being cremated... so I won't be heading back out east until those arrangements are finalized.

We'll miss you Nana. Go with God... it's time to rest.

Nearing Christmas

It has been far too long since I last posted. I think I ended up breathing a sigh of relief once the Revelation study came to a close that I took a break from all things computer/website related.

That's not quite true... but with all of the other preparations for Christmastime coming into play, I've not had made time to post something else up here.

I've been spending the afternoon at home in advance of tonight's "Blue Christmas" service. I just had my daughter fall asleep on my chest. In the midst of such a frenetic pace leading up to Sunday, it was a welcome break for me to simply enjoy a moment with my one year old. Yes... hard to believe that a year has gone by already. Her life has truly been a gift... and maybe that was the reminder I needed today.

Almost Revealed

I had the next-to-last night of my "Reclaiming Revelation" course/Bible study last night. It's been a good experience, and the response from those who have been attending has been really encouraging. If anything this has taught me not to be afraid to share what I've learned back in Seminary as far as the Biblical stories are concerned. For the most part, that hasn't really been a large concern with myself, but I think there is a clerical "fear" of sorts about sharing what scholars have to say about given sacred texts. Perhaps there is a worry that people will either 1) lose their faith, or 2) want to stone the minister for being apostate. I must admit to having a certain amount of this nervousness as well, not so much from my own congregation, as much as it is the memory of those first-year seminary classes where the Old and New Testament professors come under fire from their classes when the students learn that their grade 3 Biblical understanding isn't going to cut it.

I think in part is an accusation that somehow this process undermines the credibility of scripture, or that it somehow rejects its authority. While good scholarship may get us to reconsider how we might understand some of our basic theological ideas, I guess I am one who understands that the Bible is quite able to withstand whatever light we shine on it. Perhaps what we have trouble with is that it may indeed challenge some of the assumptions that we've either make, or have been taught from a very young age. Maybe what we react to is what real in-depth study reflects back onto our own faith, and a discovery that we may need to let go of our traditional understanding in order to gain a new one. That alone can be a scary experience.

Pulling a little bit of wisdom from the book of Job: I think Job learned that's it's okay to question God, but are we really ready for the answer? Either way, God is still God.