Jury Duty Completed

Well, it was close! I literally came within one word of serving on a jury. I found the whole process interesting, especially realizing that all 100+ that were on the Jury Panel were there for a single jury selection.

For much of the time it was a great deal of waiting. So I occupied myself with reading, doing Sudoku puzzles, people watching... anything to help the time pass by. On Tuesday, when I first went in, by noon, the case we had been set up for had been settled, so there was no longer a need for us, but we did have to return on Thursday... and that's where things began to move.

After waiting for almost two hours, we were shuffled into the courtroom to listen to the defendant's plea. Well... it's a criminal trial, so they'll need twelve jurors. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the two offenses, so it moved into jury selection.

The choices are completely random, my name was in a large lottery drum along with everyone else's. If my name was drawn, I would come up to the front of the court, where I could either present reasons why I could not serve, or I could step forward and look at the defendant. The Crown Attorney and the Counsel for the Defense could then either say they were "content" with me, or "challenge" me as a juror.

As the process went on, it looked as if I would not be selected at all. Twenty people had their names drawn, and they came forward to begin the process. Yet a number provided a number of reasons why they could not serve, and it seemed that the defense, more so than the Crown were throwing out challenges rather liberally. After several draws, my name did get picked, and it looked as if I would be the occupant of the twelfth juror seat. Yet while the Crown was content with me, I was very quickly challenged by the defense... perhaps because they got a look at what I did for a living.

In all, it only took up two days of my time. It was an interesting process, and there is still part of me that would have found the experience of serving on a jury an enlightening one. However, my obligation is fulfilled, and I don't have to worry about this happening for another 3 years.

I am still curious about using the metaphor of a "summons" to describe God's call to us. It was interesting that each person who provided a reason/excuse as to why they could not serve were excused from this jury, but would not have the 3 year exemption period that I now have. The idea being that whatever excuses we may provide, eventually we will have to serve.

The lectionary Bible readings from this coming Sunday include Isaiah 6:1-8, which is Isaiah's call to the prophetic life. Last Sunday, while I preached on 1 Corinthians 13, I still included the reading from Jeremiah's call. Methinks I am going to be using this experience in my sermon preparation for this week!

Jury Duty?

Session has known about this for some time, but tomorrow is my first day of possible Jury duty. I received a letter from the government last fall telling me that my name has come up for a potential pool, and that I was to fill out some information and send it back. Given that there are legal consequences if I don't, I filled things out and sent it in. Shortly after Christmas, I received a letter in the mail telling me that my name has come up for jury selection. I'm to be at the Brampton Courthouse at 9am sharp. One of the members of my congregation said to me that if nothing else always be on time. Given that my personal record of being on time for things isn't the greatest, I'm going to have to get up really early tomorrow to make sure.

I've had a few people ask if I can get out of it. I am sure that I could probably provide a few good reasons why I'm not able to serve on a jury at this time. Yet at the same time the concept of summons of being called to serve by the court or the government is something that one is obligated to do by virtue of being a citizen... in my case, a citizen of Canada. I've been tossing around the metaphor of summons to describe God's call to us. Sitting on my desk, about 1/3 read is Leonard Sweet's "Summoned to Lead" --it can't be a coincidence. There's something to be learned.

Leadership isn't something that we're assigned to, or paid to do, it's something that we're summoned to do at a particular time, in a particular circumstance. It may be for a short time, it might be for a longer engagement. Our challenge is to genuinely recognize it for what it is... and really, it's not something that we can get out of. All we can do is choose how we're going to respond. In the court system, if I don't show up for jury duty, there are legal consequences and penalties that I could be subject to. In terms of God's call to us, what are the consequences of not responding? No... I don't think it involves anything with metaphysical fire, but certainly that sense of not feeling fulfilled in life would probably be a pretty heavy burden.

I look at this as a learning opportunity. I don't know if I'll be assigned to a jury or not, but just the process alone will be something I can add to my experience list.

Setting the Record Straight...

I couldn't resist the title.... and a bit tongue in cheek, I suppose. Late this week, Andrew Faiz, Managing Editor of the Presbyterian Record asked me to be the guest columnist for his Pop Christianity column in the April Issue of the Record. I said yes before I even thought about what was involved. Now the real challenge is to figure out what I'm going to be writing on. Apparently I have a fairly wide latitude on this.

For those of you who don't know, I served on the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Record for about six years, with it officially ending in 2005. For three of those years, I was the Convenor... although my actual title varied as we were adjusting to a new corporate structure, while at the same time still reporting to the General Assembly. During this time, we also hired David Harris, whom I had a chance to work with closely until my term on the Board came to a close.

I suppose this upcoming article marks my official "return" to the work of the Record in some capacity, but this time on the writing end of things... and again, only as a guest columnist. I'm looking forward to it...

But the only problem is... what do I write about?

Back at Work

I can usually tell a good vacation time when towards the end of it I find myself looking forward to going back to work. It was restful, and I certainly got a lot done in terms of my hobbies and such. Although now we need to start preparing the household for the arrival of Sarah's parents during the last week of January.

This morning started frenetically enough when I discovered my computer at the church was without power. Which was odd, since the lights were actually on. Yet my sermon, my notes, my prayers, and all the appropriate material was sitting on my power-less computer. Fortunately, Lesley's computer was not saddled with the same difficulty, and I was able to at least do some preparations until John arrived and found the elusive breaker switch that I couldn't.

Perhaps the lesson learned is to not be so reliant upon both computer and/or printed material. I find it ironic that I was preaching in part on God's sense of humour. I'm laughing... now. :)