Published-and-Nerdy

Well, after arriving in the office today, I found that the April issue of the Presbyterian Record had arrived... and several people had already told me that had read my article in the magazine. I've just proven to the world, or at very least, to the Presbyterian Church that I am indeed a Geek. Nerdy enough to do theological reflection on comic-book characters.

I think at one point in my life I would have been far too self-conscious about it, or that I would try to downplay it. But in the end, what would that change? I don't mind being known as a geek when it comes to this sort of thing, because really, these are part of the stories that people of my generation read... they're part of our cultural collective.

So I hope people enjoy the article! Yes, I do plan on seeing Spiderman 3 when it's released in May.

Blue Monday

Likely most of you have already seen the posting on the main website about Joy Lismore's death this past Saturday. The service will be at the church this coming Saturday. It's been kind of a melancholy day, partly due to the weather, partly due to this milestone in the life and work of this congregation. Joy had been part of this community since its earliest days, particularly as a fixture in the choir for so many years. To me she gave a sense of hope, that no matter how hard things got for her physically, through grace, through willpower she was still able to carry on as long as she could.

Now, she rests from her labours, and we are thankful for all she shared with us.

Go with God Joy, we will miss you.

Flying without a net

It's funny how we become so accustomed to certain ways of doing things that we often forget how much things have changed over the years. We had a case study yesterday on Sunday morning when for the first time in my ministerial career, we did not have a bulletin prepared for Sunday morning. I'm the one at fault, but not because we weren't prepared. Shortly after my last post to this blog, I discovered that whatever bug that had run through the Fanning-Crowdis household, had rendered Lesley at home sick. I feel guilty that she must have picked it up from me at some point. The end result was that despite having all the necessary information completed on time, because both Lesley and I were sick last week, it meant that neither of us were in any shape to have a bulletin ready for Sunday morning.

It got me thinking...

Church bulletins as we know them today are 20th Century technological innovations that really have only been part of church culture since copying technology has made it convenient to be used on a congregational scale. My earliest memories of this type of thing would have been in the early 70's with mimeograph style machines that were produced by using a typewriter on carbon paper, and then running them through a rather fierce looking contraption erupting with strange smells. Before that, it was only the largest churches that could afford to have some sort of bulletin published... and usually in some sort of permanent form that would be handed out and collected every week. They would rely on the hymn boards at the front of the church to tell people what was coming up. Despite their apparent redundancy, we've still held onto those hymn boards in most churches. Yesterday I was glad we did.

I figure if the church has managed to get by for the vast majority of its history without a printed bulletin, I think we managed pretty well having a Sunday without one.

Nora Walked all over me

Well, I'm starting to feel slightly human again. As some of you know, I wasn't in the office on Thursday due to a rather severe but short-lived illness swept through our family home late Wednesday night. Sounds like I'm not the only one with it either. Sometimes it takes being helpless to really appreciate those around you.

Hopefully I'll be back up to speed for Sunday...