anecdotes

well, amanda interviewed monday. she thought it went okay. but she expected to hear by now if she got the job so...the search continues.

i was a server at our wednesday eucharist at wycliffe. this wednesday i am going to be a subdeacon, which means i unpack all the fancy looking stuff for the priest to do eucharist. and on thursday i am going to officiate evening prayer, that will be a first.

tomorrow we are going to a canadian superbowl party. apparently they dont get all the hyped commercials up here. perhaps they will be as bad this year as they have the previous two and it won't matter.

a lot of 16th century anglicans i have been reading refer to jeremiah as jeremy. something about that seems weird. you wouldnt expect them to assign nicknames to prophets, though i do tend to call Isaiah "izzy" in the comfort of my own home (not true and not funny actually).

i am on the Wycliffe Ultimate Frisbee intramural team - which has honestly become the highlight of my week. all those saturdays i played out at fuller are coming in handy. let's just say i bring it. we are undefeated, having won our last two games by one point. in every game we played we have been out-strategized and out-disciplined. however, we have found that in some situations kickin ___ and takin names can overcome strategy. we mostly play D and throw bombs. we're a gutsy bunch who doesnt like to lose. i like to think that my american-ness contributes to this (i acquired 8 injuries today - not an exaggeration). All wycliffe intramural teams are nicknamed the "Lollards". im guessing only church history buffs who read this will understand the significance, and the heresy.

my fibromyalgia symptoms have been coming back, pretty full-fledged. im not entirely surprised. but i live on. aint gonna hold me down.

hunkered down

It's -14 degrees Celsius right now with a wind chill of -23. For you silly americans thats 7 degrees F with a wind chill of -9. Amanda and I think this is cold.

On Monday, Amanda has a job interview for a position on a movie shoot. So if you are one of those people that prays, please do so concerning this.

I'm Drug Free!!

Rx drugs that is.

so a few weeks ago, i finally got into an appointment with that doc up here in Toronto who was one of the folks who discovered fibromyalgia. Anyway, he was not pleased that i had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, cuz he doesnt think i have it. Now this isn't quite as groundbreaking as it might sound. We (that is my doc in LA) were using the term fibromyalgia loosely because its kindof a catch all diagnosis for musculoskeletal pain and discomfort that is sure to get you approved for the necessary drugs to provide relief. So, i had been on a drug for my pain and for my sleeping problem, all the while suspecting that my sleeping problem was causing the pain. Well, the doc up here thinks that's the case. My sleep test here showed me getting some r.e.m. sleep but over a 30-second interval my brain waves changed consistency 4 or 5 times, which means my sleep is not quality. He said my symptoms that had been called fibromyalgia were consistent with the type of poor sleep i have been having.

So, he suggested i get off all the drugs and try to handle the sleep problem another way. So, I stopped taking any meds - which gave me some bizarre dizzy and sweating withdrawals for a few days. But, whereas my musculoskeletal symptoms were reduced to about 5% while I was on the meds, theyre only at about 10 or 15% off the meds (praise God for that!) and i dont have all the crazy side effects of drugs. So i dunno if my system just got rebooted by being on drugs for awhile or what the medical explanation is, but whether there is one or not, praise God in the very least for getting me to this cat and getting me off the drugs! now my sleep is fixed per se - but its actually not really much worse than when i was on meds for sleep and now im not walking around like a groggy zombie.

By the way, the doc had some ideas on my sleep problem - and I'll just say that i am actively trying to confront those issues. Ya know, some people that dont know me well think im the most laid back guy they've ever met because of the way I talk and carry myself, if only that were true. I'm actually the polar opposite of this, which many of you know.

by the way - school has me so busy, i cant even explain. i look at what i have ahead of me each week and i dont know how im gonna get it done. tonite i told God that he sent me up here, so he's gonna have to make it work. seems like he can probly handle that though. but if i dont talk to you much this semester, it is probably because i am busier than last semester.

thanks

for everyone's prayers. i have gotten back to a more manageable place for the time being.

...

not looking for your pity or for any cliche advice, so please spare me.

i've been struggling a lot with depression in the past month. there is a growing part of me that wants to quit school, not to do anything specific, just to do nothing. yeah, i'd call that depression.

now if youre one of those oldtimers that thinks i need to just get over whatever it is and pick myself up by my bootstraps and that kinda crap - go fly a kite, no really.

need prayer.

flasher evangelism

I am taking this evangelism course. A course like that is funny. It has a different feel than something like my Anglican Theology course because while I know some things about Anglican Theology, I don't know too much and I certainly don't know the origins of everything and how it all fits together. So I have a certain level of humility about the whole thing based in my lack of knowledge. Evangelism, on the other hand, I feel like I know a good bit about because I've certainly tried a variety of popular methods at certain points in my life and I have a few strong opinions about it - so I come into this class with more of a cynicism than a humility (surprise, surprise). Anyway, we are reading this book by our professor (go figure). He is this older guy with british accent who sounds eerily like Richard Paine, for those of you in LA who know him. I try not to hold it against him. Anyway, his book Evangelism for "Normal" People has been really refreshing so far (he says that he had to put quotes around normal for Americans, but that in Britain everyone would naturally understand that the word was tongue-in-cheek). Actually, maybe thats the difference in this course and something like Anglican Theology: I am not reading the book to gain all kinds of factual knowledge, its more like I am reading the book to just get my head right about something I already know a fair amount about but that I certainly have a few hang-ups that I need to work out. I think I was hooked when he started the book talking about "flasher evangelism". That is the style of evangelism that is similar to being flashed. You know, you're at the ice cream parlor and you comment to the customer next to you how delicious your cookie-dough ice cream is and they agree and say, "you know cookie-dough ice cream reminds me of Jesus, have you asked Jesus to be your personal savior?" and your like, uhhh, what just happened? well, John Bowen (my professor) equates this to some guy walking up to you at the ice cream parlor and ripping open his trench coat to show you...ya know. Of course, I was sold on the book at this point for three reasons a) i'm immature, and flashing makes me giggle. 2) i've definitely done flasher evangelism before in my life and I'm sorry, I really am. and d) Bowen actually uses the analogy of flashing because there is something both violently jolting and inappropriately intimate about evangelizing me based on my cookie dough ice cream. I dunno if i'm making sense, but Bowen says lots of good stuff. Read it if you feel guilty about not evangelizing enough or if you wanna read a really nice chapter on the woman at the well (i know, i know - a thousand times, a thousand sermons - but he nails it in a refreshing way).

one down, three to go

I received further confirmation this week that I know very little, especially about Anglicanism. Did you know that Anglicans have only been doing communion every Sunday for about 60 years!?! That's not a typo. Prior to the Anglican liturgical movement, the average Anglican church would do Morning Prayer on Sunday mornings (with a longer sermon) and only do communion on the fourth Sunday of the month. I mean, to me this was shocking. I figured weekly communion started ummm when Anglicanism started. More surprising perhaps is that the liturgical movement which was extremely convincing argued on the basis that the early church celebrated Eucharist every week. Since then, scholars have ripped these arguments a new one. Its amazing what can be accomplished with a little passion & propaganda (Christian Coalition anyone?). As you can tell I dont have any problem critique something that is now integral to Anglican spirituality - that is the point of seminary isn't it? to question everything. Anyway, if you are interested in this topic email me and I can email you the fascinating article on this topic.

Many of you probably also heard that Pat Robertson blamed the Haiti earthquake on Haiti selling their souls to the Devil back in the day. I hope that whether you are a Christian or not, your response to hearing this was similar to mine - that is to throw up in your mouth a little. Don Miller responds to Robertson.

Well, I have now gotten full swing into semester two. I am quite pleased with my courses so far, though I clearly have a lot of work ahead of me this semester (probably more than last semester). Here's the rundown if you're interested...

Introduction to Anglican Theology: Ways of Reading the Bible in the English Church and Anglican Communion

This is a survey course in Anglican theology that will involve extensive reading. Using the lens of Scriptural interpretation as a way of approaching the sweep of Anglican theological thinking, this course will survey chronologically a broad range Anglican readers of Scripture in an attempt to gauge the development of the larger religious vision of Anglicanism over time. Beginning with Wycliffe, the course will move through a number of writers into the early 20th century, and end with some recent statements on the reading of Scripture from around the Anglican Communion. Lectures and weekly tutorials on the primary-source readings. Weekly content quizzes; midterm; final exam. Tutorial: 4-5pm. Schedule: Mondays, 14:00 to 16:00; Instructor(s): Ephraim Radner Syllabus

Ministry of Evangelism

An introduction to the theology and practice of evangelism in contemporary society. We will look critically at different evangelistic practices in light of scripture and culture, and consider how healthy evangelism might affect leadership, parish life, worship, preaching, lay ministry, outreach programs and personal relationships. Requirements include book reviews, field work, and an integrative paper. Schedule: Tuesdays, 11:00 to 13:00; Instructor(s): John P. Bowen Syllabus

Anglican Liturgics

An introduction to the art of planning and leading the liturgy, including pastoral offices, in the Anglican Church of Canada. Acquaintance with the current liturgical trends in the Anglican Church of Canada and with general principles of liturgical leadership. Ability to plan Morning Prayer and Holy Communion according to the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services. Tutorial. W 11-12. Class sessions include lectures, discussion and student field reports. Class participation, readings, multiple choice exam. Schedule: Wednesdays, 09:00 to 11:00; Instructor(s): F. Dean Mercer Syllabus

Before & Beyond the Gospels: Who is Jesus?

An introduction to the content of a portion of the New Testament: 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation. The guiding question of the course is 'Who is Jesus?' Lectures, tutorials. Evaluation: participation, exegesis paper, comparative exegetical paper. Schedule: Thursdays, 14:00 to 16:00; Instructor(s): Ann Jervis Syllabus

Here is a link to all of the Wycliffe Faculty if you are interested in what they're like.