Tuesday, December 20, 2011

How Many Kings

(Written by Marc Martel and Jason Germain; 2006 Centricity Music Publishing/Germain and Martel Music Publishing/ASCAP)
From the album "Ending is Beginning."

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for? Cuz

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me
All for me, All for you
All for me, All for you

This is a great song for this time of year or any time of year. You can listen to it here.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Follow-up to A Parable

On December 9th John Stackhouse had a blog post which contained these quotes from Walter Hilton. Hilton offered a way for us to determine if we truly love our enemies. Here is the quote.

What it really comes to is this: if you are not stirred up against such a person in anger while faking an outward cheer, and have no secret hatred in your heart, despising him or judging him or considering him worthless; if the more shame and villainy he does to you in word or deed, the more pity and compassion you show toward him, almost as you would for someone who was emotionally or mentally distressed; and if you are so compelled by love that you actually cannot find it in your heart to hate him, but instead you pray for him, help him out, and desire his amending (not only with your mouth, as hypocrites do, but with a true feeling of love in your heart): then you will be in perfect charity toward [him]. . . .
. . . Stop and think how Christ loved Judas, who was both his mortal enemy and a sinful dog. How good Christ was to him, how benign, how courteous, how humble toward him whom he knew to be damnable. He chose him for his apostle and sent him to preach with the other apostles. He gave him power to work miracles. He showed to him the same good cheer in word and deed. He shared with him his precious Body, and preached to him in the same manner as he did to the other apostles. He did not condemn him openly; nor did he abuse him or despise him, nor ever speak evil of him (and yet even if he had done all of that, it would simply have been to tell the truth!). And above all, when Judas seized him, he kissed him and called him his friend.

Monday, December 12, 2011

A Parable

Once there was a wealthy business man who passed away. People knew him as an upright entrepreneur, a leader who served in a mid-level political role, and a man of character. He was well loved and it was expected that many would attend his funeral and speak of his kindness to others, his generous gifts to the poor, and the grace with which he served and cared for his family.

The entrepreneur had left a will that contained instructions for his own funeral. In those instructions he asked that six specific people be given the honour and responsibility of carrying his casket and speaking of him at his funeral. People were surprised to see who the business man had chosen to fulfill this role as pall-bearers.

The first pall-bearer was a man who had sued him in a business deal. This same pall-bearer had many arguments with other business people and had sued or threatened to sue others. He was known as an unscrupulous dealer. Another pall-bearer was a woman who had accused the deceased man as the father of her child hoping for financial gain. Her case had been proven to be unfounded. A third pall-bearer had been a political rival who had mounted an extreme campaign against the business man in a bid to discredit and unseat the business man in a particular election. And so it went, each pall-bearer was found to be someone who had a disagreement with or had spoken publicly against the deceased man.

A large crowd gathered at the funeral to see what these enemies of the man would say at his funeral. Each pall-bearer came forward and struggled with something to say. All could tell that they were uncomfortable with the situation and had little they could say either for or against the man. The lawyer for the deceased business man was then instructed to read a statement the man had prepared before his death. In it the business man said, that it was his desire that half of his wealth be given to the poor and if anyone felt that he had cheated anyone in any of his business or personal dealings then that person should be paid back four times the amount they had been cheated. No one came forward with an accusation but it was noted that several of the pall-bearers went and settled arguments and debts they had with other people in the community. The people of the community organized their own tribute to the deceased entrepreneur and people came forward and spoke for many hours regarding the character and love of this man. And so it is that we shall be known by our deeds toward our enemies.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Frail

Listen here.

Read about how the song came to be here.

Words and Music by Dan Haseltine, Steve Mason, Mark Odmark, Charlie Lowell
©1994Bridge Building Music/Pogostick Music (BMI)


Convinced of my deception
I've always been a fool
I fear this love reaction
Just like you said I would

A rose could never lie
About the love it brings
And I could never promise
To be any of those things


If I was not so weak
If I was not so cold
If I was not so scared of being broken
Growing old
I would be...
I would be...
I would be...


Blessed are the shallow
Depth they'll never find
Seemed to be some comfort
In rooms I try to hide

Exposed beyond the shadows
You take the cup from me
Your dirt removes my blindness
Your pain becomes my peace


If I was not so weak
If I was not so cold
If I was not so scared of being broken
Growing old
I would be...
I would be...
I would be...

...frail

I wonder, do we ever feel frail?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Just Like That

(Words and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields - SOCAN 2011)
Listen to the recording of this song here.

I sat down on my front step
And I strummed my old guitar
I wrote a song to make you laugh
I knew it would go far


Usher saw me playing there
He said, "You're gonna be a star."
He signed me up to play The Bowl
And gave me a new car


Well I know you might think I'm a fool
Or maybe it's not true
But it all really happened just like that
In my mind


I climbed up on my white horse
And I went to ride the range
A pretty woman in distress
So I galloped to her aid


The bad guys tried to get away
But I wouldn't let them run
My draw was quick and my aim was true
And they lowered down their guns


Well I know you might think I'm a fool
Or maybe it's not true
But it all really happened just like that
In my mind


Spiderman and the Man of Steel
They are some friends of mine
They call me up wanna buy me drinks
But I haven't got the time


Paparazzi follow me
Cause they think that I'm so fine
I'd like to pose for one or two
But Jagger's on the line


Well I know you might think I'm a fool
Or maybe it's not true
But it all really happened just like that
In my mind


Don't worry I'm alright
I'm not crazy or anything
I'm not crazy or anything
I'm not crazy or anything


Well I know you might think I'm a fool
Or maybe it's not true
But it all really happened just like that
In my mind

In my mind
In my mind

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Alone

Two articles published online last week stood in stark contrast to each other. The press release from the Mercer survey reported that Vancouver, British Columbia is once again in the top five most liveable cities in the world.1 Vancouver has ranked as high as number one in previous surveys and is always in the top ten cities of the world. The other article was published in the Globe and Mail and reported the findings of a "Table Discussion" carried out by the Vancouver Foundation.2 They set out to determine the key issues for members of the Vancouver community. One would predict that such concerns as homelessness and affordable housing would be on the list; and indeed they were. But what is surprising is that the survey showed that "the top issue on the minds of the majority of those being interviewed was not one that had been in the headlines: the growing sense of isolation in Metro Vancouver."3


While living in a great city with a large number of people with whom to interact, many people still feel isolated and alone. This is a sad commentary on my city and it is also part of a growing problem in many other cities in Canada and the US. The American author, Robert D. Putnam, in his book, Bowling Alone, suggests that since 1950 there has been a continual decline in the number of in-person social contacts between people in the United States. Furthermore, "Matthew Brashears, a Cornell University sociologist who surveyed more than 2,000 adults from a national database found that from 1985 to 2010, the number of truly close friends people cited has dropped -- even though we're socializing as much as ever."4 The conclusions made by these various authors suggest that we are living in a culture in which people are withdrawing into more technological forms of contact and are investing less in in-person forms of social interaction. The result is a sense of isolation and loneliness.


Much more could be said of this and we could point to other trends in our culture such as how the entertainment we consume is becoming more and more individual (listening to music through our ear-buds; watching movies on our tablets or phones). In future postings we will explore this subject more deeply. For now I leave us all with one suggestion and even a challenge. Take the first step! We know that people around us are lonely and isolated and perhaps we feel a measure of this ourselves. What might happen if we invited that neighbour over for dinner? What if we truly got to know the person living beside us? It might be a risk worth taking.




1 (Mercer: Mags Andersen 2011)
2 The Globe and Mail article suggests that this was a survey but the report itself available at http://www.vancouverfoundationvitalsigns.ca/wp-content/uploads/community-conversations/Vancouver_CC_FINAL.pdf refers to this process as a "Table Discussion."
3 (Mason 2011)
4 (Potter 2011)


Mason, Gary. "Alone, so alone, in Vancouver." The Globe and Mail. November 24, 2011. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/alone-so-alone-in-vancouver/article2246891/ (accessed November 26, 2011).


Mercer: Mags Andersen. "2011 Quality of Living worldwide city rankings – Mercer survey." Mercer. November 29, 2011. http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr (accessed December 02, 2011).


Potter, Ned. ""More Facebook Friends, Fewer Real Ones, Says Cornell Study"." ABC News. November 8, 2011. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-friends-fewer-close-friends-cornell-sociologist/story?id=14896994 (accessed December 2, 2011).


The Vancouver Foundation. "Community Conversations." Vancouver Foundation. 2011. http://www.vancouverfoundationvitalsigns.ca/community-conversations/ (accessed December 3, 2011).