New homily on Home

This morning I’d like to talk a bit about home; what it means to us and how it relates to our spiritual lives.

This morning I welcome all of you, whether new or long-standing friends of Beacon, to our church home.   We who are friends and members of Beacon have certainly had our share of anxiety about where our church home, which means so much to us, was going to be.  It puts me in mind of Luke 9:58; from the New International Version:  Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Continue reading New homily on Home

Hello, breakfast

I finished the homily at 8 this morning and went back to bed to warm up.  Then I flew out the door and delivered it.

Just as I stood up to speak, a great blue heron landed on the metal and glass gazebo outside the sanctuary, visible to about a third of the congregation and invisible to me and everyone else.  The way people were pointing and gasping, and the fact I could hear no noise, made me think “A hot air balloon!  How nice.” And then I started talking and got kind of engrossed.  Tom dashed up to me immediately after the service and with a twinkle in his eye told me what had happened.  I had to be home before I figured it out – the heron was using this perch, well out of the way of bothersome hoomins, to case the adjacent pond for koi and other west coast delicacies / breakfast.  There being none, it took off.  See, nothing miraculous or spooky to see here, move along.

Chatted briefly with Patricia the other day, and that was fun. We will fire up the rusty old Cavalcade of Cheese… man she serves good cheese.

Spoke to Catherine today; she confirmed the presence of Sue’s last sock, and once I send her my address she’ll forward it to me.  I don’t want to lose it.  It’s the last thing I have to connect me with Sue Gillespie, of blessed memory.

I’d like to thank Paul for the lift in to both the church and the congregational dinner last night.  In two weeks the church will be closer! I’ll quit bugging people for rides! Beacon is moving to New West!  I talked about that a fair amount in the service today… telling people that we’re doing okay, in fact better than okay, because we can do church on a shoe string.  Did I mention I signed the book again (ie I rejoined)?  I volunteered semi sorta for the Worship Services Committee.  So happily, so cheerfully wacky these days.

I just watched The Man in the White Suit! I loved it!  I am not being sarcastic!

I got a copy of a song that I’ve wanted since the day I heard it.  It’s a live recording (heart heart heart) with Woodhead on bass (heart heart ooo so hearty heart) of Garnet Rogers singing Night Drive, the song he wrote for Stan Rogers, and I thought about John, and cried and cried and cried.  I saw Garnet perform it live.  I cried while I watched it and was still high on emotion when I left the concert.

ah, the 70’s

It may come as a complete shock to some of you, but I am A HUGE FAN of a lot of 70’s popular music both hits and soundtracks.

I like Bert Kaempfert.  I love the Sandpipers.  I enjoy Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (also Al Hirt).  I’m a big fan (as I’ve mentioned earlier) of Burt Bacharach; also John Barry; also Henry Mancini.

Thus it is with no further ado that I post a new (old) song.  I wrote it, but if you go “Ooh, the seventies!” or “Ick, the seventies!” then I have accomplished my aim.  Think: 70’s TV show theme.

70s tv show theme

Roundup

Darth Vader has a little fun with Luke Skywalker.

I’m Asian?  Why didn’t anyone tell me????

A sad moment in Canadian naval history.

Organlegger update.

Thoughtful silverback is thoughtful.

New giraffe in Abbotsford. Cute!

New police brutality in Abbotsford.  Not so cute!

Oh, how nice.  The VPD will move into a building made for the Olympics.

Ashton Kutcher’s recent tweet: Barbra streisand is at my house. I have to admit I’m a little nervous.  Ashton is aplusk on twitter.  Yes, his spelling and capitalization suck; he’s an ecktor, not a friggin English teacher.

Also from twitter, William Gibson’s wife (whose name I should know but has not turned up in my research) recommends this video of an angry dude at a roadside pull over request.  I’m sorry, even though I knew it was coming I still laughed.  She also recommends this one too. I looked it up, Cullman Liquidation really exists.  Also from Ser Gibson, the following link.  Tibetan time lapse mandala.  William Gibson is GreatDismal on Twitter.

I have written in homilies and other places about how the disappearance of a language is a marker for genocide.  Here’s some good news internationally.


Another Homicide: Life on the Street fest

We’re blasting through Season 7… Keith is watching with us when we can.  Ten reasons I love the show:

  1. The writing.  It’s true that the Season 7 stories get more and more oddball, but the writing all the way through is top notch; each character is differentiated and given ample scope.
  2. The location work.  Baltimore is a character in the show; its history, people, architecture and skyline are unspeaking presences throughout the series.  The show that broke my heart was the one where Meldrick (Clark Johnson) shows another cop the Underground Railway museum.
  3. The actors.  I am trying to think of a bad actor in the show.  With the exception of some minor casting issues on a show by show basis, all is good.  And the actors were able to direct if they wanted to in later episodes.  You can’t tell.  You can’t tell who directed which show.  It’s all really, really good.
  4. Lynn F. Kowal’s theme music.  She’s in a band called Starfish Lily now, I just listened and she sounds like a filker.  I know, weird.
  5. STELLAR/amazing/properly cast guests: Joan Chen, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Stoltz, James Earl Jones, Moses Gunn, Robin Williams, Steve Buscemi, Alfre Woodard, Marcia Gay Harden, Lily Tomlin, Peter Gallagher, Chris Rock, Pat Hingle, Wilford Brimley, Steve Allen, Joe Perry, Bruno Kirby, Charles S. Dutton, Kate Walsh, Edie Falco, Vincent D’Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Christopher Meloni, Luis Guzmán, Steve Burns, Elijah Wood, Fisher Stevens, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lewis Black, Bruce Campbell, Paul Giamatti, Terry O’Quinn, David Morse, John Glover, Terry Kinney, Tony Todd, Charles Durning, Isaiah Washington, Jeffrey Donovan, Jena Malone, and Jerry Stiller.  Not to mention John Waters, twice.  And Austin Pendleton became a semi regular as a Medical Examiner.
  6. The set decoration.
  7. Yaphet Kotto as Giardello. Yes Andre Braugher was the breakout actor, but Kotto demonstrates such breadth and subtlety that he deserves a special mention.  Jeff says, “Everything I know about managing people I stole from Gee.” You could do much worse, even if he is fictional.
  8. The subject matters covered.  In its construction and deconstruction of – and wilful assaults on – American concepts of identity, race, class, gender and sexuality, the show is, ten years after its death, still able to kick cultural doors in.  A bisexual male character with some nuance?  Mixed race and white characters debating race issues without going for the cheap shot?  How many women were involved at senior levels of the show? zow.
  9. The use of and references to drugs and alcohol in the show.  From the Waterfront – the bar across the street owned by three characters – to Munch (as played by Richard Belzer) continually raving about the war on drugs, it’s all unsentimental and accurate.
  10. Special mention must be made of the use of music in the show.  I saw this series after I saw Buffy, and I have to say that Homicide did a better job of integrating both new and old pop tunes into the fabric of the series.  The background music is also great.