why we need visitors

Clock tower at Old Port in Montreal. Picture taken on my boat ride.

Summertime is the season for visitors. We have had our share of house guests, dinners out with friends old and new, showing people the sights of our fair city (including the Jazz Festival), and organizing group events like a Friday evening BBQ and a Sunday afternoon picnic in the park. And that's just in the last 3 weeks! I love it, I really do, even though it can be a bit tiring. Not only is it a joy to introduce people to the wonders of Montreal, but I find that inevitably I discover something new as well. A few weeks ago I took a cruise around the port of Old Montreal for the first time because I thought it would be a fun activity for my mom who was visiting. It was lovely!

Spending time with people who have never experienced this place before means that I also get to participate in that sensation of new sight, of seeing something for the first time.The gift of seeing with new eyes has been particularly timely for me. I have been a bit restless, feeling a bit unexcited by the same old routine and the familiar places, people, and work to do. But it is not the same old thing, no no, it never is. Each day is a fresh and exciting start. Each moment is pregnant with hope and potential and change. But sometimes that is difficult for me to see. So thank you, visitors and house guests, for helping me see with fresh eyes again.

When I get tired of my condo and my neighbourhood, tending to notice only the things I don't like about it, my visitors come over and oooh and aaah at the cathedral ceilings, remark on the fireplace in the mezzanine bedroom, gaze wide-eyed at the green spaces and nearby parks, and get a thrill at the view of planes flying overhead. It reminds me that yes, I do live in a fabulous place!

When I start to complain about the endless construction, roads in disrepair, and the lack of customer service in this metropolis, my visitors make me notice again the vibrant downtown, the beautiful people from all nations, and the amazing mixture of architecture. Yes, I live in one of the most spirited cities in the world!

When I arrive at a church gathering for the bazillionth time in my life and feel a sense of fatigue and strain, even isolation, my visitors are thrilled to meet every unique person in our faith community, they remark at the variety of cultures and languages represented, they bask in the simple songs of worship, they hang on every prayerful word spoken over them, and they think it a privilege to hang out for lunch afterwards because it means the community vibe can continue just a bit longer.

Thank you, visitors, for allowing me to see my life through eyes of gratitude and wonder once again. Visitors are good for the soul. Have you entertained any lately?

Be ready with a meal or a bed when it's needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! - Hebrews 13:2, The Message

Names of God

The Hebrew word "YHWH" (read from right to left) This past Sunday I gave a talk on the Names of God, the beginning of a series on this topic. This first talk was to be a gentle introduction so I thought it wouldn't take too many hours of preparation. Well, I quickly discovered that the research is almost bottomless; every time I thought I had a somewhat definitive list of names, I found another source which added a few more or gave a different twist on some of the names I had already come across. After several hours I was getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data (and that was only looking at the Hebrew Bible). I wondered how I could present this to people in an orderly and accessible fashion and within a reasonable time frame. Not everyone is up for a 3-hour lecture crammed full of detail on a Sunday morning. So I took a break and spent a bit of time meditating on this problem and asking the Spirit for guidance. And then I thought that being overwhelmed by Go

it's a mad mad mad world (of theology)

The mad dash for the end of term has begun. I have finished all my required readings and have jumped into research reading. One of my papers is on the madness of theology (the correlation seems more obvious to some of us than to others). Truly inspiring stuff, I am finding. Let me share a few quotes here: There is a certain madness in Christianity – in a desert God who is jealous and passionate, in a saviour who speaks in apocalyptic terms, in a life of sacrificial love, in the scandal of particularity. In principle, a confessional theology should bear the mark of this madness, but the mark or wound must constantly be renewed. - Walter Lowe, "Postmodern Theology" in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology , 2007. “In the Scriptures the odd phenomena constituting the ‘Kingdom of God’ are the offspring of the shock that is delivered by the name of God to what is there called the ‘world,’ resulting in what I call a ‘sacred anarchy.’ Consider but a sampling o

comedic timing

Comic by Joel Micah Harris at xkcd.com One of my favourite jokes goes like this: Knock, knock. Who's there? Interrupting cow Interrupting cow w--- Moooooooo!! Timing is important in both drama and comedy. A well-paced story draws the audience in and helps it invest in the characters, while a tale too hastily told or too long drawn out will fail to engage anyone. Surprise - something which interrupts the expected - is a creative use of timing and integral to any good story. If someone is reading a novel and everything unfolds in a predictable manner, they will probably wonder why they bothered reading the book. And so it is in life. Having life be predictable all of the time is not as calming as it sounds. We love surprises, especially good surprises like birthday parties, gifts, marriage proposals, and finding something that we thought was lost. Surprises are an important part of humour. A good joke is funny because it goes to a place you didn't expect it to go. Sim

outWORD by Matte Downey

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