I'm not to sure what I should blog about this week. Easter has come and gone (faster than I would have liked), my birthday is just a few short days away (April 8th) and this coming Monday (April 12th) will mark the end of my life as a grad student. Andrew and I are also leaving for our first really big trip where we had to do all the planning, arranging, and booking next Wednesday (April 14th), which if I am unable to blog about on route, will definitely recap after we get home.
I wish I could say: "Bwa ha, ha! I will write about none of the above things. Instead I will devote this week's blog to this random, obscure topic!" Although my head is filled with random, obscure facts that no one really cares about, I will not take the time to write about them just now*. Instead, I will write another lightening round post, as I did a few months ago when I had no standout topics to discuss, but wanted to let my surely limited readership know I was still alive and kicking.
Easter Weekend
Andrew being Catholic meant that Easter weekend was full of church. I grew up in a small protestant church and we only had a service on Easter Sunday with the occasional Good Friday event depending on whether it got organized. In addition, my high school friend Michelle visited, so we had company throughout the weekend. We did a big lunch (lamb was on the menu) with a few more friends on Sunday afternoon.
How to Train Your Dragon
Sunday night we ended up going out to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was super cute and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light-hearted movie with cheeky dialogue. Also, anyone who has ever owned a cat will see much of their beloved pet in the featured dragon, Toothless--so very adorable.
My Birthday
I'm turning 29 years old on Thursday. I considered calling this my 1st annual 29th birthday (as a friend once had dubbed hers) but I'm not overly concerned about growing older. As pointed out to me recently, this is likely because I'm married, have a reasonable nice apartment, a car, and a cat for a proxy-baby (at present I have no desire for a real one). Andrew and I are going to go out for a fancy dinner the night of, and I will be hosting some friends at our place on Friday. Lemon flavoured cake will be served.
Last Day of School
My last day of grad school will be next Monday. The time has passed relatively quickly, and I can't honestly say I'm too sad about it. If you asked me on the spot what I've learned, I'm not to sure that I could put my thoughts into words. That's not to say that I think I've learned nothing--that's not true (although some classes were vastly more useful than others). I feel like I've got various concepts and ideas fluttering around in my head about librarianship and what it means to be a librarian, I'm just not sure I could verbalize them in any sensible manner.
European Travels
Andrew and I will embark on a 2 1/2 week trip around Europe next Wednesday. We'll be flying into Frankfurt, Germany, then move on to Interlaken, Switzerland, Bergamo Italy, and several different places in France (Caen, Arras, and Paris). We have friends in Germany and Italy, who have been kind enough to offer to host us, and we'll be doing all our inter-country travel by train. The main purpose for visiting France is to see some of the major battle sites from WWI and WWI: Juno Beach (the Canadian landing beach for D-Day) and Vimy Ridge (one of the CEF's major victories). I suspect I will be extremely exhausted when we get back, but I'm looking forward to it immensely.
Ciao,
Andrea
*note the phrase "just now" meaning, those random, obscure topics make yet make an appearance on this small space of the Web.
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Church attendance conundrum, proper post: Part 2
I've been a church goer all my life. Like most people I was brought to church as a baby, oblivious to what was going on around me. Eventually I decided to be baptized when I was eighteen (I grew up in a Baptist Church). When I started going to Ryerson University in Toronto I started going to a United Church and as a preference I have been attending United services ever since.
My post is not; however, about choosing the type of church to attend. Not in the Baptist v. United v. Catholic, way at least.
I'm having some issues with the church I attend in Edmonton. It's Robertson-Wesley United Church. When I started going there about three years ago, they had an intern minister, Rev. Ravencraft (awesome name, I know. I used it in a MS). He was a very good minister. I liked the way he constructed his sermons. The music was also good, so I kept going. After a short while, R-W brought in a new minister, Rev. Allen. I was not enamored with his sermons. I actually stopped going for a while and checked out a different church in Edmonton. Eventually I returned because I still preferred the music.
This past Sunday, Easter Sunday, Rev. Allen gave another one of his sermons. He used a movie plot to describe the idea of light coming out of darkness. He didn't even mention Jesus being resurrected (wouldn't you think that was a requirement for an Easter Sunday service?). I find I'm often at odds with his choice of words or metaphors. I don't disagree with his message, I just tend not to like the way he presents it. Meanwhile, Rev. Ravencraft is still at R-W, as the youth minister. I couldn't help but wonder on Sunday, as he sat in the front row of the church listening to Rev. Allen, does he realize he's a far superior preacher and sermon writer? I don't know. Maybe he just really likes to work with kids.
This got me thinking that maybe I should look for a different church to attend. One that offers me better spiritual fulfillment. Problem is, I'm picky.
I do like the music at R-W. The choir is generally well practiced, the organist is sufficiently skilled and there are often musical "extras" such as a bell choir, or visiting external choirs, which I really enjoy. But, the anthems are almost always "high" choral pieces, i.e. often the composer was dead long before the 20th century and the words are in Latin. And most of the hymns are old, traditional ones, despite the fact that they have a newer more contemporary hymnal in the pews.
This is the real crux of my problem. Here's what I don't like (ney hate) in church music. Electric guitars, drums, groups of young-ish people standing at the front of the church singing at me instead of with me and above all else: screen projectors. I do not want/need a rock band in church. What I would like is a choir that occasionally sings something written after 1900. Same with the hymns. I don't even mind guitars or pianos (instead of organs) during a church service, just don't plug them in. And for God's sake (yes God's) give me the real music, not just the words flashing up on a screen. These demands may be difficult to meet if I want to find a congregation that isn't entirely made up of retirees.
As I commented to Andrew on the weekend, if I'm going to switch churches I need to start looking now. If I wait until the summer I'll find that regular church ministers are away on vacation and I won't get a proper representation of what the church I visit is like. And I have to remember, we have a car. I don't have to attend a church because it's within walking distance.
Ciao,
Andrea
My post is not; however, about choosing the type of church to attend. Not in the Baptist v. United v. Catholic, way at least.
I'm having some issues with the church I attend in Edmonton. It's Robertson-Wesley United Church. When I started going there about three years ago, they had an intern minister, Rev. Ravencraft (awesome name, I know. I used it in a MS). He was a very good minister. I liked the way he constructed his sermons. The music was also good, so I kept going. After a short while, R-W brought in a new minister, Rev. Allen. I was not enamored with his sermons. I actually stopped going for a while and checked out a different church in Edmonton. Eventually I returned because I still preferred the music.
This past Sunday, Easter Sunday, Rev. Allen gave another one of his sermons. He used a movie plot to describe the idea of light coming out of darkness. He didn't even mention Jesus being resurrected (wouldn't you think that was a requirement for an Easter Sunday service?). I find I'm often at odds with his choice of words or metaphors. I don't disagree with his message, I just tend not to like the way he presents it. Meanwhile, Rev. Ravencraft is still at R-W, as the youth minister. I couldn't help but wonder on Sunday, as he sat in the front row of the church listening to Rev. Allen, does he realize he's a far superior preacher and sermon writer? I don't know. Maybe he just really likes to work with kids.
This got me thinking that maybe I should look for a different church to attend. One that offers me better spiritual fulfillment. Problem is, I'm picky.
I do like the music at R-W. The choir is generally well practiced, the organist is sufficiently skilled and there are often musical "extras" such as a bell choir, or visiting external choirs, which I really enjoy. But, the anthems are almost always "high" choral pieces, i.e. often the composer was dead long before the 20th century and the words are in Latin. And most of the hymns are old, traditional ones, despite the fact that they have a newer more contemporary hymnal in the pews.
This is the real crux of my problem. Here's what I don't like (ney hate) in church music. Electric guitars, drums, groups of young-ish people standing at the front of the church singing at me instead of with me and above all else: screen projectors. I do not want/need a rock band in church. What I would like is a choir that occasionally sings something written after 1900. Same with the hymns. I don't even mind guitars or pianos (instead of organs) during a church service, just don't plug them in. And for God's sake (yes God's) give me the real music, not just the words flashing up on a screen. These demands may be difficult to meet if I want to find a congregation that isn't entirely made up of retirees.
As I commented to Andrew on the weekend, if I'm going to switch churches I need to start looking now. If I wait until the summer I'll find that regular church ministers are away on vacation and I won't get a proper representation of what the church I visit is like. And I have to remember, we have a car. I don't have to attend a church because it's within walking distance.
Ciao,
Andrea
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