This is the text of a workshop address delivered by Jamie Howison at The Great Emergence, a conference held in Winnipeg on Saturday October 31, with featured speaker Phyllis Tickle.  Several people connected to to saint ben’s were involved in the conference, including Gord Johnson and Larry Campbell (who led the morning worship), Mike Boyce, Rachel Twigg-Boyce, and Brent Toderash.

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n this session, I want to offer something by way of a cautionary word regarding how not to engage Phyllis Tickle’s work on what she calls “the great emergence.”  Along the way, I hope to provide something by way of a reflection on the times and context in which we find ourselves; a refection that might help church communities to “read the signs of the times” rather than to just react to the shifting ground on which we all stand.

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At last week’s Gospel Music Association of Canada Conference, a song written by saint ben’s member Gord Johnson won a Covenant Award for Jazz/Blues song of the year.  Performed by Steve Bell on his Devotion album, the song “Embrace the Mystery” has its roots in the liturgical life of saint benedict’s table.

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hen Steve Bell first proposed to make a recording consisting largely of the songs of Gord Johnson, it almost went without saying that “Embrace the Mystery” would be included.  Typical of much of Gord’s writing of the past several years, the song is simple in structure and designed to be sung in a repetitive chant-like fashion, yet for all of its lyrical brevity is both substantial and evocative.

The text of the song is all of four lines:

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et us pray to the Lord saying, Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

“Lord our God, you find us gathered here to speak and hear your Word, call on you, praise you, and ask you for what alone would make us and the entire world good and wholesome. But how should this rightly happen? You know just what sort of people we are, and we know it too. Before you, we cannot deny it anyway: our hard hearts, impure thoughts, disordered desires, and everything that has come of this and still comes of it — our errors and transgressions, and so many words and deeds that do not please you and by which we can only disturb and destroy peace on earth. Who are we, that in this hour we may be able to serve you and really help one another? Things do not work out without your speaking and working among us. We hold solely to the promise of your grace and mercy, that Jesus Christ, you dear Son, has come to bring good news to us poor, to proclaim release to us captives, and recovery of sight to us blind—to rescue us sinners. But we hold to this promise in this very hour. You can do what we cannot. You will that it be done. We believe and trust that you will do it—not because we are good and strong, but because you are.”
Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

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n mid-November, we’ll be bringing the writer, speaker and new monastic Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove to Winnipeg to take part in a series of events, and in preparation for that we’ve ordered copies of his various books to make available for sale.  Still not 30 years old, Jonathan has written four books, plus another two co-written with others.

He’s still in his 20’s?  Can he possibly have the seasoned maturity to be writing so much?  Well, according to Eugene Peterson, he  sure does:  ”Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is bearing witness; he has been living for years now what he writes. Trust him. I trust him.”

So, thanks to the cooperation of Hull’s book store, we’ve been able to bring in copies of all of these books, and to make them available for sale at the church.  Hull’s has kindly given us a price-break, which means that even with the GST included we’ll be able to sell them for less than you’d pay at the book store.
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a homily from Job 38:1-7, 34-41

This is the text of a sermon preached at saint benedict’s table on Sunday October 18, 2009 by Dr Chris Holmes, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at Providence Seminary.  Chris is scheduled to be ordained as a transitional deacon of the Anglican Church of Canada on November 22, 2009, and is serving a ministry placement at saint ben’s through to Eastertide, 2010.

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any of you will recall the cataclysmic event that took place on December 26^th 2004. That is of course the day when a horrific tsunami unveiled its furor on Asia. Hundreds of thousands of children, women, and men were killed. It seemed that within only days of the ocean’s ferocity being unleashed, voices asked: Is this proof of God’s power or of God’s nonexistence? Listening to those voices at that time often made me feel ill. Why? Because many of them could not let the horror be.

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od our creator…
In these days of rapid technological advances where more and more discoveries are being made almost on a daily basis, it is hard for us, your creatures, to humble ourselves before you, the source of all knowledge and wisdom. We believe often that we have the answers to our own troubles and calamities, and when we can’t find those answers we often question you and demand that you give an account of why we good Christian people suffer as we do. God, the way you do things is so different from the way we think they should be done. Lord, forgive us for the depth of our ignorance. Forgive us for speaking with seeming authority and for uttering profundities that further revelation shows to be false.  God our creator, we submit ourselves in humbleness, knowing that we, and everything under heaven, belong to you and that ultimately you are in control. Thank you. Praise you.
Lord in your mercy…

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A reflection on a new book by Richard Dawkins

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ith the publication of The Greatest Show on Earth – subtitled “the evidence for Evolution” – the evolutionary biologist and celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins is once again positioned to sell a great many books.  Already this one has topped bestseller lists in various countries, sitting at that position in the Globe and Mail hardcover non-fiction category, and at a slightly more modest #8 on the New York Times list.

Now Dawkins is probably best known for his 2006 bestseller, The God Delusion, a book which caused a flurry of responses both from within the church and from without.  Perhaps one of the most striking critiques was that by the literary theorist Terry Eagleton, published in the London Review of Books, which opened with the following:

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call the community into a time of prayer.

God, we come before you having lived a great deal over this past week.  We have seen much, experienced much and reflected much on our world around us. At times we sang with joy, while other times we felt heavy with despair.  May our hearts be renewed this day, filled with a peace and thanksgiving firmly rooted in a love that this world cannot make sense of, yet desires nonetheless.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

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This fall, saint benedict’s table will be offering a four-session introduction to the ancient practice of lectio divina, a model for praying with scripture.  There are two more sessions in the series, set of November 3 & 10 at 7:00pm in the small chapel at All Saints Church.  If you’ve not yet attended one, it is not too late to join in for the remaining evenings.  For further information and to register, just keep reading…

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hen I was at St John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota this past spring, I asked my friend Father Kilian McDonnell what he thought the single most important thing our church community might do would be, and without any hesitation he replied “lectio divina.”  ”It is one thing to study the scriptures,” he said, “but it is an entirely different thing to pray them.”

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This is the final installment in a series of four posts written by Nancy Constantine, on her experience of training for – and successfully completing – the Niverville half-marathon.  In this series, Nancy has offered up some insights about what her running teaches her about herself, her faith, and her God.  

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aturday was going to be our last day of summer according to forecasters  – fall was scheduled to arrive the next day.  We were travelling South on Highway 59 towards Niverville to what the running community was calling ‘one of the best organized runs being offered’.  Hazel and Linda were set to run the 10 k, I was doing the ½ marathon, and as we got closer to the Ball Field Parking Lot, I wondered if anyone would care or know if I just ran 10 k with my friends. 

WHAT WAS I THINKING other than experiencing pre-run jitters?  I had trained for this since June 21^st (the Manitoba Marathon) when I pledged to keep the momentum going following my first ½ marathon.  I trained consistently and hardly missed a run to facilitate this goal.  I made a couple trips to Garbage Hill for endurance training, and that is always  intense.  I even ran around Shediac Bay in New Brunswick on my holidays several times.  The heat and humidity of the past couple weeks didn’t stop me either.  I was focused, determined and prepared in body and spirit – the mind just had to catch up!  The fireworks and ceremonial gun-shot took place about 10 after 9.  We were off.

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