Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Do you know God?

"My name is growing all the time, and I've lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story." goes a quote from JRR Tolkien that our pastor referenced in last Sunday's sermon. He was talking about God and his name YHWH and how he revealed himself to be YHWH to Moses. It got me thinking about all the other names for God used in the Bible and how he reveals them progressively to his people. He doesn't give us a list from the first pages of Genesis of all his names. Instead, he reveals who he is through his names and what they mean and in varied circumstances.

So, the first name for God in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, the Creator. This already reveals so much about who he is. He was in the beginning. He  created. Before he created, there was nothing. But the beautiful thing is that throughout the pages of Scripture, he continues to reveal who he is. And as he does so, he also gets progressively closer to man. It is no accident that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the awesome all-powerful creator, but he is also with us. Us.

But, even though he chose to reveal who he is slowly, he has always been all of his qualities. He doesn't change. It's our understanding of him that changes. And that brings me to my second point. This whole process of revelation over thousands of years of history, is a beautiful picture of how our understanding of God grows and deepens as we get to know him better. All of his names have already been revealed and he is not (and has never) changed. But, we come to deeper and deeper understanding of who he is by studying his word and through our lived experience of who he is.

So, who is God to you? Do you believe in a creator, but that's all that you know God to be? Did you know that he is El Roi, the God who sees? Did you know he was first called that by a woman? If you don't know God as seeing and hearing and deeply caring about who you are, then you are missing out. Did you know he is healer, and almighty and a shepherd and a saviour and all kinds of other wonderful things? If you don't, I suggest you pick up a Bible and start studying it for yourself. God has revealed himself in its pages because he wants you to know him. He wants a relationship with you. How incredible.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

classroom Valentine's

Special days at school are always fun, but kind of a nightmare. They're exhausting. The kids are excited, often filled to the brim with sugar and not too interested in learning. So, I tricked them. We did lots of learning, but they thought we were just having fun.
We continued with our picture book madness contest, which they love. The Couch Potato lost out to Dragons Love Tacos. We continued talking about forces in science, but we learned a new one: the air. So, of course we had to make paper airplanes to test out how the air can work for or against you and how to design a plane that can fly the farthest.
Writing spelling sentences can be a little boring, so lately I have made it into a contest where I read out my favourite sentences. They love that and it's making their sentences so much more interesting. I had to read out quite a few today because there were so many good ones.
There have been some issues with boys playing too rough and tackling each other. So, I showed a video about football players and why they wear helmets. It was a science video that explained what happens to your brain when your head is bumped and how they discovered the need for helmets in football. Then I asked them: any of you wear a helmet to school? students: no. Me: ok, then NO TACKLING. I sure hope the message got through.
During centre time, two students got "married" with the gawdy rings that had been in their Valentine bags. Five minutes later, the (7 yr old) bride told me they were divorced because he cheated on her. Oh my gosh, never a dull moment!!
The picture is of the best Valentine I got today. Happy Valentine's Day!



Monday, January 8, 2024

rest

My word of the year for 2024 is rest, but not as in laziness and sleep. Rest as in Psalm 116:7, "return to your rest my soul, for the Lord has been good to you". God has been faithful and oh so good to me. I can rest that He is in control and that He will continue to be good and faithful.

The word used for rest in that Bible verse is also connected to quietness. I love that. Pastor Jon suggested trying a new spiritual discipline this year, so in light of rest, I am also going to try more quiet. This means less social media, less listening to those who just add noise, but nothing of value to my life. Less speaking and more listening.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Things everyone loves that I do not...

1. Cirque du Soleil. I recently went for the first time. Although I had a good time, I didn't love it. In fact, I would not pay money to go again. Yes, the acrobatics are amazing, yes the music is good, the tightropes are death-defying, but I just don't care. I was impressed but I have no desire to go again.

2. Disneyland. I went once and that was enough. I don't like crowds, lineups, rides, heat, expensive food, crazy parking, and I hate what Disney stands for these days.

3. Camping. I live in BC and feel like I should love it. I don't. I love walks in the forest and sunsets and the beach. But then I want to get into my airconditioned car and drive home to my own house, my own bed and my own bathroom. I don't want camping food, shared showers and toilets, cramped quarters, cold, wet, bugs, more bugs, and to smell like smoke. Just no.

4. Ketchup. Ew. No thank you.

5. Taylor Swift. I like some of her music. That's all I got.

6. Mr. Bean. I don't find stupid funny. Or endearing.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

Why Teach?

 


I have about six students in grade two this year who are concerningly below grade level in reading and writing. So, my coworker and I signed up for an intensive intervention program that would combine reading and phonics instruction. It required extra training and honestly, extra work. But. The results have been truly amazing and heartwarming. Seeing the girl in the middle in the photo LIGHT UP as she discovers the joys of reading and writing is why I teach. To get to be part of that process is such a privilege.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Autumn



I am leaning into my favourite season of colours and pumpkins and novels and fireplaces and scarves and candles. Today is Nov 4 and there are still leaves on the trees and the sun was out. Yes, the world is raging all around. Yes, I have a cold. Yes, it's report card writing season. But. I can still find joy and I will.
 

Friday, November 3, 2023

Beauty-a reminder from a favourite writer

Beauty is a defiance of war. God made this world for health and loveliness, for communion and cultivation. Don't forget that amidst the headlines. Don't stop ordering your world or tending the souls around you or cooking them good food or planting flowers. Every one of those acts is a defiance of the evil we see raining fire and death upon innocent people. Don't lose faith in this time of despair with the square of earth you have been called to keep and the people who depend on your love.

It's so easy to suspend normal life in the face of relentless headlines. I have too often this week succumbed to the endless checking of my phone, to a disconnection with those around me, a sense that the thousand faithful acts of our ordinary are useless in the face of such destruction. But that is another arm of evil. Faithfulness is vital, it is our good work, our duty, our gift both to the God who made us to flourish and the suffering who yearn for comfort. We must keep faith so that safe and loving places still remain in the world. We must be ready to receive the war torn, to recognise the lost when they arrive on our doorstep. We must make our homes places of hospitality that are tethered to heaven, ready to feast and heal whomever God sends.

Evil disorders and disintegrates what God crafted with his own hands and called good. Evil unravels affection and history and safety and and hope. Evil breaks families apart and destroys narratives of love, and bombs the homes it took decades to build. But love rebuilds. Love defies evil by doing what God did in the very beginning of our story; speaking the world alive, calling it forth to ripening life, filling it with beauty, naming it with love.

That work is still possible, is the one thing necessary in the face of war. It's being done by those right in the thick of war; feeding the displaced children and sheltering the refugees and binding the wounds of those who have been bombed. We must give to that, pray for it from afar. But we may also participate in it by keeping faith. By claiming and cultivating spaces that are opposite to war, defiant of evil, allowing Beauty to be at work in us to claim and renew this broken world.