Church #66. Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Barbara

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the hiatus, things got a little turbulent there for a while, but we are back now.

So in the not-so-recent past, I visited the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Barbara. I am gonna put this out there right now, this church visit is not recommended for beginners. The orthodox are very special in the fact that they practice a very long list of heavy, symbolic, and elongated traditions. I am not saying that someone would have a fit on you if you did not bow your head or cross yourself at all the right times. But it is not unheard of. Especially if you are a member.

I have a lot of mixed thoughts and feeling about the orthodox. On one hand, they have some of the most ancient, and beautiful rituals perfectly preserved, in a way no other group has done. If you don't believe me just look up  some pictures from an orthodox style wedding.

 
On the other hand, the degree as to which this division of the church obsesses over ritual and symbolism, can become burdensome on its member's. That and it still remains far lagging on a lot of issues related to modern reform.

Before you visit an Orthodox church, I highly recommend you read this essay.
"12 Things I wish I knew before visiting an Orthodox Church."

So how did I know how to navigate this church  you may ask? Being someone who was baptized Catholic as a baby and raised in the United Church of Canada? The answer to that is many, many, many years of  summer camp!

Say hello to camp Kiev's-K-Hi Ukrainian Orthodox Summer Youth Camp.!

 

I also credit this camp for teaching me how to sit thru 4-hour long church services, where you have to stand half the time.

Once you can survive that. Every other church I have been to since is cake-walk in comparison....

Despite having a good degree of experience in the orthodox church, I almost made a significant error when visiting this church. I didn't bring a scarf to put over my head. But after further examination of the women in the room, I noticed that only about half of the women chose to wear a scarf over their heads, the other half did not. At that point, I concluded that it was safe for me to proceed.

Now to bring up a new question... should women cover their head in church? This has become one of the far lost, and obscure issues, of the church that has kind of fallen to the dusty book shelves of debated issues. Paul speaks in one of his letters that women should have their heads covered in church, as an act of submission to their husbands and to God. In some of his other writings, he says that women need to keep their heads covered in church "because of the angles"? And quite frankly no one quite knows what he is talking about in that one......

The reality is that the majority of modern scholars and churches in North America see no significant function or purpose in keeping a woman's head covered in church. I can say this with a fair amount of certainty after visiting 65 prior churches, and seeing so few cases of "head covering" that I can easily count them all on one hand. And I have never heard a church leader give a sermon on the issue. Now if you search the interwebs you will find endless rants that argue one way or another. But The way I see it is, if you want to wear it, wear it. But putting it out there and reinforcing it is doing nothing for the greater over-all mission of bringing people to Christ in this place and time.

But that's my thoughts anyhow. 

But what I find kind of comical with all this is that the highly debated reasons that Muslim women cover their heads are not the same as the reasons why Christian women cover their heads. With the Muslims, the idea is that hair is "seductive" and therefore should be covered up. But with Christian women, the idea is more so with keeping the top of the head covered in church, as an act of submission, vs covering the hair. So while a Muslim woman might be concerned about keeping her hair covered, the women I saw  in the front pews before me, had no issue having their long haired ponytails sticking-out the back of  their head scarf.

The demographics of this church were slightly younger than normal. Everyone was white, and one guy in particular, looked very Jewish. The majority of the population was middle aged with its share of seniors and a few young people. There were roughly a dozen children at this church, almost all of them were girls. And all the women wore skirts or dresses. Is it just me or does it feel like whenever you are in a Slavic community/family, that somehow it is always overflowing with women?  Or is it just the fact that my mother grew up in a farm-house, with a total of six women and one man.(God save Grandpa!)
Apparently according to the stats my hunch actually not that far off...

"Why the former USSR has far fewer men than women?"

The choir sang for the first part of the service. I didn't recognize much of what they were saying, so I am assuming that they were singing in Russian, however, the actual church service was in English.

Now to the actual church service.

This was the scripture of the day; (Luke 11:33-36) and (Luke 12:22-34)

The Lamp of the Body 

22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your vision is poor, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. "

Do Not Worry 

25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?

28And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans pursue all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. "

Quote of the day;
"If we follow these rules we can become saints."

 
 Notes from the sermon;
 #1. Have a Good Eye.
It was explained that the eye is the soul of the mind and like sunlight, the eye must be straight and right.

#2. Don't worry about material things. 
"There is no rich or poor in nature."

....... because you know.... there is no homosexuality in nature eather....(cough*)
Link- Homosexual Activity Among Animals Stirs Debate

Sorry. I needed to get that out.

#3. Don't worry about yourself.

#4. Don't stash away for tomorrow.
So this brought up the story of the time when the Israelites were in the desert and god provided the mana. And how it would go bad if they tried stashing extra away for the next day "they were not trusting in God".

Then he told the story of a very old and crippled woman, who always seemed very happy and content. When she was asked, "who lives with you?" "who helps you?" She said, "God lives with me!" 
 
As I mentioned before. Everything is ultra-symbolic and ritualistic in the orthodox church. So much so that I can not even begin to cover the depth of meaning of half the stuff I observed. A good piece of background information to have in mind, is that orthodoxy developed in very illiterate countries in its early days. So teaching thru ritual and symbolism, proved a very effective method to get the information across and indicate its significance of God and the trinity.

So if you are wondering what I saw? The only answer I have to that is "a lot".

Communion is also not a simple process here. Because you can not accept communion at this church if #1. you are not an orthodox Christian, and #2. you have not "prepared" yourself the night before with prayer and fasting. When the people did line up for communion, anyone with kids went first, and some people even kneeled briefly in the line up while waiting in line. And if you are not aware, in the orthodox tradition, people are literally "spoon fed communion." Another interesting ritual.
 
I saw priests and deacons and altar boys  in some of the most  extravagant robes you will every see ( and they don't even have the holiday robes on at the moment.) I saw people kneeling right on the floor, and in some cases, men would even kneel in the aisle during the worship. Despite there being room in the pews. To these people everything in the church is holy. Including the door frame. Yes, part of their rituals includes the priest kissing the door frame, that leads to the sanctuary.  But then again this is an orthodox church. They kiss a lot of things, including icons, crosses, the hand of the priest, etc. I saw one parent pick up their two-year-old so they could kiss the cross in the priest's hand. And by the way, since these people have such a deep value of the symbols that they use for teaching, that they have become very good at adorning things. And when you are Russian Orthodox, that means...
 

DECKING EVERYTHING OUT IN GOLD! 

And having  a massive chandelier helps too! I guess?.....

This also happens to  be the Church of St. Barbara  you can read more about her here...
Link-Who was Saint Barbara?

And ifyou happen to be shopping for orthodox icons, they have a great selection of them that you can can purchas for a very reasonable price!

See Y'all next Sunday!

Church #65. The Church of God.

Welcome back, ya'll!

So today I ventured off to church, and I was not looking forward to it. Like, at all. To explain this, I need to take us on a quick detour.

A few months ago, I was walking down Whyte ave and we all know that Whyte has it share of street preachers. This can include all kinds of characters including but not limited to: the people that stand on a soap box with a megaphone, the Jehovahs Witnesses and their pamphlet stands, the teams of slick-dressed Mormon missionaries walking their beat, and the people that hand out random evangelizing cartoon booklets. Yes, we have all of these.

And in all honestly I would have preferred any of the above over what I encountered.
Normally when I see some of these street preachers I either wave and smile, or walk right past them if they are screaming at me thru a megaphone.

But  a few months earlier, I was simply walking walking the far end of the ave, when I encountered a heavy set woman (roughly 27 years old)  dressed in a skirt and professional office attire. She was walking in the direction towards me and before I knew it, she had stepped her whole body in front of me, and put her face six inches from my nose, and she blurted the phrase "Have you heard about God the Mother?!?!"  Probably what disturbed me most about all this, woman's eyes. They were just this blank, straight-staring, unmoved blur. This woman was clearly brainwashed. She appeared to have no ability to comprehend outside information even in the form of basic conversation.
I had to ask myself what could have possibly happened to this person to make them like this? It was like this person must have been raised in a cage? Or a cardboard box? Regardless, the site of her was very disturbing.

Normally I would never get into a discussion with these people because I know that God wants us to commit our time towards more meaningful things than debating theology with lunatics on the street. Especially ones that think the best way to bring you to Christ is to get in your face and yell at you.



I tried to defuse the situation by telling her that I have heard about the "god the mother" theology (among others), and that I was already a Christian. That was apparently not enough to let me off the hook. So I thought "Fine. You wanna fight? Lets fight!". So after a raging theology debate, I was able to step my way around this raging whale of a woman, and continue my walk.

By the way, she made it very clear that she is from "The Church of God".
Now there are a large multitude of churches in the city with that name and I am really not sure if all of them are actually related to each other. But one thing I do know for sure is that there is only one "Church of God" in the area where I was walking.

That is the church I am visiting today.

I have had to question myself on if I am still willing to visit certain churches, as I am now understanding what groups and divisions I do or do not agree with. Some that I could even put all the way to the point of being dangerous. But after some thought and pastoral guidance, I have concluded that I should still keep going to these places (sparsely). Because despite them being hard to handle and often resulting in impassioned and angry rants, there is value in them. Because often after I take a hard look at them, I grow in the depth of my desire to avoid some of these (what I perceive to be) un-Christ-like ways and be driven even stronger towards building the kind of love God wants to see in this world.

I knew from the get-go that this was going to be rough. So I got up early went for a walk, prayed, listen to the church bells ring, took nature photographs, and planned to go for brunch afterwards and get one of these babies....



Say hello to The Tavern's XXXL Caesar! For all your boozy Sunday brunchfest needs! This is literately a drink with over a dozen garnishes and including a skewered grilled cheese sandwich!
Just like Jesus, this should also be an essential part of your Sunday morning routine!

For more info, visit here!

Now that I have clearly made you hungry (and crave salt), lets go to church!

The first thing that was apparent was the fact that I was clearly under-dressed. All the men in this place where in full suits, and the women were all in nice dresses, with all their hair and make-up fully done. And so there I stood with my sneakers, jeans and shoulder bag, and of course my grey "Lion of Judah" T-shirt.

What? I was wearing my church shirt!

I actually picked up the t-shirt in New York at at the Clear Water Festival! Check out the artist and his online store here!-  rockstarrevolution.com

So I snuck in right as the service started and sat in the back next to a mom with all of her kids.
This is, at minimum, the second church that I have now seen that uses a large brass band to start their services.The first church where I saw this was the Salvation Army Church. The band was quite large (roughly 24 people.) Most of the people in the band were in their teens and 20's. This church was fairly full. There were roughly 150 people in attendance. Still a majority of seniors, but there was a few middle aged people and also many young families. Everyone that I could see in the room was caucasian.

The reading today was Matthew 13: 44-46 NIV

 The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Then the choir sang. I felt the worship at this kind of church was very "just sit there and listen".  The room did not actively sing with the choir or any music, and prayers were generally not said in a group fashion.

The topic of the day was "Where should we store our treasure?" 

He basically explained that we should not become obsessed with hoarding earthly possession because you can't take it with you. And all those material things you collected mean squat in Gods Kingdom. So the right to do is to take the resources that we have and invest them in things that will be valuable in Gods Kingdom, whether that means financially supporting your local mission or congregation, giving clothing and food to a person in need, or volunteering your time for a worthy cause, etc. etc.

He clarified that we do not earn our way into heaven because salvation is given freely. He also mentioned an interesting story about some missionaries that gauged the value of everything in their lives against its eternal value and not its earthly value. I can imagine that would make for a very interesting everyday life.

He also advised that we should not be so near-sighted with our treasures. And then for some reason thru in a quick comment about atheists? He stated that non-believers are thinking that this life is simply a short interval and they hope there is nothing after so they don't have to be accountable in this life. Personally, I find this to be a bold blanket statement which I don't think is true for all atheists. But I need to be honest with you. I personally know a few people in this category.

He spoke of young people working hard to hoard money, as well as seniors who are still putting away every penny even at the very end of their lives.

But at the same time, there is a big difference in my mind when it comes to saving to build frivolous material wealth and saving for necessity.

But the reality is that there are a lot of people out there that didn't save enough for retirement. There are many seniors that will be forced to work until the day they die, or be forced into retirement without enough money to sustain them.  They will suffer in poverty lacking basic necessities. And that includes food. Seniors eating cat food is a thing. Sad truth. there are many ways you can help combat this. One local organization I would recommend is -Adopt-a-Grandparent

After the service ended I had one lady with her children ask me who I was and what I was doing there. So I explained just that and handed her my business card. As soon as I did that, I was meet with a small sea of angry middle aged woman staring at me. Their sour faces made for an odd contrast to formal dresses they were all wearing.

Speaking of the clothes.

I feel the need to bring up the whole "what is proper church clothing"? question. The simplest and most effective answer I have heard to this question is that we should "Dress in a way that glorifies God." So what is that anyhow? To some, it is dressing modestly in order to be "humble before god" in a sense. Others see dressing fancy as a showing of "giving God our best", harking back to the offerings that the Israelites would bring to the later. To others, it may be wearing affordable everyday clothes, as to not alienate our brothers and sisters that have less money, and show solidarity with the poor. And heck! Some people go to church naked! In the southern USA there is actually a significant number of nude churches.

To a lot of people they think the lines are simple, but I really don't think it is all that simple and clean-cut.

Here is a good example. I have a friend that has always fought with her weight. Always. Now in her late 20's thru much faith and perseverance, she has achieved a healthy weight. To celebrate, she went out and bought something she always wanted, but could never wear: a belly shirt. Yes, a belly shirt.  That kind that girls were banned from wearing in school, and that Britney Spears made all the rage in the 90's! So where was the first place she wore it? Church. To her, that shirt was a clear and defining example of clothing that "Glorified God" and what God has done in her life.

You are probably wondering why I have no pictures of the church. lets just say I didn't feel the need to stick around until the place cleared out.

Instead feel free to enjoy my nature photos!

Have a good week everyone!

Temple Beth Ora - Refromed Jewish Synagogue

Shabbat Shalom everyone!

Welcome to Friday night 8 pm Shabbat at Temple Beth Ora! For those of you that haven't read much of my earlier stuff, this might surprise you.

Besides my mission to visit 100 churches, I have also decided that my project is not complete without visiting some other houses of worship besides just Christian churches.
So far I have been to a Unitarian gathering, A Tao Buddhist Temple, and now a Jewish Synagogue.

Some of you that are better educated in Judaism may assume that this Shabbat would be for the upcoming holiday of Shavuot (which was only 2 days away). Nope, this Shabbat was special alright but it was honouring another kind of celebration: GAY PRIDE WEEK!!!!!

To be clear this is actually their 3rd annual Gay Pride Shabbat.

I have had an uncle that has told me a lot of questionable things in my life.
Two of these things have been that:

#1 women can't be Rabbis', and #2 you can't be gay and Jewish.

I am sorry uncle, but you were a little off...
Today I sat in a room on Shabbat with many gay Jews, and I have watched a female Rabbi lead a service more than once in my life.

(*mic drop)

Its actually 2016 but you get the idea...

Speaking of our country's Prime Minister. Later on there was a young man in a suit that came up and spoke on behalf of a parliament member that wanted to attend, but was unable to. He sends greeting from the city, the province, and the Prime Minister. He explained that this was his first Shabbat and that he has truly enjoyed it and intends to come back! (he said this all with such enthusiasm that his Kippa (skull cap) actually fell off while giving the speech!)

It was a fun night.
Just saying.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

So I found the building, and it was not far from downtown, and very accessible by public transit. It was also surprisingly close to this famous Edmonton icon.

When I walked in the first four things I saw were a donation bin for the Fort Mac fire victims, a donation bin for the food bank, a info table with info on community activism, and a tall young African-Canadian fellow handing out program guides for the service, while wearing a rainbow skull cap and shawl around his neck.

There were roughly 70 people at this service. Ages on average ranged from 20-60. A lot of families with adult children were in attendance.

Some may think it to be a difficult and complicated task to attend a worship service at a Jewish synagogue. That fact is not necessarily true. But you need to know what you are looking for.  Some important things to keep in mind when Understanding Jews.

- This is not just a religion. It is a tribe with a religion built into it. A lot of theses people in this room have blood connections to the people spoke about in the Torah (aka Old Testament) . With the exception of some converts. Their faith is literally close to home.
- Judaism is traditionally very closed, and Jews almost never go around evangelizing.
- Jews believe that the messiah is still yet to come, and that Jesus was not the man that fit the bill. They have a very solid argument to back their position. Link- What Jews and Christians Should Know about Each Other.
 - Edmonton only has 3 synagogues (that I know of). They are in the denominations of Conservative, Orthodox, and Reformed.
- The "Sabbath" starts at sundown on Friday and goes to sun-down on Saturday.

I also must take a moment to throw my heart out to the Jewish cohort at Stony Point Centre in upstate New York, USA. If it was not for you wonderful people I would not be half as well educated in what Judaism is all about. That education is completely necessary for what I am doing today. To put an example to this, let me just say that because of that education I know that the reformed temple would be the only one in this city that I could easily walk into and report on. That is because I take notes. And that is considered working on the Sabbath, while inside the synagogue. At this synagogue they don't care, but anywhere else in this city I would be asked to stop, or possibly leave.

You gotta know your stuff when visiting our friends the Jews.

The service started out with a few acknowledgements. Including the acknowledgement that this gathering was being held on Treaty #6 Land. There was a prayer after asking for unity and peace, specifically with Canada's First Nations people. This service had some wonderful guest speakers, including some Christian pastors who came up and read while wearing the skull cap and rainbow shall around their neck. One of the main speakers was a bit of a surprise. It was a Rabbi from the other Synagogue in the local area (Beth Shalom) that was of the Conservative denomination.

Next came the lighting of the Shabbat candles. In this tradition normally two candles are lit (today they increased it to six to get more colours of the rainbow). And in a home setting, the mother of the family will go before them, and cover her eyes with both hands and recite a prayer in Hebrew, asking God to bless and protect the family. Today two women were asked to come up and perform this honour with their children at their sides. I need to say I found both of these women every interesting. The first was a Caucasian senior woman, who was caring for a young girl, elementary school aged girl who was of Asian or First Nations heritage? I was not sure. And the other lady was in her 30's, tall and thin with a short masculine hair cut. And she was caring for a young 12-year old(ish?) girl, who appeared to have some type of developmental disability. The girl hung very close to her and it was clear that this woman was very committed to the love and care of this young lady. It always feels good to see a child with a disability is in good hands.

One of the most beautiful things I saw that day actually had to do with the young girl . Like most children, they are not particularly good at sitting still. Which was perfectly fine here, and for part of the service she stood in the aisle holding her stuffy toy. As the service was going on, I saw her tracing the Star of David slowly with her finger (the engraving was in the side of the pews). It was a lovely sight to see, and I am sure many Jews would find this image quite heart-warming.

I made a point of mentioning this because the spirit of tonight's service was embodied in that image.  That Gods word and presence is not only active in the lives of the Israelite's, but also the entire world.

"My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."  

Then we sang the "Lecha Dodi" after which we all stood and turned towards the door to greet the Shabbat bride. One lady with a sense of humour started making hand gestures as if she was marvelling at the beauty of the bride. Even though there is clearly nothing visible that enters in through the door.

NOTE: Jews see the approach of the Shabbat (day of rest) as a joyful event. Joy that can be related to the feeling of a groom waiting for his bride to appear (and you thought you took your days off seriously).

And if any of you were wondering what the music is like in a synagogue, it is very similar to what you would hear in church. As many of you know there are a lot of songs in the Bible, and a lot of the style and music got passed down to us Christians. The major difference being is that the Jews still largely sing almost all of their songs in Hebrew.

P.S. I have tried many times, but I could not sing in Hebrew to save my life. It takes skill.

I apologize in advance for this article being exceedingly long, but there was honestly so much great stuff in this service, I would have a hard time leaving much of it out.

Such as...

Despite God not being defined as having a gender, the four letter name for "God" that the Hebrews use, actually has two letters that define God's masculine attributes, and two letters that define the feminine ones. Generally, God is referred to in the masculine sense, but that practice is not constant in the whole Torah (Old testament). For example, the Jews have a word to describe "the manifestation of God's presence, that fills the universe". That word is a feminine descriptive word known as Shechinah.


In the past, a lot of pieces of scripture have been thrown out at the gay community as a way of  oppressing, alienating and hurting anyone that falls into that spectrum. Much of this comes from the book of Leviticus. But I was very happy to see that even that can be turned positive! This was some of  what was recited.

Congregation: We are your lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children.
Rabi: Do not seek vengeance nor bear a grudge against the children of your people. (Lev 19:18) 

Congregation: We are Elderly lesbians, bisexual, gay men and transgender people.
Rabi: You shall rise before the hoary head and show deference to the aged. (Lev. 19:32)

Congregation: We are lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender victims of gay bashing and murder.
Rabi: You shall not stand Idly by while your neighbour's blood is shed. (Lev. 19:16)

There was also a talented woman that come up and sang twice during the service. One thing I  happen to notice is how she rocked her body back and forth over the table at the front of the room. As a musician, I have known drummers who intentionally rock their bodies to help keep time. But this is the first time I have seen a singer do it. I have to say that I have really noticed that us Christians are really the odd-man-out when it comes to this whole rocking thing, we don't do a lot of it.  Jews do it, Muslims do it, heck, even the Buddhists and more!

Speaking of our friends the Muslims, I was reminded on how shockingly similar the two faiths are when I saw the Rabbi face the front of the room while he covered his head with his Tallit (prayer shawl) and starting praying and rocking while also looking right to left. The shape that the shawl on his head made reminded me strongly of the high-backed robes of Christian orthodox priests. Which kind of doesn't surprise me. Judaism is our foundation of the Christian faith, and the orthodox love sticking close to the foundation.



But when it comes to Islam and Judaism, It blows my mind more each day that I learn about these two faiths, and how they are so extremely similar in so many ways. They have much more in common than Christianity has in common with either of them! And the more I notice all of these similarities, the more I am baffled at how there are still such raging conflicts between the two groups when their commonalities are clearly stronger than their differences? But let's just leave the politics at the door for now.

After all this, we heard from our guest speaker from the conservative synagogue just down the street.

He started out by making the announcement that today was significant in the fact that on this day, 13 years ago, he graduated seminary and became a rabbi. This was of course followed by applause. He explained further, that the term "Conservative" when relating to his synagogue, describes the style of rituals they follow, and not necessarily his own political views. He remarked, "If you are conservative that is fine, just don't tell my congregation!".

He went on to speak more about his graduation day, and how he gave a speech, while also being in protest. He and many other students that day were wearing rainbow buttons over their hearts, along with their grad gowns. The school had refused to graduate any students that were openly gay from the seminary. The good news is this policy was lifted a few years after his graduation.

He also revealed that he has a gay brother who is married and living in Jerusalem with his partner. He is also proud to announce that his brother and his partner are the first gay couple officially recognized by the state.... for tax purposes. And on an even more interesting note... in Israel there is something called lactation privileges. This is given to the woman of a married couple which allows her to leave work a few hours early to better care for her children.  law requires that one person in a married couple must get these privileges. So his brother has been officially granted "lactation privileges" by the state. The rabbi mentioned that he is fairly sure that his brother is not lactating.

"If you are into super-fabulous sermons! This is not it!!!"
 

Then he went on to a brief sermon which I am sure that I have heard somewhere before. This sermon asks the question as to why was the Torah given in the desert?  There are two points with this: #1, the desert forces you to think, and #2, the desert is a no-mans land. It truly belongs to no one  , and is yet accessible to all at the same time. He interpenetrates this as Gods statement of equality. Yet equality can be hard to come by in this world. He reflected on the numbers of people that were counted as the Israelite's left Egypt. In the Torah, only men that were old enough to see battle were officially counted. After some number crunching, it has been calculated that over 2 million Israelite's, including many women and children, left Egypt. Yet only a fraction of those people were ever "counted " as being significant.

He further explained the sadness he feels for the "uncounted" as he revealed that he is in a multi-faith marriage with his wife and one child. Even with the difference in faith between him and his wife, they have a positive relationship where she actively encourages his Jewish faith. Despite all this, he feels hurt living with the reality, that his wife is not allowed to visit and participate at the synagogue to some degree. She may be allowed to visit, but because she is not Jewish, she is still excluded from many "members only" events. He admits that seeing the woman he loves being excluded from important holiday rituals in his spiritual life, pulls him away from his own faith.  In conclusion, he is asking for more interfaith events to be organized, so him and his wife have a space to be recognized in their faith and celebrate together.

After that was all said and done we went to the back of the room where we blessed the Challah (Jewish egg bread) laying hands on each other in a chain fashion while one person held the bread. And then we blessed the cup of wine.

Yes, this is where the Christian tradition of communion is based out of.
But this was no regular Challah. Most Challah is just your standard yellow braided egg bread. This Shabbat we had the special edition "Rainbow Challah" for pride week. It made my day very joyful!

After indulging in one of the most wonderful buffets of rainbow-and-sweet-everything I could not be happier! Over all it was a great time and I would recommend anyone who wants a taste of Jewish tradition to drop into Temple Beth Ora. They are very friendly, I promise!

Here is a photo of everyone hanging around the table at the back of the room.

And here is the front of the room.

Don't forget to Refresh your Nefesh!
Until next time, Shabbat Shalom Everyone!

Church #64. Edmonton First Chruch of the Nazarene.

Hello and welcome back ladies and gentlemen! Today we go north! Which sounds strange when you live in one of the most northern cities on earth. But regardless we are on the NORTH end of the city today. As for this church today, I noticed two things immediately. #1. This church is almost entirely populated by seniors. Nice seniors. Friendly happy ones! And this service had roughly 60 of them.  And #2. This Church is the most white-walled octagonal room I have ever been in. Also.... the seating is much more limited than most churches. But in all  fairness, the chairs at this church are super comfy!

I also spotted an exceptionally nice guitar sitting on the stage. I may be the drummer. But I still can appreciate a nice guitar.

As some of you may know, occasionally I run into some memorable charters in my church adventures. I saw another one of these people today who was truly unforgettable.  He was in the row in front of me. It was a heavier set man, with slicked back white hair (somewhere near the senior age bracket). He was wearing white pants, a Hawaiian print shirt, a fanny pack, tinted safety glasses and a leather jacket covered in sponsorship logos one would see similar to a race-car driver. The most predominant of these had to be the large (RITZ*) logo in the center back of the jacket. Yes. Like the crackers.

Like Most churches I have been too, this Sunday service started in song. But I gotta throw out a piece of constructive criticism here. I like singing along to worship songs. I honestly do. But you need to slow it down. The band itself had no issue keeping with the quick pace with the songs, but the rest of us were struggling to keep up. Or just giving up.
Maybe because it was a room full of seniors and one crazy young blogger barely being kept alive by her cup of coffee? There was not a lot of singing participation with almost all of the songs. With the exception of the one slower song picked for a moment of quiet worship. Ironically it was during that song that everyone came together because they could actually keep up. But seriously....slow it down.

This Church also had something interesting I haven't seen before. A kneeling bar near the stage. Due to the fact that this church lacks traditional pews, there was no easy way to have kneeling benches in the seating area. So they put a free-standing one near the front.
Smart!

I am also gonna put this out there to start, the leader of this church is a FANTASTIC speaker! If you want a quality educated speaker to give you comprehensive lessons on scripture, and how to apply them to everyday life. This guy is your man. And for as much as I loved what this guy did today, I am not going to lie, the start is a little rough.

The Church leader started out by stating (almost in a joking way) that our faith and worship is valuable. And if there was "nothing on the other side"  our prayer would be pointless.  Now I have heard this before, from another high-quality speaker at the Catholic church I visited on Easter Sunday, and I let me pretty rattled.  That I am not sure what the first thought of the other people in the room was, but I then had to ask myself  "what if there is nothing on the other side?" I find this thought most disturbing.

I can't help but question if this kind of talk is really a good idea. On one hand, if this man's job is to grow my faith, this kind of talk is a very bad move. It is like taking a knife and running it down the center of my faith. Or on the other hand, if this man's job is to make my faith strong, then maybe exposing its weak points is necessary for growth. But all this remains to be seen.

The church leader started by leading the congregation in prayer. As part of the prayer, we confessed that we had followed other gods in the past ( the pursuit of money, material wealth, status, etc.) and that all of them have ultimately come up empty and unfulfilling.

After that was done. There were some quick awards handed out to church members and the children were dismissed.

The scripture focused on today was Mathew 6:25-34

Mathew 6:25-34 NIV

"Do Not Worry

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^e ?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

The church leader personally admitted to having a lot of personal struggles with this scripture. 

I can totally relate. I worry all day.... Every day. 

What I really loved about this lesson is that the leader literately took out major key words, and broke them down, to help give a full understanding of what this piece of scripture is telling us to do. 

I won't go over every word he did a break-down for, but I think the most significant one he analyzed was the word "Seek" .

In this case, the word "Seek" can be related to; desire, enquire, try to obtain, peruse, demand. He stated clearly that the command to "seek" is not a passive command but a very active one. He used the example of a parable in Luke 15, that tells the story of a poor woman that lost one of her only coins in her house. And how this woman feverishly turned the house upside-down looking for this lost coin. The church leader said he was also in a similar situation when he decided to start packing the night before his flight that was taking him out of the country to go study. And low and behold, he could not find his wallet. He was also turning the house upside-down in a state of desperation. One may also know the same feeling if you have ever lost a child in a shopping mall. He described this as what it means to "Seek". And that we should seek God's kingdom and righteousness with that kind of fever and focus in our hearts and minds. 

"Chase after that first!" 

 

Then there was also talk of what it looks like to peruse God's kingdom personally? This is when the " you can't serve both God and Money" thing came up. He also stated that "worry is tied to money and the heart", and that worry reveals a lack of faith.  Then explained the difference between belief and faith. And he used our chairs as an example. He asked us if any of us thought about the chair we sat in today? Did we question it or take a hard look at it before we sat down? Most likely not. Belief is thinking that the chair might hold you up, but you are not 100% sure. Faith is knowing without question that the chair is OK to sit in, and just simply sitting down.  

He also noted clearly, that a pagan is not an evil person. And that in fact many of them are very nice people. They just don't happen to know God.

A really interesting idea he brought up is that worry chokes out faithfulness, and he related this to Mathew 13-22.  This talks about the parable of the sower and the 4 types of ground that the seed falls on. He said we who are worried are the 3rd type of soil, which is the thorns. Relating to the faith that grows, but is choked out by its environment. 

All the church members here were exceptionally friendly and open-minded about my project and I fully appreciate the interest.  Over all, I had a good time and would recommend this church. 

Ps. Be ready for a surprise next week!

Church #63. Unitarian Church of Edmonton

First things first. I would have no idea that this church or type of faith existed if it was not for my friend and old band mate Rob Billheimer. The guy is a killer cartoon artist that is not afraid to push boundaries, ruffle feathers and make you laugh until you piss your pants! Just to prove it, here is a sample from Rob's line of comics known as The Sausage Party! 
 

For those of you that may not know, Alberta has declared a state of emergency as we are facing the most costly disaster, and biggest evacuation in the history of our country, due to the Fort McMurray Fires. In response, The Sausage party is selling limited edition, high quality prints of some of their best comic strips, and all money raised will be donated towards relief efforts.

Click here to Check it out! 

After finding my way to the back door, I entered the "OPEN" door only to find myself in a large open room full of garage sale items! A senior lady asked me if I was here for the Church service aAnd directed me to the service area. So I walked through the garage sale and found my way to the actual church service, it had already started and I took my seat at the back. the service was started with soft and almost trance like piano music... it kind of made me feel strange. Side note: today is Mothers Day. The opening prayer was one for safety, and rightfully so considering the current circumstances in this province. Then they had the young people of the Church come up and light the challis and say a quick prayer.

The offering for the service was then collected. It was announced that the group they were donating to for the month of may was Y.E.S.S (Youth Empowerment Support Services) .  The church leader mentioned that in light of recent events, they did consider changing the designation of the donation over to the Red Cross. But they ultimately decided that the now-homeless youth of Fort Mac will be benefiting from the use of Y.E.S.S. as they take refuge in Edmonton, so they decided to keep it as is.

Then the church members were able to come to the front and light a candle if they have any worries or concerns. The church leader also suggested that today they should consider straying from the norm and also doing "spoken candles" if the person feels right in doing so. FYI: Today is Mothers Day.

The spoken candles I found particularly interesting. As you can imagine, there was candles lit for mothers who had passed away or still present. But there were also two spoken candles that stood out to me.

#1. A lady came up and said she lit a candle for all of those people that are not able to be mothers.
On one side of the coin, I can totally understand this. As simple as this holiday might seem, I am sure it is down right painful for the women out there that wanted kids, and for some reason or another, were not able to have them or have lost a child.

On the other side of the coin... I am shrugging and rolling my eyes. If I haven't made this clear before in my blog, let me say it now: I am not having kids. Ever. I feel no lack or disappointment over my choice not to be a mother. My friends know this, and so do my family. And to all you hard working mom's, and children-loving women out there I ask on thing... be nice to us..... Please? Don't lecture, scold, question or attempt to convert us! We are all free women. We have all have the right to make choices. If you show respect and understanding for our choices, we will do the same for you! 

#2. Another lady in her 20s came up and lit a candle and explained that she had a mom that was "not very good", and that she was lighting this candle for anyone that has a "complicated" relationship with their mother. This I think is a great topic to bring up. Not a pretty one, but an important one... How are you supposed to feel on this day when you had a mother that was heartless, irresponsible and absent? Or you had a mother with severe mental illness, who physically abused you?!
How does one deal with that? These questions are not easy to answer, but thankfully they are now at least being addressed.
 

Links:
-To all the brave kids that broke up with their toxic moms.
-To the Mothers Hurting on Mothers Day.
-When abusive parents come crawling back....?

"These candles don't change the world, but they change our minds and hearts." 

The Church leader then went on to explain some of his thoughts and feelings about the events of the past week.  He announced to the congregation that the family of Syrian refugees that they had sponsored will be arriving soon, and that they plan to have a welcome committee come and welcome them at the airport. Strangely enough, just as they are getting ready for the family to arrive the Fort Mac fires start.
So as +80000 people are pouring out of the Fort Mac area, he can't help but feel helpless.
All their extra money has been committed to their refugee family, their extra space has been stuffed with garage sale items, and he was also not able to do anything physically because of an old injury that was bothering him. He felt empty in his lack of ability to act. He explained that sometimes "All we can do is what we can do and we need to see that, that is enough."

"Sometimes the answer is to throw money at something!" 

He related the situation to being in a flight emergency. And how they tell you to put your air mask on before helping others. Because if you pass out from no air, you cant do much to help someone else. He also pointed out that some times we are in a position to do a lot. Like the gas station owner that gave out thousands of liters of free gas for people that were fleeing in the evacuation.
He said he was brought to tears, by the competency of the people who were able to conduct this mass evacuation without any major accidents and minimal loss of life.(.... I don't really understand how someone could-be brought to tears over "human competency", but whatever speaks to you I guess?)

He spoke about how he was watching TV and how he saw the mayor of Edmonton, Don Iveson, be brought to tears! Not from the loss of home and possessions, but by the unbelievable outpour of charity by Edmontonians and the rest of Canada. I can personally tell you that I have seen what he is talking about, not just at donation centers but in my daily life in Edmonton. In this last week, everything has opened up to the evacuees. Every cafe and restaurant  has a sign up advertising free food, businesses are giving away free goods and collecting donations, artists of all types are selling their work for Charity, and even the Labatt Beer Brewery stepped up to meet the emergency need for bottled water!

Labatt brewing water to help those affected by Fort McMurray wildfire
 
I cant help but notice how this reminds me of Isaiah 2:4 ESV.

"He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."



 He also gave his thoughts on the concept of spirituality "Spirituality to me is a a connection to another human or sometimes nature." He explained that other religions try to frame spirituality in the idea of "God" or "Allah" or "Buddha". He indicated that that was "OK". but "It doesn't cover everything".

After all this we went through what one might describe as guided meditation. We were directed as a group when to breath in and breath out and what to focus on.

Then we had a moment of silence where everyone in the room bowed their head and dimmed the lights. After about a minute, the lights came back on and the service was ended. We all then received the good news that Church members get first pick at buying from the garage sale! As you can imagine I saw the room get up and all the women in their 50's and 60's get up and run like kids heading for the candy shop!

I can honestly tell you that there is some great stuff at this garage sale and it is open to the public and being held at 11715 108 Ave NW, Edmonton AB and the hours are 8am-6pm on May 13th and 8am-4pm on May 14th. 

Also! Crucial  info for for Fort Mac evacuees!

#1. Get online and register with the Red Cross! Even if you have everything materially and friends to stay with it is sill crucial that you register! They have mental health workers!

1-888-350-6070 or RedCross.ca.

 #2 You are entitled to free money from the government to help cover your expenses while being away from your homes! Follow the link to learn more and then click on "Debit Card Relief Funding."

Link-http://www.alberta.ca/emergency.cfm#financial

Now that we have this all over and done with it is now time for my RANT!

Some places have been all-killer-no-filler but this place has been just the opposite. It just feels really empty to me...

The candles felt very empty...I fail to understand how just lighting a candle would help my troubles in anyway, or replace wise human conciliation or guidance from the divine.

But what really gets me is that the word "God" was used only once in this service and in a some-what negative context. Spirituality was drilled down to a simple human emotion. Charity and aid were simply defined as "The right thing to do". It was like someone took a hypodermic needle and  purposely sucked every inch of the divine out of a church service, and left this barely living hollow-body in a post- spiritual-lobotomy state!

For some one who is used to going to common church services, this felt like living in the numbed colorless, dystopian world defined in the book : The Giver .

As I was shopping the garage sale I bought a pair of bees wax candles and as the cashier and I were marveling over them, I expressed what a beautiful piece of God's creation they were! Then is an awkward moment, she politely corrected me a she said "or Nature"....

Is "God" a bad word in this place?

I am not saying this place is bad in anyway. It has seriously introduced me to some of the most genuine people you will ever meet! But it does nothing for my spiritual thirst. I would more then suggest this church as a great resource for interfaith work and gatherings. I can also imagine an Atheist that is looking for a "church like" community would find this to be a prime option! It's just not for me.....