Just about everthing has changed since my last post, and it all happened at the last moment. I get the feeling it is going to be that kind of a summer!
It all started on Friday, when I went with the sisters to a lecture at the Cathedral. When last you read this blog, I was on my own for a couple days as all the clergy were at clergy synod. Well, this lecture was the wrap up for that, and once again the sisters were kind enough to bring me along. When we got there Sr. Lucy took me around the garden, and showed me all the kinds of trees (they have teak trees in the garden!). We also looked at the labrynth they have, which is very difference from others I've seen. The path is made of different materials at different points, from grass to gravel to huge rocks. I think that it is indicative of the changing paths of our lives. Anyway, it was quite nice.
The lecture itself was on "Is Science Very Different From Religion?" given by a Christian engineer from the University of Sri Lanka. He was very good, arguing that science and religion share many of the same qualities (albiet in different quantities) and showing how that goes against many of the major arguements that the militant scientists and athiests use. It was interesting- I agreed with much of what he said, but could see how a scientist who was not religious would take issue with parts of it.
Anyway, at the lecture I ran into my supervisor, Fr. Jayasiri. "Hi" he said "I've been talking to some people about hosting you. You leave tommorow".
"Ok" I thought "last minute, but what the heck, right?" I didn't come to this country to tell them what I should see and when, and after a week in the convent, I was ready to do some other work, and see more of the country.
Fr. Jayasiri stopped by the next afternoon to give me more details. He has a schedule for me for May, which involves quite a lot of travelling, so this blog should stay interesting a while longer. He also briefed me a bit on Chilaw, which is where I was headed that night. He used to be the rector here, back in the eighties.
Fr. Sam came by to pick me up at 7:00. I had my big backpack all packed and ready to go when he pulls up in this tiny hatchback with his wife, son and mother already in the backseat, and a whole bunch of luggage. We wedged all my stuff in somehow, and I went to get in. To give you an idea of how small his car is, our shoulders actually bumped when we got in at the same time. We took off through the Colombo traffic.
I don't know if I've said a lot about the traffic here, but for a small town boy, it's terrifying. There are horns all over the place, people passing people, moterbikes and three wheelers cutting in and out, just avoiding being run down by the enormous trucks that make up a large part of the traffic. Fr. Sam had asked about how I was adjusting, and I said fine, but the traffic took some getting used to. "Well" he said "It could be worse" I wasn't sure...compared to Canada, this was nuts! Then he went on "there are two clear directions of travel, right? And no rickshaws... not many bikes... few pedestrians..." All of a sudden the traffic looked pretty straightforward!
Fr. Sam is very friendly, and we had a good talk over the two hours it took us to get to Chilaw about the Church of Ceylon and the Anglican Church of Canada, how they are the same, and how different. He finished school in 2003, and was priested in 2005, so he is quite young.
There was one other thing about that drive. As we were speeding away from the Convent he looks at me "We have an English service at 7:00 tommorow. Wanna preach?" How could I say no? I had all of 12 hours to prepare!
Flashforward to this morning. The English service is quite small - 4 in the congregation, and Fr. Sam and I. The sermon was a bit awkward- amazing in my head, but not in my mouth. I think I'm a little out of practise from last summer! If people keep asking me to preach at the last minute though, I'll soon get back into it.
The second service was a mixed Sinhala/Tamil service. The youth of the parish were taking a leadership role this Sunday, and the St. James Mother's Union was joininig the Sri Lankan Mother's Union. I didn't understand a bit of the service, of course, although again could follow where we were. At one point, during the sermon, Fr. Sam's tiny kitten wandered into the church and curled up for a nap under my cassock. One of the choir promptly removed it!
Fr. Sam asked me to come up to the altar with him at communion- all the servers, the Lay Eucharistic Ministers and apparently me go up for that. I did my best to stay out of the way, but was never quite sure where I should be. Fr. Sam was very good about pointing and gesturing though. I was asked to distribute the bread (the roti, a local flat bread), which I was very honoured to do. Also very able, which turned out not to be the case when he asked me to perform the abolutions (clean up after communion). Although I've helped with this and seen it done a thousand times, my mind went blank! Usually in a case like that you can look to the servers for help, but they had no idea either. Between us we managed it, and it was at least on my part, a reverent sort of fumbling. I mean, I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I was doing it reverently. Which is a first step, I always think!
After the service I chatted with a few of the congregation as we drank tea on the steps, surrounded by coconut trees. Did I mention that St. James is in a coconut grove? With a view of the lagoon? And a cow?
There was breakfast after the service as well, and then the people who had come up with the Mother's Union from Colombo came over the vicarage with us for lunch. Not right away of course, so I sat and chatted with the Mother's Union ladies for a while.
After lunch we were off to point 2 of the parish, St. Clement, Puttlam. This is a small Tamil congregation about an hour from St. James. It also has a lagoon view and a coconut grove. The congregation and the church are small. The church was full, and I counted 60 people. They have a lay leader who takes care of things most of the time, and Fr. Sam comes out twice a month for Eucharist. This service was in Tamil, of course, and so again I was only able to follow the basic structure. The good news was (for me) that when Fr. Sam asked me to perform the abolutions I was ready, and had practised in my head, and so was able to do it both reverently and correctly. It helped that the lay leader was assisting me, and he clearly knew what he was doing.
After the service we sat drinking milky sweet tea under the trees as a breeze from the lagoon played over us. Later, we ate supper together, sitting in a circle underneath a giant palm tree as the day faded quickly into night.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A Changed Perspective
I had one of those perspective changing experiences last night. One of those times that make a person sit and and look at the world in a new way.
I was invited by the Sisters to come along with them to the Cathedral, for a memorial mass for Bishop Harold de Soysa, who was the Bishop of Colombo in the sixties. The Cathedral itself is magnificent. It is built in Sri Lankan architectural style, so it resembles a Buddhist temple. It is build in an octagonal shape, and designed with the altar in the middle, so that the congregation can gather around the altar. It is made out of rough concrete, but the soaring arches and dome are incredibly beautiful. The sense when one goes in is of air and space and coolness (important in this climate).
When we went in we were handed a leaflet with the hymns for the evening. The Church of Ceylon uses English hymnals (at least in the English services) and I recognized all the hymns (some of my favorites, including "To God be the Glory, Who Great Things Has Done). The hymn for during communion was "How Great Thou Art".
How Great Thou Art has always been a favorite of mine. We used to sing it every summer at our annual Church Camp, when most of the congregation of Holy Trinity would pack up their tents and RVs and head out to the David Thompson Resort for a weekend. We would have the Sunday eucharist service out on a hillside, looking over a valley of pine trees and beyond to the startling blue of Abraham Lake. We would worship there, surrounded on all sides by towering mountains, and sing "How Great Thou Art". We are the products of our experiences, and so I always associate that hymn with the pine forests of the Rocky Mountains.
These words have always conjured up for me a vision of wandering through the sparse pines around The David Thompson Resort, coming unexpectedly on a small stream maybe, and feeling the ever present breeze off Lake Abraham. Your average Rocky Mountain experience, familiar to anyone whose had the opportunity to visit the forests of Alberta. It is a very Canadian scene.
So here we were, merrily sweltering in the sticky heat of the tropics, belting out this old hymn, this hymn that I associate totally with Canada, with Alberta. As we were singing, I got to thinking: The Sri Lankans have forests. And mountains (grand ones too!) they have brooks, and they have gentle breezes (for which I am always grateful!). The mountains and forests look nothing like the ones in Canada. No evenly spaced pines here! No jagged chunks of rock poking into the sky. It was then that I realized that this hymn was not necessarily a Canadian hymn. The Sri Lankans who sing this hymn do so with perfect sincerity, and a totally different image in their minds than I do.
Yet we both mean the same things by it. For this is not a hymn to nature, but a hymn to God, and we both worship the same God, each from our own contexts. So I will continue to think of the lovely Rocky Mountains when I sing it, and I hope that the Sri Lankans will think of their mountains, and we will agree on the chorus:
I was invited by the Sisters to come along with them to the Cathedral, for a memorial mass for Bishop Harold de Soysa, who was the Bishop of Colombo in the sixties. The Cathedral itself is magnificent. It is built in Sri Lankan architectural style, so it resembles a Buddhist temple. It is build in an octagonal shape, and designed with the altar in the middle, so that the congregation can gather around the altar. It is made out of rough concrete, but the soaring arches and dome are incredibly beautiful. The sense when one goes in is of air and space and coolness (important in this climate).
When we went in we were handed a leaflet with the hymns for the evening. The Church of Ceylon uses English hymnals (at least in the English services) and I recognized all the hymns (some of my favorites, including "To God be the Glory, Who Great Things Has Done). The hymn for during communion was "How Great Thou Art".
How Great Thou Art has always been a favorite of mine. We used to sing it every summer at our annual Church Camp, when most of the congregation of Holy Trinity would pack up their tents and RVs and head out to the David Thompson Resort for a weekend. We would have the Sunday eucharist service out on a hillside, looking over a valley of pine trees and beyond to the startling blue of Abraham Lake. We would worship there, surrounded on all sides by towering mountains, and sing "How Great Thou Art". We are the products of our experiences, and so I always associate that hymn with the pine forests of the Rocky Mountains.
When through the woods
And forest glades I wander
I hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down
From lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook
And feel the gentle breeze;
These words have always conjured up for me a vision of wandering through the sparse pines around The David Thompson Resort, coming unexpectedly on a small stream maybe, and feeling the ever present breeze off Lake Abraham. Your average Rocky Mountain experience, familiar to anyone whose had the opportunity to visit the forests of Alberta. It is a very Canadian scene.
So here we were, merrily sweltering in the sticky heat of the tropics, belting out this old hymn, this hymn that I associate totally with Canada, with Alberta. As we were singing, I got to thinking: The Sri Lankans have forests. And mountains (grand ones too!) they have brooks, and they have gentle breezes (for which I am always grateful!). The mountains and forests look nothing like the ones in Canada. No evenly spaced pines here! No jagged chunks of rock poking into the sky. It was then that I realized that this hymn was not necessarily a Canadian hymn. The Sri Lankans who sing this hymn do so with perfect sincerity, and a totally different image in their minds than I do.
Yet we both mean the same things by it. For this is not a hymn to nature, but a hymn to God, and we both worship the same God, each from our own contexts. So I will continue to think of the lovely Rocky Mountains when I sing it, and I hope that the Sri Lankans will think of their mountains, and we will agree on the chorus:
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The First Weekend!
Things have been going along quite nicely here in Sri Lanka! I'm staying with the Sisters of St. Margaret, a group of Anglican nuns, and since my days at the moment are quite relaxed, I have been joining them for the daily offices. I really like the daily offices, and am glad that I've landed in a place where there is a community to pray with! We have Matins at 6:20, Mid Day prayer at 12:00 and Vespers at 6:00. The sisters are very friendly, and have been helping this poor dumb Canadian to sort out the right pages in the book - it's almost as complicated as the BAS in Canada!
This weekend was May Day, and so the parish church near here, St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte, held a May Day mass. They invited me to come along, and I'm glad I did - it was like nothing I would see in Canada! We started with a march around the village, led by traditional dancers. All the priests (there were quite a few) were wearing their usual white cassocks, with red stoles emblazoned with the Hammer and Sickle! I marched next to a Sri Lankan ordinand, and just in front of the retired Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. Sydney Knight, who has been very kind to me. After the march (about half an hour, but seemed longer in the hot sun) we went into the church for the mass. The service was all in Tamil and Sinhalese, so I couldn't understand a word of it, but I was still able to follow more or less what part of the service we were at. Things were kicked off by remarks from a Buddhist Monk, and an Imam. Instead of the sermon there was a drama, with Jesus and his followers (the workers) walking in, carrying the cross. Then a man dressed in coat and top hat with "America - USA" written all over it in red white and blue came in, and did a little dance, kicking at Jesus every now and then. As he ran off stage, a chorus came on, did a little dance and song. Then the American was replaced by a politician, then the chorus, then an actor. It was really cool, with great Sri Lankan music through the whole thing. It felt like the liberation theology we talk about in school being lived out!
Yesterday was Sunday, and I went to St. Michael's for the services. I had been asked to preach at the 7:30 (English) service. It went ok, I think. The services here are quite high church, with lots of incense, and bells at the Sanctus and the Consecration (even the outside bell of the church!). I went to the next two services as well the 9:00 (Sinhalese) and 10:30 (Tamil). They were quite similar, although the language was very different. The music changed as well - the 7:3- service felt like an English service, but the 9:00 and 10:30 felt more Sri Lankan. that's not really a good distinction, I know, since they were all authentically Sri Lankan, but it's hard to feel local when you have a pipe organ blasting out English 19th Century hymns!
This weekend was May Day, and so the parish church near here, St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte, held a May Day mass. They invited me to come along, and I'm glad I did - it was like nothing I would see in Canada! We started with a march around the village, led by traditional dancers. All the priests (there were quite a few) were wearing their usual white cassocks, with red stoles emblazoned with the Hammer and Sickle! I marched next to a Sri Lankan ordinand, and just in front of the retired Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. Sydney Knight, who has been very kind to me. After the march (about half an hour, but seemed longer in the hot sun) we went into the church for the mass. The service was all in Tamil and Sinhalese, so I couldn't understand a word of it, but I was still able to follow more or less what part of the service we were at. Things were kicked off by remarks from a Buddhist Monk, and an Imam. Instead of the sermon there was a drama, with Jesus and his followers (the workers) walking in, carrying the cross. Then a man dressed in coat and top hat with "America - USA" written all over it in red white and blue came in, and did a little dance, kicking at Jesus every now and then. As he ran off stage, a chorus came on, did a little dance and song. Then the American was replaced by a politician, then the chorus, then an actor. It was really cool, with great Sri Lankan music through the whole thing. It felt like the liberation theology we talk about in school being lived out!
Yesterday was Sunday, and I went to St. Michael's for the services. I had been asked to preach at the 7:30 (English) service. It went ok, I think. The services here are quite high church, with lots of incense, and bells at the Sanctus and the Consecration (even the outside bell of the church!). I went to the next two services as well the 9:00 (Sinhalese) and 10:30 (Tamil). They were quite similar, although the language was very different. The music changed as well - the 7:3- service felt like an English service, but the 9:00 and 10:30 felt more Sri Lankan. that's not really a good distinction, I know, since they were all authentically Sri Lankan, but it's hard to feel local when you have a pipe organ blasting out English 19th Century hymns!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Arrival
Greetings from Sri Lanka! If I was more on the ball, that would be in the local languages, but I'm not, and it isn't. The point though, which should not be lost in the language, is that I am here in Sri Lanka. I arrived yesterday, around 1:00 local time, and was met by a former assistant to the Bishop, who gave me a ride to my digs for the summer. I am staying at St. Margaret's Convent, an Anglican order of nuns who run a guest house on the side. My room is quite nice, I have my own bathroom and more importantly, my own fan. Yes, folks, it's hot here. It's like being in a sauna all day. I hope that I can get used to it!
The flight from London was ok - the woman in front of my reclined her seat really far, which put a crimp in my leg room for the flight, but there was no one behind me, so I could recline as well. The flight was about 10 hours long.
Once I got here yesterday the nuns fed me (rice and curry) and then I basically spent the afternoon sleeping. It was glorious! I emerged from room for supper, and was able to meet some of the nuns, who are all very sweet. There are a couple other guests at the convent right now, including a woman from Ottawa (who was born in Colombo).
This morning was matins and then Eucharist, and I meet my supervisor in just a few minutes, to find out what I will be doing the rest of my time here in Sri Lanka!
The flight from London was ok - the woman in front of my reclined her seat really far, which put a crimp in my leg room for the flight, but there was no one behind me, so I could recline as well. The flight was about 10 hours long.
Once I got here yesterday the nuns fed me (rice and curry) and then I basically spent the afternoon sleeping. It was glorious! I emerged from room for supper, and was able to meet some of the nuns, who are all very sweet. There are a couple other guests at the convent right now, including a woman from Ottawa (who was born in Colombo).
This morning was matins and then Eucharist, and I meet my supervisor in just a few minutes, to find out what I will be doing the rest of my time here in Sri Lanka!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Heathrow
Well, this is entry 1 of the actual travel blog! Yes, I've left Canada, and am currently on a long, long lay over in Heathrow Airport in London. The flight here was ok, but we should back up a couple days...
Turns out that getting ready to leave the country is a bit of work. I keep forgetting this, and it gets worse when you have to move out at the same time! I spent the last week or so (since I finished the paper) cleaning and packing, neither of which are my favorite things to do. I also had to figure out what to take with me, which was no easy task. The nice thing is that my room at school was not all that big, and so the dust had a limited number of surfaces to adhere to.
On Friday my good friend and erstwhile roommate James came over to Vancouver in a big old VW camper van to move my stuff. I certainly thought that I had a whole lot of boxes, but it took us less than an hour to move it all out! We were working as fast as possible, and managed to make the 6:00 ferry, which meant that we were able to watch the start of the Canucks game on the ferry. We were back at James' place by the start of the second period, and so decided to hold off on unpacking, and instead ordered pizza, and watched the Canucks trounce the Kings. It was just like old times- hockey and Law and Order and then James fell asleep on the couch and started snoring!
Saturday morning I was not up bright and early, but still managed to get my stuff moved into the house in under an hour. That was me working on my own, since James was doing my taxes for the last two years. We both finished at the same time, and he drove me into Victoria. I had a couple hours to kill before meeting Jeff and Kirsten, who I was staying with the next night, and I managed to do a bit more shopping for my trip, most importantly buying more books. I always think that you can never have enough books for a long trip.
Sunday morning was the Cathedral, (much close to Jeff and Kirsten's place) and then a meeting, and the 5:00 ferry home. Yesterday (Monday) was a whirlwind of last minute packing, before the airport at 2, and a flight at 5 (delayed to 5:30).
And that's where I am now! It's currently about 2:00 here in London, my flight is at 9:45 this evening, and gets in around 1:00 pm Colombo time. Hopefully I can sleep some on the second flight!
Turns out that getting ready to leave the country is a bit of work. I keep forgetting this, and it gets worse when you have to move out at the same time! I spent the last week or so (since I finished the paper) cleaning and packing, neither of which are my favorite things to do. I also had to figure out what to take with me, which was no easy task. The nice thing is that my room at school was not all that big, and so the dust had a limited number of surfaces to adhere to.
On Friday my good friend and erstwhile roommate James came over to Vancouver in a big old VW camper van to move my stuff. I certainly thought that I had a whole lot of boxes, but it took us less than an hour to move it all out! We were working as fast as possible, and managed to make the 6:00 ferry, which meant that we were able to watch the start of the Canucks game on the ferry. We were back at James' place by the start of the second period, and so decided to hold off on unpacking, and instead ordered pizza, and watched the Canucks trounce the Kings. It was just like old times- hockey and Law and Order and then James fell asleep on the couch and started snoring!
Saturday morning I was not up bright and early, but still managed to get my stuff moved into the house in under an hour. That was me working on my own, since James was doing my taxes for the last two years. We both finished at the same time, and he drove me into Victoria. I had a couple hours to kill before meeting Jeff and Kirsten, who I was staying with the next night, and I managed to do a bit more shopping for my trip, most importantly buying more books. I always think that you can never have enough books for a long trip.
Sunday morning was the Cathedral, (much close to Jeff and Kirsten's place) and then a meeting, and the 5:00 ferry home. Yesterday (Monday) was a whirlwind of last minute packing, before the airport at 2, and a flight at 5 (delayed to 5:30).
And that's where I am now! It's currently about 2:00 here in London, my flight is at 9:45 this evening, and gets in around 1:00 pm Colombo time. Hopefully I can sleep some on the second flight!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Final Paper
I've hardly had time to think about my trip over the past week, although it is coming up very quickly. I've been hard at work finishing up the last of the school work for the term. There are any number of scholastic requirements before one is allowed to graduate from VST with a Masters of Divinity, but none loomed larger in my mind than the Major Exegetical Paper. This behemoth of a work is widely seen as one of the hardest requirements, at least in the school end of things. This is a 8500 word(30 or so pages)paper, in extreme detail on a very short section of the Bible. You can do it in Hebrew Bible or New Testament, and since I was taking John anyway, though that it might be fun to look closer at the prologue (Chapter 1:1-18). Now, the first thing I found out is that 18 verses is widely considered to be too long- so I took the first 5 verses.
Theoretically I had not only the entire term (with the two week reading break) but extra time after the term to May 6 to finish this paper. I hobbled myself doubly, first by virtually ignoring the paper until everything else was finished, and then by booking my departure for April 26. If there was any question about pressure being a motivator for me, I think I found the answer.
And so, this past Monday, I checked a stack of books I couldn't see over out of the library, and got to work.
When I was a kid, my family was well known at school for how much we read. I mean, we didn't just like books, we lived off them. All my childhood memories are, if not centered around books, certainly shaped by them. Our language was littered with English terms from the 1950s (thanks to Enid Blyton), on car trip Mom would read to us, even when playing video games, or with lego or anything, it was in the downstairs library. We jokingly called it that, the "Downstairs Library", but it really was a library of children's books. What's more, that was only the downstairs portion. The house was (and is, come to think of it) lined with books. Books on every flat surface. Books migrating around the house as different people read them. Books that were read over and over and over again. The greatest crime in our household was to steal someones book while they were still reading it (actually, that still is the greatest crime). I've gotten into violent altercations with most of my siblings over them reading my book or vice versa- and we never felt that we were in the wrong!
Anyway, all that immersion in literature has made me a good reader. I mean, the thinking portion of the paper takes a little longer, but I can go through a stack of books like other people go through a stack of pancakes. It's a useful trait in seminary.
So I spent the week reading, taking notes, and arranging the information in my head. Then I spat it all back up (properly footnoted) into this massive paper. It's mostly done now, and the writing of has almost used me up. I still have to go through and edit the stupid thing, and add a couple original thoughts to the end, but in essence, it's done. I make no claims about grades, or getting it approved, mind you. The goal for this week was to finish it. We'll let next week worry about how good it actually is!
And now that it is done, I can finally turn my thoughts to Sri Lanka. Lots to do before I go- pack, move and store my worldly goods, say good-bye. I'll hardly have any time to read!
Theoretically I had not only the entire term (with the two week reading break) but extra time after the term to May 6 to finish this paper. I hobbled myself doubly, first by virtually ignoring the paper until everything else was finished, and then by booking my departure for April 26. If there was any question about pressure being a motivator for me, I think I found the answer.
And so, this past Monday, I checked a stack of books I couldn't see over out of the library, and got to work.
When I was a kid, my family was well known at school for how much we read. I mean, we didn't just like books, we lived off them. All my childhood memories are, if not centered around books, certainly shaped by them. Our language was littered with English terms from the 1950s (thanks to Enid Blyton), on car trip Mom would read to us, even when playing video games, or with lego or anything, it was in the downstairs library. We jokingly called it that, the "Downstairs Library", but it really was a library of children's books. What's more, that was only the downstairs portion. The house was (and is, come to think of it) lined with books. Books on every flat surface. Books migrating around the house as different people read them. Books that were read over and over and over again. The greatest crime in our household was to steal someones book while they were still reading it (actually, that still is the greatest crime). I've gotten into violent altercations with most of my siblings over them reading my book or vice versa- and we never felt that we were in the wrong!
Anyway, all that immersion in literature has made me a good reader. I mean, the thinking portion of the paper takes a little longer, but I can go through a stack of books like other people go through a stack of pancakes. It's a useful trait in seminary.
So I spent the week reading, taking notes, and arranging the information in my head. Then I spat it all back up (properly footnoted) into this massive paper. It's mostly done now, and the writing of has almost used me up. I still have to go through and edit the stupid thing, and add a couple original thoughts to the end, but in essence, it's done. I make no claims about grades, or getting it approved, mind you. The goal for this week was to finish it. We'll let next week worry about how good it actually is!
And now that it is done, I can finally turn my thoughts to Sri Lanka. Lots to do before I go- pack, move and store my worldly goods, say good-bye. I'll hardly have any time to read!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Well, this blog has been pretty lone and level for the last while! I've not posted since the Olympics, but don't be too hard on me - I was pretty wrapped up in school. Still am, to tell the truth. Classes finished on Maundy Thursday, and I've spent the last week frantically writing papers and doing research. I handed in two papers yesterday, and I'm now in the very brief downtime between papers. Later today I have to start my major exegesis paper, which is a 30 page paper on (in my case) the first five verses of the Gospel of John. But that's for later, and in the meantime, the getting ready for the trip has been progressing nicely!
I have a departure date - April 26. My flight is routed through London, which seems odd to me (surely it's shorter from Vancovuer to go the other way?) but I'm not the one booking it, so no complaints. The amazing upside to going through London is that on the way home (at the end of July) I also go through London, and have arranged for a three day stop over. Westminster Abbey, here I come (again!). I'm also going to see the Tower of London. Yes, I have my time in London all planned out. I can't wait.
I've also spent the last couple weeks getting all the medical tests done. The Anglican Chuch of Canada has a big form for you to fill out, and then you have to go see a doctor. I was not looking forward to this - I don't trust doctors. If you ask me they are always looking for something new (and expensive) to be wrong with you, so they can prescribe new (and expensive!) drugs. However, my distaste for the inside of a doctor's office was not a good reason to bail on this amazing opportunity, so I reluctantly wandered over to the student health center on campus. It was ok - the doctor was quite nice, and did a minimum of poking and prodding. I had to get a blood test and chest x-ray done, as well as a tb skin test. Hopefully that will be it for the doctor.
I've also heard from my buddy Len, who was in Sri Lanka a couple summers ago. He told me that when he was there he preached all the time, and everything was pretty laid back and casual. I think that sounds pretty good to me. He also said that he arrived on a Saturday and was asked to preach on a Sunday. That would be....an interesting challenge... well, we'll see.
I have a departure date - April 26. My flight is routed through London, which seems odd to me (surely it's shorter from Vancovuer to go the other way?) but I'm not the one booking it, so no complaints. The amazing upside to going through London is that on the way home (at the end of July) I also go through London, and have arranged for a three day stop over. Westminster Abbey, here I come (again!). I'm also going to see the Tower of London. Yes, I have my time in London all planned out. I can't wait.
I've also spent the last couple weeks getting all the medical tests done. The Anglican Chuch of Canada has a big form for you to fill out, and then you have to go see a doctor. I was not looking forward to this - I don't trust doctors. If you ask me they are always looking for something new (and expensive) to be wrong with you, so they can prescribe new (and expensive!) drugs. However, my distaste for the inside of a doctor's office was not a good reason to bail on this amazing opportunity, so I reluctantly wandered over to the student health center on campus. It was ok - the doctor was quite nice, and did a minimum of poking and prodding. I had to get a blood test and chest x-ray done, as well as a tb skin test. Hopefully that will be it for the doctor.
I've also heard from my buddy Len, who was in Sri Lanka a couple summers ago. He told me that when he was there he preached all the time, and everything was pretty laid back and casual. I think that sounds pretty good to me. He also said that he arrived on a Saturday and was asked to preach on a Sunday. That would be....an interesting challenge... well, we'll see.
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