2007 September | jordoncooper.com

Archives for September, 2007

Contextless Thoughts ™

What is it that Democrats see in Hillary Clinton? If she wins the primary, she will will unite the Republicans in a way that James Dobson could only dream of. Speaking of the religious right, I wonder what would happen if a strong evangelical presidential candidate who shared their values and happened to be a Democrat ran for President (you know, like Jimmy Carter). Would they acknowledge his or her existence or campaign against them because they are nothing more than a tool of the GOP.
As a Denver Bronco fan, I wasn’t really surprised to see this.
Saskatchewan won big in Montreal.
At one time today, I had worked 24 of the last 32 hours. The worse thing is that someone had donated these sofas to the Centre and they called out to me every time I walked by them. 5 hours of sleep later and here I am back at work for another 16 hour stretch and the sofas are calling to me again. I was also quite disappointed that the kitchen wouldn’t let me hook a hose up to the coffee maker and run it to my office. Wendy suggested those hats that hold cans of beer but I think that would be a little warm when full of coffee.
The NHL opened their season in London. I searched through a lot of English blogs and not a single mention. Of all of the European countries to open the season in, why England and why not a country that likes hockey or has an infrastructure (like hockey rinks) that would allow the game to grow.
Does anyone know of any literacy programs that can be used for adults that you have used and can recommend. If you have can you e-mail me at jordoncooper AT gmail.com.
Mark is taking karate twice a week at his school. I was doubtful at first but after a week being punched (”Dad, stand there while I practice punching you!”) I am thinking he has some potential. I am helping his development by making him watch every episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
I graduated from a public Catholic high school and would have no problem with sending Mark to a Catholic school but what John Tory forgets is that it isn’t the school’s responsibility to teach religion, it is the church/temple/synagogue and possibly more importantly the families. Catholic schools don’t make better Catholics and while I learned more about religion and less about birth control then I would have at a public school, it was a pretty secular and in many ways pagan education. The issue is an odd one to lose a campaign over considering the payoff isn’t that great even if the people of Ontario rallied around it… and they haven’t.

09/30/2007 | Contextless Thoughts | No Comments

The National Post has a good story on the job (both good and bad) that J.P. Riccardi has done as the General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. The team is as mediocre as always but it has had a lot of injuries this year. At the same time the team played better when the kids were playing the stars were out. Make sense of that. I do think the team is a long ways behind where the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are and I don’t see that gap closing at all but can you close that gap with a $80 million payroll.

09/29/2007 | sports | No Comments

Prince of Peace - God of War

John Campea’s movie, Prince of Peace - God of War is now out and getting some good reviews from the film festivals. Yes I am in it and no I haven’t seen my part yet… I hate the sound of my voice so I will see if I can get a special director’s cut without me in it to see what McLaren, Campolo and others have to say. There is a trailer and more information on the site. As they say, it will also be coming to a theatre near you.

Tags: war

09/29/2007 | film, friends | No Comments

Brian McLaren in Ottawa

The Ottawa Citizen’s story on Brian McLaren speaking in Ottawa to the Anglican church.

Can Brian McLaren heal the fractured Anglican church with a new vision of Christianity for the 21st century? The balding, bespectacled baby boomer is one of the leading lights in a new Christian movement: church without speeches, rules, robes — sometimes without churches. Ottawa’s Anglicans have invited this leader of the “emerging church” movement to speak tomorrow and Saturday so that he might show them how to stay faithful — and hopeful — during a time when Anglicans are undergoing one of the most wrenching times in their church’s history.

Talk about high expectations for a conference.

Joseph Moreau of Ecclesiax is mentioned as well.

In Ottawa, Ecclesiax on Monk Street has been identified with the emergent church movement, although one of its leaders, Joseph Moreau, is reluctant to be tagged with something so trendy. On a recent Sunday, a handful of faithful gathered in the Ecclesiax church, some with a few children. There were dreadlocks, and a sort of Mohawk “unplugged” — no gel to keep the hair upright. Scripture was read, music played, prayers were said and bread and wine were offered with the understanding that whoever took the bread was undertaking to be a follower of Jesus. Later, though, Mr. Moreau hesitated about whether the methods of Ecclesiax could be grafted on to the older communities.

It doesn’t look like the reporter thinks that Joseph can save the Anglican church though.

Tags: Canada

09/29/2007 | Christianity, Resonate, emerging church | 1 Comment

Dear Ronald McDonald

We’re done. Kaput. Finished. I will never eat at one of your restaurants again.

I had a splitting headache today and instead of eating much, I took some Advil and waited for the pain to go away. About the time it did, it was time to go to work at midnight and since McDonald’s is one of the few places open this late in Saskatoon, I decided to stop in and get a Big Mac.

My first choice was the McDonald’s on Idylwyld Drive. The drive thru was about 10 cars long so I went to work and Wendy offered to go to the McDonald’s on 22nd Street. She came back a short time later, dropped off the food. The good part was the coffee was fresh and really hot. After that it went down hill.

The Diet Coke was flat.
The fries were COLD
The Big Mac was slathered with so much “secret sauce” that it was all over the bun and just disgusting. Also, it was cold.

I looked for the receipt to e-mail the manager. No receipt was in the bag. I called the store, no manager was on duty. I asked when one would be in, the employee didn’t know and told me there was nothing he could do about my cold fries, flat Diet Coke and defiled Big Mac. I logged onto McDonalds.ca so I could e-mail someone. No e-mail address is listed on the site. I guess I could wait until Monday and call you (on my dime) or I could write you but instead but c’mon, I shouldn’t have to work that hard to give you a legitimate complaint. I have been eating your food since I was a kid and I still remember the day I had my first Big Mac but never again. This has happened so many times and for so long (your late night quality control is non-existant) that it is pointless to hope for something better. I’ll see you around.

No longer your friend,

Jordon

09/29/2007 | Saskatoon | 1 Comment

Coffee For People Who Want To Think Returns October 7th

For those of you who are in Saskatoon and are looking for some theological discussion and dialogue, Coffee for People Who Want to Think is returning on October 7. We are discussing Kester Brewin’s excellent book, Signs of Emergence which you can pick up from Amazon.com, Scott’s Parable or McNally Robinson. More information over at Church of the Exiles.

09/28/2007 | Saskatoon, theology | No Comments

Graveyard

With us being short staffed at work, I have been working graveyards on the weekends. I don’t mind them but I often get off work at Thursday at midnight and then start work Saturday at midnight which means my “day off” is only 24 hours long but I get that back during the week with some extra long breaks between shifts which are not considered days off. This weekend will be a fun one as I am going into work at midnight, working until 8:00 a.m., coming home and sleeping until 3:00 p.m. and then back at work at 4:00 p.m. I will then work for 16 straight hours and then come home at 8:00 a.m., sleep until 3:00 p.m. and head back to work at 4:00 p.m. where I will work another 16 hours until 8:00 a.m. Monday morning. Five shifts in two and a half days. If I am able to speak English on Monday morning, I will consider it a moral victory.

09/28/2007 | work | 1 Comment

Photo Friday: Comfort

My submission for Photo Friday: Comfort

Tags: Photo Friday, religion

09/27/2007 | photography | 2 Comments

Where the Emerging Church in the U.K. is going

I guess I could comment on Mark Driscoll’s latest podcast but I would rather point you to this article by Ian Moseby on where the emerging church in the U.K. is headed.

Social Capital - The greatest challenge to emerging churches in the UK is human-power to sustain projects and initiatives. Due to changes in work patterns, people increasingly have little spare time that they can volunteer, increasing the need for paid employment to create the human resources for projects. This is a real strain for main groups. However, some have started exploring a new model – first set up by Church of the Apostles in Seattle – of creating intentional community spaces at reduced rents in return for time in various projects. So, for example, some projects such as Moot in central London, are now seeking to set up intentional communities for students, artists and musicians and volunteers in return for their input of time into various projects. This may be an important model for establishing sustainability.

09/27/2007 | emerging church | No Comments

Big Box Pawn Shop

To make a long story short, we lost the battery charger for the camcorder which I want to take to Soularize so I can videotape people swimming with man-eating sharks (Spencer tells me this is safe). After thinking about getting a cheap Aiptek camera (won’t ship to Canada or even accept a Canadian billing address) I decided for the first time in my life to check out some of the many pawn shops that are by the shelter where I work. Mark and I go to the biggest one and look around and I was stunned by how high the prices were. In many cases 15% - 20% over new and yet people were buying and I could not understand why unless for a certain percentage of people that don’t have cars and don’t use public transport, just shopping for basic items at inflated prices makes them poorer, like those that use 7-11 for basic groceries. For that reason I started shopping once in a while at Giant Tiger who moved into 22nd Street and provide new stuff at really cheap prices. I hate shopping at big discount places but they provide a great service to the neighborhood and they have cheap hockey sticks. It also got me thinking about Wal-Mart this summer when they had a selection of $1000+ patio tables for sale. Everyday low prices but for an entirely different more upscale market.

The good news is that there is a food cooperative going into the neighborhood but as several people I used to work with at Safeway have wondered, how are they going to sell enough volume to keep costs down in a small store. I hope they have a solution.

Back to the charger. I found one online for $20 and a day after it shipped, we realized my brother’s camcorder uses the same batteries (and charger) as mine so there will be footage of me being eaten by a shark.

Tags: affluenza

09/27/2007 | poverty | No Comments