Christmas 2007

So Christmas 2007 has come and gone. It was an odd one for me. I enjoyed it and Wendy blogged about it here (and she blogged about Boxing Day here). This is Mark's seventh Christmas and he was the same age I was when my dad walked out a couple weeks after Christmas. I remember a lot about that Christmas, including what an ass he was that holiday and thinking how much better life would be without him. Those thoughts came to haunt me within a couple of weeks and he was gone and life was changed. I may not be the perfect dad but I made it this far. It's an odd milestone to celebrate but it feels pretty good. As a friend of mine said, "You have to experienced it to really understand what this feels like." I think the rest of you will think I am going crazy but that is okay too.

Christmas was a simple affair as it often is around here. I woke up early, went down to the Centre with Maggi to haul some televisions out for the guys and wish a Merry Christmas to the staff that was working. I was home by around 8:15 a.m. and everyone was just getting out of bed to open gifts. The big gift of the day was for Mark. A couple of months ago Lee said he wanted to get Mark a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We phoned and phoned and no one had one (well done Nintendo. I wonder how many PS3's were sold by people who could not get a Wii?). Somewhere along the way, Mark started to say that he wanted a Sony Playstation 2 like his Uncle Lee. We realized a) you could find them b) it was cheaper c) there were a lot of games to play for it. So Lee got him a PS2 and Wendy and I bought him the Guitar Hero I & II combo and the guitar controller. One thing we learned while opening the gifts is that Sony's marketing hasn't gotten to Mark. As he was opening the gift he said, "I see a P and part of a S. I wonder what this is?"

We played The Simpsons game for a bit before we took out the guitar and then the competition started. For the last two days Guitar Hero has been played by at least one of us and a lot of smack has been talked around here. I hate to admit it but both Wendy and Lee are better than I am and Lee is the reigning Guitar Hero of the household.

From the family, Wendy gave me Warren Kinsella's book, The War Room. Mark gave me Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. Mark and I have been watching Poker After Dark on Sportsnet and I am fascinated by it although I am embarrassed to say that I have no idea what is happening during the show. To help remedy that, he gave me No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Edition 2006 (with some help from Wendy). Maggi gave me Kanye West's CD, Graduation while Santa Claus dropped off Shadow by Bob Woodward and The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Lee gave me one of the new Star Wars themed PSP's. Until I was playing around with it, I had no idea it also had a RSS reader in it. Expect to see a PSP feed reader checking out your feed stats in the near future. Until I get a memory stick for it this week, I will have to remain content with fighting the Empire.

After we established I was horrible at Guitar Hero, we stopped in and saw the Pederson clan and then was off to the Reimers were we had a great supper with a large group of friends. Today was more Guitar Hero (Wendy and Lee were battling it out) and we managed to take Mark to the park to test out a used GT Sno Racer I got for him just before Christmas and his snowboard.

The only bad part of the holiday season is I have had a fever, chills and cold for most of it. Thursday I am back at work and hopefully this gets better than worse.

Technorati tags: PSP, Sony, PS2, Guitar Hero

Happy Holidays

Well as I post this I am ready for Christmas.  Every fall I start a spreadsheet and over the following months it gets refined and items picked up.  We were done the bulk of the shopping well before the craziness of Christmas shopping hits and I actually made two trips to the 24 hour Wal-Mart to do some shopping.  Last night Wendy and I set our alarm for 3:00 a.m. and went to the Stonegate Wal-Mart and wandered around a bit.  It is amazing how the shopping experience gets better when there are only 20 other shoppers in the largest Wal-Mart in western Canada.  The really odd thing is that on both trips to Wal-Mart I saw someone shopping in what was clearly pajamas.  If I could be dressed to shop, surely they could be as well.   Wendy and I only had a couple of things to look at but the problem with shopping at 3:00 a.m. is that you can't really call anyone up and casually ask, "So do you have a deep fryer?".  I guess you could but Wendy wouldn't let me.

Wendy struggled a bit with her shopping for me and blogged a bit about it.  Her depression, self-imposed pressure, and firm deadlines don't always go together.  After reminding her that the perfect Christmas generally isn't purchased, a lot of stress went away and the four of us are relaxing while listening to some Christmas tunes.  Well actually Lee and Mark are having a Karate duel right now, Maggi is barking, and Wendy is officiating.  It isn't looking good for Mark or Lee while Maggi is holding her own.

Lee is off work as Case New Holland shuts down for a week over the holidays.  While I am sure he has some skills working on the paint line, he just brought up some presents that look like they were wrapped by a man.  Wendy is working at Safeway on Christmas Eve but for only the second time since we have been married gets Boxing Day off of work.  The big question on Christmas Eve is how many married men will come in at 4:00 p.m. or later and ask Wendy where Safeway keeps the jewelry.  They look so worried when she says they don't sell it.  I am putting in a half day at the Centre tomorrow and then am out of there at noon.  I am spending the morning sorting out the stuff that we are giving to the guys on Christmas morning.  Some churches have made gift bags for the guys as well as a lot of individual donations to be sorted.  The photo to the right is just some of the stuff taking up every single square inch in my office.  On top of that I have stuff stored all over the Centre.  Last week I actually created a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.  We are renting some DVDs and offering up a lot of food as well, it should be a pretty nice day.  If the weather improves Mark and I will take his GT Sno Racer out for a run.  I had one as a kid and some of the most painful things I have ever endured came as a result of that thing so it should be fun.  I just hope his injuries don't affect his Christmas.

On Christmas morning, I am getting up early and helping set up things down at the shelter.  Once shift change happens, I am heading back home to open gifts with the family.  Sometime tomorrow we are heading to the Reimer's to eat and argue.  Today Gloria and I had a conversation where we both decided that we would rather just talk about the faith rather than live it out so all we have to do is argue :-)

I have a growing photo set on Flickr of Christmas 2007 photographs.  I am sure more will be uploaded over the next couple of days but don't expect anything here until I head back to work on the 27th. 

Enjoy Christmas!

Technorati tags: Christmas, Wal-Mart, GT Sno Racer

So how does one make a difference?

I was reading some comments, IM, and e-mail in response to my last post.  Instead of editing my post, I am going to offer up some further thoughts.

I grew up in the church and therefore Christmas productions.  It was a lot of rehearsals and time that I could have been playing road hockey and in the end I was glad when it was over but I also admit it was kind of fun.  It taught me some great truths, mostly about how important it was to learn my lines and sing in a choir (yes, I sang in a choir off and on into my teen years).  It also taught me that it was okay for people to yell at one another and cry if they were musical.  The community came, drank apple cider, and engaged for that season with our community.  For the most part it was people connected to the performers (either kids or adults) or people looking for a nostalgic Christmas experience or other Christians looking to soak up as much Christmas as possible over the holidays (Christmas-holics?)  I am sure there is some value in it and I am sure many people love it but come January, whatever changes in church attendance went back down to previous levels.  Even if you are part of a church where a bunch of people come twice a year (Christmas and Easter), whatever is being done at Christmas isn't bringing them back very soon.

Now what could be done with a couple thousand volunteer hours in the community?  Servant Evangelism has a plethora of ideas to do over the holidays locally.  Every day at work we have people asking for warm winter gear (thanks to all those who have donated).  Globally there is the Advent Conspiracy where churches have come together to raise money for fresh drinking water in Africa or as they put it, "Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption".   Other churches like Ginghamsburg have committed to confront with the crisis in Sudan.  As a worship event, instead of the big event, how about stealing an idea from Grace and give people a "time out" during Advent.

I am trashing Christmas traditions and maybe there is some value in dusting off the Maranatha Christmas books but if the aim is to be a missional community, I think there may be some better options.

I had a couple of IM conversations with friends who commented on the past as saying that part of the problem is that in the suburbs, you don't see that much need... especially in communities where the homeless problem is invisible and as one friend said, "People in my church don't have very many friends who are not Christians."  I wonder if this the result of the church doing what Dallas Willard talks about when we take people out of the regular communities and keep them in church communities.  Not only does the church deprive a community of ones redemptive potential but at the same time we lose touch of the community we live in. 

It got me thinking of the Christmas ads the Salvation Army runs.  Click on the ad for a full sized version.  Partly because I can see a crack house while typing this blog entry out and where I work, the need is pretty obvious for me.  Guys need warm winter clothes, many single parents who were on a losing strike at the University have very little for Christmas, there are even those who are trying to sleep outside in this weather (which makes the graphic there a little haunting to me).  Today in a meeting arose the need for more programs for people with full blown AIDS and of course low income housing is a big issue with occupancy rates as low as 1% in the city.

There are a lot of materialistic choices to be made this winter (I have even linked to some for you) but as I said before, there are a lot of things we can do that can make a big difference for others this winter.  Maybe my definition of "making a difference" is different than yours but I still think the church can do better than a Christmas cantata.

Technorati tags: Advent Conspiracy, Sudan, Advent, Christmas

Staff Christmas Party

Wendy and I went to the staff Christmas party the other night at The Barn Playhouse and she has a rather nice blog post about it.

Technorati tags: The Barn Playhouse

Wendy's Birthday

Wendy turns 38 today and is a little weirded out that her co-workers all knew it was her birthday from Facebook.  Of course at her age, new technologies often confuse her.  She's spending the day ranting about how much better things were back when she was young... the era of Pong, Vic-20s, and when she thought she looked good in leg warmers. 

Technorati tags: Wendy Cooper, Facebook, Safeway

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope yours was a decent Thanksgiving weekend. Around the Cooper family compound, it was busy with Wendy and I both working all weekend as well as the holiday today. I worked the graveyard shift Sunday so I got to cook the dinner. Wendy enlisted Lee's help who managed to turn on the oven by himself and place the turkey beside the stove before wandering off. After that I just kind of took over with Mark and we cooked up a fine dinner. After watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, I rediscovered my love for Yorkshire pudding and of course have joined the Campaign for Real Gravy.

Later last night, the Reimer's came over and Mark gave Gloria a karate lesson, we ate some pumpkin pie and all was good.

Contextless Thanksgiving Day Links

• The Broncos got hammered at home but Notre Dame finally won. Give Charlie Weiss another ten year contract extension!
• 10 Ways to Save $500 over a year
• Lessons learned from those who are impoverished.
• I'm a Designer. Use Me Better.
• A giant coconut crab and not a B movie prop.

Canada Day Picnic

I posted about this before but I thought I would let you know that the Church of the Exiles is getting together for a picnic on Sunday at Kinsmen Park.  All of the details can be found here but here is the important stuff.

• Time: 4:00 p.m.
• Location: The plan is to meet at Kinsmen Park in the area that is in between City Hospital and the Kinsmen Park parking lot and is just west of the Mendel Art Gallery.
• What to bring: Lawn chairs, mosquito repellent, food for a picnic.  We will bring a propane powered stove (there are no BBQ's in the park).
• Activities: Water park, Frisbee, food, and reflecting on what Canada would be like if William Shatner becomes Prime Minister.

Technorati tags: Canada Day, Saskatoon, picnic, Kinsmen Park

Father's Day

Today was Father's Day and Mark gave me a barbecue set and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. watch which raised my eyebrows a bit. I think that means that my right arm is now sponsored by Budweiser. I have been watching a little NASCAR lately with Mark and I have to admit, it is better than watching Formula One or IndyCart (although Paul Tracey does liven it up quite a bit). The rest of the day was spent trying to sleep as I am working nights the next two weeks and this is my one transition day. The sleep never came no matter how many left turns they made today in Michigan. We had hoped to do some carting ourselves today but it rained a couple of inches which is doing wonders for my lawn but not so much for my efforts in being a NASCAR dad (you know, taking Mark to NASCAR practices, NASCAR little league games, NASCAR recitals...)

Technorati tags: NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Father's Day

God Save the Queen

It's Victoria Day long weekend in Canada where we celebrate the Queen and everything she means to us. I have only seen the Queen once and that was when her motorcade was going north on Idylwyld Drive and we were headed south. It was just a brief second but I think we bonded. She as the bored monarch and me as the disinterested simple peasant.

Back in 1991 I was attended a dinner held in honor of Prince Andrew and his then wife, Princess Sarah. The dinner was fine but I realized that public speaking skills were not a prerequisite to being a part of the Royal Family.

While I have to work today, we got together for a fun barbecue at our house last night with some of the Church of the Exiles. The rain held off and we had enough propane for the grill so all was good. We did have some frightening conversations about music and the deep dark mp3s that all of us have hidden on our iPods. We should have had a confessional set up because someone said that she had actually seen Carmen in concert.

Happy Victoria Day Long Weekend

It's so cold I saw my breath today while mowing the lawn. At Canadian Tire, the greenhouse workers were wearing winter jackets. Happy traditional start to summer!

Victoria Day Weekend Barbecue

The Church of the Exiles is having a barbecue at our place on Victoria Day long weekend. It will be on the Sunday and we will be celebrating the Queen by playing a game of polo, some cricket, saluting Tony Blair, and maybe rioting at a soccer match. The details are here.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend which for us means it is never ordinary. In the past Thanksgivings have been marked as travel days to Soularize or just getting back from it. A couple of years ago I slept through Thanksgiving, having spent the night before "sleeping" in a Boston airport and enduring a long flight back to Saskatoon. This year was to be really ordinary and a relaxing couple of days off. When I was at work yesterday evening, I found out a co-workers sister had passed away and so I am now working Sunday and Monday. It should be pretty quiet at the shelter and half-way house this weekend but everytime they tell me it should be quiet, I get swamped. Of course I was looking forward to a big Thanksgiving Turkey dinner at work but that is at the Friendship Inn.

For the Thanksgiving meal on Sunday, we are having over Jerry and Becky along with Lee. As long as I get some butter soaked mashed turnips, I shall be happy.

Technorati Tags : Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

So we had Lee (from the room downstairs), Mark (from the bedroom upstairs), Jerry, Gloria, Kristy, and Becky over for Thanksgiving dinner. A lot of bird was consumed, some arguments over the shootout were made, and some turnips were eaten. It was a nice time of friends, foes, and family. One thing that came up was about Francis Shaeffer as Becky called him scary in relation to his fundementalist Orthodox son Franky Schaeffer. I had to ask why is Francis Shaeffer scary and she responded with that his writings helped form dominionism. I had never heard of dominionism (but almost everyone else in the room had). Wikipedia has this...

Dominionism is a term used by some social scientists and critics to describe a trend in Protestant Christian evangelicalism and fundamentalism that encourages political participation in civic society by Christians through appeals to their religious beliefs. The term Dominionism is used to describe a full spectrum of such appeals, ranging from a duty as stewards to vote, to the desire to subjugate the political system for a Christian religious cause. Politically active conservative Christians rarely use the term dominionism as a self-description; many feel it is a loaded or pejorative term. Use of the term is primarily limited to liberal and left critics of the Christian Right. The term emerged in relation to the Christian Right in the mid-1990s, but became more widely known due in large part to the U.S. presidential election, 2004 where the media attributed Republican wins to "Evangelical voters in "Red states" who voted for "moral values;" although most poll analysts call this claim oversimplistic.

Schaeffer's writings contibute to this as

Schaeffer is sometimes called one of the founders of the Christian Right movement, which some have labeled a Dominionist movement. Schaeffer was influenced by the writings of R. J. Rushdoony, the intellectual founder of Christian Reconstructionism, a postmillennialist form of Theocratic Domininism. Schaeffer and Rushdoony read each others' writings, and even met. Schaeffer led a study of Rushdoony's writings at Schaeffer's institute in Switzerland. Schaeffer and other premillennialists picked up themes of dominionism from the postmillennialist Rushdoony, and adapted them to premillennial theology. Some commentators emphasize Schaeffer's differences with Christian Reconstructionism, and with R.J. Rushdoony. A systematic difference was his rejection of theocracy. In the book, A Christian Manifesto, Schaeffer writes, "There is no New Testament basis for a linking of church and state until Christ, the King returns." Critical writers however, emphasize the similarities and overlapping influence of Schaeffer and the Reconstructionists, on the formation of the Christian Right.

Wikipedia does defend Schaeffer...

Christian Right leaders such as Tim LaHaye have credited Schaeffer for influencing their theological arguments urging political participation by evangelicals (LaHaye, Battle, p. 5). But it is possible that LaHaye and others who cite Schaeffer's influence are extending their ideas well beyond what Schaeffer himself suggested.

This has nothing to do with anything and definately not Thanksgiving but I thought it was interesting and worth posting, if only to expose my own ignorance.

Back to Thanksgiving. Too much turkey, I defended Grant Devine, an admission that
Janice MacKinnon may be the greatest leader in Saskatchewan, I bashed Peter C. Newman, we complained about the NHL shootout, Gloria ignored the conversation and read Kester Brewin's book, The Complex Christ, and there was some turnips. We also all found out that Becky was smarter than I am.

Link

Thanksgiving

Got off work last night and went for dinner with Wendy and Mark which was an experience in itself. We have never tried the Spadina Freehouse and have always wanted to go but was told by several people that the food is not that good and is a better bar than restaurant and not to go. Fair enough. We drove around town and didn't find much open that really excited us so we ended up at Boston Pizza. John Campea, Jeb, and I used to go here all of the time and John and I watched a lot of football and hockey games here. I will say that I don't think a restaurant in Saskatoon has been improved as much as Boston Pizza by the no-smoking by-law. It actually smelled like a restaurant which was nice.

Today is going to be quiet. I have some reading I need to do as well as this back-log of e-mail which is never, ever fun. We had some opportunity to be around some people today but today I need a day off from people to prepare for another long week ahead which has some bad days already scheduled.

Being in Spiritwood yesterday was good. I miss it when I am away for a week. The service was great and the worship was theologically brilliant. I just wish I didn't have to work in the afternoon in Saskatoon (doh).

Happy Thanksgiving

• Am off to Spiritwood to preach and then am working this afternoon at Safeway so church people can condemn for working on Thanksgiving Sunday. Am off this evening and will be home by 7:00. Wahoo! Thankfully Wendy is driving today. I can sleep.
  
• Notre Dame won. Win #800.
  
• Am spending a quiet Thanksgiving this year. Am just too tired to do anything and am bagged from working this weekend. Am going to spend tomorrow doing some writing and catching up on a couple hundred unread e-mail.
  

Thanksgiving

I realized today that I missed Thanksgiving this year. Well I didn't miss it. Wendy and I had some turkey and rice on Monday night. as we kind of hung out while Mark was napping. It was good to sit and talk. It has been a stressful year but not a bad one. I was so tired during dinner that I kind of forgot what was happening around me.

I went job hunting today. Was twice told I was overqualified. The dude interviewing me seemed intimidated by my resume and both times said that they didn't want to hire someone that wouldn't be there long. In the end, I want to be someplace where I can use my mind, deal with people, and not have to take my job home with me. We'll see what happens. If you are in Saskatoon and got a lead, let me know at coop@jordoncooper.com

Thanksgiving

What a night. After spending another night in the Hilton for free, we headed over to our hotel to find out that they didn't have a reservation for us for Saturday night, despite Jeb, Todd, and I all specifically saying we were leaving Sunday. There were no hotel rooms within 70 miles of Boston. We watched the game from a quaint pub near Fenway and then headed to the airport where we "slept". Jeb and Todd were able to get earlier connecting flights to Calgary but because I am using AirMiles, I can't.

That being said, yesterday was fun. We went to Harvard and looked around. Took some pictures, had the same meal we have had what seems to be a thousand times (burger and fries) and looked around some more.

Friday night we managed to get to Quincey Market and see some of the Boston Commons. Quincey Market is a great idea but the shops and food are really touristy. I don't know if I liked it or not.

I should be home just before midnight. I don't know what I will be looking forward to more, seeing Wendy and Mark or having a shower and falling asleep.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Off to speak in Spiritwood and then to Edmonton to drop off the boy with Lloyd and Cathy. Will be back in 14 hours.

Also, if you sent any e-mail to coop@jordoncooper.com in the last two days, I haven't got it but it is working now (forgot to renew domain). Sorry about that.