the old bill

RiverRunning: Sandpainting video

2009-11-26T10:06:09-06:00

Will post more on RiverRunning. But here's a video that was shown on Saturday night. Quite astonishing. [Might be a bit slow loading]

stumbling into advent: christmas credo

2009-11-26T08:59:21-06:00

Will post on RiverRunning as soon as a i have a few more minutes. Was collecting thoughts about Advent and reading Jonny Baker where I found an advent affirmation of faith which caused me to think about what I would write as a christmas credo. Here's what came:

I believe logic notwithstanding
I believe logic notwithstanding that God became a baby
I believe Mary protected the prenatal God in her womb
and nursed the infant God at her breast
I believe Joseph, like me, eventually caught on,
but it took him a long time.
I believe that the holy family were peasants, that the stable stank and so did the shepherds
I believe that that the political powers shook with fear
and convulsed into violence and that they still do
I believe these stories matter, believe that truth is deeper than fact
and has been throughout time.

RiverRunning

2009-10-19T22:13:22-05:00

RiverRunning - a celebration of intercultural ministry - is coming on Nov 20-22. Knox is one of its sponsors. I created a side blog with info on it creatively called RiverRunning. This is a regional follow-up to the national Behold event held last year around this time. I've posted a number of videos from the Behold conference there - to give a bit of a sense of what RiverRunning will be like [one at the end of this post as well]. Also did a bit of a breakdown of Winnipeg diversity/interculturalism by demographics in the various neighbourhoods here.

This should be an astonishing event. There's info on how to register etc. on the sidebar of the RiverRunning blog. If you are involved with Knox or any of its partners, you can be part of our pool - pay whatever you can afford and throw it into the mix. We're registering a block of 30-40 people. To do this you could 1. post a comment below with contact info, 2. email me at mbmbillar@gmail.com or 3. call the office 942-4579 [or figure some other way of letting us know]....

Also started a facebook group - you could check there for more info.

how've you been?

2009-10-19T21:32:28-05:00

It's been a while. Almost closed down the shop. Didn't seem to have anything to say, and no heart for saying it. Maybe I just needed a bit of a break. Anyway....

Heard John Raulston Saul on CBC 1's Ideas last week. Great program, but can't find a podcast of it. However here is him being interviewed by Allan Gregg on the same theme - the aboriginal roots of the uniquely Canadian identity.

the problem of persuasion

2009-07-15T10:27:30-05:00

The mind's ability to alter itself is the source of human freedom. Information expands the capacity of the mind to change. Persuasion limits that capacity. Beliefs must be held lightly, because certainty is frequently the enemy of truth. [Milton Glaser]

Heard Eleanor Wachtel interviewing Milton Glaser on Ideas last night. He said something similar to the quote above. Talked about the function of art being to delight and inform, but not persuade, that the problem of persuasion is that it disempowers the other person. It would be good if somehow I could remember that. My default, it seems, in family and in the church is persuasion.

bits: lullaby, aids awareness, central market, & school of life

2009-07-14T13:18:20-05:00

hi again. seem to be taking prolonged holidays from this blog. anyway here's a few bits:http://www.theschooloflife.com/

first a bit of a zulu lullaby to mellow you out as you read the bits below.

This Saturday is the Third HIV/AIDS Awareness Day at Central Market. The poster says it is at Knox - that's because until the last minute it was not clear what kind of access we would have to the park or alternative arrangements. It will be on Edmonton Street [which will be closed] between Sargent and Qu'appelle [400 block] from 1 to 4 pm.

Speakers / entertainers this year include:

Minister of Healthy Living - Kerry Irvin-Ross
Fred Penner [yes that Fred Penner!]
Focus Africa Choir
Flo Oramasionwu [Flo Soul]
Central Park Dancers
Buffalo Gals Drum Group

The Connecting Communities Coalition is a joint initiative of aboriginal and newcomer women to bring about greater awareness of HIV in their respective communities. There will be entertainment, food, children's activities - so come out and join us!

Though many people have come together over the last several years to make this happen, we are forever grateful to the passion of the indomitable Aynai Ali for her vision and commitment.

Central Market for Global Families is back up and running. This year, because of construction in the park, we will operate every Saturday [10 to 3] on Edmonton Street [closed to traffic]. If the park opens before the end of summer, we will move inside, but plan for a street party instead!

We will have produce from the Rainbow Community Garden [our agricultural initiative at University of Manitoba] within the next few weeks. Also from the Sister Mac Boys and Girls club who have been growing produce in their gardens at Sister Mac School.

As well as AIDS Awareness Day remember our other big festival - Central Park Revival on the 3rd Saturday in August.

Fiesta Fridays will be on Qu'appelle in front of the church [between Edmonton and the lane], from 4 to 9 pm each Friday.

Watch for some of our vendors also at the Forks Market on Wednesday, and perhaps also at the Osborne Village Market on Thursday.

Our celebration of GlobalSong at Knox was a great success. Bruce Harding will be back in August to help put together the band for the RiverRunning Intercultural conference in November. He's quite an astonishing fellow, and was pretty taken with the great cultural diversity of Knox - Central Park, and the potential for building a truly global community here.

Finally, I came across this interesting initiative in the UK. Have a read through what they offer - quite interesting.

Central Market in PPS Report

2009-06-08T14:21:52-05:00

In one of tne of the feature stories at Project for Public Spaces entitled Public Markets Conference Sets New Agenda for Communities and Local Economies, Central Market is presented as a "perfect example" of markets as community anchors. Here's an excerpt from the article

6. Build and enhance social capital: Markets as places which draw people together.

In the workshop session about “Markets as Community Anchors,” moderator (and sailor) Oran Hesterman of the Fair Food Network talked about what an “anchor” really does: it doesn’t keep the boat in one location, but it does allow the boat to drift in a controlled manner. Markets that are community anchors are like this as well: they provide a way to bring people together, anchoring a community around food and place, but they are always “shifting” and evolving, just as a community shifts and evolves.

One of presentations at this session provided a perfect example. A group of African immigrants from Winnipeg, Canada, started a market in an underused park in downtown to provide an anchor for the traditions and culture they have brought with them to their new home. “A few years ago, nobody went to Central Park—it was all police,” explained Othello Wesse from the Central Market for Global Families. “We started imagining the possibility of people coming together from different backgrounds--and that’s how the market started.”

Now, the market gathers vendors from Africa, Asia and the Americas to sell food, music and handicrafts. People from throughout the city attend the market on a regular basis, attracted not only by its diverse offerings but also by its warm sense of community. Said Wesse, “The market is there to bring hope and family together.”

Whole article here. Click on 'read more'

Central Market: Getting Ready

2009-06-08T10:11:35-05:00

Getting close... Central Market for Global Families is gearing up for the best summer yet. We've received wonderful support this year. CentreVenture has given financial support. The Forks - North Portage has also given us financial support, and connected us with their PR firm Fusion - who has put together a great promotional package for us for free!!!

One of the features was a new logo and a banner design. Thanks also to The Forks we will set up an informational booth at the Forks Market - which receives a lot more foot traffic than Central Park. We can use it as a space for advertising our market.

Gloria @ West End Biz has some money for small banners for the lampposts in the community, which should be great!

This Friday evening @ 5:30 at Knox we are having a Pot-Luck dinner and meeting for all interested vendors or volunteers. If you are interested in either, please come and join us - this will be our chance to organize and plan together.

This week we go to the special events committee at City Hall. They have been so supportive in the past - we look forward to ways of working together again.

There's a Central Market facebook group you can join. Also will be updating the blog. Market opens on June 20 during World Refugee Day.

why art thou silent

2009-06-01T08:20:31-05:00

"Why art thou silent and invisible. . ." [Wm Wordsworth]

I've been both, I know, o great multitudes of readers. Well both of you anyway. Have had no heart for writing on this blog, no words, and simply putting punctuation on a page didn't seem a workable option. Nothing much to say, neither funny nor wise, little to pontificate about, nor really anything to rant about. It's not that I've been depressed or burnt out. Some stuff happened and I find it myself more likely whispering to myself on the street than proclaiming too much out loud.

It's an okay place, just a bit of a new landscape for me.

. . . every craftsman
searches for what's not there
to practice his craft.
A builder looks for the rotten hole
where the roof caved in. A water carrier
picks the empty pot. A carpenter
stops at the house with no door.

Workers rush toward some hint
of emptiness, which they then
start to fill. Their hope, though,
is for emptiness, so don't think
you must avoid it. It contains
what you need! [Rumi 13th Century]

Still yesterday was Pentecost, and, even in the face of silence and bewilderment, language at least sometimes comes, haltingly or fluently...

2 other heroes

2009-04-21T16:50:42-05:00

Othello Wesee and Raymond Djimbasbe Ngarboui of Central Market will be presenting at a workshop at the International Public Markets Conference in San Francisco this weekend.

my new hero

2009-04-21T16:26:26-05:00

100 year Winnipegger Jaring Timmerman broke three world records at the 2009 Masters Swimming Championship. How great is that He took up competitive swimming when he was in his 80's. Trains 3 times a week. . Who knew there even was a 100 to 104 age category? No matter. He is still my newest hero. Look at the guy. Story here.

flood protection

2009-04-16T10:34:13-05:00

Just to be sure Finn's been sleeping on Mary's rubber boots

glimpses of resurrection

2009-04-13T23:45:57-05:00

the old bill

stumbling toward resurrection

2009-04-10T23:41:53-05:00

the old bill

FlickFest update

2009-04-09T21:15:53-05:00

FlickFest going full steam

here's a link to some trailers

Matt's blogging about it across the pond, and inviting comments - here

Good crowds so far - tomorrow and Saturday are the main days, though, so wll see how it all unfolds

Jesus FlickFest 4

2009-03-19T06:45:07-05:00

This year's FlickFest will focus on award-winning directors, the best in international films that connect with the Jesus theme. We'll also throw in a bit of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and a Singalong version of Superstar.

Here's the confirmed list of films for FlickFest 4 [we're still waiting a final word on a few others]:

Directors Cut:

*Base’s L'Inchiesta [The Final Inquiry] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491720/

Son of Man http://www.sonofmanmovie.com/

Rossellini’s Il Messia http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077925/

La Marre’s The Colour of the Cross http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760160/

Arcand’s Jesus de Montreal http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097635/

Godard’s Je vous salue, Marie [Hail Mary] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097635/

Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/

Hartley’s The Book of Life http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167059/

Passolini’s Il Vangelo secundo Matteo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058715/

*& we hope Ferrara's Mary http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425236/

Music

*Cotton Patch Gospel [Harry Chapin musical based on Clarence Jordon's writings] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140919/

*Singalong Jesus Christ Superstar http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070239/

Johnny Cash: The Gospel Road http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070125/

Documentary

*Inside Bob Dylan’s Jesus Years http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Bob-Dylans-Jesus-Years/dp/B001EN46NO/ref=sr_1_44?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1236705327&sr=1-4

*Seidl’s Jesus, du weisst [Jesus you know] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373941/

Jesus Camp http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/

Drama

*Mary, Mother of Jesus [starring Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) as Jesus] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214930/

*Peter and Paul [starring Anthony Hopkins] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082900/

*Un Bambino di nome Gesu [A Child called Jesus] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092613/

The Miracle Maker http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208298/

The Nativity Story http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762121/

Johnny got his gun http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/

Jesus http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199232/

And, of course,

Life of Brian http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079470/

* premiering

gritty emergence

2009-03-18T15:18:09-05:00

It's been gritty and cold and long, this winter, this living sometimes, lately, it's been harsh, harsher than anyone wanted, relentless, but somehow as Tom Waits says, you can never hold back spring: You can never hold back Spring/even though you've lost your way/the world keeps dreaming of Spring/so close your eyes/open your heart/to one who's dreaming of you. . .

There's no shortcut to Spring, if there was we'd all take it. And sometimes, sometimes it's a just a brutal walk, but even when the winter is rough, unyielding, we're not stuck - the world keeps dreaming of spring, keeps turning, and if we keep walking suddenly somehow it's all slush and potholes but it's so good that slush, even the potholes, and we feel the promise inside us and something inside us rises up. Lately some of us have been exploring landscapes we didn't want to think about let alone explore, but even though the landscape seems at first so bleak, so unrelentingly grim, it too breaks, colour seeps through, grass cracks concrete, boulders roll, curtains tear and there's life again, sweet, tender, resilient.

Still, if there was a plebiscite on short cuts, I'd vote in favour. Until then... i guess we'll have to settle for the long way round and try to be as kind to one another as we can, as we clean the grit out of our ears and eyes and get our front ends re-aligned, and be glad that there's One who dreams of us, even when our own dreaming is in disarray....

Hope wherever you are it's getting warmer too, that bits of colour are breaking through.

winnipeg's barber photographer

2009-02-19T14:26:46-06:00

While looking for old photos of Knox, I came across thework of Peter McAdam a barber in downtown Winnipeg in the 1920's and 30's - who produced some breathtaking photos from that era. First is Unidentified woman and child at Winnipeg Beach, 1927., Second is Unidentified workmen having lunch on Main Street, 1922, Third is an astonishing one of the War memorial at Portage Avenue and Main Street, circa 1935, and the Fourth is a view past third Knox church View to Donald Street and Ellice Avenue looking northwest, 1923. [click on images for larger view]
.

unexpectedly elijah

2009-02-08T15:16:28-06:00

Doing narrative worship this morning on Elijah. As the service began I was just about to explain how in Jewish tradition Elijah comes unexpectedly, as a beggar, a madman, a scholar... about the empty chair, and Elijah's cup. Just about to explain when the side door bursts open and a kind of street person comes in and sits in the front row just in front of me. Well not really a street person because he's dressed quite well. A young guy with longish black/dark hair and a very long black coat, down to his ankles, and dark sunglasses. He looks quite happy during the first hymn, and before he sits down he blows God a big kiss. I catch his eye briefly and he gives m an odd wry smile. A few minutes later he says in a loud voice "glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit" and then says something more, something I didn't quite grasp. And suddenly he was out the door and gone. I went on to explain how Elijah comes, as a beggar, a madman, a scholar... this time wearing a long black coat. And somehow looking exactly the way Elijah would look. So we just kept on going. Nice to have an unexpected visitor once in a while. . .

Why we do narrative worship at knox

2009-02-06T10:29:57-06:00

Once upon a time there was a story. The story was connected with God, the story was God and God was the story. Everything happened through the story. When the time was right, the story took shape and lived among us, the characters emerged, the plot unfolded.

The story took a few different forms. In one, the young woman, unmarried and unsullied, is impregnated by God,. Her bewildered man enters the story by doing nothing, contributing nothing to the pregnancy. It’s not his child. For the rest of the story he stands outside the plot, helpless, hapless. A bit part. He follows the government’s directives, returns to his hometown for the census, but , in a typically male way, he forgets to make arrangements. When her water broke, they had no where to stay, the inn filled with the wealthy and well organized. And so this Divine-human baby was born in a barn. There, amid the dung and vermin and straw, the story became human. The woman could nurse the infant story, breastfeed the infant God. All the man could do was wrap the child in rags, lay him in a feeding trough. Ironies abound. The holy in dung. Peasant child gives birth to God. Man relegated to bystander status. The story is not his to control.

In another form most of the same characters appear. The young woman is the same. Unmarried and expectant. This time though the man is old and not merely bewildered, he is ashamed. Again they return to his hometown. But his mind is not on her. His perseverates on what to tell the censusman, how to explain this, er, delicate situation. This time when her water breaks, he can only find a cave for shelter. Utterly embarrassed he leaves her, wanders into town, knocking on doors, looking for a midwife, and misses the Entire Event. Different forms. Same story.

It is, by all accounts, an astonishing tale. A story of how God’s own story broke into our own cycles of myths, contained and predictable. Bewildered, no longer in control of the plot, we find we are but characters in God’s narrative. Entrances and exits we have but not editorial control. Yet we are also the woman, surprised and naïve, somehow giving birth to the Holiest of Holies. The recipients of wonder.

The plot has many unexpected turns. The narrator becomes a character in the play. The author comes to his own characters, but they don’t recognize him. Worse, they reject him. The narrator seems to have lost control of the plot at this point, he tries and tries to explain the plot to the characters, explains it to them in simple parables and folk tales, but they’ll have none of it. They know two things: One is that they are independent thinkers, not two-bit characters in a dimestore novel. And two, if they somehow are characters, well that Character is certainly not the Narrator. The Narrator would have a much deeper voice, and probably a pen in his hand at all times. He wouldn’t hang around with sleazebags and such. He’d do book tours, and give important lectures to intelligent people. He’d know far better than to put his trust in a ragtag band of losers ….

So his own characters plot together and put the Narrator to death. They kill the Author. Surely that proves their independence, once and for all. They are free Characters.

All the markings of a tragedy. But the story still has twists and turns, and, without giving the whole plot away, the Narrator returns to life. It is his story, after all, and in his story such things are quite possible. And the Narrator begins to unfold his tale once again.

We enter the story, find ourselves in this confusing landscape of competing narratives. Some choose to follow the bewildering tales of the Narrator, far-fetched though they seem. Others say there is no narrator, and if there ever was, he is dead now. No, those were simply the old tales. We write our own stories now. . .

And that is why we celebrate Narrative Worship at Knox.

Confused?

Come and find out more. Second Sunday of every month.

This Sunday we're looking at the stories of Elijah.