Advent Is About Invitation

Come Lord Jesus. Christians have created a season in which to restrain the impulse we have towards completion in order to inhabit the not yet (although we haven’t been very successful at it). The guest has not yet arrived, but, we have set the table and prepared the feast. Some have learned that there is a deep wisdom and deliciousness in planned waiting that is fulfilled when the feast is finally engaged.

Covidtide has discouraged us from invitation, and has put boundaries on our hospitality, in fact, it has squelched it! So, we have learned habits of dampening our enthusiasm for guests, and sought comfort in isolation. This will not be sustainable! May we seek even more diligently to exercise creativity in invitation. May we begin with a hospitality that makes room for the coming of Christ in our hearts. Then in a hospitality that sees him in the guests that we are missing, but, so desperately need at our tables: friends, neighbours, strangers, and even enemies. Let us find new ways to invite and host, that will be different, but no less critical for the growth of the Kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus! GS

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Stories of Our City: Tragedy Ann

Local musicians, Tragedy Ann, discuss their origin, the reciprocal nature of connections in the artistic community, their latest album, the friendships they've formed through their music, and where they find inspiration.

. . . and a Malcolm Guite Sonnet today

An Advent antiphon (one of seven), O Radix, by Malcolm Guite calls on Christ as the root. The poem is referring to the image of the tree of Jesse the family tree which leads to David, and ultimately to Christ as the ‘son of David', but the title radix, goes deeper, as a good root should. It goes deep down into the ground of our being, the good soil of creation. God in Christ, is the root of all goodness, wherever it is found and in whatsoever culture, or with whatever names it fruits and flowers, a sound tree cannot bear bad fruit said Christ, who also said, I am the vine, you are the branches.

O Radix - Malcolm Guite

All of us sprung from one deep-hidden seed,

Rose from a root invisible to all.

We knew the virtues once of every weed,

But, severed from the roots of ritual,

We surf the surface of a wide-screen world

And find no virtue in the virtual.

We shrivel on the edges of a wood

Whose heart we once inhabited in love,

Now we have need of you, forgotten Root

The stock and stem of every living thing

Whom once we worshiped in the sacred grove,

For now is winter, now is withering

Unless we let you root us deep within,

Under the ground of being, graft us in.

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Stories of Our City: Judith Yan

Judith explains how she fell in love with Guelph over the course of her 8 years conducting the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. She also shares a moving experience she had while conducting at the Basilica.

Nothing to Say

There is so much to comment on right now. If you run into someone on the street, or in the grocery store, even if you don't know them, it is easy to strike up a conversation, "How are you coping in Covidtide? Do you have that problem with glasses fogging up too? Can you believe the US political fiasco? Do you think the vaccine will get here soon?" Ad nauseam.

Right now, I feel like I don't want to say anything at all. Perhaps the only hope I can offer in this Advent time is to shut up and look someone in the eye and hold the thought that we are suffering together, and we both know it. Perhaps with the raising of an eyebrow, we can communicate that it's okay to have pain. If we can acknowledge it without having to probe the wound with trite words, then maybe we won't suffer as much. I don't suggest being rude or unkind or impolite, I'm just wondering if it would be ok to resist speaking.

Perhaps that's what Advent waiting will look like this year, being a people who convey Christ's love and gracious presence by having nothing to say. GS

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Thin Places: The Ward

The Ward is an old Guelph neighbourhood near the downtown that used to be a manufacturing district with housing for the factory employees throughout it. The area has many unique features including murals, repurposed old business and church buildings, and a community garden. The song playing in the background is a cover of "93 Million Miles" by Jason Mraz performed by Sember Wood.

Advent

Maybe more than ever, we need some hope right now; that’s what Advent is about.

It is the reminder that we can benefit from shifting our perspective from the details of survival that fill our gaze, to holding up those details to the light of the coming fulfillment of the kingdom; this puts everything into perspective. Suddenly, we are reminded that there is a glorious reality moving towards us ever so patiently, ever so lovingly, ever so hopefully.

We know something about the fate of the world which is opaque to many, all will be well. GS

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Stories of Our City: Arlene Slocombe

Arlene discusses the work of the Wellington Water Watchers, the unifying potential of water protection and the importance of listening to Indigenous voices.

Accompaniment

I love this word. Maybe because I’m an extrovert? Maybe because I love the Lord of the Rings? Whatever the case, many of us in Two Rivers are connecting with each other on walks these days. While I love a good walk in solitude, I am most happy when accompanied. It doesn't have to be chatty or profound in any measure; simply being in the presence of another reminds me that I am not on my own in this world. The other becomes the conduit of faithful presence, both human and divine.

Sometimes those who accompany us are given and sometimes they are chosen, but, in either case, attention needs to be paid to the space between. What is being nurtured in the (2 metre!) space between? Trust? Assurance? Possibility? Safety? Grace? The Holy Spirit is lavish with these possibilities if we are open to them.

Elton Trueblood once wrote a book called the Company of the Committed. This stirs my imagination, because it is an inspiring picture of the church - people who seek out companionship with others of the same purpose and choose to walk together into God's future. This does not mean conformity or uniformity, rather, a unity with diversity held together by a common calling and a growing understanding of the other. But it won't happen unless we create the space to receive and offer the gift of accompaniment. So, even as the cold air descends, let us keep walking together in the gift of accompaniment. GS

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Stories of Our City: Bob Moore

Bob Moore shares stories of delivery drivers’ generosity, how the city responds to needs, and the importance of creating homes with a supportive community for people without housing.

Minding Your Story

As much as I dislike giving too much attention to what is happening south of the border, I would be remiss in not commenting on the US Election. My reluctance, however, is connected to what I want to say: for many, politics has become their guiding story. People at Two Rivers have heard me opine many times that everyone is looking for a story to makes sense of their lives. There are many competing narratives from which to choose (consuming, sex, competition, etc), but currently politics has become the foundational story for many; a religion of dark fundamentalist behaviour that demonizes at the drop of a hat and finds no nuance or complexity. 

Being faithfully committed to your story is important; that's the way it should be if it is your inspiration and your guide. However, I have no interest in making politics the story that defines my life and behaviour. It is a dimension of life and public responsibility which all citizens should engage, but its capricious nature, temptation to abuse of power, and constant flirtation with false witness leaves me looking for a better story. 

The story that makes sense of my life is the Jesus story. The story of the God who in great love and mercy draws near and becomes our home and our peace, and who becomes the center from which all other things can be engaged. In the Jesus story, we are free to put politics, consumption, sex, competition, and any other contenders into proper perspective and usefulness.

What is your guiding story? What narrative gives your life a ground and grammar from which to live and speak? This very Jesus said that the choice is critical because it is a little bit like choosing what ground you want to build your home upon - one is sand, and the other is rock. When the storms come, you know which one will hold.  GS

Watch The Goodness Project Video — Stories of Our City: Dan Evans

Dan Evans explains the work of the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition and the disconnection he has discovered in the city through his work there. He also mentions the meaningful relationships formed on the streets that often go unnoticed and speaks about several individuals fostering connection in the community.

‘Our Days Have Always Been Running Out’ by Margaret Renkl

(From a New York Times article by Margaret Renkl)

Autumn light is the loveliest light there is. Soft, forgiving, it makes all the world an illuminated dream. Dust motes catch fire, and bright specks drift down from the trees and lift up from the stirred soil, floating over lawns and woodland paths and ordinary roofs and parking lots. It’s an unchoreographed aerial dance, a celebration of what happens when light marries earth and sky. Autumn light always makes me think of fiery motes of chalk dust drifting in the expectant hush of an elementary school classroom during story time, just before the bell rings and sets the children free.

In fall, the nights are cooler and clearer, too, with the harvest moon floating steadfast in the night sky, the most reliable promise in our lives. Along the roadsides, wildflowers are blooming: ironweed and white snakeroot and the glorious goldenrod, all as high as my head and all food for the monarch and painted lady butterflies, and the ruby-throated hummingbirds, on their long migrations. Every kind of New World warbler is on the wing now, heading south like the raptors and the water birds, but they linger a little while before moving on again, and for a time Tennessee is filled with exotic songs.

(If you want to read more, check it out here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/opinion/our-days-have-always-been-running-out.html?referringSource=articleShare )

Watch The Goodness Project video — Stories of Our City: Susana Miranda

Susana talks about being in a touring theatre group in Cuba, the help she received from her friends during her move to Guelph, and her involvement with ballroom dancing.

Sharing Goodness

I think it is often confusing to know what is good, and what isn’t. Have you ever heard someone say they loved some Netflix series, and inside you are thinking – I thought that was rubbish!

But in the end, what is good is not just personal taste, it is adjudicated by some standard or value we trust. Those standards and values are up for grabs in our culture; we are deeply divided about what is good and bad, wrong or right, oppressive or anti-oppressive, because there are many distortions of what is good that compete to shape our judgement.

The sponsorship of The Goodness Project this summer was a way in which we as a faith community sought to discern where goodness was evident in the ordinary lives of our Guelph neighbours and citizens. Identifying, recording, and publishing those stories is a way of helping shape a robust and healthy vision of what it means to be a good human in our community!

I’ve always been intrigued by the story where Jesus is called good teacher by the rich ruler and Jesus says to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” (Luke 18: 18-19) For followers of Jesus, that’s our starting place – the good God seen in Jesus. He was deflecting attention from himself in this encounter, but in the end, he became the standard by which we judge what is good and what is not. Our ‘project’ so to speak, is to attend to his life, learn and share his goodness, then celebrate and honour where it is played out every day in our world.

Watch the Goodness Project video featuring our very own John Martin-Holmes:

(Many thanks to Ben Wallace, Sember Wood, and Dan Veldhuis for their great energy and gifts in putting the whole project together.)

The Goodness Project Guelph

This summer Two Rivers Church had the pleasure of sponsoring two students, Sember Wood and Ben Wallace, in developing a video series highlighting local stories of goodness in Guelph. Over the next number of weeks and months, we’ll be sharing videos from their series on our blog. Here’s their introduction to the project:

The Goodness Project Guelph

Created by Ben Wallace and Sember Wood

Sponsored by Two Rivers Church

The Goodness Project is a video series about how people connect and feel fully alive in our city. We’ve tried to visit the places that are often overlooked, connect to the spiritual sources of beauty, and make sense of how we can still work towards goodness despite brokenness, injustice, and the negative impacts of a pandemic.

Stories of Our City

Short interviews of people from all walks of life: waitresses, musicians, administrators, dog walkers, and everyone in between. We’ve talked with people from across the city to find out what they love about Guelph, how they’re involved, and where they’re hopeful for change. 

Thin Places

Eight meditative videos that view locations in our city in a new light. Each video starts with a quotation to prompt thought and reflection. Some of the places featured should be familiar to most people who call Guelph home, but some may be more unorthodox. If you watch all eight in order, you should get a sense of time progressing through the day from sunrise to sunset. 

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