A Three-Year Bible Reading Plan

I found a good one!

A few years ago I went looking for a plan to read the bible all the way through. I know, there are many, and I had already followed one of them. It gave me a very different perspective on the body of religious and spiritual literature that undergirds so much of our Western culture. Some time had passed, though, and I wanted to go through it again and see what else I might learn. This time I was looking for a plan with a difference: I wanted the reading to be spread over three years instead of one, and to loosely follow the Revised Common Lectionary which prescribes the Sunday scripture passages used in many churches. Since the last time I read the bible through, my scripture reading had been mostly limited to the Sunday passages plus a bit of browsing and cross-referencing when pondering some idea or preparing the odd sermon. Again and again I noticed how the Sunday passages omit context. I wanted something to take me a bit deeper, to fill in those gaps, and why not combine that with my impulse to read the whole collection of books again?

Aside: If you're wondering why I keep talking about a "body of literature" and a "collection of books," it's just that the term "bible" comes from a word meaning "little books," and I like to keep that in mind. Whatever holy inspiration may have worked to bring those books together, the bible still originated as a compilation.

Anyway, when I first looked a couple of years ago, I did find a plan similar to what I had in mind, but as I recall, the connection with the Sunday passages was looser than what I had envisioned. I let the matter drop. It came back to mind recently when I realized that we are working through "Year C" of the lectionary right now, and a new cycle will begin next Advent. I thought I might have to get started making my own plan, but it looks like somebody named Gloria has already done it. Thank you Gloria!

"Mountain Hills to Prairie Flats"

...is the subtitle of the history book for our area: Arcola/Kisbey Golden Heritage. I know, some folks don't think they even count as hills, let alone "mountain hills," but it all depends on your point of view.

Check out the pictures on the website. Even if you're not planning on submitting an item, take a look at the submission guidelines page. If I'm not mistaken, that picture was taken a couple of years ago, around the same time that I was running from door to door telling people to look out at the sky. Ever heard of a zenith arc?

What I Haven't Read

Here is the shocking truth. I have not read:

• cover to cover through any single IPCC report (although I have browsed extensively in at least one)
• Darwin's Origin of Species - even though I have an Honours degree in Biology (and even though I have the book here on a shelf)
  
• anything by Richard Dawkins
• Coupland's writings about grassland plant communities in the northern Great Plains region
  
• anything by Rachel Carson
  
• the Stern Report
• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update - nor have I read the 1974 original
• the 2006 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development on Canada's response to climate change
• Advice on a Long-term Strategy on Energy and Climate Change, a recent report of Canada's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (although I have skimmed enough to see that its hopeful tone is partly spin and hype)
  
• the latest Living Planet Report
• anything by Jared Diamond (but I have Collapse on order at the library)

Those are some of the omissions I know about. Then there are entire areas of knowledge, such as macroeconomics, and world history, where I feel woefully under-informed.

But enough of this negativity. I am reading a beautiful book by Diarmuid O'Murchu called Evolutionary Faith: Rediscovering God in Our Great Story. I had started it some months ago, and although it was entrancing, I bogged down somewhere and set it aside while I read The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Shlain (another excellent book; on my shelf, if you want to borrow it). Now, at a low point in my sense of hope, I have returned to O'Murchu's book and I am finding it a healer for my soul. O'Murchu will be at the Calling Lakes Centre in June 2007. From the program bulletin:

If you have read any of Diarmuid's books, you will know that they are dense, crammed with information and new thinking. Diarmuid, in person, is engaging, easy to follow and always intensely interested in engaging in discussion.

One more thing: I just took a look at Diarmuid's website (see the link from his name above) and came across a list of books that he has found inspiring. More reading! I have a moment of shrinking dismay, like the feeling I used to get when I stood among the stacks in the university library, but oh, there are some tantalizing titles there.

Climate Change Is Good For Me - Part Two

Well, well. More evidence that climate change is a good thing.

Depending on how you look at it, of course. Is civilization a good thing?

I'm reading "The Alphabet Versus the Goddess" (which, strangely enough, I don't seem to have mentioned here before), and Shlain is discussing the same time period. I may have more to say later.

The Sunny Side of the Street

And the shady side:


And a book from my Dad - he had somehow ended up with an extra copy, so he gave it to me!


Don't be fooled by that jovial sun face. This book is not just a feel-good go-hire-yourself-a-consultant pep talk. This is how-to, step-by-step, charts, diagrams, construction detail photos, formulas, tables - oooh, how am I going to make myself do my tax return before diving into this?!

Moderate Muslims

From the ongoing discussions at Small Dead Animals, a link to a Globe & Mail book review: "The Battle for the Soul of Islam."

Left-hearted

I escaped the tyranny of busy-ness for a couple of hours the other day by reading "Once Upon a Marigold" by Jean Ferris. My daughter had left it lying out somewhere. It was a delight.

I was conscious of a sprinkling of political philosophy throughout the book, foreshadowed by the dear troll's membership in the LEFT Association (but LEFT stands for Leprechauns, Elves, Fairies, and Trolls). However, the philosophy was almost as eclectic as the setting, characters, props, and story elements, and for me it was all good fun.

Sometime afterward, I found myself thinking: "It's okay to be a little left-hearted, as long as you're right in the head."

******

p.s. If that's got you trying to remember a quote about having the heart to be a liberal when young, or the brain to be a conservative when older, you might be interested in what the Churchill Centre has to say about that quote.

Bullying Awareness Week

I heard on Estevan FM radio this morning that it's "bullying awareness week." National Bullying Awareness Week, I discovered. I saw a lot of emphasis on what youth can do to stop bullying through "peer power," but I think we parents should give some thought to what madcap mum has to say about bullying, and the book she recommends that explains "why parents matter." I'm not saying we should all be homeschoolers, but I for one am learning that it doesn't hurt me at all to pay some positive attention to my kids. So what if I don't get much blogging done? Sledding with the kids for an afternoon will probably do far more to build a better world than any article I might have written.

Golf courses as labyrinths

Back at the end of August, James went golfing with his Grandpa. He came home excited to show me his score card from the Lampman course, and how difficult (long) Hole 3 was. He pointed it out on the little map, but (sorry James) I was distracted by a flash of recollection. The sketch of the course powerfully reminded me of the layout of a labyrinth.

This summer we spent a week at the Calling Lakes Centre (or Prairie Christian Training Centre, PCTC for short). Garth and I were helping Anita Warriner of Alameda area to lead the "Summer at the Centre" program, which is sort of a cross between summer camp and a rest-and-renewal retreat. Among activities ranging from nature walks to home spa sessions to watersliding...

(the water is just pumped up from the lake;

the plastic is used again and again)

...we also offered participants a chance to help build a labyrinth for the Centre. The labyrinth is a tool for meditation, laid out with a single path leading through many curves and turns (but no forks) into the centre. You can't get lost; you simply walk until you reach the goal, perhaps pause there to reflect for some moments, and then retrace your path back out again. The labyrinth we built is a classical 7-circuit design, laid out on a grassy area with stones marking the boundaries of the paths.

I discovered today that there is a variation on the classical design, called the Baltic type, which has one path in and another path out, allowing a continuous procession without the necessity of meeting other walkers on the return trip.

How different is that from a golf course?

I wonder if the similarity has been noticed by any of the numerous authors writing about the spirituality of golf.

What I really read

I have a tall stack of worthy-looking books to read, but what I actually read is whatever the kids have left lying around. I'm very tired of the Animorphs series, but James keeps bringing them, so I occasionally skim another one. I haven't tried Guardians of Ga'hoole yet. Ruth tends to read single novels rather than series, and she comes up with some fine ones. Two that stand out recently:

Halfway to the Sky by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
I suspect that part of the power of this book for me was the mother-daughter struggle to connect across barriers of bitterness, guilt, and plain old busyness. I'm particularly sensitive to such themes these days as we adjust to more-or-less solo parenting. Come February, when Garth gets home, I'll probably be intrigued by stories of newcomers in the family.

True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks
This was a gem. I love a story that is set so close to home (just across the border in southwest Manitoba) that I can see and hear and smell everything. Then on top of that, the characters are as breathtakingly real as a stubbed toe or an unexpected hug, and the tale winds its way through the sorts of wrenching struggles that can happen inside of a week or two, right here in a little prairie town.

I just noticed that both books focus on runaways. I'll admit it, I used to dream about running away, taking over the controls of my own life. Now that I am flying solo, I can't imagine voluntarily choosing this existence for the rest of my days. It's okay, Garth, you don't need to come flying home early, but you can bet I'll be glad when you do.

Prairie Phoenix

This new book is almost as beautiful as its subject: the Red Lily in Saskatchewan. It is a wonderful centennial-year tribute to our province's floral emblem, a treat to browse through just for the pictures, and a goldmine of knowledge. Authors Bonnie Lawrence and Anna Leighton share their findings from a ten-year study of the lives of lilies at three Saskatchewan sites, as well as their wisdom from many more years of keen observation of nature. We meet not only the lilies, but also many other creatures, from meadow voles to lily bulb thrips. Bonnie and Anna's creativity shines from the pages: even charts and graphs are works of art. Far from a dry scientific study, this book is rich with stories and recollections of the lily in prairie life reaching back through generations to the first days of settlement. In the back of the book you will find a section on growing the Red Lily in your garden, and even instructions for making paper lilies.

There are local references: Doris Silcox's observations of yellow lilies amongst a patch of red-flowered lilies near Carlyle; my own photo of lilies in the hills north of Arcola; and Mom's photo on the back cover, showing where someone swathing hay in a highway ditch had left a patch of hay standing where a lily bloomed. I hope that person sees this book and smiles.

Mom has donated a copy to the Arcola Public Library. I will be showing my copy to some local retailers, and I'll let you know if it becomes available around here. In Regina, you can find it at the Book and Brier.

Update - you can order Prairie Phoenix online here. Thanks Harold for the tip.