Toronto Goodness

When I had first arrived in Toronto, I had rather a hard time of it what with not knowing a single person in the city and having my backpack (with a lot of important things in it) stolen within the first couple months of arriving. I was experiencing a bit of culture shock (mostly the anti-Americanism that was particularly obvious during the US presidential primary) and so I wrote a rather annoyed blog post about Canadians. Although I still agree with the main thrust of my argument, I've since come to appreciate some things about Toronto, things that I will really miss when my grad school years come to an end. So in penance for my earlier anti-Canadian sentiment and to remind myself to be thankful for the many good gifts, I present the following list.

Things I love about Toronto
-watching the snow fall outside
-when the colors of the fall leaves are lit up by nearby streetlights at night
-when you can see the patterns of the snowflakes
-the amazing tulips and daffodils in the spring
-the lilacs and irises in the summer
-being able to buy ingredients for Ethiopian food (injera)
-being able to try all sorts of international foods (my first time to try Caribbean, Korean, Thai, Sushi = in Toronto).
-old buildings, particularly the U of T buildings, and particularly when transformed by snow
-Gerstein and Graham Libraries--both old buildings that have been renovated while retaining their old charm. My favorite places to study.
-Kensington Market--in particular the fruit market where I buy my fruit and veggies
-Toronto Brickworks and surrounding trails
-flowershops--especially the smell them when you walk by
-used bookstores, especially Balfour Books
-Bulk Barn (okay, I've only ever been to one in Guelph but I love the concept)
-E.D. Smith jam--apparently a Canadian brand, since 1883--the raspberry and apricot are delicious!
-buskers, especially the old man who plays strange but beautiful Asian instruments I don't recognize in the Spadina subway
-the cool houses on Palmerston Boulevard, especially their amazing brickwork.
-old oak trees, especially the ones in the neighborhood near Casa Loma. Cool houses there too.
-the sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the trees in the city--so peaceful!
-All the people on the subway (and my students) from such a wide range of cultures. Such beautiful, interesting faces, such a variety of dress.
-The Royal Ontario Museum
-cardinals--I love their song and their color and we don't have them in southern CA.
-watching and listening to little kids play games for P.E. in the field near my house as I walk by-- always some kids hanging out near the fence, rather than participating, so cute!
-watching the boys passionately playing hockey/ball hockey at the nearby park as I pass, only to realize they are all grown men in their 40s--oh Canadians, you amuse me!
-Guildwood Park and its amazing statuary
-also the Scarborough Bluffs
-iceskating--all those outdoor rinks
-Porter Airline--the way the flying experience should be! (and best mascot ever!)
-streetcars--they're pretty! and I pretend I'm on an amusement park ride when we go though tunnels. I like seeing the world from a bit higher off the ground.
-all the funny city animals--pigeons, squirrels, raccoons, sparrows. It's not like I would like to cuddle with them, but they enrich my life in their scruffy way.
-My street. Especially the way the old fashioned brick houses are sort of pastel colors, and when they are lit up at night remind me of dollhouses or decorative lanterns.
-My favorite Victorian house in the neighborhood, complete with gingerbread, turret, canary and African violets in the windows and adorable old couple.
-My church (meaning the people, obviously, although the building is nice too).



Postscript: To-Do While in Toronto
-Go to Niagara Falls (still haven't been!)
-Go to Toronto Islands (ditto!)
-Go to a ballet (was so annoyed that I missed this one)
-Go to another play or two (have been to 1 Shakespeare and 1 Stoppard so far)
-Go to the ROM more often (It's free to York students on Tuesdays)
-Go ice skating more
-Learn to play hockey
-Try snowshoeing
-Visit St. Anne's Anglican Church
-Go camping somewhere in Northern Ontario with friends
-Visit Montreal, Ottawa, and Prince Edward Island

Look, here are some other people collecting Toronto goodness! Mmmm...lovely!
Occasional Toronto
Blog TO
Daily Dose of Imagery

30 Years of Faithfulness

Today my parents celebrated thirty years of marriage. We dug out their wedding pictures, laughed at the '70s fashions, and marveled at how ridiculously young and good looking they were. Thirty years is an awfully long time to be with the same person in our culture, and I'm so thankful for the attitude my parents have toward their marriage. I remember being wonderfully comforted as a child when my mom told me (prefaced with a "just in case you've ever worried about this...") that I didn't have to be afraid that they would ever get divorced; that divorce wasn't something they would ever consider.

The anomaly of my parents' long lasting marriage reminded me of my own counter-cultural lifestyle. After years of Christian schooling, having secular friends who don't really understand the motivation behind the whole waiting 'til marriage thing, or worse, ask me to explain the vagaries of the Christian dating scene, have made me particularly aware of just how weird it is. And sometimes it seems strange to me too: waiting for the right guy, or in the words of the Facebook group, "Saving Myself For Wild, Passionate, Awkward Honeymoon Sex" just isn't all it's cracked up to be. That's why I found writing 'Musings on Love' for ReZound, my church's arts event I helped plan, to be such a helpful exercise. My friend Erika and I wrote the Musings to give the event a theological focus, but also found the writing process to be an encouraging reminder of the theological basis for our sacrifices. Speaking of ReZound, you can see some pictures from that love-themed ReZound here (I'm in there somewhere, reading the Goforth's story), and hear one of the songs that was played here ('Peace for Today' should start playing automatically).

It's a bit long, but I thought that in honor of my parent's anniversary I would reproduce the scripture and Musings that were read at ReZound. They are broken up into three parts, which corresponded to the tripartite organization of the event: Creation, Fall, Redemption. For my Christian friends the Musings are meant as encouragement to continue in the sacrificial love we're called to. And to my to my dear non-Christian friends, please consider the following a first stab at explaining what I believe about love and why it has subversive (and at times uncomfortable) results.



Part I: Creation

Genesis 2:18-25

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib. The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

We were made for community. We need others. God made us in his image, male and female, with a potential for intimacy and relationship modeled on the community of his trinity. And it was good. We were able to be honest, naked, in perfect communion with God and each other.

But with this need for community came the potential for loneliness. God recognized this in his creation of Adam—being alone was not good for his human creature. Then came the fall. In the fall all relationships were fundamentally broken. Not only were we alienated from our creator, but we were alienated from our fellow creatures.

And so we are lonely. We crave intimacy; we want someone to truly know us; we want to be as vulnerable as in the Garden and feel full, shining, unconditional love. The fact is, we are not as good alone. Two are better than one, scripture says. A pair gets a better return for a day's work, has someone to help them recover from a fall, someone to keep them warm at night, someone who will help defend against a hostile world. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.



Part II: The Fall

Song of Solomon, 3:1-5

All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.

I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.

The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
"Have you seen the one my heart loves?"

Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother's house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.

The brokenness of human relationships takes many forms. We are selfish in our loving, pursuing our own feelings rather than seeking the other’s best. We make love an idol. Love comes too early or too late. There is enmity between men and women; we envy each other, we fight. Sometimes even our best efforts at reaching out to each other are frustrated. One act of unkindness can lead to broken relationship. One broken relationship can divide a family, a church, or a nation.

God tolerates this brokenness, giving us instructions for dealing with the ugly consequences of our sin, like divorce and adultery. But Christ calls us to a radical new way: “You have heard it was said…but I tell you…” In this unexpected turn of events hateful thoughts and lustful fantasies are on par with murder and adultery! But the most difficult part of the new calling is the complete death to self modeled by Jesus. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Our attitude is to be the same as the one "who being very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant." Impossible! Yet God promises his perfect love to sustain us as we struggle to approach relationships with humility and selflessness, ready to sacrifice.



Part III: Redemption

Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Revelation 21: 1-4
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

God promises a time when the trials of bad relationships will be washed away and we will stand in perfect relationship to him. This perfect knowing is foreshadowed in the good relationships on earth. Good marriages, families, and friendships offer us a taste of the joy of community in that awaits us in heaven, when the Lamb is united with his bride.

Meanwhile, we can act rightly in relationships, imitating Christ’s perfect agape towards his bride. Like Christ we want to die to self in our service of each other, while we wait patiently for the end of time when all things will be made right. Somehow through this self-death God is making us perfect: the filthy rags which are our acts of righteousness are transformed, clothing the Bride of Christ in clean linen. The time is coming when, with all of heaven and earth, we will say: "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."

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The illustrations are Marc Chagall's version of the Ruth love story (Naomi and her daughter-in-laws; Ruth and Boaz on the threshing floor; Ruth and Boaz at the end of the story), which I found while looking for ReZound Powerpoint images. I just love how Chagall's depiction of the threshing floor scene communicates the complete awkwardness of that situation. See? Weird and counter-cultural even then! (Although I'm not advocating this!)

Thanksgiving

Ah, America! That was my reaction upon arriving in Chicago for a whirlwind celebration of "American Thanksgiving" with my sisters. I don't have many emotional ties to the Midwest, yet I found myself inordinately fond of the quintessentially American small town of Wheaton, where Adelle goes to school. The train that goes through the middle of town, the small shops on the main street, the signs of patriotism, the friendly people, all these made me feel that I had come home. Even the aspects of America that one hardly considers positive, such as commercialism and chain stores I found endearing quirks upon returning to my homeland. Here I know the culture, understand the people I encounter and am not likely to be disgraced by something as simple as buying a meal--accidentally giving a quarter when I mean to give a Loonie.

The only thing tempering our joy at our reunion was a paper on Kierkegaard Krista had to write, but we still managed to fit in lots of time together. We toured Wheaton College, met Adelle's friends, saw her church, danced around outside when it snowed, and went on many walks around town. Thanksgiving Day was celebrated with Adelle's friends Liz and Brynna and their inimitable parents. Adelle and Co. had masterminded a full Thanksgiving meal for us and pulled it off with only a small apartment kitchen and utensils. There were 9 of us and 9 pies--so enough for leftovers for days to come!

Lots to be thankful for. What made me think of writing a post was that this time last year I meant to post on something I was really grateful for. Last November I had just retaken the GRE and improved 160 points--a phenomenal change for a score out of 1600! I didn't know whether that would be enough to get me into grad school, but I was so thankful for God's grace in helping me to improve that much. Today I am nearly done with my first semester of grad school--paid do something I love. Regardless of the challenges involved in academic life, now's a perfect time to remind myself of my gratitude to the giver of all good and perfect gifts.

Providence

Well, my trip to Ethiopia got off to a bit of a rough start. In a potent combination of bad luck and bad planning, I manged to miss my flight out Thursday. Mon, Krista, Uncle Jonathan (who was on a brief visit and was now also departing from LAX, but for Alaska) and I started for LA late and then ran into heavy traffic which further cut down on our time cushion. But the real culprit was a confusing ticket that, among other eccentricities, had me departing from two airlines. We gambled on Continental and lost. Then we were faced with the prospect of getting to the other side of the airport with my 100 lbs. of luggage, half of which was a bulky Rubbermaid tub stuffed with things for the Beethams: books, American comfort food, toys, and other miscellany that you can't get in Ethiopia. The shuttle to the other terminal was maddeningly slow, stopping several minutes at each Terminal! Then, another blow - we found we had been directed to the wrong terminal and had to race back to one we had just passed on the shuttle! However, our sprinting was in vain: by the time we reached the counter it was less than an hour before the flight and they would not let me on. The soonest flight they could reschedule was the same time the next night, so it was back to Santa Barbara for me!

After a few minutes reflection, we realized that there was a silver lining - Jonathan's flight wouldn't leave for several hours so we could spend some time visiting with him before heading home. I had been preoccupied with packing most of his visit, so the chance to hang out with my jolly uncle without time pressure was a welcome relief.

We hit the town, looking for someplace to party - that is, some place we could get food and spend enough money to feel extravagant and carefree. LA seems to be an ideal place for finding just such a locale, since we found the most magnificent neon-lighted, gaudy, escalator-ridden affair our hearts could desire not 5 miles from the airport. After confirming that it wasn't actually a casino or UFO landing side, we took in some gourmet pizza and SpiderMan 3 on the big screen.

Then this morning I was able to enjoy a leisurely walk to the beach with Krista before finishing up the few chores I'd abandoned the day before. After having another night of sleep in my own bed and the opportunity to double check I had packed everything I needed, I now feel much more fit for international travel.



But I think there was also a higher purpose in all these messy details (there generally is). The past few days I have been working to make sure something happens in my absence. I want the Hispanic kids that I have gotten to know through tutoring this past year to be able to go to Noah's, my church's VBS, which happens in the end of June. Problem: they all live in Isla Vista; the church is in Monecito (some 18 miles apart), and their parents work full-time and don't have cars. A less concrete but no less real problem was making sure they are welcomed and feel comfortable when they actually make it there. Both parties (church and kids) were interested, but my matchmaking alone wasn't enough to make sure the event actually occurred. So part of my preoccupation had been trying to round up drivers, food for lunches and folks who were willing to hang out and interact with them during lunch. I also had to figure out how to communicate with the Spanish-speaking parents when my own 1 year of the language was more than 7 years distant. My attempt at a web-translation left me dubious; I had no way to judge wither what Babelfish had spit out was at all comprehensible, not to mention what I intended to convey. However, by the time I was ready to leave yesterday I had recruited drivers and people to find food - the basics for pulling it off. But there were still many pieces still to fall into place and I wasn't going to be around to do it! But with the additional breathing room today, I was able to find someone glad to take over my role. I am amazed by all the obstacles that this project has already overcome and overwhelmed by the way in which members of the church have materialized to graciously serve. I've concluded that God must really want those kids there in order for him to have orchestrated events so dramatically this week. And I am grateful for his generous, caring heart, one that does not stint in blessing his servants with good gifts even as he uses them to accomplish his purposes.