Oops...Finances

So, sorry about the random throwback videos that I just discovered were posted on the blog. I have no idea how that happened. Anyway, disregard. I'm in the process of uploading some freshies: a little four-part documentary I did on going out in Montreal with your one-year-old when the temperature freezes facial hair, etc.
Anyway, we're back from Quebec City. We enjoyed another great week in that unique city, but are definitely glad to be back in Montreal, back to chez nous as we say in French.
So, Lauren will write a blog sometime soon (someday...) about the recent program she applied for and is planning on beginning this summer. As I explained in the last blog, we have a pretty open summer to pursue some pretty exciting things before the school we run starts up again in October. As for me, the verdict is still out. A lot of what I could or want to do depends on our funding, which basically goes from month to month, sometimes week to week to be more exact. It's hard to make big plans or any plans for the summer when the rent check might be all we can muster. The financial trials of our last five months out here have been a great learning experience for us. As a missionary, it's a reality to live month to month without any idea of where or when next month's rent will come in, let alone food money. It's difficult, sometimes, to know when to just say hey, the money ain't there and give up, or to persevere, believing that we're out here for a reason. Several times now we've come to a place where the clock is ticking and time is quickly running out and I ask "Why are we doing this to ourselves?" And, then, the money comes in. I know, it may sound like corny missionary lingo, but, seriously, the money often comes in right when we start asking those questions. Just tonight, before I left to come write this blog, we got news that a support check had come in for us, and it was just a few hours earlier we were having that stressful money talk again. Amazing.

Blah

I'd just polished off a well-written, clever, quite phenomenal blog when the library internet connection cut out and all was lost. Apparently, I needed some humbling. Thus, this is my sad, discouraged, short blog in response to that.
Nonetheless, all is well. My prayer commitment has survived the first two weeks. We hosted two different people at our place last week. We leave for Quebec City tomorrow for a week of learning about that city.
Lauren and I are continuing to consider, pray over, and discuss options for this summer. The school will end in May and start again in October. That leaves four months in between. A lot can be done in that time. Lauren seems to have figured out what her major plans for the summer are. I'm still working on it. Maybe I can get her to write a blog soon about her recent, exciting decision. Stay tuned! Love you guys.

Ignatian Spirituality

Yesterday, I began what hopefully will be about a year-long process of praying through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The link here gives a brief paragraph of what that entails exactly. However, my experience of the Spiritual Exercises will differ in that it will not be composed of an intense 30-day retreat, but rather a prolonged, not-as-intense 9 to 12 month daily retreat. Basically, that will consist of an hour or so of prayer everyday, journaling about my prayer time, and a weekly meeting with a spiritual director. I'll be doing it through the Ignatian Spirituality Center of Montreal, a Catholic-based, non-profit organization that exists to provide free spiritual direction. The spiritual directors at the center have all gone through a six-year training process in order to be adequately qualified.
It's something I've been rolling around in my head for quite some time, and thus decided to dive-in with the new year here and a new sense of calling towards a deeper spirituality. Carving out an hour five days a week for prayer will not be an easy task. I'm hoping, however, that the Lord will lead me in how to appropriately incorporate this new discipline into my life. Lauren, as always, is very encouraging, and Dennis, well, he seems pretty neutral about it all.
On va voir!

New Year's Resolution: Be A Better Blogger!

Hello Friends,
This year I promise to update our blog much more frequently. I hope that I have not lost all of you already. It's been nearly a month and a half since my last entry. Nonetheless, I truly believe that 2010 will bring much more frequent entries on the flan-clan blogspot. I promise this to you. Now, that means that things might get a little more personal, a little less tactful, and maybe even a little less interesting. Still, you will have at least one new entry, once a week. I'm going out on a limb here, so lend me your support and let me know you're up for it.
Thanks for sticking with us!
We love you,
Denny, Lauren, and lil' Dennis

The Path of Disciplined Grace

I knew I'd get ya with that blog title... This, essentially, was what Jeff Pratt, our teacher from last week, taught us about. The topic of the Spiritual Disciplines was the official title of the week's teachings. Jeff, himself, has founded a sort of urban monastery in New Haven, Connecticut where he invites people to commit to a three-month monastic internship where one engages in daily rhythms of prayer (a.k.a. a daily office) as well as other disciplines (fasting, confession, celebration, study, etc.) and daily serves a marginalized people-group that he or she feels called to. It's really a new, and yet old (in the ancient sense) way of living out one's faith. I was just speaking with a man named Nick Brotherwood today about this very idea of hearkening back to what Christian antiquity has deemed essential. Basically, it comes down to making (and therefore, first, becoming) disciples. Now, what does that mean, exactly? Aren't all us Christians always trying to "make disciples"? How is that anything new? Nick explained to me today that although we may have always tried to "make disciples", that could mean a lot of things over the years. Nick is an ordained Anglican minister who has witnessed (in the province of Quebec) a drop from 93,000 Anglicans to less than 13,000 over the last sixty years. In other words, he's witnessed a centuries-old church be brought to its knees and, now, to its death bed. Because of this, Nick has been given the unique, exciting, and scary task of exploring new manifestations of church and the Christian-life. The Anglican church (with its very traditional tradition) has been humbled enough by this seemingly irreversible secularization to finally be open to something new, something experimental, something unorthodox. For the last 10 years, Nick has been spear-heading a church called Emerge Montreal, which has provided him and his friends a laboratory to really ask: What are we here for? What the hell is Church, anyway? Where does Jesus' life and how he lived it come into play here? Needless to say, having a discussion with this guy is an edifying experience. If I've received any insight in talking with people like Nick, or Jeff Pratt, or Mark Scandrette, it seems that the future of the church is largely mapped out by the past, the distant past--through Jesus' Way and through those who followed that Way after his bodily departure. By following that Way (roughly a balance of prayer and service), we will inevitably make disciples of ourselves and, therefore, of others. If this sounds vague to you, you're not alone. It's hard to exactly say what this new expression of making disciples (church) looks like; but what's not vague is our Western culture's slow-but-steady denial of anything religious, and, thus, we must respond (somehow) in a way we think Jesus would.
Speaking of "What Would Jesus Do?", check out this relatively short but insightful article on what one Catholic priest thinks Jesus would do, and is doing:
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/402/what_jesus_would_do

First Half of November

So, as usual, it's been too long since our last blog. Unfortunately, not having internet at our apartment poses a problem for frequent blog updates. Lauren and I decided not to get internet for two reasons: it's too expensive and, without it, family time is much improved. So, we made a commitment to keep our home-space free of internet distraction, which has been rewarding and challenging at the same time.
So, as the previous blogs mentioned, we had a great trip to Toronto, with lots of interesting discussions with interesting people. We were glad to get back to home-sweet-home Montreal and keep practicing our French. That has been one major change this year with our school being so Francophone (French-speaking). Lauren and I have been thrown headlong into a mostly French-speaking environment day-in and day-out. Last year, most of the students were English-speaking. This year it's the opposite. It's a great challenge and we love learning more and more each day, but it's not all sunshine and happiness. It's hard!
The first two weeks of November were non-teaching weeks, which means the students had more time to explore further possibilities for volunteering and an internship. For Lauren, lil Denny, and me, it meant some more home-improvement and preparation for my big concert, which took place last Friday. The concert went really well; I had a good turn-out of friends there to support me and played 2 sets, about 17 songs in all. I'll put a few of them up on the video bar to the right. Hope you enjoy.
As far as home-improvement, we're getting ready to host (starting today) our school's teacher for the week, whose name is Jeff Pratt and comes from New Haven, Connecticut. Jeff is simply an amazing person to get to know. We had him for a week of teaching last year, and got to know him a bit through that. But this year, he's staying at our apartment! We're looking forward to some more in-depth conversations with the Pratt-Master, as Lauren and I like to call him. Here's a link to the community that he runs in New Haven (www.ywamaxiom.com). Lots of great opportunities there for young folks looking for a chance to deepen their faith in a new place.
We're really looking forward to a great week! We'll be updating again sooner than last time, so keep checking!
Peace.

Mid-week update

We still have one meeting left, which will happen today with Jim Beverly, a well-known authority on world religions. We've met with all the others earlier in the week, and everything was great. Two of the organizations we met with were focused on poverty and caring for the economically poor. Another was focused on art and artists, asking: how can art play a bigger role in our Christian faith and vice-versa? The last one we met with was focused on homosexuals, asking: amidst the wide spectrum of Christian opinions on homosexuality, how can we offer those dealing with it a safe-haven for discussion, counseling, and understanding? Of course, this has offered all of us, individually and collectively, an abundance of fodder for thought and discussion. For me, it's been nice to meet with these organizations a second time because I'm not swept off my feet with each new place we visit. Last year, these people were so insightful, compassionate, and dedicated to their causes, after each meeting I was convinced their respective cause and perspectives on that cause were the only things that mattered. This year, having become "a bit less vague to myself", I'm more certain of my personal goals. Nonetheless, this year's visit to Toronto has still had a significant impact on a few beliefs of mine; specifically, what Geoff Ryan at 614 Salvation Army shared about our undeniable call as Christians to identify with the poor. Geoff, his wife, and their 3 or 4 kids live in Regent Park, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Canada because of the poverty and gangs that are present there. He has chosen to live in this neighborhood because he believes there's no other way to have a significant impact on it. So, his kids go to school there at a sub-par inner city school, and when there's a shooting or a fire in the middle of the night and everybody is outside, he and his family are outside, too--immersed in all the action of the neighborhood, living side-by-side with these people. Of course, the difference is that he and his wife have chosen to live there, the others have never had a choice. He explains that Christ had all the choices in the world, he was God!, but he chose to humble himself and become one of us, and absorb the sins of the "neighborhood". This is how Geoff theologically explains his calling to the inner city, and it's a passionate one. Just one example here of some of the amazing things we've come across this week. We pray that amidst all the info-influx, we are able to personally take steps towards making these ideas and concepts concrete realities in our own lives. Thanks for reading.