Minister’s Musings ::

Banff churches, technology, & the Twitter Olympics

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Rev Dave Crawford

The “Twitter Olympics”? Apparently that’s what the current Olympic Games are being called. I guess thousands upon thousands, including some of the athletes, are tweeting on a regular basis about everything from the events themselves to the scandals to the TV coverage to the outfits to London’s handling of the Games to Mitt Romney’s faux pas’. Do you tweet? …

Do our lives matter?

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Rev Dave Crawford

The Olympic Games are upon us once again. My earliest Olympic memory is of Greg Joy in the high jump, representing Canada at the Montreal Olympics, 1976. He won silver that year and it was a major source of national pride. It was the only medal we won. In those days medal expectations were far lower than today. Indeed, that…

Do you believe in Hell?

Posted on July 14, 2012 by RMUC

“If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.” “Is it hot enough for you?” … “It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.” … I’m guessing you may have heard one or more of these or other common “hot day” phrases recently. Miho and I went to the Stampede grounds this past Tuesday for…

How do we in the Banff churches deal with honesty?

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

Do you have a favourite t.v. commercial? Perhaps you rarely watch TV so the question is irrelevant. Good for you. Or maybe, like me, you often just hit the “mute” button during commercials, blocking out the inanity. Still, there are some good ones out there, don’t you think? Commercials that don’t talk down to us or scream at us to…

Remembering why we live in Banff

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

“O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens… When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for the? Yet you…

Altered Plans

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

I conducted a wedding last weekend, at the Deer Lodge, Lake Louise, for a cute, wonderful young couple. Michael, the groom, was insistent that the wedding be held outdoors on the grassy area beside the Hotel and roadway. His bride Shawna-Fay was a bit more flexible, willing to adjust to whatever the weather required of the event. At the…

How do we use our gifts?

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

My favourite professor at seminary was a strange, gnome-like character (he actually resembled a garden gnome and knew it) by the name of Dr. Lloyd Gaston. He also happened to be a brilliant and gifted lecturer, highly respected internationally for his work in New Testament studies. He himself had studied in Germany under the great theologian Karl Barth. As a…

What is Holy Ground?

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

About a year ago I saw Laurie Skreslet. I was sitting at Beamers in Canmore with a friend when in he walked, along with what I presumed were a number of family members. My first thought? The guy still looked like he could climb Everest. It was October 5, 1982 when Skreslet became the first Canadian to reach the…

The Way

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

A couple of weeks back Miho and I went to Avalanche Video to browse movies, hoping to find one we both might like. We were the only ones in the store for about ten minutes, which of course doesn’t bode well for that or any video store these days. Could we have imagined in the mid-1990’s that BlockBuster Video…

Earth Day vs Easter

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Rundle Memorial United Church

A thought came to me yesterday – Earth Day is becoming bigger than Easter Sunday! As a clergy person and one for whom Easter has always been supremely important, spiritually fundamental, this is a rather large admission to make! Yet I think it’s true, at least as far as our larger Canadian and perhaps global society is concerned. I remember…