Blog Day 3
Thunder Bay to Winnepeg
Entering Mars
We woke up to find that we were camping in a Provincial Park built at the sight of one of the great sights of the North: Kakabeca Falls. For a Southern Ontarian, used to the boring Niagra Falls, I must admit, these were pretty impressive. I was able to get pretty close to them too. They were violent and loud, and had many layers and levels, where the water was firing back and forth.
The drive out was nice. We soon found ourselves in still more steep "hilly" country though, but not near as bad as before.
Today we crossed into Manitoba. We were dissappointed, because it pretty much looked just like Ontario, with trees and rolling hills, rivers, and lakes. Then all of the sudden, we passed all that, and we have not seen anything but wheat fields ever since. It was stunning, and very alien for me, all brand new terrain. You could see for miles in every single direction and to my left, all you could see was very dark, very stormy weather off in the distance, sort of heading towards us. I actually saw funnel clowds, and found out this morning, there was some tornados in that thing. So it was sort of chasing us, and we outran it, fleeing dark strom, for the biggest, brightest blue skies I have ever seen. It was hauntingly beautiful.
I think leaving Ontario was a milestone in our journey. As I pursue the Monastic Ideal, that thing the early church fathers sought, like Augustine and his little "monastary" on his parent's farm, and Jerome, fleeing the city for the quite of a more contemplative life. I too feel like I am leaving a place of busy-ness, of distraction, noise (although a bit of it good, in the sense of the voices of my friends and family), and just plain tumult. We are so distracted there from the Spiritual life. Leaving the Media Industry as its own separate discussion, even our philosophies of life become a great distraction from the God relationship: Bigger is better; the strong survive; more popularity means more success; success itself as a priority; the pursuit of financial "stability." According to the Monastic Ideal, these philosophies represent everything that is wrong in the world of man and everything that keeps us from holy communion with a generally quiet God.
I want to pursue in my life those things that really matter. I want to reject, therefore, that philosophy that says these things have a place in the Christian life. The early church fathers sacrificed finacial wealth, promising careers, family, and friends, in order to pursue their faith. What I have seen is that this modern Christianity has told us (me), that money, power, hierarchical church leadership, "success" in terms of numbers - all of these things are a legitamate part of the Covenant Community of Believers. I see two philosophies at conflict with each other. As Jesus says, "you are not to call one another Lord or Rabbi." You are not to be exalted over one another. My questions is this: Has the modern church ignored the spirit of what Jesus is saying here, and set up itself in a way where in essence, we have done that?
This evening we stayed at a couple's house. We didn't know them barely at all. When in the kitchen, making the necessary small talk, I looked over and noticed Brian Mclaren's book: A New Kind of Christian. The ensuing converstion proved to be enchanting, for I soon discovered this woman was another spiritual refugee from the modern church. She was burnt out from doing so many programs at her local church, that she couldn't even bring herself to go there anymore. The gospel of "do, do, do, go, go, go, work, work, work" had done a number on her, and she was finished. Isn't it funny? A woman I met in the Prairies of Manitoba had the same thing in common with countless numbers of young men I worked with back in Toronto.
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