Sorry ‘bout that.

Apology: a regretful acknowledgement of an offence or failure. From Greek apologia, a speech in ones own defence.

I certainly am having a terrible time keeping this blog going, and the only explanation I have is the move to North Bay. Moves are always disruptive. I’ve noticed in all the many moves we’ve made my priorities shift, and some things even fall out of my life all together. Work and family have always been constants, though even they suffer, but working out, reading and study, spiritual disciplines, and pretty much anything that can be viewed as even remotely optional takes a beating. Why, I've even been distracted from following sports. – At one time I was a Hockey fan. I always found the fighting and gratuitous violence of the NHL detracted from the game, and have probably left the impression with some that it was the violence that eventually turned me off, but the truth is Hockey was a victim of our move to Victoria. I just lost track of it for a year and never recovered my interest. The violence might have turned me off eventually, but it never got the chance. – And now that work isn’t demanding most of my time the problem seems to be even worse. I’m not willing to let the blog go, however, so please bear with me.

• Advent will be upon us in about five weeks and I hope to hunker down over my keyboard again for my annual Christmas splurge.
• In March, Suzanne and I will be off to Israel with some friends from Calgary. That will certainly get the old juices flowing.
• And I’m going to redouble my efforts and organize my time a little.

In the mean time, as I keep reflecting on Atheism and religion, how about some feedback from the congregation.

• Are there some questions you would like to explore together?
• Are there some themes we could take up?
• And, in particular, what are some of your favourite Christmas stories, songs, traditions; things we might enjoy exploring?

One of the reasons a move is disruptive is that you lose the community that made sense of so many of the things you did. It’s always easier if we’re doing these things together.