Back Home … Last Week
As Barb said in the comments on the last post, I am indeed back from my trip to the States.
I left Grande Prairie on the morning of June 16 and flew to Portland, Oregon, where one of Reformation Covenant Church‘s deacons picked me up and drove me out to Twin Rocks Friends Camp on the Oregon coast, just south of Rockaway Beach and a little bit north of Tillamook (with its famous Cheese Factory). I arrived at the camp in time to grab a quick supper and then catch James Jordan‘s lecture on the so-called “New Perspective on Paul.”
That evening, Jim showed Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, with some commentary and discussion. The next two nights, he showed (and discussed) Tarkovsky’s Solaris, not to be confused with the Soderberg version starring George Clooney which came out last year.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I spoke three times. In between sessions, I visited with several people.
I wish I could have stayed for the rest of the camp. It was a beautiful spot and I would have liked to have been able to relax a bit once my lectures were done. (Jim offered me one of the Jack Vance volumes he had brought along, but I was reading P. G. Wodehouse’s A Damsel in Distress already.) Besides, Jim was giving four lectures on the Minor Prophets and there was a ball and a talent show. But I had to attend Classis Western Canada in Salem, so I caught a ride with Chori Seraiah, the pastor of Trinity Reformation Church in Salem, and left the camp behind.
I’m not going to review the classis here. Some of the decisions made have a significant impact on this congregation, and we need to think carefully about how we respond to them. It was nice, however, to see some old friends there and to meet some new ones.
After the classis, I rode with Rich Hamlin and Roland Robinson, the delegates from the Evangelical Reformed Church, to Tacoma where I preached and administered the Lord’s Supper on Sunday.
Then, last Monday, I flew back to Grande Prairie … after waiting an hour and a quarter to get to security and consequently missing my flight to Vancouver and my connection to Calgary. I finally managed to get back on schedule in Calgary and arrived home on time.
This week, I have to write two sermons and prepare a talk on liturgical preaching for the Biblical Horizons conference in July. And then I’m off on a vacation for a while!