Pulpitations: "Changed and Ever-Changing"

(Today's sermon from our 12 th anniversary as an Affirming Ministry) In addition to today being our twelfth Affirmiversary, it is also Reformation Sunday. It was late October in 1517 when German priest Martin Luther nailed his “95 theses” to the church door in Wittenburg in opposition to Catholic positions of the day. This sounds more inflammatory than it really was – they didn’t have social media, so literally tacking stuff up on church doors was the first type of “posting.”

It ended up being inflammatory anyway, with Luther getting excommunicated after refusing to recant his positions on things like papal authority and plenary indulgences (the idea of paying cash for atonement for yourself or others). The founder of Protestantism had other religious leaders calling for him to be burned as a heretic, and this schism was the first major change in the broader Christian church – but far from the last!

At the end of the day, God is perfect and eternal, a bulwark never failing as we heard. Humans are anything but perfect, which might explain why there are so, so many differing perspectives, even within Christian denominations.

There is a saying in Latin: ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est - “the church reformed is the church always reforming.” And it’s true!

Prior to 1977 there were no ordained women ministers in any mainline denomination.

The United Church of Canada ordained its first gay minister in 1992.

Before either of these things happened, even the Catholic church held Vatican II, its second ecumenical council in the early ‘60s, which Pope John XXIII called aggiornamento, or bringing up to date. And he was no young reformer; he was three months into his mandate and 76 years old when he announced it.

As a guy who turns 60 next year, it is encouraging to see examples proving we are never too old to change.

I haven’t actually run the numbers, but I am still probably a relative newcomer to St. Albert United Church, having only attended services here for about a quarter-century. Median attendee tenure at best! But think of all the change we have been a part of here in just that time, especially through the lens of our Affirmiversary:

• When we hosted deliberative dialogue around the sanctification of same sex marriages
• When we voted strongly in favour of sanctifying those marriages, despite having some of our friends decide that was too much change for them
• When we called a male minister who was married to a man
• When we voted overwhelmingly in favour of becoming an openly Affirming Ministry in 2014
• When a family with same-sex parents openly worshipped with us
• When a transitioning woman and her partner walked through our doors and felt welcome enough to stay

As tough as it can be for an institution to change, or a congregation, it can be just as hard for us to change as individuals.  Which, to be honest, is not good.

Being a Christian has always required a high degree of reflection and self-evaluation, and re-evaluation.

Change is hard. I struggle with it personally and have described myself as change-averse in some contexts. But I try.

I try because of the necessity of it, something that is easier to recognize as I get older even while some of my own attitudes calcify and crystallize. But the other thing that change is besides necessary is constant. Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est - the church reformed is the church always reforming - but also Homines mutati semper mutantur - changed people are always changing.

We have to constantly re-assess: what is true? What is good? What aligns most with the way God wants us to live and the teachings of Jesus?

We have tools to help us, thank goodness. We have the scriptures themselves, like what we heard from Jeremiah, reminding us that God’s law is not just written there, but written in our hearts.

We have this faith community, a place and time to come together and hear the word and reflect on what it means to us, each of us, collectively and individually. In an increasingly divided and antagonistic world, I think we understate the value of such a place. It may not look like it, but St. Albert United Church is a bulwark. It is a mighty fortress, not because it is supremely defensible – way too many corners and blind spots, to be honest – but because our ideals can be defended here. We have a space dedicated to making praise and asking questions and making room for people to join us and creating opportunities to share perspectives; a space where everyone has room to grow. And there is no growth without change!

It is important to be welcoming, because the world is not always that way. It is important to be radically inclusive because more and more the world seeks to exclude, to divide, to set us against one another. 

What’s a good example of this? Oh, I dunno – has anyone heard anything about a troubling and unnecessary referendum that has pitted provincial residents against each other, as well as against the immigrants that two years ago our government begged to come to our province?

Or while our public schools struggle with having their funding diverted to private and charter schools, often with exclusionary recruitment criteria as well as agendas, that same government has made it a priority to make sure that treaty flags have strict limitations on when they can be flown (on treaty land, no less!) and pride flags can’t be flown at all?

A symbol meant to let some of society’s most vulnerable kids know they are safe and respected apparently has no place in our halls of learning.

Let me give you another example that I will try to keep intentionally vague: earlier this year, here in the capital region, a discernibly marginalized individual went to an event held in what professed to be an inclusive space. Maybe they sported a jersey from the visiting team or a hat from a political affiliation, maybe their skin colour stood out, maybe they held hands with a person of the same gender expression, maybe they wore symbols from a less-familiar faith, whatever. Another attendee at this event talked to this person in an ignorant and disrespectful way. This person found themself belittled and mischaracterized in a way that made them and the person they attended with feel increasingly uncomfortable and unwelcome. The two of them did their best to ignore the jabs, but it was tough, because it was hurtful, even though that was very likely not the intention of the person addressing them.

It’s like if I am not paying attention and am holding a cup of water when someone asks me the time, and I end up inverting my glass. Regardless of my intention, the water is not staying in that glass. The floor is getting wet. The damage is done. And I am grateful to the people in this story showing such tremendous grace when they shared it with me, their care that the other individual not be maligned unnecessarily.  But the sad truth is this: this hostility they felt, this exclusion they experienced, was nothing unfamiliar or new to either of them, just unexpected in that context.

And the real kicker? This interaction did not take place in Churchill Square or Tim Hortons or Lions Park or Commonwealth Stadium or the legislature - it took place here.

In this building.

In this room.

...

Let me be absolutely clear: I am not sharing this example to shame anyone. It is not meant to make the people who maybe recognize themselves in it or perhaps witnessed it feel bad. I honestly and truly do not want to embarrass or guilt anyone who perhaps didn’t realize it was happening or feels somehow that they should have, even if they couldn’t.

I am presenting it as an opportunity; a chance to pause and reflect. In the written psalms you will often see a Hebrew word meaning exactly this: Selah.

And if you do see yourself reflected in this story, or it reminds you of a different time or interaction where you wish you had done better, where you might have inadvertently enabled oppression or accidentally let injustice pass without being called out, hear this good news: “they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”

We always have the choice to change, to become better. To more accurately reflect our faith in Christ and his teachings in the way we live our lives.

What does this look like?  It can look like a lot of things, but much of it stems from what Paul teaches us in Corinthians – “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”

Be kind. Support good causes both financially and verbally. Food banks, books for schools, supporting refugees, your faith community.

Show up. Speak up. If necessary, act up.

Look after those who have difficulty looking after themselves.

Give everyone the opportunity to live in respect and dignity.

Call it out when people minimize or joke about sexual assault.

Acknowledge the harm governments do when they pass abhorrent anti-trans and anti-gay legislation that further marginalizes at-risk populations.

Be radically inclusive and welcoming! It is not enough to simply leave the door open. Recognize that many people you encounter have been taught to think of themselves as outsiders, and they need you to explicitly invite them in!

Rid yourself of “all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.”

When people make mistakes, and they will, because they are human, try to find it in your heart to forgive them.  

And when it is you who has made the mistake, ask God to forgive you, and when you realize that They do, do the hardest part – find a way to forgive yourself.

In the end, Jesus’s new covenant makes it clear: we need to love one another. “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Upon reflection, we can all change. We can find what is right, because like we heard in Jeremiah, God has written it in our hearts. Selah.

We have come a long way, sure, but have so much further we can go.

Can you imagine a world running on love instead of hatred or jealousy? A world built on inclusivity not exclusivity? On community instead of division? Make no mistake, the world is likely to call us deranged, with these crazed notions that every individual has value and that love can conquer hate, but we are not irrational, we are trans-rational – we have a different rubric for what is important.

And we aren’t alone, either! Right here in St. Albert, a former Christian Reformed Church denomination has disaffiliated from their denomination and changed their name to Gardens Community Church. Part of the reason for this was the CRC’s Human Sexuality Report that came out in 2020, which opposes same-sex marriage and classifies homosexuality and transgender identities as “contrary to scripture.” They also made these positions binding beliefs, making change or even discussion virtually impossible. So these folks are breaking away to start their own community, and I wish them God’s blessings and all the luck in the world.

God calls us to community. ALL OF US. White, black, brown, red, yellow, puce, green whatever. Rich, poor, capitalist, socialist, gay, straight, trans, bi, queer, other, introvert, extrovert, innies, outies, briefs, boxers, Mac, PC, Coke, Pepsi, Marvel, DC, every one of us.

Let us continue to worship together here, loved and protected by God, thanking Them for both the abundances and challenges  in our lives, learning the lessons Jesus has laid out for us, and looking for the Holy Spirit to embolden us when we are called to action, as we were 12 years ago, when became an Affirming Ministry.

Amen!

(embedded video jumps to sermon at 40:46 (15 min))

SCRIPTURES

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should quake,
and the mountains fall into the depth of the sea,
Though the waters of the sea rage and foam,
and the mountains tremble at the tumult.
Reprise: A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.


There is a river, whose streams make glad the city of God,
sanctifying the dwelling of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help at the break of day
The nations are in tumult, empires are shaken;
For God speaks and the earth melts away.
[Reprise]

Come and see what God has done,;
the wonders wrought upon the earth.
God makes wars to cease in all the world;
God breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
and burns the shields in the fire.
Be still and know that I am God,
exalted among the nations, exalted in the earth.
The God of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
[Reprise]


Jeremiah 31: 31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.


Colossians 3: 8-14

But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Separatist Victory

Tomorrow is the Alberta 'referendumb' I wrote about previously. It is an exercise in pandering, gaslighting and excretable leadership; a $136M poll and unpopularity contest designed to distract from the CorruptCare scandal, the rebellion within Danielle Smith's caucus and a barely-msaked and racist attempt to scapegoat current terrible conditions on immigrants (that the premier explicitly requested) instead of on UCP mismanagement. 

Our household (and most of the people we know) requested special ballots that we mailed in and confirmed receipt or over a week ago, but the advance polls are busy. Elections Alberta at one point said that if the pace continued from peak, we could be looking at maybe 80% participation, but liekly clsoer to 70%. Given that the 2023 provincial election didn't reach 61%, this is pretty impressive for our generally apathetic province. 

Polling numbers for the separacists (sic) have never looked great, and the rallies held by both them and the Forever Canadian group heavily favoured the "remain in Canada" side. 

The disheartening thought now is the repeated message that the Alberta Independence movement is unlikely to go away, even if they do miserably in this nonsensical "vote on a chance to vote" referendum. Their hopes at this point seem to hinge on vaguely disgruntled folks who have bought into their misinformation and who do not want to separate, but agree that "sending Ottawa a message" could have some use.

Yeah, it will be extremely useful to the Manifest Destiny knows in the U.S., agitators in Russia and greedy oligarchs and tech bros eager to plunder Alberta resources in an even more corporate-friendly and deregulated Alberta. 

But the indefatigability of the seppies, normally a cherished characteristic, is wholly frustrating in this context. As long as separatism is allowed (or in the case of the UCP, a party currently teeming with separatists, encouraged) to fester, uncertainty will dominate. Investors are unlikely to bring money or business into the province. Doctors, healthcare workers and teachers are likely to look elsewhere for work.

But their selfishness and irrationality ensure the separatists care not a whit for these consequences so long as their pipe dream of independence from Ottawa is indulged. And to that end, I fully expect that whenever the final vote is tallied (by hand, because the conspiracy-addled luddites in the UCP banned tabulation machines) and regardless of how damaging the vote may or may not be for them, they are going to declare victory anyways.

My predictions are:

Anything less than the 16% polling for Alberta independence earlier this year will be hailed as "a moral victory in the face of biased media coverage and a flawed referendum question and process."

Results of 16-20% pro-separatism will be characterized as "an upswell that we can capitalize on next time when we are not held back by current UCP leadership" (brrr).

And heaven forbid, if there is a turnout collapse tomorrow and they get 21-33% support for a binding referendum on some future date, they will be ecstatic.

Please note that no scenario at this point foresees the seppies getting more than 1 in 3 votes regardless of other factors. As a result, there is no likelihood of a majority and a future binding referendum that has the potential to actually break up Confederation and set up years of legal wrangling over the treaty implications with Alberta First Nations.

So what happens then? It is tough - no, impossible -to say with any certainty since we are already in uncharted territory. This nonsense should never have been allowed to progress this far. 

In a perfect world, the UCP would clean house, driving the seppies out of caucus, making them sit as independents until they could form a legit separatist party and field a slate of candidates. It turns out compromising a supposedly loyalist, federalist party from within is a much easier say to set the tone for separation, as opposed to the way, say, the Parti Quebecois had to do it. (And this was all enabled by former premier Jason Kenney by the way, reuniting the fractured small-c conservatives of the Progressive Conservatives and "lake of fire" Wild Rose Party, and who was chased out of the party he created for not sufficiently pandering to the Christian Nationalist/ independence minded elements.)

But Premier Danielle Smith has a tiger by the tail. She is beholden to two major stakeholders now: the separacists and ChristoFascists who voted in her into the premier's seat on the narrowest of mandates (and only after six interminable rounds of balloting), and the oil and gas companies who fund the party and her own election hopes. Small c-conservatives who don't actually believe trans folk are destroying society and just want to pay less taxes and see a smaller government? They don't really have much of a forum. 

And everyone else in Alberta who hates the Premier's use of the notwithstanding clause to put striking teachers back to work? Who think carving up a world-recognized public health system into four separate branches with its own leadership is completely unsound? Who resent all the clawbacks and damage done to disabled and severely handicapped Albertans? Who are still waiting for any kind of investigation or inquiry into CorruptCare and the party's relationship with sketchy businessman Sam Mraiche?

Yeah, they have even less of a voice. 

There is a non-zero chance of Dani getting turfed by her own party, the way almost every Tory leader meets their end in Alberta, but the rest of us won't get a chance to vote on Alberta's future until sometime next year. 

Or maybe the referendumb is what finally splits a divided party held together with baling twine and desperation as opposed to jointly held policies and ideals. One can but hope!

But! One problem at a time, eh? Let's sort out this separatist nonsense first. When they don't quit, maybe they will end up hanging around the neck of the UCP, the worst thing to hit Alberta since the damned Spanish Flu, and give the NDP a fighting chance at deposing them. 

I don't how you win against a side that refuses to acknowldge defeat, but establishing a rejection of separatism in tomorrow's referendum will be a good start, regardless.

The Evolution of Campsgiving

Next year will be the tenth anniversary of our family (in whole or in part) travelling to Jasper in September or October for a visit to Miette Hot Springs. We haven't gone every year, and even when we've gone, we haven't always camped (usually due to trailer mishaps of one kind or another). But I wonder if this might be our last year out there with Bride of Frankentrailer.

After having our shelter destroyed by high winds last year, and the Jasper forecast not only being cold but also wet (at one point including the possibility of up to 20 cm of snow!), we still elected to camp, but chose not to do any cooking.

I was a bit heartbroken by this, as I adore cooking for my familywhen we camp, breakfast in particular. French toast is the breakfast of choice, and I had back bacon ready to go. For supper, we intended to do the same savory s'mores Audrey and I made when in Blue River this summer.

But in addition to the challenges of cooking in cold weather, it is not particularly pleasant to eat outdoor when it is below zero and windy, and we have never allowed food in the trailer dince we camp in bear country so often. So I agreed it was just impractical this go-round and we resolved to eat out instead. This also made packing the trailer itself unnecessary, as mostly kitchen stuff and camp chairs go in there.

Night one was just around freezing, and we only got the trailer fully set-up by about 10:45 pm. The new space heater has a timer setting, so we went to sleep cozy and woke up cool but not frozen.

It turns out The Inn Grill on Geikie street has a breakfast buffet from 7-10 am and we glided in at 9:45 for a big plate of scrambled eggs (two styles), bacon, sausage, french toast and hash browns, in additn to fruit, yogurt and oatmeal. It is tough to imagine a better deal for $22 a plate!

After breakfast we perused a few of the shops and the new indigenous art park next to the visitor's centre., then made our way up to Miette Hot Springs. 

There was next to no snow in Jasper or Wapiti townsite, but the trees along Miette Road were laden with wet, heavy snow, some of the smaller ones bent right over like the fellow on Led Zeppelin IV. The road itself was relatively clear, either from being plowed or just perhaps overrun with traffic. Thankfully we didn't have to wait to enter the pool, as we have in past years.

Wapiti campground, mostly barren since the 2024 wildfires

After an hour's delightful soak, while a light snow deposited flakes on our heads and eyelashes, we headed back to town for dinner at Mad Grizzly Bistro and Bar. A delightful Asian-inspired, fusion-style menu with local ingredients reflected in bison, elk and boar, they also have a very decent cocktail selection and the service wa great.

Spotted on our way to dinner, not on the menu...

Back at Wapiti, there were a handful of campfires, but vey few groups clustered around them as itwas already below freezing. We curled up in the Bride and watched The Blues Brothers on my iPad, but for whatever reason could not get warm - the space heater struggled to heat the space inside, despite the blankets and coats we piled on top of ourselves. Maybe the wind gusts we kept hearing and feeling just siphoned the jeat aay from the canvas? 

After a brief walk to the (blessedly heated) washrooms, we crawled into our sleeping bags, and the space heater helped maintain enough of an equilibrium that we woke up to a trailer that was cool, not freezing.

By this point, however, we had already agreed it would be fun to spend next Campsgiving in one of the red cabins or bungalows next to the hot springs instead. Less driving around, multiple dips in the pool and I can cook our meals again!

And who knows how many trips the Bride has left in her before we upgrade or she gives up the ghost (like the original Frankentrailer did in 2018)?

But at any rate, Thanksgiving is a great time to express gratitude for a family still willing (and available!) for small adventures like sleeping outdoors during the season's first snow in the Rockies!

More Light But Less Bright - Lanterns, Reviewed

Spoiler-free, as always!

Given that modern Green Lantern comics are a rollicking space opera featuring the titular space cop using their immensely powerful ring to fight menaces even more terrifying than the ones we have to deal with IRL on Earth, such as an entire spectrum of power ring corps on an emotional spectrum, it is not too surprising that a lot of comic fans have decried HBO's more grounded Lanterns series, some calling it a travesty for the way it depicts one of its two characters: the original Silver Age GL, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler).

And you know what? Fair enough. If you tuned into the first live action series expecting a sci-fi buddy comedy in space, you were bound to be disappointed. If you were looking for a show picking up where animated predecessors like Justice League or Green Lantern, where the Hal and his traine/ replacement John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) have a barely masked antagonissm towards each other, you were bound to be a little bit put off. 

Or if you were anticipating a focus on adventure and wer then forced to 'settle' for an unsettling, time-jumping procedural featuring a deductive infiltrator investigation and murder mystery, one of which takes more than a decade to resolve, your disappointment makes sense to me. I see you.

I don't see you closely or super clearly though, because I really liked Lanterns.

I will not outline much of the plot becuase dang, they take their time playing this one out, and they pack a few great twists along the way, but I feel they tied things up, both logically and emotionally by the eighth episode and season finale.

They answer some great lore-type questions along the way, too, like "who is the real Green Lantern of sector 2814?" and "wait, how can there be more than one?", but that feels almost incidental.

The real story is about personal growth and courage, and the role fear has to play in that. As well as the role race has to play in fear. This prespective caused more than a few people to step off the fan train, calling the series woke and saying race politics has no place in a superhero adaptation.

This, despite the fact that when the character debuted in 1972, he was clearly an anti-authority figure committed to black empowerment, not unlike the Black Panther Party spokespeople of the day. And Neal Adams even had to fight to give John Stewart a darker skin tone than black characters had up until that point.

Taking a lot of cues from HBO's True Detective series in terms of tone and pacing, there is more than enough galactic scale and science-fiction shenanigans to differentiate it from other shows, even if they are a bit selective about overtly using the power ring and it's constructs a little sparingly. Chandler's arrogant crusty, worlde-weary test-pilot superhero has been critiqued as being too much of an asshole, but two things about that:

1) a lot of fighter jocks, especially test pilots, will tell you that ego is at least as big a part of their makeup as willpower (the core requisite of being a Green Lantern) and a lot of people will register that level of confidence as arrogance and yeah, potentially assholery.

2) there are times when John Stewart is every bit as much an asshole as Hal, and Pierre carries off the balance of fearlessness, frustration and ambition with considerable aplomb.

To tell you much more runs the risks of spoilers, which I will not do, so I will say this: Lanterns also has a similar feel to producer Damon Lindelof's brilliant Watchmen (2019) series, if you have any interest in a mature approach to questions like how do we determine the character of people carrying unimaginable power as well as what sort of tasks could challenge such individuals, then don't listen to the haters, many of whom are misguided and simple, but some of which are racist and oughta know better. 

Even if you are not that big on superheroes at the moment, check out Lanterns quickly before they announce season two and recap the finale in the headline or something else daft, and let me know what you think of it.

The contrast of darkness and light might entrance you, as it has me.

The Flex, Onward to Wheelhalla

Our societal reliance on automobiles is by no means a great thing, but an interesting side-effect in some cases are the attachments we develop to these animate objects. I feel like these thoughts and feelings are like energy - is it possible they go someplace?

I hate buying vehicles - I don't feel I have the power or even inclination to negotiate effectively and as a result I probably paid too much for a two-year-old, high-mileage vehicle in 2012. But our 2002 Taurus wagon was getting long in the tooth and the transmission a little sloppy, so rather than take it over the mountains in December to visit my mum in Osoyoos, we traded it in for a 2010 Ford Flex with spotty paint on the hood and 72,000 klicks on it already. It ended up being the best vehicle we ever owned.

Part of that quality was in the reliability - outside of wear and tear items like brakes and shocks, it never needed any sort of real mechanical work until it had over a quarter million km on the clock, and precious little even after that.

The Flex was also renowned for its interior space, seating seven (if a couple of them were petite). It also had an enormous cargo capacity, one time allowing us to move a three-person sofa from Leon's to home (with the driver's seat pushed up uncomfortably close to he steering wheel but still...).

G&G 2016

My affection for the Flex far transcended its steadfast nature or the fact it was a smart purchase. The bulk of the mileage may have been the 35 km commute for eight years, but that rig took the four of us (and two different dogs) to so many places, starting with Waterton National Park and Going-to-the-Sun Road in 2014.

Going to the Sun Road 2014

Vancouver Island Road Trip 2015

Kootenay National Park 2017

Glory's 18th Covid Birthday 2020

And not enough pictures were taken inside of the Flex, where a comfortable second row bench seat accommodated both kids watching musicals on long road trips, and grownups wanting to sleep, read, or even have a beer while watching the scenery. 

To Thompson MB 2013

Going to the Sun Road 2014

Glacier NP 2014

Suffice to say, the Flex has been our trusted steed and what feels like our boon companion for some time now - more than half of Fenya's life, as it turns out!

But all good things must come to an end, and it has been five years now since we passed this milestone while driving to Jasper.

September 2021, outside Edson

We ordered a replacement vehicle in January of '24, and the 'Lander finally arrived on Easter of '25. Fenya has been driving the Flex since then, and I sold it to her in February of this year so she could eventually sell it for a decent commuter ride. A couple months after that, the terminal diagnosis arrived: oil and coolant leakages, costing a prohibitive amount to repair.

Fenya continued to drive it cautiously, palliatively perhaps, until she replaced it with a 2015 Escape a couple of weeks ago. Unwilling to endure the nuisance and tire-kickers that a private sale would require, she ended up calling Pick n Pull who were willing to pay a modest amount. They arrived to tow it away last Tuesday.

We watched from the living room window as the unlit taillights receded from view for the final time, and Fenya said, "Is it weird that I feel a little sad to see it go?"

I shook my head. "Not at all," I said. "That car was a big part of our lives for 14 years. It took you and Glory to school and choir and dance, carried us all to Thompson or Hudson Bay on our way to Churchill maybe a dozen times, towed the trailer out to our campsites every summer, including a big trip to Vancouver Island...It never let us down, never stranded us, got us and sometimes lots of stuff to where we were going without fail."

"I think it is natural for us to have some affections for things that serve us so well for so long. And just because we know rationally that the Flex doesn't have a mind or spirit or soul, doesn't mean that all those feelings we attached to it over so many years are without significance."

She nodded. "I feel more like I am saying goodbye to family pet or something."

"I know!" I replied. "Like we are telling ourselves the Flex is going to live on a farm or something, like a horse being ut out to pasture..."

And as much as I would have loved to find a family with kids who needed something to get them to school and who knew a mechanic who could keep it running for a while, there was no chance of doing that in a timely fashion. Having the parts go to keep other cars on the road a little longer feels like the best alternative; more like an organ donation and less like a horse led to the glue factory.

But at the same time, all those thoughts, those memories, that simply preposterous affection for an amalgamation of metal, plastic and wires - where do they go?

I don't even know how I feel about a possible afterlife for humans, let alone automobiles, but a part of me hopes that the Flex is remembered for a while, for its faithful service and the journeys and adventures it facilitated. That somewhere beyond the finite, those thoughts and feelings aglomerate and take on some sort of substance extraneous to those who constructed them.

If there is a Wheelhalla, I hope our Flex is there, honoured and celebrated as it is truly due. Perhaps it can meet the cars of my ancestors, like the TravelAll that brought us to Alberta when I was six, or my father's Ford Falcon from before I was born.

Ah, it's a nonsensical idea. But I tell you with only a small degree of embarassment that when I walked Canéla on Tuesday morning before the tow truck arrived, I made sure we passed the Flex and I patted its hood and I said aloud, "thanks, and Godspeed."

The One I Missed - Autumnal Geekquinox 2026

Yesterday I tendered my most sincere regrets for my first Geekquinox dinner since Pete started hosting them way back in 2011.

It couldn't be helped; the cold I am fighting settled into my chest, and even if I was feeling better, I would not risk infecting everyone else. So Audrey went without me and I went to bed before 11 and didn't wake up until the following afternoon.

But I was still up when Audrey came home and showed me the wee takeaway container Pete and Ellen had put together for me and I was very nearly overwhelmed. 

And I know Pete appreciates seeing his excellent work commemorated on my blog, so I am using the frayed remainder of my faculties to put together my first takeaway Geekquinox post!

The theme this time was another "Best of" dinner, where guests were encouraged to reflect back over their favourite dishes from the previous thirty-odd Geekquinoxes (Geekquinoctes?) and submit their requests - a task as laborious as it was elementary. There are too many excellent dishes to choose from to make the decisions easy, and compound that with my own increasingly unreliable memory...

Surprisingly, my memory came up with a suggestion without delay, which I kept to myself, knowing the difficulty in preparing the dish. But when Pete re-entered the email thread looking for more suggestions, I ventured forth: "If you are going wide open, it is impossible for me to pass up the opportunity for Beef Wellington..."m a sentiment quickly seconded by another guest.

In case you are unaware, Beef Wellington is a notoriously tricky dish consisting of a beef tenderloin slathered in a mushroom and herb mince paste (duxelles), then baked whole inside puff pastry. It is exquisite, and possibly the very tastiest beef dish I have ever eaten. I have only had it once, and if Pete ever goes vegan, odds are I will never have it again, because I simply do not have the minerals to attempt it myself.

But he's a game fish, our Pete is, so he added it to the menu!

He even sent a picture of it the night before, showing it in its uncooked state!

Obviously less than half the menu was suitable for leftovery so I cannot comment on the hamachi shots (one of my all time faves as well) or the pear and pomegranate salad, but for a dinner party I wasn't even at, my takeaway box was substantial:

Inside you can see (from left) a robust slice of Beef Wellington, an atomic buffalo turd and three different types of compound butter.

I started with the ABT, a crowd hit that, blessedly, returns periodically and is more welcome than the swallows of Capistrano. A halved and seeded jalapeno pepper, stuffed with cayenne-enhanced cream cheese, topped with a piece of smoked sausage, wrapped in bacon and smoked on Pete's Big Green Egg before being drizzled with homemade barbecue sauce.

Reheating it in the microwave meant I lost a little bit of the cream chese filling - maybe misplaced is better than lost, as even the attempted runaways were apprehended and devoured. The filing tasted a little spicier than usual to me, but not unpleasantly, although perhaps this wasn't the best thing to break my fast with? Whatevs. Still one of the most delicious appies out there.

While I waited for the beef to heat up on a foil-wrapped tray in the oven, I turned my attention to the compound butters and the two dinner rolls that had accompanied them. The honey was delicious, even though I am more of a savoury than sweet guy, the garlic was amazing, but the blue cheese remains my favourite.

By the time I was done using a bun corner to mop out the buttery end of the dish, the oven timer beeped and I removed the foil, putting the tray back in to give the pastry a fighting chance after a night in a fridge and 20 minutes under aluminum..

This seems to have worked as the beef was well heated all the way through (and it was a bit of a slab) but the pastry maintained a bit of crispiness as well.

From an experimental point of view, I probably should have tried a bit of the beef from the centre by itself, to see if the flavour from the duxelles permeated that far on its own, but in truth, I just could not be arsed. Each fork was a careful composition of beef, pastry and delicious mince, in a variety of concentrations, and all of them were exquisite. Like, I don't want to oversell this, but from my perspective, Beef Wellington is a perfect balance of texture and flavour. The rich sharpness of the duxelles complements the pastry precisely, and the beef was a tender medium rare that a man with no teeth could have enjoyed. Amazing!

I paused in my writing to take the Key lime pie from the refrigerator and eat it. As expected, it does not disappoint! Tart, swet, tangy and creamy on that classic graham cracker crust. The only disappointg part was that I neglected to photograph it before demolishing it. Delicious!

So here I sit, a day later, still ill, but comforted by delicious homemade food. I lament not catching up with my friends and the stories and jokes that were no doubt shared, but take even more contentment from the sentiments of the other guests (and hosts!), and knowing we will all be together again before too long. 

Thanks again Pete and Ellen!

Oil Crisis (of Conscience)

It could have been practically anyone else, but last week, the Edmonton Oilers announced the signing of Alex Formenton, one of the "London Five."  These are the infamous players from the national juniors team who were arrested in 2024 for an alleged sexual assault that took place in London, Ontario in 2018. All 5 players were acquitted.

The circumstances of the case are troubling and the details can be found elsewhere, but at the end of the day, a young woman agreed to go back to a hotel room with a young hockey player, but more teammates showed up by his invitation. Questions remain about what consent actually means when you are potentially inebriated, as well as intimidated and outnumbered 5:1 by burly hockey players.

After the acquittal in tJuly of 2025, their collective suspension from the NHL stood until they were reinstated by the league and eligible to return after December 2025. Two other members of the five have found a home on NHL teams as well, Dillon Dubé for the St. Louis Blues and Carter Hart, whose playoff run with the Vegas Knights last year was marked by opposing fans chanting "no means no" whenever he took to the ice. The players' union (NHLPA) argued that all the players should have been eligible to return to work following their acquittal despite breaching the NHL code of conduct. 

And this is the argument many people are making to defend the Oilers decision to offer a place to Formenton: without a guilty charge, without a league suspension, why shouldn't the Oilers give him a second chance? It's not like he (or they) did anything illegal?

While this is true, it is not reasonable to say in this case that "not guilty" equates to "innocent."

Regardless of the ability to prove a case in a court of law, where the onus in sexual assault cases is on the accuser to prove their position, we can establish that some serious wrong was done, and that the players involved knew this.

People who say "it was consensual" or "that puck bunny wanted a wild night" are choosing to ignore text messages showing the second guessing by the players themselves ("am I allowed to do this?") and obvious attempts to get their stories straight. 

More damning though is the testimony from the victim, EM, herself, stating she tried to get dressed and leave multiple times, sometimes while crying, only to have her way blocked or an arm placed in front of her by one of the players.

None of this behaviour endears any of these males (I won't call them men) to me because I believe consent can be withdrawn at any time. I also believe that texting teammates with offers of a three-way or oral sex to indulge in porn film fantasies with an intoxicated woman is generally reprehensible.

But defenders are correct in their assertion that there was no crime committed. Guess what though?

That doesn't make it right. Not by a long chalk.

Formenton and the others didn't have to go to jail, fine. I won't think he should be denied a livelihood, even though at one point he had told everyone he had moved past hockey and was going to work in construction. No, playing hockey at a lower level in Switzerland is a perfectly acceptable form of 21st century exile. 

Why shouldn't the biggest league in hockey reserve itself for not only great athletes but also people of good, or at least decent, character?

Many Oilers fans are saying they have had enough. That the hiring of manager Stan Bowman (after not addressing the sexual abuse of one of his own players while managing with the Chicago Blackhawks), followed by Mike Babcock as coach (after being accused of brutally bullying his players and getting released by Columbus after demanding players show him the photo rolls on their phones) and now Formenton, is sending a message that this organization does not care about character, and are doublng down on a philosophy of not just winning first but winning only. That public perception is an afterthought, if it occurs to them at all.

I have to say I am most disappointed in Captain Connor McDavid. Let the front office make a business case justifying $850K for a reportedly average player who came very close to being a convicted sex offender, but the team captain? The guy supposed to lead on the ice and in the locker room? His statement on Formenton was the most vacuous of nothing-burgers: "“Listen, I think he’s gone through a process. He’s been transparent through the process, and that process has led him here today, and it’s a great opportunity for him.”

It was, perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly identical to Formenton's own statement: “I think throughout this whole process, I’ve been open and honest about my actions in it,” said Formenton afterward. “Given that, and being open and honest, I think that has granted me an opportunity today.” Where is the accountability? The compassion for the victim? The contrition? Has he ever asked for forgiveness?

Let's contrast McDavid's stale, canned response to Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins. After learning that recently signed 20-year-old Mitch Miller had admitted in juvenile court to abusing, bullying and taunting a developmentally delayed classmate, calling him racial slurs and making him eat a candy that had been wiped in a urinal, that captain said, "To be honest with you, the culture that we’ve built here goes against that type of behavior. We’re a team that’s built something about character, character people and individuals. What he did, obviously, is unacceptable and we don’t stand by that.

"For me, I know for myself, anyways, in this locker room, we’re all about inclusion, diversity, respect. Those are key words and core values that we have. We expect guys to wear this jersey to be high-character people with integrity and respect. That’s how they should be acting."

The Bruins reversed the signing two days later.

Meanwhile in Edmonton, some fans are putting away their jerseys for the season. They are cancelling Sportsnet. They are refusing to buy tickets. 

Superfan Mama Stanley has not only withdrawn support for the team she once loved, but has started a petition asking the Oilers to reverse the decision to sign Formenton. "I've cried in waves," she writes, because I feel betrayed by an organization I have proudly loved and represented for years."

"Losing Game 7 two years ago meant losing a Stanley Cup; this feels like losing a team I have loved with all my heart for most of my life."

I came back to watching the Oilers after a long absence during their 2006 Cup run. I became a fan in part because of the guts and determination displayed by the team, but even more because of the character shown by players like Ryan Smyth.

I want to feel good about my team, that they are worth my time and loyalty. And this current iteration of the team just isn't.

So I am done, at least for this season.

I won't watch any games, even if they make it to the playoffs. I won't wear their jersey, I won't even follow their results on the news if I can help it. I have not only signed Mama Stanley's petition, I have donated funds to help circulate it. As of Sunday night, the petition has garnered 60,399 signatures. Wow!

Will the Oilers listen? I kind of doubt it. And that's their choice - after all, no one broke the law here. 

But by ignoring the outrage, regardless of ticket sales, they are setting themselves up to be the villains of the league, while burning up a half-century of pride, goodwill and community support.