The Abolition of divine discontent

I love figuring out where Christian artists get their band/album/song names from. I really like it, however, when I figure it out myself. For example, I was sitting in class one time (many years ago) when I had a "Eureka!" moment by mentally linking the band Plankeye with Matthew 7:3.

But when it comes straight from the Bible, it's kind of lame. I mean, how hard is that to figure out? Sure Jars of Clay have a name from 2 Corinthians 4:7 and Letter Kills has a name from the same book, but it's no fun figuring it out when you have to look no further than the New Testament. It's a lot more rewarding when an artist drops a jewel that you have to go looking for.

For example, the name of Sixpence None the Richer. It comes from Mere Christianity, where C. S. Lewis uses a parable to explain grace. If a father gave his child a sixpence so the could get his father a birthday present, the father would be foolish if, upon receiving a present worth sixpence on his birthday, he thought he was a sixpence to the good. Lewis was pointing out that we often do things for God and arrogantly think that God is somehow indebted to us for it. The truth is, no matter what we do God is sixpence none the richer. I mean, that is a pretty cool reference, n'est-ce pas? Unfortunately I read it in a magazine and was denied the joy of figuring it out myself.

One I did figure out myself and thought was pretty cool was the name of Mars Ill's first album, Raw Material. In preaching against eugenics in his book The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis uses the phrase "If man treats himself as raw material, raw material he will be." That's where Manchild (Mars Ill's rapper) got the name for his album!, I exclaimed to myself while reading that book. What do you know, I was right - the last track on Raw Material is called "The Abolition of Manchild."

So that was fun. And all this is leading up to one I discovered last night. I wasn't even thinking about Sixpence None the Richer's last album, Divine Discontent. But what do you know, while reading Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton I came across this quote:

"If we wish specially to awaken people to social vigilance
and tireless pursuit of practise, we cannot help it
much by insisting on the Immanent God and the Inner Light:
for these are at best reasons for contentment;
we can help it much by insisting on the transcendent
God and the flying and escaping gleam; for that means
divine discontent."

Wicked!! Sixpence None the Richer took the name of their band from Lewis, and the name of their last album from Chesterton - oh boy, I figured it out, I'm clever!

(A caveat - I'm not really clever, I just feel that way. Thanks for humouring me.)

Walk of Hope

Some things about my job are tough. Many things are unrewarding. I get paid way less than I ought. Loud-mouthed liberals are rude to you. I work all manner of un-billable hours.

But I still do it because some things in this job are SO worth it. Did you know that Ovarian Cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada? Did you also know that Vancouver's Van Dusen Botanical Gardens is even more beautiful than Stanley Park?

Today we (I am my boss) went to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens for Vancouver's first ever Winners Walk of Hope. There were about 300 people from all over the Lower Mainland, most of whom had been touched in some way by Ovarian Cancer. My boss read greetings from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who himself attended the Walk last year in Comox.

The appreciation showed to us by everyone there was palpable. "Thank you for your support - thank you for being here on behalf of the Prime Minister." By this small group of people, more than $37000 was raised for research to help fight this insidious disease. These are the people we are in government on behalf of.

You see, the media and the educational institutions would have you believe that the issues important to Canada are whatever the far-left lobby is hawking. Well, to Joe and Janice Canadian, they don't care about safe injection sites, and they don't see much logic is paying addicts to shoot up. They don't care about whether Theresa and Tammi are getting married, but they aren't sure why federal employees of a religious bent need to be fired for not marrying them.

To them the important issues are the Ovarian Cancer that their sister just contracted, or how their budget is going to stretch to pay for their kids sports registration, or why they ship so much of their income to the federal government to begin with. These people are the Canada that needs defending, and these are the people we will stand up for. They want safety in their homes, they want a little financial help for child-rearing but they will take care of raising the kids themselves thank you very much, and they want to get medically necessary surgery in less than 4 months, which is the wait time now.

Canada belongs to those people, not the loud-mouthed, far-left activists of the inner city. Keep up the great work Stephen - you're building the right kind of Canada for all of us.

My Usual Posse

First, I would like to redirect the attention of everyone to a wonderful post written by my good friend Mr. Jeffs. There is a man we can all aspire to be like.

Second, I would like to direct your attention to a photo that the Prime Minister's official photographer took for me. Here it is:

We just shot the breeze - you know how you do. We like to meet up for the occassional chit-chat now and again.

Here is a photo I took with my mobile phone while the Prime Minister chatted with an employee of the Canadian Border Services Agency:


We chatted for a while - he's a remarkably easy-going guy, in case you were wondering.