Category: Faith

A lucky few (hundred) of you will have received this same information by email. Sorry for the media saturation, but I hope this is an effective way to spread the word.

Brooke and I attended a very important meeting this past Sunday afternoon. It was regarding the future of one of our very favourite cultural institutions in this city. For the past 15 years, Brookstone Theatre has been fulfilling its mandate “to radically re-connect theatre and spirit.” Brookstone is a small but passionate theatre company that has received many positive reviews and Dora Award nominations (the Canadian equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards). They receive a small amount of government funding, but since their mandate is broadly Christian, they don’t receive the same amount of public funds as other theatre companies of their size. Among churches and the Christian community, Brookstone often gets overlooked or simply challenges people’s ideas of what “Christian theatre” should be a little too much. They exist, like many innovators, between two worlds.

The thing that has always threatened to happen is happening now. Brookstone is in danger of falling through the cracks. If they are unable to raise $30,000 by the end of January, Brookstone will simply cease to exist. This would leave an empty hole in the soul of our city. Nobody else is doing what Brookstone tries, and succeeds at, bringing issues of spirituality into the realm of professional theatre. There is not one performance I have attended in the past ten years that has not moved me and caused me to think.

The theatre is not losing money. Each season they have been profitable. But over the years, the lack of a professional business manager has led to mounting debts that have simply been lost in the shuffle. Donations given will go toward the debt as well as to funding a “transition” season with a lower budget. Brookstone’s board of directors, a dedicated group of volunteers, are also searching for a fulltime business manager who will start putting things in order. The feeling among Brookstone’s supporters at the meeting was that we simply cannot allow Brookstone to disappear.

Donations in ANY amount are welcome and needed. There are several ways to donate. Cheques can be made out to “Brookstone Performing Arts” and mailed to: Brookstone Performing Arts, 188 Lowther Ave., Toronto, ON, M5R 1E8. If you prefer to give via credit card, you can give online through CanadaHelps.org.

Please consider this an investment in the future. If you’ve ever been to a Brookstone show, you’ll want to ensure their survival. And if you haven’t, this may be the only way to make sure that you’ll be able to in the future. I’m not totally comfortable writing to ask you for your money, and I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. But I think it’s absolutely critical. And whether you can give or not, please consider linking this.

CanadaHelps Donation Page
Brookstone Theatre

In a story that must seem pretty wacky to the rest of the world, I noted with amusement and some satisfaction that conservative evangelical Wheaton College will be lifting its 143-year old ban on dancing. It may seem stupid and narrowminded to most, but these sort of rules have been in place for many years. They’re mostly left over from the days when going to dances, movies, pool halls, and even bowling alleys was considered flirting with the dark side.

I experienced this firsthand about ten years ago at a friend’s wedding. This fairly conservative Christian couple had hired a DJ and later in the evening I noticed the mother of one of the bridesmaids sitting with a wistful look in her eye. Almost tearfully, she told me how glad she was that people were dancing. It was painful for her to realize that she herself had been denied the chance to express herself in this way. It seems silly, but for several generations of people of faith, it was deadly serious.

Bravo to Wheaton for pulling their head out of the sand. Now somebody’s got to teach those kids to dance!

I have no idea whether this is good, bad, or a sign that the end of the world is near, but there’s a version of the New Testament being marketed to teenage girls, and it looks like a fashion magazine. (via todd)

Tomorrow night, Brooke and I leave for 16 days in Poland. We’re travelling to Katowice, in the southern part of the country, near Krakow, to help the Katowice Baptist Church with their summer ESL program. There are ten of us going, and it will be both fun and a challenge to live and work together as a group for the next few weeks.

Though it’s not really a vacation, I’m hoping that in the process of teaching and serving the needs of the church there, I’ll gain some insight into another culture and learn about the history of a fascinating part of the world. However…

While doing some research on hotels and restaurants in Krakow, where we’ll be spending a day or two, I found that Poland has its own equivalent of Hooters. Behold Rooster! The web site assures me “Thanks to such reachness of menu everyone will find something suitable for oneselves.” Hmm. I wonder if the Rooster girls need ESL lessons. 🙂