velcade (round two - cycle four)

Here is the latest news with regard to my ongoing treatments. I am continuing with weekly (four weeks out of five) trips to St. Paul's Hospital first thing on Tuesday mornings where I receive Velcade injections (and once every five weeks an iv drip of pamidronate to build up my bones). I had a good response when I began a second round of eight five-week cycles on Velcade in May (the free light chain count dropped from 170 in May to 115 in June). My doctor had forewarned me that this would, at some point, change. Sure enough, in July the number went up to 130 and then this month up to 146. Since the goal is to try, if possible, to keep the kappa free light chain count below 100 it means it is time to make changes to the treatment. My doctor advised adding Cyclophosphamide to my weekly medications (in addition to Velcade and Dexamethasone). He is hoping that this will extend the effectiveness of the Velcade treatments. Cyclophosphamide is taken weekly in pill form. Significant side effects are unlikely. I began taking it this week and haven't noticed any difference to the regular effects of the drugs (namely the high energy and emotions on Tuesday/Wednesday followed by fatigue on Thursday as a result of the Dexamethasone). Basically, everything remains quite stable and at a low level. I am the beneficiary of the new tests for free light chains which enable my doctor to identify, and respond to, small changes in blood chemistry that were, until recently, undetectable.

In the meantime, I have also been the beneficiary of sabbatical time with time to enjoy family and a gorgeous British Columbia summer. Yesterday I returned to my office and this Sunday return to preaching, with gratitude for health and life.

thank-you

Thank-you once again to everyone who contributed to "An Evening Among Friends - A Multiple Myeloma Fundraiser" back in April. It was a great success in every way, largely due to the efforts of our daughter Anneke and her friend Sam. In the end $20,021 was raised for research into treating blood-related cancers such as Multiple Myeloma. Here is the report of the event at the website of the VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation.

in the beginning was the word

A sermon preached at the Memorial Service of Bill Buck.

John 1:1-5,14 &16; Isaiah 55; Psalm 36:5-10

You may have noticed that University Hill Congregation cherishes the Bible. The Bible is given honour of place whenever we worship. The big book is lifted high and carried into our midst where it takes its place at the heart of our life together. The Bible is the scripture – that is, the script – of our life. The church is the company of actors called to live this script - to perform these texts - in the world. It is the reason that we invite one another to be the lectors, the readers, when we gather. It isn’t just the minister’s job to read the scripture because it isn’t just the minister’s job to live the script. So, over the years, our congregation has regularly offered training sessions for lectors. For many years Bill Buck taught us how to read aloud so that others could experience the life and beauty, the humour and ache in the text. He taught us basic things like “Take your hands out of your pockets” and “Don’t show up unprepared – practice, practice, practice.” But Bill always placed the greatest emphasis on this: “Read the text with great care and respect. Love each word to life.” When he came as a guest to the preaching classes that I taught here at VST he said something similar. In speaking to budding preachers about how to deliver a sermon he would tell us the key to performing as an actor is to so fully embody the part you are playing when you go on stage. The key to performance is to interpret the script in such a way that you are not pretending at all but are, instead, telling the truth.

call for submissions - christian seasons calendar

Artists are invited to participate in the upcoming issue of "Salt of the Earth - The Christian Seasons Calendar for 2013/2014." This unique calendar which follows the seven distinctive seasons of the Christian year is distributed worldwide. View a sample of the current Christian Seasons Calendar here.

Interested artists are encouraged to offer artwork that interprets scripture readings and themes within the Christian Year. A list of the weekly scripture readings used in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary can be found here. We have one page available for an image for each of the following seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter. There will be two pages for the Season after Epiphany (which includes the arrival of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration). There will be four pages available for art work in the Season after Pentecost. On these pages we look for images that portray Pentecost, All Saints and the Reign of Christ as well as images particular to stories included in the lectionary readings during this season of growth in discipleship.

ah ... after worship on a Sunday in June

a prophet, a famine & a death

Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (Paris, 14th century)

I Kings 17

This is how it happens. One day there is no prophet sent from God. The next day there is Elijah. His name means “Yah(weh) is my God.” There has been no warning. The text has been focussed keeping track of royalty and who is in power. In the verses that precede Elijah we have arrived at Ahab of whom the text says: "Aab son of Omir did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him" (I Kgs 16:30). Suddenly, unannounced and unexplained, Elijah steps into the story. Elijah is a prophet. And not just “a” prophet but “the prophet.” Still today an empty chair is readied for him at every Jewish Seder meal, at every Passover celebration. Elijah leaves this earthly plane in a blaze of glory, in a sweet chariot of fire that swings low and carries him home, bypassing the grave. Elijah enters the story by confronting the king. The king is responsible for the fertility of the soil, for the productivity of the people – in other words, for the gross domestic product. Elijah’s first message is news of an energy crisis. There will be no dew and no rain unless Elijah says so. Elijah, not the king, is the one connected to the source of life. Un-credentialed and unexpected, Elijah enters the scene with the surprising news that fertility and productivity, energy and growth are in the hands of God, not the king and not the powers that be. No wonder that king Ahab will say upon meeting Elijah after three years of drought: “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” (I Kgs. 18:17). 

seeing the glory

A sermon preached at the Memorial Service of Milla Menzies

When Paul writes to the church in Corinth  about the variety of gifts given by the Holy Spirit he notes that some in the community are given the gift of faith (I Corinthians 12:9). It is often assumed that faith is a common gift, one that all in the church are meant to receive. But Paul thinks otherwise. He knows that living in faith, trusting wholly in the God we meet in Jesus Christ, is a gift received by a few on behalf of the many. When thanking God for the life of Millanka Menzies we find ourselves so grateful that the Holy Spirit gifted Milla with such deep and abiding faith. Milla’s faith was in evidence at every turn. It made her resilient in the face of many hardships. It kept her joyful when she could have been filled with despair. It brought her back to worship and to Bible study even when the minister exasperated her. Milla simply believed, trusted, somehow knew that God intended healing, wholeness, care for her, for her children, for all people.