I am en route Westjet 167 Edmonton to Grande Prairie pondering possible subjects for today's blog entry. I wasn't sure if the Olympics were going to make it into my Lenten discipline this year, but that question was answered a couple of days ago with 'Remember the Joy' - a mantra not only for success in sport and play but more generally for the faithful life. The Olympics came up again as I thought about the Globe and Mail article I was reading in the departure lounge. It told the story in its own way of last evening's hockey game between Team Russia and Team Canada and the importance of hockey to the Canadian psyche. As I am trained to do I was just now reflecting on the situation trying to discern where God can be found in such a closely watched, intensely important event even if it is only so for a small population of people relative to the world's population.
Of course it is a tricky question because many Canadians will likely have interpreted the 7-3 Canada win as being indicative of God having smiled on our team. However I doubt that God's presence had much to do with the outcome.
Another Globe and Mail article revealed what it could about the upcoming closing ceremonies and speculated whether there would be any change to the high-tech aspects in light of the Olympic cauldron hydraulic glitch that marred an otherwise spectacular opening ceremony. The article also speculated on who from the list of Canadian talents might perform at the ceremonies. That of course brought to mind the performers at the opening ceremony. One of the most spectacular contributions was what I consider the best rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah ever done, namely the cover of it recorded on kd lang's nationalist musical tribute - 'Hymns of the 49th parallel'. kd lang is a national treasure and that song stirs me every time I hear it. However I did realise that her performance resulted in yet another glitch, namely that during Lent we are supposed to put away the Hallelujah's until Easter. I guess VANOC never thought of that one!
Technically, it's not a photograph, but 'tis an obvious choice. And it fits with the theme of my blog entry last week when I mused about Winter Trees and the Lenten temperament.
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