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-theHERALD- Wednesday August 1891 Is prayer time used properly By JIM RYAN 21st Sunday Inordinary Time John 6 Aug 1991 WitoTd is everywhere these days At least that s my impression I spent part of my summer reading two of his books Home and The Most Beautiful House in the World And now there s a third book just published to keep me up late at night It called Waiting for the Weekend The August edition of The Atlantic has an article adapted from his new book His thesis in Waiting for the Weekend is that our free time isn really free In fact cording to Rybczynski we re pro bably more compulsive and driven during our leisure time than we are during our work time We have a word for the lat workaholic but no word yet for the former Listen to Rybczynski I m always charmed by old photographs of skiers which show Religion and Reality by Jim Ryan groups of people in what appear to be street clothes with complicated pieces of bent wood strapped to sturdy walking boots These men and women have a playful and unaffected air Today every novice is caparisoned in skin tight spandex like an Olym pic racer and even cross country skiing a simple enough pastime has been infected by a with correct dress authentic terminology and up to date equipment This reflects an at toward play which is United Church numbers declining Numbers are down but the decline is typical of what s hap pening to all membership figures in mainline Christian denomina tions says Doug Flanders Director of the United Church of Canada s Department of tion and Information While the trend is worrisome in terms of the health of the church as an institution this numbers are consistent with patterns over the past decade he adds The 1990 statistics show a decline of Church members The denominations confirmed membership is now The lmted Church is still the largest Protestant in Canada Mr Flanders explains the ma jor portion of the decline in membership in 1990 can be clear ly attributed to the dropping of in active or resident names from church membership lists He says there are a variety of reasons for more careful repor ng of statistical figures by local longregations Computers helped but it really tightening budgets that havt motivated local tions to take the time to realh count heads and nol just guess their membership figures sajs Flanders He explains that accurac is because each United Church congregation s financial of the wider church is by an assessment of the number of resident members in that congregation Flanders When a local congregations funds are limited is many are in these reces times it essentially comes down to and cents Either report accurate membership figures or literally pa a price for ach i f the people you haven seen or heard from in ears Mr landers adds The in membership this year is very marginally due to the debate over gay ordination A hand check of all statistical returns from congregations in approximately 2 000 per sons left the Church because of that issue Flanders That brings the maximum total to about members that we assume have left the Church because of the church s 1988 statement Membership and Human Sexmht Other figures i interest in the 1990 statistics art he closure of congregations letting total United Church in Canada Most of were of small rural largely in Western Canada often small numbers longer made the congregation three congregations closed in when the majority if members left because they disagreed with the Chur policy statements says Mr Flanders ferent from what it was in the past Most outdoor sports once simply muddled through are now undertaken with a high degree of seriousness Professional used to be a word that distinguished someone who was paid for an from the sportsman today the word has come to denote anyone with a high degree of pro ficiency professional quality equipment is available to and desired by al Conversely amateur a wonderful word literally meaning lover has been degraded to mean a rank beginner or anyone without a certain level of skill Just an amateur we say it is not as it once was a compliment three kinds of leisure 1 Being allowed to do something Beingallowedtodoanythlng 3 Being allowed to do nothing According to G K Chesterton the first kind is most common the second is practiced by artists and other creative people and the third kind is the least com mon The third kind was Chester ton s favourite It s also favourite He writes Leisure was the opportunity for personal even idiosyncratic pursuits not for ordered recreation it was for private reverie rather than for publrc spectacles If a sport was undertaken it was for the love of playing not winning nor even playing well Above all free time was to remain that free of the encumbrance of convention free of the need for business free for the noble habit of doing nothing at all This sounds to me like a pretty good description of prayer or at least one kind of prayer KINDS OF PRAYER Petition 2 Contrition 3 Thanksgiving 4 Adoration Petition is the most often prac ticed You can pray for those new ski boots Contrition is number two in the scale You can apologize for what you did when you didn t get what you prayed for Thanksgiving is the third most practiced Thanks God for the ski boots Adoration is the least ed It is when you do nothing You just sit there Call it contempla tion It s playful in the sense that nothing is anticipated You re not trying to twist God s arm or blackmail him or make a deal with him Nor are you trying to impress someone who is standing by looking on It s free of conven encumbrances free of the need for business and free for ac quiring what Flannery Connor called the Habit of Being HALT0N HILLS SCHOOL OF DANCE Principal MRS YVONNE OLDAKER arad istd Children Examiner for the RoyaJ Academy of Dancing With A Qualified Staff BALLET JAZZ NATIONAL MODERN TAP For Adults Children REGISTER at MILL ST GEORGETOWN August 28th 6 00 9 00 pm September 3456 6 009 00 p m September 7 00 a m FOR BROCHURE 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