I did think for about two seconds that I might write a piece commenting on the peculiarities of the Hebrew in the text. But these last few months I have thought a great deal about the decline of the evangelical church in the West.
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In the description of his excellent book, Movies are Prayers: How Films Voice Our Deepest Longings, popular film critic Josh Larsen writes, “Movies do more than tell a good story. They are expressions of raw emotion, naked vulnerability, and unbridled rage. They often function in the same way as prayers, communicating our deepest longings and joys to a God who hears each and every one.”
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Last summer I spent many of my evenings listening to the voices of the multivocational ministers that had agreed to participate in the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project. I was working on transcribing recorded interviews to pass along to the research team for analysis. A few nights a week, after my 1-year-old son was in bed I would go down into our basement to the computer tucked in a corner next to the furnace….
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How can what we measure encourage good practice? And, what are some aspects of our common life that are worth measuring that might encourage individual and community growth in the midst of these disorienting times?
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Borrowing from Soren Kierkegaard titled book, Either/Or, I feel like I want to do a follow-up post on the review of The Church of Us Vs. Them by David Fitch. It has been on my heart to recognize that perhaps bridges need to be built between the Christian story all across the world….
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The new book The Church of Us Vs. Them by David Fitch, in my opinion, is an important and prophetic book for today. In a polarized culture (even church culture), David Fitch, speaks into the enemy-making machine in our culture…
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Here we are at the end of Lent and Holy Week. And, I don’t know about you, but this has been a very strange season….
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Has there been such a time as this, where the whole world is halted by an invisible force? School, businesses, sports events, entertainment and malls have all come to a close. There are so many fears, concerns and uncertainties….
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Often things don’t survive translation from one medium to another. Different mediums tell stories in different ways. Every medium has its own unique rule sets and constraints. Every medium has its own inherent strengths and weaknesses….
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This isn’t what I intended to write….
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When we are tempted to be fearful, teach us peace.
When we are tempted to hoard, teach us generosity….
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“Go ahead,” my friend Ernie said to me, “choose any one you would like.” I looked down into the plastic container that he held in front of me while admiring the many small wooden crosses he had crafted….
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Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?….
My son and I went on a mini bike trip this summer. We pedalled about 250 km from Saskatoon to Moose Jaw over three days. It was a fun little summertime adventure.
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The thought of adding something to my calendar heightens my anxiety. Lately, I’ve actually been doing an okay job of saying “no” to additional things. But even then I’m still maxed out….
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Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. And in many traditions, Ash Wednesday is marked with a worship service where people come forward to receive the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads and they hear the words “From dust you came and to dust you shall return.”…
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One summer when I worked at camp, there was something that happened that became one of our favourite laugh-out-loud stories. It involved a sweet little boy whose name was Kenneth…
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I’ve been out in Winnipeg this week attending a pastor’s conference on faith formation in a secular age. At one point during yesterday’s proceedings, the keynote speaker, Andrew Root, asked a couple of gut-level questions—questions that most of us feel on some level or another, but rarely name so bluntly….
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Dear Advent readers,
Thank you so much for going on this Advent journey through scripture and reflections with us…..
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I lost hope this Christmas season.
I didn’t mean to, in fact, I’m not even sure where exactly I lost it.
But lo and behold, somewhere between the eggnog and the garland, I slowed down enough to realize my trusty sense of “all manner of things shall be well” had gone missing. Had I misplaced it? Did it disappear forever?…
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