A few months ago we rented our hall to the Friends of Priestman Street School for a community breakfast. Just days before the breakfast, a nine-year-old student, Garrett, died from a sudden cardiac event while walking to school. Garrett’s family and all who knew him were shaken to the core.
Understanding the times in which we live is critical but, honestly, we are much better at denial than reality.
As Christians we are called to make decisions based on God’s system of values. We reach beyond ourselves to define what is good, what is preferable, what is needed.
How do we preach the gospel without blaming the Jews?
Change has been in the walls and in the ground and in the pews and in the programs and in the financial outlook. So here’s just a sampling of changes made in our congregation’s life over these past years.
Do your own prayers ever bore you? Do you sometimes come to the end of your prayers and wonder how you actually got there?
I have this sense, having become a do-it-yourselfer, that I’m being given a small taste of what God Himself experienced in the act of creation.
Apparently a “church” isn’t just a place where Christians are found; sometimes, it’s just a mess of equally messy people.
Why doesn’t John tell the story of the Last Supper, as the other gospels do? It’s one of the most important stories about Christians.
I get great satisfaction from observing different cultures and attempting to learn from them. As this was my first visit to South America and to rare excursions beyond tourist areas and cruise ship ports, the experience was even richer.
Where do you find patience?
Jesus’ expectation was that his followers would actually do the things he did and taught. Really, no joke.
What people of faith should fear is how the faith element is portrayed and how broader issues of religious rights and respect are in danger of being tarred in the public eye by bizarre rights appeals.
If you’re like me, you want to know life—to enjoy a fullness in our living that accounts for the joys and heartbreaks of this world.
Many years ago, Dr. Stanley Walters told us theological students to read the first dozen chapters of Genesis as “pictorial theology.” This is a graphic novel, each episode told in a page or two of vivid images.
I was relaxing between meetings at the General Assembly in Cape Breton. A friend quietly sat down beside me. He suggested to me that God could use me to call together a group of pastors in my presbytery to pray with each other. The idea resonated with me.
I have been told by good Christian mentors that we should be moderate in all things. It must be written in the Bible somewhere, isn’t it? Well, actually it isn’t.
Have you known a gentle giant? We tend to think of those people who are large enough to be intimidating and yet when we get to know them, gentle enough to be approachable and caring. I suppose when you think of it, this is how we experience life.
What do we do while we wait for God? Some critics of the faith say that this kind of hope is an opiate, a pacifying pharmaceutical.
For five years and over nearly 60 articles, the column has attempted to address some of the 1,000 questions of faith.