Secrets and Lies
“It’s like God has been looking out for me,” she wrote. “I don’t know why God does this. I’m feeling so worthless and so down because once again, I’ve been lied to, and humiliated.”
Life
My Life as an Elder
When I was first asked to be a ruling elder in my church my instinct was to say ‘No.’
Faith, Fashion and Falsity
Facebook Faith The Christian Prayer Center is a Facebook page and website. It’s basically a page where people can post prayers or pray for others. […]
Heaps of Hospitality
Being a Presbyterian minister, I promised I would find a place for the reception, believing that the local Presbyterian church would be able to accommodate us.
Aaron’s Underpants
YouTube John Crist grew up in the American South. He was homeschooled along with seven other siblings. His father is a minister. John, however, is […]
Theological Schools Matter
Did you know that James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, was a graduate of the Presbyterian College, Montreal? Or that Cairine R. Mackay Wilson, the first woman to sit in the Senate of Canada, was a Presbyterian and benefactor of our theological school in Montreal?
Born Again
Some question if the Christian church in the West is dying out in this century. In the Canadian context, across denominations, the church appears to be shrinking in almost every way—in our small Presbytery of Kamloops alone, two out of 10 congregations closed in 2015.
It Takes Faith
Joining the Healing and Reconciliation Committee couldn’t have come at a worse time for me. I was just starting the legal process for my residential school claim against the church.
What We’re Really Talking About
“This is about more than sex. This is about: What is God? What is God’s character? What is sin? It affects our doctrine of God. It affects our doctrine of sin. It affects our doctrine of scripture.”
Eastertide
Easter comes and goes too quickly. After Lent’s long weeks and all the services of Holy Week, Easter feels as short as an Ottawa springtime. What if we could take more time and think of Easter not as a Sunday but as a season?
Awkward Palm Sunday
As an adult, Palm Sunday feels different. I’m not sure if it is awkward because waving at parades is out of character for most Presbyterian congregations or because we know all too well where the week ahead will lead.
A Little Guarded
Two stalwart members walked by and one said to the other, “I think I’ll sit beside you today, somebody’s sitting in my pew.” I could see the couples’ shoulders tense.
Pierre’s Birch Bark Canoe
I get it; and I get it most profoundly on my knees in a canoe with a paddle in my hands, there being little room for much else that works in a canoe on a wilderness river or lake.
Silliness and Sweet Miracles
A New Religion The Missionary Church of Kopimism is a Swedish-founded and recognized religion. Its core beliefs have to do with the distribution of information. […]
The Master Gardener
She jokingly referred to herself as the Grand Master Gardener as she lurched around the backyard on her battery-powered scooter, the arrow on the speed control always aligned with the picture of the hare, never the tortoise.
Coming Home
What a difference a decade has made! In 2004, Montreal West was facing closure. Today, Montreal West counts some 140 members and adherents, many of them English-speaking Cameroonians from nearby suburbs, who have made the congregation one of the fastest growing in the presbytery. What made the difference?
How God Measures a Church
As I think back over my life at Knox, Drayton, Ont., it was the little things not written down on paper that I remember.
Out of the Past
The organ at St. Paul’s is one of very few Breckels and Matthews organs still in its original condition.
The Ministry of Camp
Last summer, I had the joy and privilege of being the chaplain at Glen Mohr camp for one week. My first confession about this experience is that I had never been to camp before.
The Wide Boulevard
Letter One: “I did not know that the Presbyterian Record and staff are supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada by having political articles in there [sic] magazine.”