It’s About Honesty
“All truth” includes the truth that liberates, the truth that enlightens and the truth that comforts. “All truth” also includes the truth that hurts.
Magazine
Food For Thought
Article Back in March, I read a fantastic little article in the Huffington Post entitled: What if the Kids Don’t Want Our Church? In short, […]
A Malawian in Canada
Canada is one of the most developed and economically stable countries in the world. Due to this it is very difficult for someone like me who comes from one of the least developed countries to draw a clear line to demarcate the poor, middle class and the rich.
God of Justice
We shudder at the expression of such violence against children, against the idea of such deadly revenge.
Community News – October 2013
Prayers for Peace As the United States considered military strikes against Syria, churches across the globe called for prayer. The heads of the World Communion […]
The Denton Effect
The city of Winnipeg is famous for its chilling weather and flat prairie land, but one man’s work in sponsoring refugees is turning Winnipeg into a welcoming and safe haven for newcomers.
Egypt’s Upheaval
Amidst the political upheaval and social unrest that has gripped Egypt for the past several years, Christians are becoming increasingly fearful for their safety. According […]
A Great Mystery
Malcolm Muggeridge said he believed in prayer but didn’t understand how it worked. That’s about where I am on the subject.
The Church of the Bonsai
It struck me as I stood staring at one 90-year-old fruitless bonsai that perhaps many of our churches were very similar.
The World I Live In
This is a snapshot of the world you live in. Personal, global, environmental, social. It’s a confused and complicated mixture of interests.
Walking the Talk
Sometimes we wonder about Simon Peter, Andrew, and the long succession of disciples who also consented to be called away. Did Jesus not care that they may have had families to clothe and feed, mothers and fathers to honour, boats to be maintained and kept seaworthy?
Standing in Shadows
As I walked through the echoing sanctuary of St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, I tried to imagine the riot.
Christianity in China
By some accounts, there are more people at church on a Sunday in China than in the whole of Europe. Descriptors used in the western media include “explosive growth,” and “a spiritual awakening.”
A Delicate Balance – Letter from Nicaragua
The first time a stranger called me “madre” (mother), I thought I’d heard it wrong; I was still learning Spanish. In my early 20s, striking out on my own, with kids still a distant dream, my first reaction was to take it as an insult.
Negative Theology
Christianity is not: “a culture-religion … a religion of the book … a doctrine … a system of morality” nor is it “the church” or “the truth.” Then what is Christianity?
Fear of Religion
Most of the commentary on the Quebec government’s proposed Charter of Values has focused on Quebec, but it has unveiled more about Canada as a whole than just that part of our population in Quebec. And what has been unmasked is disturbing.
A Day in the Life
Not all of our days are like this. But for me, this specimen day in some way captures the very essence of what it means to live here. That’s why I call it a specimen day, an extraordinary sample day that speaks its essence into the everyday.
Questions to Ask Before Going on a Mission Trip
Dr. Samantha Nutt is critical of the growth in “voluntourism,” where people “spend huge amounts of money to private companies to go nail in boards” overseas.
The Way to Light
I listened to track six—“Morningside”—on the way to my home church Morningside Presbyterian for worship. While the whole album is evocative, rich in tones and textures, intricately constructed, this one song has stuck with me. Obviously, I was first attracted to it because it is about my church, but for the composer, Rev. Will Ingram, currently senior minister at St. Andrew’s, Toronto, Morningside is a community of friends.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Jesus told a story we often rush through to get to the part about the (Hebrew) Bosom of Abraham and (Greek) Hades. The story isn’t about, as one scholar puts it, the furniture of heaven and the temperature of hell.