Update from Hungary
There was a refugee camp here on the Hungarian side on Monday. But on Tuesday the Hungarian government imposed new rules.
Authorafaiz
Meeting Refugees in Serbia
The father’s name is Hussein al Monsour, 47. I met him and his family in Serbia last night, at a camp near the Hungarian border.
Update from Serbia
These are a few shots around the township of Magyarkanizsa, Serbia, which as its name suggests has a large Hungarian population. Starting earlier this summer, thousands of people from Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangla Desh, Pakistan, arrived in this community.
Desperate Rituals
July I went to a Dionysian wedding. Dionysian?, you ask. Sure; that’s what they said. It was an attempt to create a new ritual where confidence and faith in old rituals had disappeared.
One Sunday Afternoon
It started, as these things often do, from the unlikeliest source: The Committee to Nominate Standing Committees.
Encounters with God
General Assembly is about the business of the church and that business seems dry to many. This year, along with the much anticipated and expected […]
Disagreeing Friends
As a liberal I’m very critical of the smugness of liberals. As a liberal I’m also critical of the holier-than-thouness of evangelicals. Both these poses drive me absolutely batty.
Two Dozen Overtures on Sexuality
Eighteen sessions and six presbyteries have filed overtures for discussion at this year’s General Assembly on the issue of human sexuality. This volume of response is without precedence in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Presbyterian Record Takes Home 20 Awards
The Presbyterian Record received 20 awards last weekend for reporting, storytelling, editing and design—11 of which were first place awards of excellence. The Canadian Church […]
A Tree in the City
Trees grow old. A maple can live to four centuries, but not in the city. They can’t shed and regenerate where we live.
Sustaining Missions
Management, marketing and money—how can church-run missions and seminary-trained executive directors complete in the world of charities?
Bending the Wild
Addictions. So many addictions. The greatest of which is social norm: To be accepted.
The Art of Christ’s Passion
Ubiquitous in Roman Catholic churches, the Stations of the Cross are a visual representation of Christ’s Passion, with a dozen or so paintings of biblical passages arranged as a meditative pilgrimage.
Green Famine
From the famine of three decades ago, through many political machinations and foreign investment, a new modern Ethiopian economy has been growing.
Rest and Respond
I spent some time in January reading the11 issues of last year’s Record. Perhaps it was the frame of mind I was in but I noted a narrative that echoed from issue to issue.
Beyond Words
Western art, historically entwined with the Church, has moved on to other themes. Or perhaps the Church has lost interest in the contemporary world.
Numbed and Helpless
I didn’t know how to feel—I felt indignant, angry, frustrated, sad and ultimately helpless to respond appropriately. I wonder if there is an appropriate response as a person of faith, as a Christian, as a Canadian Presbyterian?
Thanks for the Conversation
January the Record asked, Can We Talk? An example of two people disagreeing, with respect and openness, played out on Facebook in January on a […]
Blessed Are Your Ears
A bad actor only “acts” when speaking and goes dead when they have no lines. A good actor is most alive on stage when they have no dialogue. May I be so bold as to say that you and I, and most of us in our denomination, are really bad actors?
Binging on the Gospels
Jesus Christ is not ideology. Both modern day liberals and conservatives would have rejected him equally, though for different reasons, in his time.