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Posts from the ‘Hope’ Category

Jun 14

5 Comments

On Loss and Life

This morning I am grimly staring in the mirror at a large red scab that is rapidly moving toward full bloom almost directly in the middle of my forehead.  An uncomfortable reminder, this, of the previous evening’s activities when, instead of making contact with the soccer ball as I had intended, I rather abruptly introduced my forehead to an opponent’s skull.  This ugly scab seems somehow uglier as I reflect upon the game itself.  Up 2-1 in the second half, then conceding three goals in about 10 minutes to lose 4-2—two of said goals almost entirely due to giveaways by the guy with the blotchy red forehead.

Sigh. Read more

Jun 6

10 Comments

The Way We Walk

I went for a walk at lunch today.  A frustrating morning… needed to clear my head, to think, to pray.

I often walk on a weedy red shale path alongside an irrigation canal that snakes behind our church on the outskirts of town.    There’s not much of a view to speak of.   Some farmland, an agricultural research facility, a big motor sports dealership, a meat processing plant off in the distance.  Off in the other direction I can hear the hum of machinery and industry where a new hotel going up across the highway.

But in the spring and the summer, there is water in the canal.  And I like to walk by water. Read more

Jun 5

4 Comments

A Fine Mess

Back in my university days I took an undergraduate philosophy course on the problem of evil.  We had been through most of the well-rehearsed responses to the question of how evil can co-exist with an all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing God.  Each had their problems, of course.  “But what happens if we just say that God is limited?” our professor asked, with evident glee.  What if God’s kinda just making it up as he goes along?  What if God’s a bit of a selfish jerk who isn’t nearly as considered with human misery as we are?  Or, what if he’s a nice enough guy, but he just can’t do much about evil?  What if he’s doing the best he can with what he has to work with?  What if he’s learning as he goes, just like the rest of us? Read more

May 21

4 Comments

On Alien-Angels with Evil-Detectors… and Horses

As I’ve remarked on numerous occasions here, I have over the years found kids—my own and others’­—to be among the most reliable and thought-provoking sources of theological insight that God has seen fit to gift me with.  I love their questions, the way in which they process things, and, perhaps most important of all, the delightful irreverence and curiosity with which they approach many religious ideas that so many of us grown ups have spent years dutifully affirming. Read more

May 14

12 Comments

What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?

That may be true for you, but how can you say that it is true for everyone else when there are so many different understandings of truth out there 

This is, of course, among the most common questions out there in postmodern-dom and, more specifically, in the context of the religious/ethnic/cultural diversity that is becoming the new normal in Canada and the West in general.  Christians are becoming increasingly aware that there is much that is good and true and beautiful in a wide variety of worldviews and practices.  We are also alert to the painful reality that the Christian worldview has all too frequently been aligned with the interests of colonialism and other less overt modes of cultural imperialism.  It can be a tricky thing, this business of expressing one’s convictions about the particularity of truth amidst all of diversity and historical error and the baggage that comes along with it. Read more

May 13

An “Embarrassing Kind of Love”

I continue to consider it a shame that I have only begun to get acquainted with Brennan Manning now that he has passed away.  I am finding him to be a remarkable writer and thinker.  Even though at times Manning’s spirituality seems quite different from my own and, on occasion, I even find myself disagreeing with how he puts this or that, he quite stubbornly holds the reality of grace before the reader in an extraordinary and compelling way.  Here are a few memorable quotes containing plenty to ponder from my reading of The Ragamuffin Gospel this evening. Read more

May 8

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“You’re Gonna Pray for Leroy, Right?”

The following comes out of an experience I had yesterday.  I try to be very careful in deciding if/how to share about stuff that I encounter in my daily work.  There are issues of privacy, of course, in addition to the simple fact that not every experience I find meaningful necessarily needs to be shared—especially in an online/cultural context where over-sharing is reaching almost epidemic proportions.  

Having said that, I think it is important to hear the stories of our world and our communities—perhaps especially the unsettling ones.  Stories move and change us.  At the very least, it’s important for me to hear/tell them.  There are so many things that I cannot do in light of the many problems in our world, but one thing I can do is simply to write, to tell stories like this one.  It is especially relevant, I think, in light of my recent posts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (here, here, and here) and yesterday’s post on “Normal Unhappiness.”  All the names below have, of course, been changed. Read more

May 7

28 Comments

Normal Unhappiness

Ever since I was a little kid, I have felt the pain of the world quite deeply (how’s that for a pretentious opening sentence?!).  I don’t recall being an unhappy child—not by any means!—but I do quite distinctly remember being drawn toward more existential themes of pain and loss and identity and belonging, even as a relatively young person.  Often the manifestation of these tendencies coincided with being dumped by a girlfriend (in grade 7-8!) or failing a test (mathematics and I are still sworn enemies) or some other utterly ordinary perceived injustice in the life of a kid.  But I also remember wondering about and being saddened by some fairly big questions.  Why do so many people suffer?  Why do I have a mom and a dad who love and care for me while others do not?  Why was I born in Canada and not Ethiopia?  How does God expect us to live with joy and happiness when we see pain all around us and while we know that death is coming?  If God is good and powerful, why does he allow so much horrific pain in his world? Read more

May 5

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3 Comments

God’s Strong Medicine

It’s intriguing to me how frequently our morning worship services will contain a pleasant surprise of some kind, whether an unplanned correlation between a song and a prayer or a testimony that just fits with this or that aspect of the sermon or some other thing.  It’s remarkable how frequently the Spirit of God seems to be working in similar ways and prompting similar ideas in the hearts and minds of people in our community. Read more

Apr 28

15 Comments

Overcome Evil with Good

One last post about my experience at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Quebec National Event this past week.  As I’ve reflected on the flight home yesterday and throughout today, few questions/topics of a bit more philosophical nature keep recurring.  I don’t necessarily claim to have the answers to these questions, but I would welcome dialogue about them here.  I think they are important matters to discuss as Canadians of all kinds try to work toward a more just and equitable future. Read more

Apr 26

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4 Comments

Symbols

A story from day three of the Québec Truth and Reconciliation Commission…

It was nearing the end of a long day of listening and I was looking for a place near the back of the hall to sit quietly for the last session of the day.  Near the back of the room, I was somewhat surprised to see a flip chart stand with a drawing on it sitting in the middle of the aisle.  I was even more surprised to see a young aboriginal man wildly gesticulating beside it as he was speaking in a very animated fashion to a young woman with a notepad.  I edged closer to get a better look (and maybe a listen).  The closer I got, the more obvious it was that this young man was very angry indeed. Read more

Apr 25

TRC
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“We’re Not Strangers Anymore”

I’ve spent the last two days in Montreal attending the Truth and Reconciliation of Canada’s Québec National Event.  This is one of seven national events held across Canada to provide a space for listening and truth-telling about the history of residential schools in our country.  Events have already been held in Halifax, Winnipeg, Inuvik, and Saskatoon, and there will be future events in Edmonton and Vancouver.  It has been a sobering few days.  So many stories of abuse, neglect, and prejudice.  So many stories of families torn apart, of addiction and violence and dysfunctional relationships.  It was a hard, but  good day of listening. Read more

Apr 18

Give Me an Answer… Now!

Among the lessons we are learning with each large-scale tragedy in the digital age, is that our insatiable appetite for “news,” for answers, for solutions can and does lead to some fairly shoddy journalism.  In a world where traditional news sources must compete with social media and public journalism, the only thing worse than not getting the story right is not getting the story first.  And so we see predictable results like the ones that have been on display since the bombing in Boston on Monday (and which will no doubt continue with today’s tragedy in Texas).  We have a suspect… No, wait, we don’t… The suspect is of x ethnicity… No, wait, that was inaccurate… There were x number of people killed… No, wait, that’s not exactly true… And on and on it goes. Read more

Apr 9

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3 Comments

Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness…

I am a theological schizophrenic.

Some days, I am an incorrigible rationalist.  I like reading philosophy and theology. I like rational arguments and logic and consistency.  I like highly charged debate about abstract and arcane concepts.  I am drawn toward topics that have very little “practical” value.  Thinking rightly about God’s nature and God’s purposes is very important to me.  I like to be right. Read more

Apr 8

14 Comments

Why Do I Have Faith?

Last week, I found a message from a reader of this blog buried off in some dark corner of Facebook-land that I hadn’t noticed for at least a month.  It was a message that was both encouraging on a personal level, as well as provocative in the best sense of the word.  As it happens, the powers that be in Facebook have thus far prevented me from responding to this message.  Every time I try to reply, I get a message telling me that I cannot do so due to some setting in one of our accounts (I don’t have an email address for the person who wrote to me, so I’m at the mercy of Facebook).  Rather than wading through the labyrinth of Facebook’s privacy settings, I decided to do the only rational thing and simply write a blog post in response :) . Read more

Apr 5

The Light of Life

Jesus said, I have come that they may have life,
and have it abundantly. 
 
Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness
but will have the light of life.
 

Every morning this week, these words from John’s gospel have framed the morning prayers in the prayer-book I use.  They are good and hopeful words with which to greet a new day. They are appropriate post-Easter words.  As is the case throughout John’s gospel, there is this wonderful contrast between the light and the life of Christ and the darkness and death we see all around us.  Jesus’ words are true and good and full of strength and hope

And then I walk out the front door… Read more

Apr 3

4 Comments

On Future-Proofing

 “How can the Mennonite Church be future-proofed?”  I clicked on the link with bit curiosity and no small amount of trepidation.  It was an interesting choice of words.  “Future proofed?”  Would that be possible?  Desirable?  It turned out to simply be a brief article—with the much less exciting title of “Introducing the Future Directions Task Force”—about a group that was going to be looking at the issue of how to work toward financial sustainability at the conference level.  No five easy steps, alas… Read more

Apr 1

If Christ Has Not Been Raised — Pity Us All

I spent the morning after the triumph of life over death reading about the triumph of death over life.

Well, that sounds a little more dramatic than it actually was.  What I was in fact reading was a fairly ordinary little book by David Webster called Dispirited: How Contemporary Spirituality Makes Us Stupid, Selfish and Unhappy.  It’s hard to imagine a book with a subtitle that catchy being almost a complete waste of time, but it was.  I was really looking forward to reading Dispirited after hearing an interview with Webster on the radio (he made some intriguing comments about contemporary spirituality and how it perpetuates selfishness, individualism, consumerism, etc.), but the book turned out to be a rather poorly written, sloppily edited collection of loosely connected rants against the increasing prominence of the (admittedly irritating) “I’m spiritual but not religious” claim.  Read more

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