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Posts from the ‘Faith’ Category

May 12

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The Only Question That Matters

I’m still mulling over some of the excellent lectures I heard last week at Regent College’s Pastors Conference on Science and Faith. One lecture, in particular, focused on the “new atheists” (who are increasingly becoming, well, not new) and their often simplistic misunderstandings of the scope of science, the relationship between science and faith and the roles both play in our consideration and adoption of world-views (incidentally, I noticed today that David Bentley Hart has another wonderfully entertaining and insightful critique of the new atheism up over at First Things). The basic idea in the lecture (delivered by Denis Alexander) was familiar enough: just because science can explain one level of reality very well, it is not thereby equipped to explain or even suited to address every level of reality. All that was very good, if relatively standard stuff. Read more

May 11

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Everybody’s Hurting

A good friend of mine is in the habit of periodically sending me an envelope full of Starbucks/iTunes cards that he collects from week to week.  A couple of weeks ago Jakob Dylan’s “Everybody’s Hurting” came in the mail.  It is a haunting and beautiful song, both lyrically and musically.  It is rich in biblical imagery and speaks powerfully to the brokenness of our world and the profound longing of the human condition.  Some of the lines in this song truly take my breath away and have reduced me to tears (maybe I’m turning all mushy and sentimental in my old age).   Each line in this song could probably inspire a sermon!  I’ve had the rest of Women and Country in the headphones as I write this post and I can tell that this album is going to be getting regular play in the iPod for a long time. Read more

May 10

2 Comments

Saints

Because of a couple of conferences and a retreat over the last few weeks, I have spent a lot more time on ferries, sky-trains, buses, etc, than usual. Happily, this gave me the opportunity to dive into a few new books. If you’re like me, you often don’t feel very “saintly”—which is why we all need periodic reminders like this one from Eugene Peterson’s Practice Resurrection: Read more

May 6

26 Comments

This is My Father’s World

In what is becoming a most enjoyable annual tradition, I find myself back at Regent College for their pastors conference during this, the first month of May. This year, the theme of the conference is the interaction between science and faith and is called “Wonder and Devotion: Bringing Science and Faith Together for the Church.” We’ve talked about creation and evolution, the immanence and transcendence of God, issues around the interpretation of Genesis 1-3 and a whole host of other very interesting things. It’s been a great week thus far. Read more

May 1

10 Comments

Superlatives

The past two days were spent at the annual provincial conference of the churches in our denomination.  There was a mood of celebration and excitement.  We heard a lot of reports about what people were doing for God, how God was leading and directing this or that ministry, how/why our churches should give to the work of God.  It was a weird combination of refreshing and exhausting. Read more

Apr 28

Writing: We Claim What We Have Lived

During my first year as a pastor, a wise friend told me to make a habit of journaling through and about the many and varied experiences and people that I encountered in my daily work.  I’ve not been as regular with this as I should, but I have found that when I do make a practice of writing about experiences and how they affect me, it invariably brings a measure of clarity and, often, newfound resolve to whatever situation happens to be looming large, whether positive or negative. Read more

Apr 27

11 Comments

A New Network and a New(ish) Look

Sometimes I (somewhat hypocritically) lament the limitations of the blogging world, the kind of discourse it does/does not promote, the nastiness and/or triviality that can creep in, etc, but there are many good things about blogging as well!  And one of these good things is discovering thoughtful and intelligent writers and thinkers out there whose reflections are all brought together into blog networks (I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the CC Blog Network, for example). Read more

Apr 25

3 Comments

He Rises Above Us

One of the things I liked to do when we lived in Vancouver was snoop around in used bookstores.  The options aren’t as plentiful over here on the island, but there are always treasures to find if I’m willing to put in a little effort.  I like used books.  I like their well-worn appearance, I like seeing others’ notes and underlinings.  I like old editions of books that have strange covers and use weird fonts and smell funny.  And I like it that they’re cheap!  It’s pretty easy to take a chance on a book when you’re only paying a couple of dollars. Read more

Apr 20

8 Comments

The Naked Anabaptist 4: Good News to the Poor

After another (unintentionally long) hiatus, on to the fourth of Stuart Murray’s seven core convictions of Anabaptists (from The Naked Anabaptist): Read more

Apr 18

2 Comments

You, Beyond Our Weary Selves

You God, Lord and Sovereign,
you God, lover and partner.
You are God of all our possibilities.
You preside over all our comings and goings,
all our wealth and all our poverty,
all our sickness and all our health,
all our despair and all our hope,
all our living and all our dying.
And we are grateful.

You are God of all our impossibilities.
You have presided over the emancipations
and healings of our mothers and fathers;
you have presided over the wondrous transformations in our own lives.
You have and will preside over those parts of our lives that
we imagine to be closed.
And we are grateful.

So be your true self, enacting the things impossible for us,
that we might yet be the whole among the blind who see and
the dead who are raised;
that we may yet witness your will for peace,
your vision for justice,
your vetoing all our killing fields.

At the outset of this day,
we place our lives in your strong hands.
Before the end of this day,
do newness among us in the very places where
we are tired in fear,
we are exhausted in guilt,
we are spent in anxiety.

Make all things new, we pray in the new-making name of Jesus.

Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People

Apr 13

20 Comments

A “Thick Enough” Worldview

The controversy around the Bruce Walke story has led to some interesting conversations (on this blog, and elsewhere) about the relationship between science and faith, questions about how we read Scripture, and others. One of these conversations took place this morning. Read more

Apr 6

11 Comments

Garbage and Flowers: A Post-Easter Reflection

So another Easter has come and gone and I’ve been reflecting on themes of “new life” and “resurrection.” Every Easter we hear words like these proclaimed in churches and we do our best to embrace the hope of the risen Christ. This past Sunday, I was the one proclaiming these words. But do they mean anything? Do they point to anything substantive about what actually has happened, what can happen now, and what will happen in the future? Are words like “resurrection” and “new life” just Christian catch-phrases that are in practice little more than a thinly religious veneer over ordinary concepts like self-help, fresh starts, and second chances? Read more

Mar 29

16 Comments

The Naked Anabaptist 3: After Christendom

After a not so brief hiatus, on to the third of Stuart Murray’s seven core convictions of Anabaptism: Read more

Mar 25

11 Comments

Wright on Authenticity and Virtue

I haven’t forgotten about my series on The Naked Anabaptist and plan on returning to it shortly, but in the meantime here’s a few quotes that struck me this week from N.T. Wright’s new book on Christian virtue called After You Believe: Read more

Mar 17

34 Comments

Doubt

A feature ran by The Washington Post yesterday has generated a bit of discussion around a study called Preachers Who Are Not Believers by prominent atheist Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola from the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University (those familiar with “The Four Horsemen” of the new atheism will know Dennett well). The study outlines interviews with six “courageous” clergy who maintain their jobs in the pulpit while privately nursing unbelief. It is a classic modern tale of the triumph of reason and the inconsistencies and dissonances that come with the slow, inevitable drift away from faith in the modern world. Read more

Mar 12

22 Comments

The Naked Anabaptist 2: The Bible

On to the second of  Stuart Murray’s seven core convictions of Anabaptists (from The Naked Anabaptist): Read more

Mar 8

38 Comments

Varieties of Unbelief

I’m a little all over the map this morning, but here’s a few loosely connected thoughts/reflections about unbelief on a Monday morning…

This month’s issue of our denominational magazine, the MB Herald, is about atheism/unbelief and contains an article by yours truly. It is a bit of a hybrid piece—a discussion of the new atheists (Hitchens, Dennett, Dawkins, Harris), a reflection upon conversations with a friend (no stranger to regular readers of this blog), among other things. Based on what I’ve read of the issue thus far, there are a number of articles and features definitely worth checking out. Read more

Mar 4

15 Comments

The Naked Anabaptist 1: Jesus People

On to the first of Stuart Murray’s seven core convictions of Anabaptists: Read more

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