Feb 2
Once a month or so, a delightful young woman from our church hosts a seniors coffee hour on Thursday mornings in our church basement. She is here from Germany on a one year volunteer assignment, and these times that she organizes for some of our older and wiser saints have become a real highlight for me. We play games, sing songs, enjoy conversation, and, of course, we eat. What would a gathering at a Mennonite church be without food, after all?! Read more
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The preceding found its way to my inbox courtesy of a young child this week. Read more
This past Sunday evening was our children’s Christmas program. It was a wonderful and wonderfully diverse production. From pre-schoolers playing “Silent Night” on hand bells to high schoolers’ strumming “Jesus Messiah” on electric guitars, to little Marys and Josephs in housecoats and shepherds and angels and botched candle-lightings and memorized poems and rousing renditions of familiar carols, it was a delightful collection of parts that contributed to a marvellous whole. Read more
One of my trusted companions throughout each Advent Season over the last few years has been a little reader put together by the folks at Regent College called The Candle and the Crown. Each day there are two Scripture readings and short reflections by Regent faculty, alumni, and others—one for the morning and one for the evening.
Among the Scripture readings this week was the twenty-seventh Psalm, which has long been one of my favourite psalms. The combination of joyful, expectant hope, longing, and raw honesty has made this psalm a frequent destination for me. As with so many of the Psalms (and Scripture in general), I find that these ancient words narrate and interpret my own experience so many years later. Read more
Last night was a gift. Amidst the usual busyness of life and work and kids’ activities and meetings and appointments, a few friends and I stole away to see Welsh folk singer Martyn Joseph at a tiny house concert in a hamlet outside Medicine Hat, AB. I’d never heard of Martyn Joseph until my friend asked me if I wanted to go a few weeks ago, but since then he’s been getting pretty regular play through the headphones. He did not disappoint. Read more
Most of today was spent at a workshop on “Servant Leadership” put on by the local Good Samaritan Society. It was a good day of reflection and learning—a welcome and necessary break from the routine. The speaker began by reading a poem called “Accepting This” by Mark Nepo, taken from a book Leading from Within: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Lead. Read more
Dec 17
This poem came through the inbox today and I thought it was too good not to share. In a season where the words that fill our days are so often kitschy and sales-pitchy, it is refreshing to come across better ones—words that are simple, beautiful, and true. Read more
I am in the middle of preparing a sermon on Psalm 125 for this Sunday. Psalm 125 is part of the Psalms of Ascent, songs that the Israelites would sing on their yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the holy festivals. It is a psalm that celebrates the God who “surrounds” his people, the God in whom security and goodness are found. Just as the mountains wrap around the city of Jerusalem, giving it security and strength, so the Lord is all around his people. It is a Psalm of confidence, security, and hope. Read more
This past weekend we made the trip down the island to visit Sidney Booktown. We had heard from a number of people over the last two years that this was a necessary outing for newcomers to Vancouver Island, so we finally decided to check it out. Despite the cloudy, cool conditions, it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Sidney is a delightful little seaside town with a whole bunch of really cool bookstores and coffee shops. If it wasn’t for a couple of eight year-olds whose tolerance for leisurely bookstore browsing has limits, I could have spent all day there! Read more
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
From Walter Brueggemann’s Prayers for a Privileged People, in the midst of a week where dreams, possibilities, and disequilibrium are on our minds—in the midst of a week where we are reminded of God’s strange and beautiful address: Read more
The mail today contained a letter informing me that as an alumni of Regent College I am to receive a year’s free subscription to Crux—the quarterly journal of Christian thought and opinion they publish. Things seem to be running a little behind with this publication (as you will see, if you visit the website), but it was a delightful surprise, nonetheless, to receive a few back issues. This poem is from the Summer 2009 issue: Read more
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Rumblings 