Nov 5
From this morning’s reading in Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life:
Theology is the study of God and his ways. For all we know, dung beetles may study man and his ways and call it humanology. If so, we would probably be more touched and amused than irritated. One hopes that God feels likewise.
Three or so odd months after finishing my thesis, I still find myself perking up when I come across some headline or article discussing the latest bit of wisdom from the pen of Richard Dawkins. Apparently the good professor is now directing his attention toward children’s fairy tales and myths, hoping to uncover the pernicious effects on scientific rationality contained therein (h/t: First Things). Those familiar with Dawkins’s bestseller, The God Delusion, will notice some similar themes: Read more
Today I went out for a “pastoral visit” to an elderly couple who came to church this past Sunday. They hadn’t darkened the door of a church in at least a decade, and came now mostly, I think, because they are just really lonely people who don’t have a lot of human contact. They have no children, no living siblings, no nieces and nephews that they are in contact with, no friends at the senior’s centre, no… anything. There were no pictures of family on their walls, no mementos, no heirlooms, nothing. Just two old, frail, lonely people existing in the same space without anyone to care about them in any way. Read more
Scot McKnight is an author that I have long been familiar with but have never actually read, other than the occasional post on his (amazingly prolific) site, The Jesus Creed. Consequently, when he posted an offer to receive a copy of his new book, The Blue Parakeet in exchange for reviewing it on your blog I jumped on the opportunity.
Mid-October may be a little early to start thinking about Christmas, but it will be upon us before you know it (and I figured I’d get a jump on the Christmas marketing machine!). Every Christmas I am simultaneously dismayed by and a somewhat reluctant and hypocritical participant in the orgy of consumption that seems to characterize the season here in North America. Read more
Yet another shameless self-promotion alert!!
The MB Herald (our denominational magazine here in Canada) has graciously published another one of my articles as a part of their ongoing column focusing on issues around consumerism and individualism (readers of this blog with a long enough memory will notice similarities to a post from a while back). If you’re interested, you can have a look here. Read more
This past week I headed over to the mainland for my credentialing interview at the MB Conference centre in Abbotsford. The purpose of this meeting (and the twenty or so odd page document I had to produce beforehand) was to determine if I was fit to become a pastor in the BC Mennonite Brethren Conference—to see if I would be admitted into the “pastors guild” as it were. There was a touch of anxiety on Tuesday afternoon, but all in all it was a very affirming and encouraging experience for Naomi and I. To top it off, I passed, so I suppose that’s the main thing. Read more
One of the things I miss about Vancouver is, perhaps surprisingly, living close to a graveyard. During our time at Regent I made sporadic attempts at regular jogging. The life of a student was, obviously, a fairly sedentary one at times and going for a run was one way to break the monotony of hours spent reading, writing, editing, etc. I didn’t run for very long, mind you, but I did try to get out a couple of times a week to maintain some modicum of fitness. Read more
I stumbled upon this article by British writer Julie Burchill around a month ago and it’s been bouncing around upstairs off and on ever since. It’s kind of a scattered piece and there are parts of it that just make me scratch my head (based on my brief perusal of the comments section, my criticism would definitely fall into the “mild” category). Nevertheless, I found one passage near the beginning to be a thought-provoking one. Describing her transition from atheism to Christianity, Burchill has this to say about what it means to be “religious”: Read more
There’s been a lot of death in the air around here over the last little while. Our church is in the process of navigating the tragic death of a young father, husband, brother, son, colleague, and friend. This past Sunday was the memorial service and it was, as are most memorial services, difficult. Read more
This week a friend sent me a link to an event taking place just down the road in Victoria this fall. The University of Victoria is hosting an evening with two prominent Canadians—singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn and the former head of UNAMIR (the United Nations peace-keeping mission to Rwanda), Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire. The proceeds from this event will be going to help fund the Child Soldiers Initiative in Africa, an international research and intervention effort focused on the eradication of the use of child soldiers. The price-tag for this event might prove prohibitive ($81.50), but I’m hoping to find a way to get down there for this. Read more
One of the things I’ve found myself doing more regularly since I began as a pastor is praying. Not just private prayer (i.e., pleading with God to help me learn how to do this job well and with integrity and honesty) but public prayer as well. I’ve been given the opportunity to offer something like a “global prayer” during the service on most of the Sundays since we arrived here and it’s been both a rewarding and a challenging experience. Read more
I’ve been mulling over this article that Olivia Judson wrote in yesterday’s New York Times over the last couple of days. The article is about the omnipresent battle in American schools about whether/how to teach evolution. Judson, a biologist, thinks that the fact that there is even a debate about the matter is a “travesty.” Perhaps she’s right, but I’m less interested in the status of American school curricula than I am in her linkage of the terms “evolution” and “optimism,” and the assumptions at work in her arguments for teaching evolution. Read more
I’m not anti-American and I have no particular political axe to grind, but I came across this today and it made me laugh.
Very hard. Read more
I’m still a little new to the whole online “meme,” thing, but I’ve been tagged by Ken so why not have a little fun on a Friday night. Here’s the rules:
I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “nature” lately—a word which I think is seized upon in confused and inconsistent ways in our ecologically-sensitive times. Several streams contribute to what follows: 1) Stanley Fish’s amusing editorial in today’s New York Times; 2) a piece I came across on the First Things blog a while back; and 3) a chapter from Matt Hern’s Watch Yourself which discusses our views of nature in the broader context of our cultural obsession with safety. Read more
I spent an hour in a Christian bookstore yesterday. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that, and it was an eye-opening experience. Not only has it been a long time since I’ve been in a Christian bookstore, it’s the first time my reason for being in one was to check out potential “resources” for people in a church where I am a pastor (still feels a little odd to say that…). Read more
In my previous post I admiringly reflected upon my son’s instinctive willingness to forgive and wondered what the world might look like if more people adopted this strategy. One commenter justifiably inquired as to the limits of forgiveness—if it really ought to be as “reckless” as I was recommending. His challenge to me was as follows: Read more
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Rumblings 