Category: Uncategorized
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Stay Curious
My latest in the Christian Courier… __________________ We are more divided than ever, almost unable to share meaningfully across differences of opinion. Whether on vaccine mandates, covid restrictions, gender identity, freedom of expression or a myriad of other issues, we have become far too comfortable in our echo chambers. Our relentless non-engagement with one another…
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A boy’s lot and luck (Sex Ed and Ice Fishing)
I really like this piece I wrote for the Christian Courier a few years back. Why not pin it! ______________________ As we rattle and rush across the icy surface of Lake Simcoe I look out the porthole window of the Bombardier R12, watching the snowy world blow by. It’s like being transported in a school…
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Winter Light
My January column from the Christian Courier. ____________________ As this column appears in your mailbox we are in the season of Epiphany—in the midst of the church’s celebration of light and the one who is the light of the world. The texts that echo in our ears and minds are those that invite: “Arise, shine,…
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The world in miniature
My latest in the Christian Courier, found here. ______________________ During the Christmas season many of us are drawn into the world of miniatures, though we might not call it that. Ornaments hang on our trees depicting, at a hand-held scale, Jesus nestled in a manger or the wise men visiting a stable. Each year we…
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Tears as Prayers
The full meaning of our tears always escapes us, but they are taken into the gracious love of God, in Christ.
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The other side of Goodbye #backtoschool
September is a busy and important time here at The Presbyterian College, with new and returning students arriving for studies. For six years now, as a faculty member here, I’ve been part of a team receiving students as they arrive in Montreal. Often those students come from other places in the country, or even from…
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Apricot Summer
My column for July 2021, in the Christian Courier. __________________ Words are more than their definitions and letters. They are not limited to their pixelated representations on a screen. Words overflow, pouring and flowing in all directions according to the gravitational pull of history and of our experiences. This May I planted two apricot trees…
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Home Depot Prayers
It goes without saying: Worship has been dramatically altered by the pandemic. Some of these alterations have been less than desirable, of course, but some of them have also been worth celebrating. Among the gifts of the pandemic, I would suggest, is our increasing attentiveness to everyday work and workers. Over past months there has…
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Senegal, 1997
My latest column in the Christian Courier… ______________ We are anxious and at a loss, staying in an empty and mosquito-infested YWAM residence in Dakar—a busy, confounding city that neither of us knows. My flight has just come in from Vancouver, via New York; she has taken all manner of public transportation (bush taxi, ferry,…
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Return to Normal – a poem
Return to Normal Riopelle exhibit of bronzes and canvaseshidden for months behind a digitalinterface; pixelated representationslonging for in-person encounter. Surprise government opening of museumswith limited time slots available.Join a cohort of the freewalking those familiar, high-ceilinged rooms. Art gallery visit, not as imagined.Running late with a warning in mind:“Arrive 15 minutes earlyor lose your visit.”…
encrusted words 