words. faith. identity.
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Word(s) and Wonder
As of January 2017, I am writing a monthly column for the Christian Courier, an independent newspaper published in Canada. Here is the first column, which is offered as a kind of description of my own approach to writing. ________________ Words is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. — The BFG…
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Reconsidering Christmas
An article I wrote in the Montreal Gazette – a decade ago! _________________ Each year at Christmas time my family engages in an act of resistance, in an act that cuts against the grain of contemporary culture. Our act of resistance consists in this: setting up a nativity scene in our home. Our daughter, especially,…
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Kierkegaard – God – Movement
The second of two reflections I offered on the prayers of Kierkegaard at the retreat of The Presbyterian College this year. Like everything, Kierkegaard looks “slant” at the idea of God’s immutability. — If there is anything that gives the impression of unchangeableness, it is perhaps the towering and intimidating mountains that populate the face…
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Kierkegaard – Love – Prayer
It had been too long since I had spent any concentrated time with the writings of Søren Kierkegaard – but this summer saw something of a revival in my love and attention toward his works. This revival was partly inspired by a family vacation to Denmark and Copenhagen, which included a visit (for me, at…
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scars – a poem
A poem referencing the Gospel lectionary passage for this coming Sunday. John 20:19-31. Scars Running blind ‘round a corner, Robber to a cop in hot pursuit, Forehead meets half-opened door; Pain, dizziness, trickle of blood. Childhood memory is borne in the body, Fibrous tissues heralding past pain, Scar as locus of life’s hurt and healing.…
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supreme court confusion
But you cannot have it both ways. You cannot build the whole infrastructure of an argument on the right of individual self-definition, self-expression, and atomistic autonomy in the face of suffering, and then suddenly slip into a communal ethics that understands human persons in terms of our inevitable and necessary interdependence and mutuality.
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God is good. All the time?
God is good. All the time? On the final day of a recent study trip to Cuba, one of our Pentecostal students led morning devotions by inviting us to respond to his “God is good” with “All the time.” And to his “All the time” with, “God is good.” He also led us in a…
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Sola Scriptura: A Baptismal Defense
A talk presented to a conference hosted by the Presbyterian Committee on History and The Presbyterian College – as part of ongoing celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Still in somewhat rough form, but clear enough to follow. _____________ Some days you feel like you’ve drawn the short straw. And let me confess…
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Clothed with Christ — Being and Identity
My installation lecture from this past Thursday evening… ___________________ Let me begin with what is perhaps an odd observation: We all got dressed today. And probably that’s a good thing! And to that first observation let me add another: That we probably thought about what we would wear today. Some of us may have dressed…
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what we wear – who we are
Clothing has always been a significant part of human identity. Historically human clothing has been particularly significant in terms of our shared or our collective identities. In particular cultures there was always a similarity of dress; our clothing marked us out as belonging to a particular culture or community. So there has been a style…
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encrusted words 