encrusted words

Tag: community

  • Month of Crows

    Month of Crows

    Crows have long held a fascination for humans. My own interest in them goes back to those morning walks to the bus stop. In my mind, September is the month of return to school and also the month of crows.

  • Belonging and Exclusion – A Conversation

    Belonging and Exclusion – A Conversation

    The latest issue of the Christian Courier takes the question of belonging as its theme, with a particular focus on issues of race and culture. Here is my “column” for this issue. __________________ The theme of belonging is rich with challenge and possibility and it seemed to me that I would do better not to…

  • Judgment and Grace of Strangers

    Judgment and Grace of Strangers

    But this was the first and only time that someone had called me on it, essentially saying: “Hey man, stop being such an ass. Get off your phone and look at me.”

  • The Shape of Confession

    The Shape of Confession

    An important element of Presbyterian and Reformed  identity is our writing of, and deference to, confessions. The Presbyterian Church in Canada has three confessions that define our faith and theology – they are the Westminster Confession, the Declaration Concerning Church and Nation, and Living Faith. One of the things you quickly discover in looking at…

  • supreme court confusion

    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.

  • division, baptism, unity — or, who we are

    division, baptism, unity — or, who we are

    Let me begin this morning by reading again just a few words from 1 Corinthians chapter 1. For me these particular words are more than a little odd – they almost stick out like a sore thumb – and for that reason I want to start with them. Paul writes these words to the church…

  • this table – the shape of community

    this table – the shape of community

    We cannot sit at this table and at the same time live in ways that represent a refusal or betrayal of this table.

  • Congregational Aesthetics – beyONd our walls (3/3)

    In this short blog series I’ve been exploring this question: What is the aesthetic profile of your congregation. Otherwise put: What do the artwork and architecture and liturgical accoutrements of your congregation reveal about its faith and identity? And how do they shape your faith and discipleship? In my first post I explored how we might respond to…

  • a glutton and a drunkard #jesus

    Over the past number of days, the Prime Minister of Turkey has faced something of a crisis. A protest that began in Istanbul over plans to demolish a city park, has developed into a more widespread protest against his authoritarian tendencies. There is concern among some in that secular country that Prime Minister Erdogan wants…

  • Reaching toward community – an occasional series (#001) #roddreher #littleway

    I’ve just finished reading a lovely book by Rod Dreher entitled The Little way of Ruthie Leming. It tells the story of his sister’s struggle with and eventual death from cancer – but the book offers so much more besides. It is above all a story about place and belonging, and a reflection on what…