Tag: faith
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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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Advent Crows – a poem
Advent Crows Cawing, keening crowsloud overhead on the bike path;inky silhouetted flockagainst deep indigo sky,twilight of Advent. Lift, turbulence, beating wings;cacophony in whorled airbecome, somehow, invitation toenvelopment in mad feathered flight,toward hidden social roost. Memory of Colville’s Seven Crowsgliding in captured stillnesstoward some opaque future,encircled viewer drawnforward in uncertain landscape, or foreboding of Cyclist and…
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Kierkegaard’s God, in the Pandemic
My column in the Christian Courier for November 2020.______________ Do you have an author you regularly return for insight and wisdom? A voice you’ve come to trust, with a gift for making sense of our lives, our world, and perhaps also for making sense of God? The Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard has become…
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Optimism vs. Hope, in a Pandemic
My latest in the Christian Courier. _________________ Where would you put yourself on the optimism/pessimism spectrum? I suppose I land just slightly on the optimistic side, though with serious bouts of pessimism thrown in now and again. Among my friends there is at least one eternal pessimist (with an astonishing capacity to see the worst…
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The colour of life – with Toni Morrison
My latest column in the Christian Courier. __________________ There are a few instances of colour that stand out in my life and memory. The warm red of a steel wagon that was a childhood gift to me; the deep indigo of a Fula shirt my wife (girlfriend at the time) sent to me from West…
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Touch, Sight, and Faith #worship
My latest column in the Christian Courier. __________________ A large wooden crucifix stands toward the front of the crypt sanctuary in St. Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal. While the crucifix is not central within worship, it evidently receives much attention. A striking feature of the crucifix is the worn nature of Jesus’ feet — the paint is…
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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…
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Telling the truth about our lives #Bach #Zagajewski
My latest column in the Christian Courier. ______________________ Some years ago, I was introduced to a remarkable piece of music composed by JS Bach—the fifth movement of his Partita in D minor for solo violin (called the Chaconne). As with so many of Bach’s works, the Chaconne easily captures your heart; it has a way…
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Safe Sex?
I came across a quote about safe sex, today, from Wendell Berry, and was reminded of this article I wrote for the National Post about 14 years ago. I might change the tone and style slightly today, but the basic argument is one that I think is worth repeating. _______________ Sex-education and school children can…
encrusted words 