Peace on Earth, Goodwill . . .
I decided to meditate upon peace today. It seemed like an appropriate focus as we approach Christmas. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus they proclaimed, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” – Luke 2:14 (NLT). I wondered what peace looks like in…
Continue readingImmigrants
In an article in The Globe and Mail, Michael Valpy and Joe Friesen propose that it is largely the religious traditions of immigrants that are keeping our places of worship from closing. They point to the increasing secularization of native-born Canadians and contrast this with the steady faith of new immigrants to Canada. In 1985,…
Continue readingFeelings
Feelings are, with a few exceptions, good servants. But they are disastrous masters.* It is easy to be controlled by our feelings. We get up in the morning, look in the mirror to ensure that our face is still in the right place and then we check our feelings. We might also look out the…
Continue readingIncarnation
The incarnation of God is a concept that is difficult for many to understand and believe. The word simply means to take on flesh. One who is incarnate is embodied in flesh. Thus we speak of Jesus as being “God embodied in flesh” or taking on human form. It is a mysterious and difficult concept…
Continue readingVirtue
In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky sets up two antagonistic theories of the way in which mankind seeks virtue and social order. The first is related by Pyotr Alexandrovich Miusov (a wealthy landowner) as he explains that Ivan Karamazov gave an address in which he stated that there exists no law of nature that man…
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