Power Over Blindness
A few days ago I wrote about a miracle or legend in the life of Saint Columba. Today, take a look at this passage from Acts 13:6-12. Here we read about a miracle that happened when Barnabas and Paul chose to do the work to which God had called them. Opposition came but God overpowered…
Continue readingConsider the Birds of the Air
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and…
Continue readingIf There Is No God
If there is no God, then all that exists is time and chance acting on matter. If this is true then the difference between your thoughts and mine correspond to the difference between shaking up a bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. You simply fizz atheistically and I fizz theistically. This…
Continue readingMy Authentic Self
I…love to clothe this false self…and I wind experiences around myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself visible to myself and to the world, as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface. But there is no substance under the things…
Continue readingNorthumbria
The Northumbria Community is a Christian community which has its beginnings in the Northumbria district of the United Kingdom and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Yet, it is more than a localized community and is a world-wide monastic community with its own order and communal prayers. Their website describes the community in this way: Inspired…
Continue readingPersonal Data
Media outlets in the last few days have revealed that Americans spy on Americans; and Americans spy on Canadians; and some are concerned that Canadians might be spying on Canadians. Hmmm, we have systems that allow our spouses or parents to track where our phone is located, programs that allow us to know who has…
Continue readingConscience and Spirit
My conscience is broken. But then, so is yours. They are broken because our world is broken. When you grow up in a chicken coop you believe that a pecking order is natural. When you grow up in a world where Canadians are wealthy and Haitians are poor you believe that such a distribution of…
Continue readingDiscipline
Those of us who live as followers of Jesus are constantly seeking to pay attention to spiritual realities as we live within these physical realities. This paying attention to spiritual realities has at least two aspects to it: one, putting aside distractions and two, being intentional about pursuing spiritual growth. Distractions may be things like…
Continue readingTrust
I have had to ask myself how much I am willing to trust God this week. One factor in this questioning was the fact that I was given the text of John 18:1-11 to preach from last Sunday (read the sermon notes here; listen to the sermon here). This passage is about the arrest of…
Continue readingWalking in the Dark
For a few years now I have developed a practise of walking in the dark. What I mean by this is I like to go for walks at night in places that are as dark I can find. Living in a large urban centre like Vancouver means that even when I go for a walk…
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