Freedom women Islam protest Archives

Spirit Gifting

“It seems a sad commentary on the church and on its understanding of the Holy Spirit that “official” leadership and ministry is allowed to come from only one half of the community of faith. The New Testament evidence is that the Holy Spirit is gender inclusive, gifting both men and women, and thus potentially setting…

Woodstock

One of Joni Mitchell’s more spiritual songs. Woodstock(“Woodstock” is track #8 on the album Shadows And Light (Live). It was written by Joni Mitchell.) (Listen to a great performance of this song here.) I came upon a child of God He was walkin’ along the road And I asked him, I said “Where’re you going?”…

Raise Me

As we approach Easter, our church is reading slowly through the Gospel of John. Today’s reading was from John chapter 8 which contains the story of the woman caught in adultery (read it here). This reading reminded me of a song Mike Charko and I wrote a few years ago and so I share it…

JPL Computers

Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech; JPL photo number P-163.1 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a facility in Los Angeles County, California that can trace its history to the early 1940s. At that time, rocket motors were a new development and the lab was an arm of the American military. A little known fact about the early…

A Cautionary Tale

Charles Wesley, who lived from 1701 to 1788, was a clergyman and an early leader in the Methodist movement. As such, he was a significant leader, contributing greatly to the history of the evangelical church in the west. He was the youngest of three brothers, the other two being John Wesley and Samuel Wesley. The…

A Daughter in the Church

One of my daughters called me the other day. She asked me some questions about why we read words like, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (1 Timothy 2:12) and apply them in our present context but read words like “I also…

Women and Church Leadership

There is much rhetoric today about men’s and women’s roles in the church. Words like patriarchal, strong complementarian, moderate complementarian, egalitarian, and feminist get used in the debates. It is certainly a lively controversy in the church. You might want to read Adrian Warnock’s blog regarding the spectrum of views on gender roles to familiarize…

The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book, The Lacuna, contains a number of insights into world politics in 1930 through the early 1950s. At one point, Kingsolver gives a powerful analysis of the events that led to extreme investigations into the disloyalty and subversive activities of American citizens suspected of having communist ties. In the 1940s through 1950s,…

Women in Leadership

A young and godly woman in our church recently asked if I could direct her to some resources related to the roles of men and women in the church. She admitted to being confused by how people in the church speak of the issues. On the one hand we say that Jesus and Paul were…

Grateful

I have committed myself to living a grateful life. I want to remember how fortunate I am to have my family, my home, and to live in Canada. I have asked God to keep reminding me how fortunate I am. Every once in a while He does. Today was one of those days. Our dishwasher…