Hi friends: I know this blog has been unused and neglected. For whomever might still be subscribed and interested in some of my writing and thinking, I've just started a Substack newsletter called "Why not be a saint?" It will be a regular newsletter exploring the mystery of how we get formed to participate in… Continue reading I’m writing at Substack
Author: phil
Moving!
Happy new year to you all! Hasn't this year 2020 been one for the record-books? I do hope you have kept safe, well and even found goodness in the midst of what many are calling our annus horribilis. It's also been a year of transition for many, including me. I'm moving to a new church… Continue reading Moving!
the grief of God is no small thing
The weight of sorrow sits heavy in these strange days. We’ve been sobered up to know this COVID-19 pandemic is bigger than we expected and will go on far longer than we dared believe. Of course it’s more than the restrictions and frustrations of isolation, more than the steady accumulation of losses, more than this… Continue reading the grief of God is no small thing
An invitation to the good way
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from… Continue reading An invitation to the good way
Ditch the resolutions for a rule
January 1 - an entire shiny new year lying ahead, 365 calendar squares of unmarked living. It screams of so much potential. Who knows what might happen in those days? What sort of life may unfold? Who might you become in this year? And to give voice to that deep desire for change, this time… Continue reading Ditch the resolutions for a rule
Advent and the Decemberists’ A Beginning Song
Yesterday was the first day of Advent, marking the beginning of the Christian calendar. Advent is an alternative way to mark time, a counter-cultural contrast to the high, holy festival of holiday consumerism. It's a sober start, for sure, beginning by naming all that’s wrong in us and this world, connecting us to the deep… Continue reading Advent and the Decemberists’ A Beginning Song
A cannabis catechism
Today across Canada cannabis has been legalized. No longer restricted to medicinal marijuana, purchasing, possessing and consuming cannabis for recreational use is now legal. A wide conversation has been underway in Canada, with medical, social, policy and practical concerns being raised. Not unexpectedly, in a secular society like Canada, theological matters are notably absent. They… Continue reading A cannabis catechism
Personalize World Refugee Day
I'm reposting today - World Refugee Day - something I wrote almost three years ago - mostly I needed the reminder. I’m a follower of one who began his life as an asylum seeker. I’m a member of a family of faith whose history stretches back to Abraham, and is summarized in refugee terms: “my father… Continue reading Personalize World Refugee Day
For a world without
O Emmanuel (Malcolm Guite) O come, O come, and be our God-with-us O long-sought With-ness for a world without, O secret seed, O hidden spring of light. Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame, O quickened little wick so tightly curled, Be folded with… Continue reading For a world without
More blessed in you than I know
How could anyone know what it means to promise life-long monogamous fidelity? ... the question is not whether you know what you are promising; rather, the question is whether you are the kind of person who can be held to a promise you made when you did not know what you were promising." Stanley Hauerwas… Continue reading More blessed in you than I know
Squinch 