A particularly modern folly is what C.S. Lewis called chronological snobbery. It’s the misplaced trust in only ideas and practices of our own day because those of the past are considered, like old milk or stale bread, past their “best before” date, dismissed as inferior simply by virtue of their age. One of Lewis’ antidotes for… Continue reading Saying our prayers, part 3
A World AIDS Day prayer
There's something prophetically right that World AIDS Day (yup, that would be today) falls during Advent. The AIDS pandemic is emblematic of how resistant the wrongs of the human predicament are to our best remedies. So much of what is wrong with human life is unfixable, the lack of a solution mostly rooted in human… Continue reading A World AIDS Day prayer
Saying our prayers, part 2
So what in the world is praying a daily office? At its pared down core, it is simply a form of prayer. The daily office is a pattern of prayer and worship that is regularly practiced/offered to God at set times within the course of a single day. It’s rooted in the simple reality that… Continue reading Saying our prayers, part 2
Passionate patience
One of Advent's big themes is waiting. Not the expected December waiting in cashier queue's or mall parking-lot grid-lock. You think that's bad, try waiting thousands of years for a slow-to-come King. The hoping and waiting in Advent is for a world that works, the realization that life as we know it is too much… Continue reading Passionate patience
Saying our prayers, part 1
Prayer has often been one of the weakest parts of my relationship with God. Yeah, I’ve been a pastor for about 20 years and a follower of Jesus for longer - it's not supposed to be this way. But here’s the truth about my prayer life – it's mostly distracted. I often pray like a… Continue reading Saying our prayers, part 1
Are you ready?
Tomorrow starts the Christian season of Advent (from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival”). I love Advent for being an invitation into a parallel but alternate reality to the usual December experience, which has morphed Christmas into something almost unrecognizable. Advent is the four-week season of preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. … Continue reading Are you ready?
Friday photos – backyard by moonlight
I woke up way too early this past week, wondering who had left a light on. I came into our kitchen and saw a fully moon-lit and shadowed backyard.
An anthem for Black Friday
Tomorrow is Black Friday south of the 49th, the biggest consumer bender known to humanity. Called black because merchants' books finally crossover from the red into the black, it's an apt adjective for other reasons. And it would be so easy to watch the spree and smugly gloat, believing I'm free from that, above it… Continue reading An anthem for Black Friday
Friday photos – memento
Yesterday with friends visiting from Vancouver, we bundled up the kids and headed to the downtown cenotaph for the Remembrance Day service. We missed most of it (who can find a parking spot anywhere and isn't the moment of silence to be observed at eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of… Continue reading Friday photos – memento
Friday photos – morning northern lights
With autumn's inevitable pushing back of the morning sunrise, we're actually awake to watch it happen. Owen and Lily have been glued to the front window this week, watching the sun light up the eastern sky. Lily calls the morning clouds the "northern lights," which is not far off - just during the day and… Continue reading Friday photos – morning northern lights
Squinch 