A few weeks ago Pope Frances canonized two pontifical predecessors, Paul XXIII and John-Paul II. The whole process of making saints is a fascinating subject that many Christians have long had a strong aversion, almost an allergic reaction, to any notion of saints. That response is rooted in the real allergens of saint abuses. The… Continue reading Saints? Maybe (part 1)
I just learned a new word that a few friends have freshly minted: lenting. It’s the verbal form of Lent, meaning "giving something up for Lent." As in, “I’d love to hang out with you at the pub but I’m lenting alcohol.” Giving something up for Lent (what my friends call “lenting”) is a common… Continue reading Forty lentings for the season of the cross
The arrival of winter ... finally. Sitting snug and warm on a snowy Saturday in Toronto. Not quite as cold as our friends in Calgary have had it (on one day in the past weeks they were the coldest place on earth) but snowy and cold enough. A few images outside from the inside of… Continue reading Frosty Friday photos
The woes of Toronto's Mayor continue. Stripped of most mayoral powers he's now leveraging this moment for celebrity status - and as one commentator wrote, he's "more dangerous as a celebrity than as a leader." I was guest on a recent episode of Context TV that explored political scandal and Mayor Ford (not because of my… Continue reading An episode on Context TV
Looks like there’s a new tradition to ring in the Christmas season. The newly popular custom is the traditional wringing of the hands over all the competing and corrupting agendas that have taken over Christmas. Certainly there are explanations for this reaction - the season and its story have been shaped by a variety of… Continue reading The remedy of Advent
Today in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey, a memorial will be dedicated to C.S. Lewis. 50 years ago today, the beautiful imagination of C.S. Lewis died. For many, he's helped see how you can be intelligent and Christian. His writings are a constant reference for me, not only in the content but simply for the… Continue reading The wardrobe that keeps on giving
Mercy is a core Christian impulse; it’s part of the heartbeat of the gospel. I wondered last week how mercy might play out in Toronto’s mayoral misadventures. And while mercy may feel like folly, it is not at all incompatible with wisdom. That got me thinking about another angle into this Toronto train wreck, now… Continue reading Mercy for the city
Toronto mayor Rob Ford promised to end the gravy train at city hall but no one imagined a train wreck like this. It’s been a scandal like nothing seen before in Toronto the good. This past week there’s been a snickering snort in our noses and a condescending smirk on our faces as we… Continue reading Mercy for the mayor?
So the "do-it-yourself" folk music festival of my imagination has been going smashingly well (see here for editions one, two and three). And below are a few more additions to this summer's line-up (so many more to bring along but there's always next year). Yet there is something missing. One of my favourite things about going… Continue reading Do-it-yourself folk fest, part IV
So I'm putting together my own Folk Fest (I still need a good name for it, but you can see the bands I've already lined up in part 1 and part 2). What's a summer without a really good folk fest? Since I can't get to one this year, I'm making one up. And in… Continue reading Build my own folk fest, ed. III
Squinch 