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25

Today our eldest is 25. That feels momentous. The last year has been full of all kinds of changes: marriage, new job, and now today we just celebrate. Mikayla, I like your smile your expressiveness your friendliness your funniness your kindness your company your joy your truth telling your playfulness your musicality your love for Jesus your love for people your self-awareness your…

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The Golden Rule

Regularly, something in the news appalls or shocks me. I cannot believe humans are treating other humans this way.  The egregious treatment of other humans appears with such regularity that I cannot choose an example ; meanness pervades what is reported in the news. It seems that the world has slipped down a rabbit hole of darkness, aggression, selfishness, and lack of consideration. When I try…

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Hosting the Enemy

Rahab hosted her enemies and saved lives. Several places in Scripture reference her as Rahab, the prostitute; I think of her as Rahab, the protector. Seeing the approaching throng, she used her home located on the wall of Jericho to leverage her protection of the spies to gain protection for her family. A film director could create a very entertaining James Bondesque movie about her, except in…

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Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Thomas Keating

Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Father Thomas Keating Inspired by the Latin hymn Veni Sancti Spiritus Come, Holy Spirit, pour out of the depths of the Trinity a ray of Your Light–that Light which enlightens our minds and, at the same time, strengthens our wills to pursue the Light. Come, Father of the poor, the poor in spirit, whom You love to fill with the fullness of God. You are not only Giver of…

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Hosting another's delight

Hosting another’s delight

My grandfather traveled “out west” with friends after my grandmother died. He loved the natural wonders, and he would describe and share his fascination. One time he brought miniature pinecones as a treasured gift to me. The pinecones sat displayed on a printer’s tray in my room for years. Somewhere along the many moves of school, the pinecones broke and were put out. Now when my family goes…

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Minimizing stuff; Maximizing community

Minimizing stuff; Maximizing community

Recently, I finished a book on minimalism, and I love the ideas about minimizing stuff, simplifying your schedule, focusing on one meaningful goal or task at a time, limiting social media preoccupation. This is not the first book I’ve read on this topic, and probably, it’s not the last. Each time I read such a book I am reminded of wisdom and glean a few tidbits toward a personal value of…

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Thank you, Meheli and Elif Shafak

Thank you, Meheli and Elif Shafak

Motherlands are castles made of glass. In order to leave them, you have to break something—a wall, a social convention, a cultural norm, a psychological barrier, a heart. What you have broken will haunt you. To be an emigré, therefore means to forever bear shards of glass in your pockets. It is easy to forget they are there, light and minuscule as they are, and go on with your life, your little…

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Beauty (Bodies in the Bible 2)

Beauty (Bodies in the Bible 2)

What is beauty? It’s hard to put it into words, but we know it when we see it.

Vashti was a beautiful queen who refused to enter a room full of drunk nobles when the king sent for her to display her beauty. The nobles discussed the consequences; they feared all wives would be empowered by Vashti’s dissent and discord and disrespect would soon follow. The goal of removing Queen Vashti came in…

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Bodies in the Bible (1)

Bodies in the Bible (1)

Dear A – ,

We never got to finish our discussion about what does the Bible say about our bodies, about beauty. Here are some thoughts. Our bodies are good; we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. We understand this when we think about other people, and sometimes we falter in our experiential understanding when we think about ourselves.

Let’s look at our beginnings in Genesis 1 remembering…

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Are you leaving or going?

Are you leaving or going?

Are you leaving or going?

John 6:60-71

Just yesterday what were you celebrating? We celebrated two friends’ weddings last weekend, and we’re headed to another friend’s wedding this weekend.

In today’s Bible story the people had been celebrating Jesus’s creative provision in feeding the thousands enough to try and force him to be king, at the beginning of the conversation they’re trying…

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"Deeply Carved"

“Deeply Carved”

“While attending his (Bill Reid) grandfather’s funeral in Skidegate in 1954, Reid held and closely examined a pair of bracelets made by Charles Edenshaw that were “really deeply carved,” and he would later say that after that transformative encounter, “the world was not really the same.” the bracelets left an indelible impression that compelled him to refine his standards for the making of Haida…

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I didn't know until I did

I didn’t know until I did

I passed this park almost every weekday for almost ten years and never noticed the name, never wondered who Rosemary Brown was until I read a biography. I didn’t know who she was until I did.

image taken from the Canadian Encyclopedia

I was looking for role models for my daughter, not international but local. Ms. Brown was the first Black woman in the provincial legislature and to run for…

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Righteous Indignation

Dr. Willie Jennings

Dr. Willie Jennings, Yale Divinity School professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, delivered a thought-provoking podcast on For the Life of the World: My Anger, God’s Righteous Indignation / Willie Jennings (Response to the Death of George Floyd).

A few takeaways:

How do you know if your anger or indignation are righteous? If the anger is centred ond…

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Actively humble

So in a time of heightened awareness, when social engagement seems dire, when activism feels the natural impulse, I’ve been asked what to do about these teachings:

Love your enemy and do good to them.

Turn the other cheek.

Humility.

Waiting on the Lord for justice.

They can leave us feeling passive. These teachings are not created for passivity or in the context of passivity.

I think of…

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"I cannot protect you"

“I cannot protect you”

Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has been much quoted for her call for people to go home during the Thursday evening protests. “. . . Above everything else, I am a mother. I am a mother to four black children in America, one of whom is 18 years old. . . And yesterday when I heard there were rumors about violent protests in Atlanta, I did what a mother would do. I called my son, and I said,…

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"Can't We All Just Get Along"

“Can’t We All Just Get Along”

I grew up in Georgia; I’ve lived in British Columbia for the last 26 years. Sometimes I am asked to explain the happenings of my home state, region, or country. Sometimes I can shed light on some events. In the last week I have been asked by Canadian friends to explain how in the world the murder of Ahmaud Arbery could happen. I can’t.

As Craig and I processed the horror of the…

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Don't Date a Fool

Don't Date a Fool

So recently Craig and I were teaching Ephesians 5:21-32, and one of the applications was “Don’t Date a Fool.” In case you’re wondering how that’s an application, here’s the flow of logic.

If part of marriage is mutual submission and we live in a culture where we are able to choose who we marry, don’t date a fool.

Date someone who you won’t continuously crash with

During the Q&A, the first…

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