When war breaks out, it’s really not the time to be opinionated.
Audio version of this available here.
Category Archives: Social Issues
Flip it on his head.
I’ve recounted this story that happened years ago while retreating for a couple of months at a monastery. I think the message of it is very relevant to all the stuff going on right now and the moods the ‘stuff’ carries with it.
Continue reading Flip it on his head.
DEAR PARENTS… PART Three: attendance, participation & liturgy
This is part three of a series to dialogue with parents AND kids, on issues that we see in the service
Continue reading DEAR PARENTS… PART Three: attendance, participation & liturgy
Continue reading DEAR PARENTS… PART Three: attendance, participation & liturgy
On Sexiness and Chastity
I’ve participated in or witnessed numerous conversations about whether or not the Church talks about sex enough. Regardless of the answer to that, I think secular society talks about sex too much. It shows it too much. It plasters it all over the place too much. It makes us think about it too much. I want to talk about one particular aspect of purity, which is chastity.
Divisive language in the church
Clearly. Obviously. Of course. Definitely. Naturally. Absolutely. Exactly. Never. Always. False. Fake. Authentic. Leftist. Rightist. Far right. Far left.
For those who prefer audio, the link can be found here. I recommend that as it flows better and is followed by a Q&A!
Continue reading Divisive language in the church
Trump, Clinton & the Conflict of Relativism
I don’t like to get political, so I won’t. I want to make it clear that I’m not affiliated with, nor a proponent of, either political party in the USA. I am not even an American. I am speaking as an outsider living among Americans, and my views are simply that: my views. Furthermore, I am not even expressing my personal views in this post. I am aware that some people might be upset by me writing this, but that would only support more strongly the point that I want to make in this post. I am putting this in the “social issues” section.
Continue reading Trump, Clinton & the Conflict of Relativism
Dear Parents… Part Two: Prayer
I remember an old grandfather, God repose his soul, at my church growing up. He used to say Our Father so slowly compared to the rest of the congregation, and it was not because he lacked English skills. He simply refused to rush prayer, and he had a hearing problem.
This is part two of a series to dialogue with parents AND kids, on issues that we see in the service. Please, let’s interact. What’s worked in your home? What didn’t work? What are the problems/causes of our issues.
Continue reading Dear Parents… Part Two: Prayer
Dear Parents… Part One: Christian Education
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Dear Parents,
I’m writing this to you because we, your servants, love your kids. This is not written to attack you or accuse you of anything “bad”. Again, I’m writing it because I, and other servants, love your kids. Because we love them, we also have some concerns. This blog got very long, so I will be dividing it into multiple parts. I am not saying any of this in an accusatory way – I am responding to real issues and things that are really said. I am not making up the issues. The Church cares about your children, as do you as parents, of course, and so it is important here and there to hear about those concerns, in the same way that many are more than happy to express their concerns to servants and clergy. This is not an exhaustive list of issues, but really just a sampling of categories in which there are issues going on in which I hope to engage you. Your comments and feedback are more than welcome.
Continue reading Dear Parents… Part One: Christian Education
Some advice for student life.
School’s in! Well, I know that in Canada everyone’s been back a couple of weeks, but in America some people are just starting and others have yet to begin! So for those who think this is late, and for those who think it’s early, I apologise. I know that I lived away from home for almost all of my post-secondary education, and there were things I did well and things that I did not do so well. So here are some tips that were given to me, and some tips that I have for you. They are in no particular order. I know that it’s not normal or necessarily “right” for a person to talk about him/herself, but here I’m articulating things that I did, not to present myself as a positive example at all. I’m simply saying the things that I did from experience that worked or did not work, so that you know that what I say, I say from experience, not only theory.
Continue reading Some advice for student life.
I don’t want to be ‘that guy’.
“He who walks with wise men becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Proverbs 13:20)
So, it used to be that people had a group of friends from Church because they had things in common: their faith, their values, their heritage. You could count on your church crew to keep you in check when you felt like you were doing something, or at least, tempted to do, something wrong. In fact, often when someone was doing something “wrong”, that person tended to be evasive of the church group – or the church itself – in order to avoid being confronted with opposition. This is not because the person was necessarily afraid the people would say things, but more because he knew that he was not walking the same road as those friends or that he was deviating from what was taught in that building.