Growing up and going to school back in the little town of Wyoming, Ontario, I was taught by an older generation of teachers who drilled English grammar into our heads until we could parse and diagram a sentence in our sleep. I have a particular memory of my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Holbrook. She was a fierce grammarian. She had a number of aphorisms which still rattle about in my head, but in particular she had some serious issues with
We have been living through years of uncertainty and unease, and this past season, that uncertainty has ramped up to an alarming degree. I don’t think that in my lifetime society has had to deal with as much instability—unless you cast your mind back to the cold war and the fear of nuclear attack that some of us were raised with. Perhaps, some of us out there will remember the 1930s and their economic upheaval and political turmoil as a
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25 I love the season of Advent. It is by far one of the richest seasons of the church year, and for me it rivals the depth of Easter. It is a combination of anticipation, excitement and almost a holy fear. The
Disruption is a word that more often than not can strike fear into the hearts of people who are terrified of inconvenience. The map application which I use in my truck as I make my way around regularly warns me of ‘traffic disruption’ and calculates an alternative route to carry me on to my destination with a minium of delay. Sometimes however, on the larger roads, we simply run into the block of traffic with no way out, and no
People don’t understand forgiveness. It is a counter -cultural concepts in our modern times. We are living in a “three strikes and you’re out” and a “zero tolerance” kind of world. Now we know that this is not the standard that the gospel shows us, and so when Christians try and live out the forgiveness of Christ in their daily lives, it can be confusing, unintelligible to others and downright odd. Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. If you wait until you
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, a people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the glorious deeds of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people at all; but now you are God’s people. Once you were outside his mercy; but now you are outside no longer. 1 Peter 2:9-10 Having faced a short Epiphany, and an early Lent this year we
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness… Advent is about waiting and yearning. The deep desire of the ages—that all creation be wrapped up in the final, saving acts of God—is the subject of the whole season we have set aside and called Advent. This year we are facing a world seemingly gone mad. The war in Ukraine drags on, and now the tit for tat death-dealing of the middle east is out of
