Two ‘rough’ men and a gravel hauler
It can probably be said, with a reasonable helping of truthfulness, that the family that I was born into didn’t put big energy into teaching social niceties. Certainly we were taught respect, but “No, no, you take the biggest piece,” didn’t figure prominently. Interestingly, the family influence did model to us that people considered by…
Two stories clamour to be shared
The first story is as recent as a week ago last Sunday. As I stood to sing a somewhat familiar hymn in the morning worship service, the words came off the page to grasp my attention with unusual urgency. The song was “There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy,” and the verse that snared me was…
Bethel moments
A story in Genesis 28 describes the patriarch Jacob stopping for the night while on a journey. His sleep includes a dream of a visit from God. In the morning, Jacob awakes and offers the profound observation, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it! This is none other than the…
‘Lining things up’
A recent article in Canadian Mennonite included a story of the closing of Superb Mennonite Church. Superb was my home. I was dedicated, married, baptized and raised a family there. It is the late 1980s, and the Holly and Ed Olfert family are in their bench, fully engaged in Sunday morning worship. They sit five strong,…
Memories of Pa
June is the month when we honour fathers. My pa was George, born in 1921, died in ’94. Pa loomed large. I spent childhood years believing that I was a disappointment to him. The areas of his life where he was gifted, strong and confident, seemed always to correlate with my weaknesses. I was certainly…
Holy curious living
In late January, Eric Harder died at age 74. He was my friend. I became acquainted with Eric 25 years ago, when I moved to Prince Albert to begin my ministry work. Both he and Velma were strong presences in the church. They offered leadership and encouragement in all the ways that a new pastor…
How broad is salvation?
Someone told me recently that they had been asked to share their faith journey in a Sunday morning church service. The invitation, however, came with an addendum: “Don’t talk about universalism.” At the end of that conversation, I reached for my phone dictionary for a definition. “Universalism” is “a theological doctrine that all human beings…
‘O, you gorgeous man!’
I recently sat with a friend for lunch and conversation. I had not seen her for almost three years. At one point she reached across the table, grasped both of my hands in hers, and exclaimed, “O, you gorgeous man!” If your eyes are sliding down to the small photo at the bottom of this column,…
‘Unusual kindness’
On Feb. 2, I attended a worship service that mattered. It was an ecumenical service, held as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Here in Laird, Sask., population somewhere south of 300, three churches participated. All are, by most standards, laughably small. And yet, there we were, crowded into tiny St. John’s…
Partying ‘behind the wall’
Through the frantic Christmas season, I was part of many gatherings connected to churches, families, schools and workplace settings. All were good. However, none were better, or more significant to the Christmas season, than the banquet sponsored by Parkland Restorative Justice for federal inmates and their volunteer visitors in Prince Albert. There were actually two…
