Secularism or Pluralism? On the Quebec “Charter of Values”
Like me, you may be following the recent news from Quebec about the “Charter of Values” that’s being proposed, and, like me, you may be feeling appalled at the very idea.
Like me, you may be following the recent news from Quebec about the “Charter of Values” that’s being proposed, and, like me, you may be feeling appalled at the very idea.
A few weeks ago, my sister and I swapped stories about our summers spent working for Camps with Meaning. In a conversation that ranged from outrageously horrible mosquitoes to silly camp songs to holy, breathless evenings spent in worship around a campfire, we spoke often of how empowered and inspired we felt after a summer of camp. My sister then mentioned that it was when she was at camp that she felt the best about her body.
This is a follow up sermon in the two-part series I preached at Crosshill Mennonite Church called 'The Work of Love'. The first part can be found here.
I preached for the first time a few weeks ago--a challenging, stressful, and rewarding experience. I chose the topic of generosity with the help of one of the pastors from my church thinking “Hey, what’s a little stress at the end of my summer!” I didn’t realize that the parable that came with this topic was pretty confusing and not very warm or fuzzy. Still, things sort of came together in the end, and I thought I would share the thoughts on generosity and the parable of the talents that I collected for that sermon here as a blog post.
Disrespect is nothing new for Michael Mifflin, who was born with spina bifida. In high school in Winnipeg, he was shoved into lockers and had his canes stolen and hidden by other students.
Now, as an adult, he navigates public transit with canes and a wheelchair, an effort sometimes greeted with impatient eye-rolling and complaints from comfortably seated transit users.
When I came back to church after a faith crisis in my early 20s, the first one I attended regularly was a place called Praxis. It was the kind of church where the young, hip pastor hoisted an infant into his arms and said with sincerity, “Dude, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The other day my housemates and I had an interesting conversation. We asked ourselves: if we are dreamers and made in the image of God, what is God’s dream?
This is what we realized: God’s dream is that He wants to redeem and reconcile the WORLD!
The other day my housemates and I had an interesting conversation. We asked ourselves: if we are dreamers and made in the image of God, what is God’s dream?
This is what we realized: God’s dream is that He wants to redeem and reconcile the WORLD!
With my colleague Doug being away on holidays, this past Sunday and next Sunday I'm going to try my hand at a two-part sermon series on some themes in the second and third letters of John. If you've read both letters you'll know that they are probably two of the very shortest books in the Bible. And as I read second and third John this week I realized that both of two short books point back - intuitively enough - to the first letter of John. The first letter of John is a bit longer - almost four pages - and it seems like a more developed version of John's second and third letters.
“When unbelievers lead the way in inventions and artistic expression, its because the church has embraced a false kind of spirituality” --- Pastor Bill Johnson, of Redding, California.
What does that mean in reflection of our churches?
As a Ph.D. student studying Mennonite history, Susie Fisher Stoesz finds it hard sometimes to explain to her family what exactly she does when she goes to her office at the University of Manitoba. She hopes that will change with her contribution to Mothering Mennonite, a collection of essays that explores the roles of mothering in Mennonite contexts and the world at large.
A couple of months ago I read a post that had been shared around among some of my Facebook friends. It told the story of a bride-to-be, just moments before her wedding, praying with her husband-to-be and thanking God for their blessed ability to keep it in their pants. One select quote from this story reads: “See, he is not only my Prince Charming because of his incredibly handsome looks, or wonderful humor, or the fact that we have so much in common. He is my Prince Charming because he helped me protect the most precious gift that I owned, my purity.”
You might have noticed that my blog posts have been somewhat sporadic over the past months. I do have a reason: my husband and I just had our first child last week. The experience of pregnancy and childbirth has got me thinking about how these experiences have been interpreted theologically.