Whatever is Praiseworthy: A Reflection on Philippians 4.1-9

There’s an old comic strip that I think about often. It featured a father sitting in an easy chair watching the evening news, which is reporting some calamity or another. His young child walks up and asks him what he’s watching. The dad’s eyes jump as though he’s just been caught watching something he shouldn’t … Continue reading Whatever is Praiseworthy: A Reflection on Philippians 4.1-9

A Faith that Lasts: Final Thoughts

When I introduced this series, the world and all its big problems were on my mind. But the origin story for the series is a lot closer to home. Like many people, over the past twenty years or so, I’ve become increasingly interested in finding ways of living more sustainably, and over the past five, … Continue reading A Faith that Lasts: Final Thoughts

A Faith that Lasts: Explore the Edges

There’s an old saying, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” but it could equally be said that “Nature abhors a straight line.” Really, when we see a straight line anywhere, we can be certain that a human hand is responsible. There seems to be something about us that prefers set boundaries, where ‘inside’ and ‘outside,’ ‘mine’ and … Continue reading A Faith that Lasts: Explore the Edges

The Cross from Jesus’ Perspective: A Reflection on Matthew 21.33-46

Today is Thanksgiving Sunday here in Canada, but as I was getting ready to write a post in honour of the holiday, I realized that today’s Gospel reading is a very important one, and one that I’ve never actually reflected on in this space. For it’s in this parable that Jesus explains how he understood … Continue reading The Cross from Jesus’ Perspective: A Reflection on Matthew 21.33-46

A Faith that Lasts: Value Diversity

As I’ve been learning more about permaculture over the years, I’ve been surprised by just how many of its principles have been present in our culture for centuries in the form of proverbs. We've seen two examples of this recently with “Waste not, want not” and “Slow and steady win the race.” Another proverb with … Continue reading A Faith that Lasts: Value Diversity