If you knew your time was up and you had one last opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for your friends and family, what would you do? What would you say? It's an interesting question to be sure, and one that is probably worth some contemplation. Whatever it is you would choose to say, you'd … Continue reading Famous Last Words: A Reflection for Maundy Thursday
In this little series on the mystics, my goal each week has been to hold up a particular gem of a Christian history to the light for closer examination. In doing so, we see both their exquisite beauty (why we read them) but also their flaws (how they can fall short), and even the awkwardness … Continue reading Humility or Humiliation?
Like most North Americans my age, I grew up on a diet heavy in reruns of The Simpsons. One scene that often comes to mind involves Ned Flanders, the Simpsons’ overly pious neighbour, confessing to their longsuffering minister: “I’m meek, but … I could be meeker.” What I love about this quote is that it’s … Continue reading Humility
Long-time readers will know by now that I love the quote from the physicist Niels Bohr, that the opposite of a great truth is also true. It’s an important idea and it’s linked to my fundamental theological maxim: that, in order to avoid idolatry and misunderstanding, we have to be willing to unsay everything we … Continue reading As Children, As Grown ups (A reflection on Mark 9.30-37)
The Gospel reading from today’s Morning Office contains a line that struck me anew this morning: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” It’s one of the most famous lines in the Gospels not spoken by Jesus. And it’s a line that has much to say to our present moment. The first thing that struck me … Continue reading Nazareth
