BP, The Gulf, and the Assault of God

14 07 2010

by Brian Walsh

The doctors seemed totally incapable of stemming the flow. This wound was too deep. The blood would not stop. The woman had been assaulted so violently that all of their medical emergency and trauma training was totally ineffective. This woman was dying. And all we could do was watch. Perhaps weep. Undoubtedely keep thinking up new techniques to save her. But in the meantime, all we could do was watch.

So we set up a camera in the emergency room where she was lying. We focused the lens on the wound where the blood continued to seep. We set up a 24/7 vigil and we posted it as a lives feed on the internet. Millions of people around the world logged in. At first they also wept. Then they stopped watching the feed around the clock, but only tuned in once in a while to see how this woman was doing. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Commissioning

9 07 2010

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

In a strange twist of fate, Levi’s provides a way better commissioning to go out and actively love and seek to renew the world, than I’ve heard in a church in a long time.

Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Slick

4 06 2010

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

This oil slick, it’s making me sick.

Six weeks of seepage on the seabed and where are we at? Where are we now, and how, tell me how, will we recover from this ongoing abuse, corporate greed and misuse of a creation once called good.

I know what you’re thinking, and y’know, it’s got me thinking about what’s under the hood of my car, the gas it’s drinking, and these Canadian sands in the tar. No matter what I do, it’s complicated and I’m implicated in this spill, as much as BP and as much as you. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Practicing Resurrection 2010

6 05 2010

This August marks the return of Practicing Resurrection, an annual conference held at Brian and Sylvia’s Russet House Farm in Cameron, Ontario.

This year’s keynote speakers are Ched Myers and Elaine Enns. Their work with Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries focuses on building capacity for biblical literacy, church renewal, and faith-based witness for justice. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Empire Remixed, Uncategorized

Operation 504 Rebuild

16 04 2010

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

I got off the phone yesterday with Tommy, and my heart sunk. Tommy and I first met two years ago when I travelled with a group of young adults from Ottawa, Ontario to New Orleans, Louisiana. Throughout that first trip, Tommy inspired us with his dedication to seeing lives and homes put back together. A young guy from Massachusetts, he had dropped everything to come work as a crew chief, and now serves as the liaison between homeowners and the rebuild project.

But here’s the think. The funding that had been promised to Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana has not yet arrived. This is the church-in-action, embracing its call and mission for others, as it helps to rebuild communities, still five years after they were devastated by Katrina.

They’re in the position of closing up shop, sending all of the volunteer crew chiefs home, and laying off all staff. What’s more is that they may not be able to complete the 8 homes they have under construction, including that of Mr. Hammond whose place we worked on in February of this year.

There are many more recent disasters in our collective memory, and I think that the story of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast has faded for many of us. But it’s still in need of help. Episcopal Community Services is trying to raise $60,000 in the next two weeks so that they can at very least complete what they’ve started.

If you can help by spreading the word, by donating a couple of dollars towards this goal, it will go a long way, and will greatly affect many lives in that community. Please help if you can, by clicking here to find out more, or to donate.


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Between Confidence and Fear

6 04 2010

by Brian Walsh

Folk who visit this site know that much of what we write about here arises out of a shared worship experience called “Wine Before Breakfast.” This year the community began with allowing Romans to shape our liturgy and our imaginations, and then concluded with Mark’s telling of the story of Holy Week for Lent and Easter. That meant that we began with Romans 1 and ended with Mark 16. That juxtaposition gave rise to this meditation.

“Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.”

Do you remember those six words? That is how we began Wine Before Breakfast last September.
…“Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ.”

Paul, writing to the very heart of the empire,
…identifies himself with nothing less (or more)
…than a slave of Jesus Christ.

Not a citizen of the empire,
and sure as hell, not a slave of the emperor,
…but a slave of Jesus Christ.

Six words into his letter to the Romans,
…and he has already put them on notice.
…This was “in your face stuff.”

And it didn’t stop there. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Gethsemane

1 04 2010

by Ann Andree

A sermon based on Mark 14:32-52

My dear brothers and sisters, in reading this passage, we have just entered into a sacred space and joined Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is my prayer that we are able to journey deeper together into the dark groves of Gethsemane. It is my prayer that we come to understand together, the abandonment Christ experienced in the garden alone.

There are few people in our broken world who are better able to connect with Christ in his moment of complete abandonment that our friends experiencing homelessness on the streets. Few people know better then these folks what it is like to die, desolately abandoned by everyone who has ever been important to you.

For those of you who don’t know, Dion, Jake and I have the privilege of walking alongside these folks experiencing homelessness at The Gateway – an 108 bed shelter, which too often is considered home to men who have been cut off from every other segment of society, many of whom have long since been abandoned by friends and family. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Ann Andree

A Pastoral Letter for Holy Week 2010

28 03 2010

Every year Brian writes a pastoral letter to the Wine Before Breakfast community at the University of Toronto. In his letter he calls the community to a holy observance of Passion Week. This year the WBB community read Mark’s telling of Holy Week throughout the 40 days of Lent. We’re sharing that letter with the broader Empire Remixed community.

by Brian Walsh

My beloved sisters and brothers in Christ.

For the forty days of Lent we have dwelt with Jesus during Holy Week. For five weeks we have allowed Mark’s gospel to lead us deeply into one week. The week of weeks. The week that is at the heart of our faith. Passion Week.

That week is now upon us. Our Lenten journey has prepared us for this week. It has been an intense Lent for us, but now it gets even more intense.

It is all about bearing witness. Can we bear witness to these horrific events that are at the same time our very salvation? Can we “bear” to bear witness? Have we got that kind of courage, that kind of faithfulness? Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Inclusive, Particular and Being Down and Out in Austin.

23 03 2010

by Brian Walsh

On March 17 I had the incredible honour of speaking along with my co-author, Steven Bouma-Prediger at the “National Symposium on Homelessness” in Austin, Texas. This event, hosted by a dynamic ministry called “Mobile Loaves and Fishes,” brought together around 250 people who either are involved in homelessness issues and services or who were formerly homeless for a day of reflection on “What is Home and How do we get there?”

In my presentation I spoke about how home is always rooted in memory. There is no homecoming apart from story. And I then offered a telling of the biblical story of home, homelessness and homecoming as a powerful story that could sustain both on the street ministries and transformed social policy.

Now I knew that a number of folks in the room were not Christian, but chose to be explicitly and openly Christian anyway. The fact that the majority of people involved with helping their homeless neighbours are indeed Christian and that a majority of the homeless in Austin also identify themselves as Christian, together with the fact that I am a Christian and can only speak honestly and openly from a transparently Christian perspective, I figured that non-Christians in the room might be willing to hear a take on the biblical story that just might be new and perhaps even appealing to them. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Shane Claiborne in Ottawa :: March 19, 2010

11 03 2010

On Friday March 19, 2010 our friend and co-conspirator Shane Claiborne will be heading to Ottawa in order to join folks from the National Capital region in an evening of worship, conversation, and resistance.

It will be a great opportunity to catch Shane on his first visit to Ottawa, and to dream kingdom dreams in that city.

The doors to Dominion-Chalmers United Church open at 7pm, with the event to start at 7.30pm. The cost is $10 at the door.

The Ottawa event is being organised by The Open Table – an ecumenical Christian community by and for young adults, and supported by the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Churches in that area.

You can find more info on the event here, or invite friends through the facebook event page.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Events

« Previous Entries