Advent III :: Turning the Corner

13 12 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

I think that maybe we’re turning the corner. Maybe, just maybe, this time of waiting and expectation can birth joy and exuberance. I’m still not sure, still not certain what will come. Surely the spirit of God is moving. Surely the way of the Lord is being prepared.

The past weeks have been difficult. The past months somewhat overwhelming. This year, walking in advent hope and expectation has come with its share of challenges.

On numerous occasions in the past few weeks, I’ve been caught referring to advent as “lent.” Read the rest of this entry »


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

Advent II :: Swords or Peace?

6 12 2009

by Brian Walsh

We had to wait for this. He wasn’t going to make any rash decisions. He had to hear from all of his advisors. There was a need to have all the evidence before him. Yes, this is a military issue. But just as importantly, if not more so, this is a political decision. You don’t rule without good ratings in the polls.

And so this week President Obama presented to the American people, to all of America’s allies and enemies, indeed, to the whole world, his strategy for Afghanistan. Thirty thousand more troops. An offensive surge to push back the Taliban and root out al Qaeda, a securing of the cities, and an expectation that the corrupt government of that country would get its act together and start carrying its military weight in this conflict.

And, of course, the President had to insist that this is not another Vietnam. I’m sorry, but the parallels are stunning. A weak, ineffectual local government, troop increases, military surge, the enemy taking refuge beyond the borders of the country involved, a losing war in the countryside requiring an emphasis on securing the population centres. It’s all there. We’ve seen this before.

Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Advent I :: A Season of Beginnings

29 11 2009

by Ericka Stephens-Rennie

Advent is a season of beginnings.

Of newness. Of first steps, and first phases. Of expectation. Of waiting. I imagine a young Joseph, concerned his wife-to-be may be unfaithful. And not just unfaithful, crazy! Certifiably insane – who gets pregnant from talking to angels, or being “favoured” by God?

But he shows up at her door.

Reluctantly?
In faith? In forgiveness?
In hope?
In trust? Read the rest of this entry »


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

No one Ever Said This Was Going to be Easy

22 11 2009

by Brian Walsh

So over at Wine Before Breakfast we’ve been hanging out with Paul and his letter to the Romans again. And this morning I offered these reflections on Romans 8.1-17. My indebtedness to Sylvia Keesmaat’s book Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition (Sheffield, 1999) is clear.

I would recommend that you take a moment to read the Romans text (slowly and prayerfully) before launching into what I have on offer here.

No one ever said that this was going to be easy.
Not Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Not the faith that he there proposes.
Not the Jesus he calls us to follow.

I know that this stuff isn’t easy.
But if it were easy, it would be cheap.
Right?
I mean if it was any simpler,
then it wouldn’t likely be any more true
to the lives of those early believers in Rome
than it would be true of our own conflicted,
compromised,
complicit,
and contradictory lives.

Read the full text here.


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

Justice and Creation

10 11 2009

CRC Campus Ministries, University of Toronto and Crux Books present:

Justice and Creation:

a double book launch for

“The Justice Project” (Ed. Brian McLaren et. al.)
“The Gift of Creation” (Ed. Norman Wirzba)

with contributor Dr. Sylvia C. Keesmaat

Commentaries by:
Bruxy Cavey (The Meeting House)
Ron Kuipers (Institute for Christian Studies)

Music by Michael Iafrate, Alison Hari Singh, and Zoe Thiessen and The Hildegard Project (featuring Billy Gekas).

Facebook event info here.


Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Uncategorized

Andy Crouch in Conversation

26 10 2009

Empire Remixed and CRC Campus Ministries present Andy Crouch … in conversation
Monday, November 2, 8.00pm
Chaplain’s Office, Wycliffe College
5 Hoskin Avenue Toronto

A number of months ago, we reported here at Empire Remixed, the greatest Christian bookseller in the world thought that maybe Beyond Homelessness by Steve Bouma-Prediger and Brian Walsh was probably the “book of the year” in 2009.

Well, Christianity Today didn’t see things that way and gave the nod to a book called Culture Making by some young upstart named Andy Crouch. We are sure that the fact that Mr. Crouch is a senior editor with that same magazine had nothing to do with their choice. So to show that we aren’t sore about this, we’re hosting an event with the guy to see if he’s all that he’s cracked up to be.

Okay, the tone of that whole paragraph was decidedly tongue in cheek. Here’s what the same Byron Borger said about Culture Making. This book “is spectacularly important and truly wonderful; wonderful for the cogent ideas and the lovely writing, the insight and the charm.” We agree. And that’s why we are hosting a salon-style conversation with Andy on November 2 in Toronto.

The evening will kick off with Andy talking for fifteen minutes or so about his book and the kinds of things that animate him as he reflects on Christian culture making. And then, over some appropriate liquid refreshments, we will have a wide-ranging, open-ended conversation with the lad about whatever we want to talk about.

Brian Walsh will host and facilitate the conversation.

The event is free, but a donation for refreshments will be gratefully received.


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Events

Romans, Home and Empire

22 10 2009

Romans, Home and Empire

by Brian Walsh

Some months ago I got to thinking about Paul’s letter to the Romans and the problems of homelessness. Essentially my question was, what happens if I take the work that I’ve done on the dynamics of home, homelessness and homecoming with Steve Bouma-Prediger in Beyond Homelessness and integrate it with the work I’m doing with Sylvia Keesmaat on “disarming Romans.”

And the results are kind of interesting. So this week I employed these themes in a sermon for the Wine Before Breakfast community at the University of Toronto. The service opened with Empire Remixer Dave Krause performing Bruce Cockburn’s “Santiago Dawn” and the reading of Romans 4.1-25. That is the passage that talks about Abraham’s faith and how all of us are children of Abraham. Storytelling and questions of the family tree – this is the stuff of which home is made.

So setting the stage with a summary of Romans 1-3 from the perspective of home I then went on to reflect on what it means to have Abraham as our father. Here’s what I came up with.


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

David Dewees, Grief and Libel

6 10 2009

by Brian Walsh

On Saturday, October 2 a young man named David DeWees ended his life on the subway tracks at High Park Station in Toronto. David had been charged with two counts of sexual luring and two counts of invitation to sexual touch arising out of his ministry at Ontario Pioneer Camp.

Dave was a well-loved and highly respected teacher at Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto and the outpouring of grief over his death has been intense amonst his students and colleagues. Dave was also a member of the Wine Before Breakfast community for one semester a couple of years ago. Together with a couple of friends he participated in our worship, ate at the same Eucharist table with all of us, prayed, sang, and grew in discipleship.

Dave was arrested on Thursday morning. The Toronto Star erroneously reported that he had been charged with sexual assault. Within 48 hours of his arrest and release on bail, David Dewees was dead. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

Targum :: Romans 1.16-32 (take two)

22 09 2009

by Brian Walsh

Some months ago I posted a targum on Romans 1.1-25 that received a fair bit of attention. That piece was also criticized at another site because I somehow didn’t have the “courage” to continue my expansion on Romans 1 beyond verse 25 and deal with the thorny verses supposedly about homosexuality. This morning I expanded that earlier targum, only picking it up at verse 16 and then running with it until the end of the chapter. I didn’t expand this targum to reply to a critic but to minister to the Wine Before Breakfast community at the University of Toronto.

I post it here for broader reflection and response.


Comments : 7 Comments »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Brian Walsh

21st Century Breakdown

12 09 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Despite everything Mark Carney’s been saying lately about the end of a recession, I think I’m more apt to agree with Green Day that we’re still in the midst of a 21st Century Breakdown.

Maybe it’s all the rain we’ve been getting in the nation’s capital lately, but I think I’m less apt to pronounce the bounce-back from one of the biggest hits our economy’s taken since 1929 and following. Optimism may have its place, but there’s a difference between optimism and ignorance. I think I’ll probably throw my lot in with Jeff Rubin before I put my faith in Carney. I’m not sure the worst of it is over.

We’ve squandered so much, and continue to do so at an ever-increasing rate. Perhaps it’s not all that far out there that this world’s going to shrink, that the resource wars will increase, and that things may get a whole lot messier. We may not be talking Apocalypse Very Soon, but we may need to think about the ways in which our excessive consumption is going to increase global conflict. Read the rest of this entry »


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

« Previous Entries