Bridging the Gap

24 06 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

A few weeks back I started to write about notions of healthy sexuality in Christian community. One of the things that prompted me to do so was simply a lack of nuanced writing on the subject, whether in print, on the web, or wherever. This isn’t to say that there aren’t all sorts of books and materials out there that cover the topic, but I’m honestly just not satisfied with the idea of leaving it up to Joshua Harris or Lauren Winner to be the final arbiters in this discussion.

Floating in the back of my mind through all of this has been the thought that if Christians cannot manage to have meaningful, open, frank conversations about heterosexual relationships, then it’s not going to be easy to have meaningful, frank conversations about broader questions of sexuality.

That’s why I’m hopeful about today’s Bridging the Gap synchroblog. Bringing together bloggers gay and straight, from a variety of faith perspectives, Wendy Gritter and the folks from New Direction are stimulating the dialogue. Here’s what it’s all about: Read the rest of this entry »


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Ecological Sustainability in the Dominion of Canada

24 05 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

The nuttiness continues (perhaps unsurprisingly), this time from Colby Cosh via the National Post. I know that the NP isn’t completely full of the ignorant, but, well, Cosh’s Comment piece from May 19th is a bit of a doozy.

I’m just thankful that the Post also has saner, more informed writers like Vanessa Farquharson. Vanessa writes regularly both on her blog and in her Sense and Sustainability column on all issues green, and recently published the book Sleeping Naked is Green. I haven’t yet seen her directly take on the oil sands, but I’d suspect she’d have a word or two to share on the subject that might counter Cosh’s flagrant ignorance.

Back to the matter at hand. In the comments to my earlier Dirty Oil, Messy Faith post, Michael pointed me to Cosh’s piece. As I read the article, I just rolled my eyes. Perhaps it’s just that I hope folks aren’t really so ignorant. Read the rest of this entry »


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Dirty Oil, Messy Faith

18 05 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

On Sunday afternoon, the CBC posted an article on a fact finding mission to the Alberta Oil Sands. It’s a short piece, doesn’t say much, except that a delegation will be headed to Fort Mac from May 21-27th.

It mentions that the delegation is organised by Kairos, a group that according to their own website “deliberates on issues of common concern, advocates for social change and joins with people of faith and goodwill in action for social transformation.”

In short, the news article – in no condescending way points out that members of the church are going to check it out for themselves. And this simple fact has lit the news post’s comments afire. Read the rest of this entry »


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Swine Flu in Perspective

18 05 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

via Mark who got it from Mike, who caught it from Keith, who somewhere along the line must have contracted it from Dan (this stuff is sure contagious!)


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Healthy Sexuality & Christian Community

15 05 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

I’ve been thinking about sex a lot lately.

If we were  to believe what I suspect to be a baseless rumour, men think of sex every seven seconds or so. So I might be excused for such indiscretion. Then again, the Kinsey Institute suggests that 54% of men think about sex at least once daily, 43% think about it a few times each month, and 4% less than once a month. I suppose there’s a whole spectrum out there…

The reasons for which I continue to think about sexuality are really quite simple. Throughout my time growing up in the church, it has been a rare occasion when I have had a positive conversation related to sexuality.

The other week I was down at Princeton Theological Seminary for a youth ministry conference, and one of our workshops dared to broach the subject. Dr. Kate Ott, from the Religious Institute was working with youth leaders from across North America on how we might discuss sexuality in the church not just with young people, but from birth through death. Our whole lives. Read the rest of this entry »


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Sermon for Lent 5b

9 04 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

March 29, 2009 (Lent 5b)
Delivered at St. Michael and All Angels, Ottawa
Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The days are surely coming. Those days will surely come.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord. But there’s always dark before the dawn. Winter before springtime. Pain before a child is born. And we all know, if we’ve paid attention to the stories of Jesus that death necessarily comes before resurrection. Read the rest of this entry »


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uOttawa Lecture

7 04 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Last week I had the opportunity to lecture at uOttawa in a first year Religious Studies class. I’ve spoken in a variety of contexts before, but this was the first time entering the university classroom in order to share some reflections on the future of religion in Canada.

The course itself, from reading through the syllabus, asks some very important questions about the relationship between religion and multiculturalism. These are, of course, questions that the church needs to start asking of itself, in order to re-examine how (if?) it interfaces with society. One of the most helpful pieces for me was simply repositioning Canadian culture not as a post-religious society, but insisting, rather, that we are actually in a post-secular society.

Christians always seem to demarcate our current location as post-Christendom (which it is), and yet, that does not mean that this is a godless place. What it means, rather, is that Christianity has lost its hegemony, and is being displaced from the centre for the first time in, well…you do the math. Read the rest of this entry »


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Dispatches From the Forgotten Corners of Empire

27 02 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

katrina-rooftopdisabledtearhole2getout-thurs1sept05-reuters-davidjphillipDo you remember that story in Mark’s gospel? You know, the one in the second chapter where the friends of a paralytic man take him to see Jesus? Do you remember the story of how Jesus, returning home to Capernaum after several days was accosted, surrounded, swarmed by the throngs who just had to see what this bold teacher and prophet was going on about?

Do you remember the story? Do you remember the story of how the friends couldn’t make it through the crowds, so they climbed to the roof, pulled away the thatch and let their friend down through the hole, into the house?

I’ve been thinking about that story a lot this week. But I’ve been reading the story from a bit of a different perspective. The perspective of one who has just returned from New Orleans, where in August and September 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit, the levees broke, and the vast majority of the city was drowned and summarily rotted under 3, 6, 9 feet of water. Read the rest of this entry »


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If It’s Not Love We Can’t Take It When We Go (Pt II)

10 02 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

[Note: This post is the second in a two-part series. You can read the first part here.]

A strange way, a strange way indeed. What a strange way to start a revolution.

The last time Martyn Joseph passed through the Ottawa region was not in fact Ottawa, but Smiths Falls, Ontario back in the winter of 2008. Before that were a couple of stints at the Black Sheep Inn. I honestly don’t know why the Black Sheep hasn’t picked him up since, but really, it was great to be able to host Martyn at Ecclesiax, right in the heart of the Glebe.

From the opening chord to the closing note, the performance was captivating. Taking us on a journey of heartbreak and redemption, Martyn and his guitars opened a portal to the pain and suffering of our world, allowed us to participate in that, to feel it, to truly feel the power of lament (laments have a purpose and laments have a cost, a requiem playing to gather the lost), and the relief and release that come with such weeping, such confession, and inevitable resistance. Read the rest of this entry »


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If It’s Not Love We Can’t Take It When We Go (Pt I)

9 02 2009

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

You know? It’s always a little nerve-wracking when you throw your hat back in the ring.

After growing up in a musical void for much of my life, I discovered more music while away at school than I knew how to handle. Continually catching up on the music that should have been the soundtrack to my childhood, and listening to the new stuff popping up around me, I was hooked. It was a late discovery, but when I finally discovered the music that was out there, it changed my life.

From the sounds of U2, to G’n'R, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Sigur Ros, discovering bands like Anberlin, Further Seems Forever, and Big Wreck who awoke me to the diversity of musical expression. Suddenly my world was way bigger than the CBC. Read the rest of this entry »


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