Life Chooses Life A reflection on Luke 3:15-22 by Andrew Stephens-Rennie. Originally preached at St Brigids Vancouver.
Romans 12&13 Remixed: A Post-Inauguration Targum Time is up for the oppressive laws of the state, so obey the law of love. Time is up for the empire, so live in the Kingdom.
Prayer in Troubled Times We said to ourselves, “We believe in Jesus plus white supremacy; Jesus plus comfortability.” We preached this in churches. We obscured Your teachings; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one among us who knows how long.
Hanging on For Dear Life We find Jesus on the side of the road, I can only imagine stunned, at the sight of the wide-eyed rich man hanging on to the tree for dear life
Promise, Reality and Crying Out There is something about groaning and crying out that is at the very heart of covenantal life. Somehow, the Spirit is deeply active in such groaning...
Galatians: A Costly Welcome Saint Paul demands to know: Is Christ's welcome for everyone, or not? Who is welcome to join the movement? And at what cost?"
Rape, Healing, and the Author of Our Stories Our brains generally try to explain exceptions through a model of deviance, thus the battered or raped woman is soon morphed from a victim to a (willing) deviant participant. If violence is ‘not supposed to happen’ or is ‘not supposed to happen to me,’ then it’s hard to narrate the violence credibly.
Nazareth to Ottawa: Election Eve Reflections Good news to the poor. Release to captives. Recovery of sight to the blind.
Truth, Elections and the Spirit [A meditation on John 15.26-16.15 for Wine Before Beer, August 25, 2015] In one of his most memorable quotes, philosopher Richard Rorty once said, “Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.”
How Reconciliation Begins As Jesus invites us into his community of reconciliation, he offers a wide welcome to one and all, calling us to offer the same welcome that we received.
There’s More Healing to Be Done Jesus stops, disrupting the flow of blood from the one whose hemorrhages had not ceased to flow for 12 long years. Twelve years of suffering healed in an instant. And yet, there’s more healing to be done.
Dry Bones, the Spirit and Resurrection There can be no resurrection without a new creation. There can be no new creation without bodies. And there can be no bodies without soil.
Bikes, Jesus and the Legal System It was a week and a half ago that I was (nearly) bike-jacked. And every time I talk about this, someone inevitably asks: "Is that a thing?"
The Spirit, ‘Spontaneity’ and Justice I guess I'm just tired of the Holy Spirit being used as a psycho-spiritual drug dealer justifying spiritual narcissism.
Advent, Psalm 145 and a “Fantastic” Vision “There is a time and place in the ceaseless human endeavor to change the world, when alternative visions, no matter how fantastic, provide the grist for shaping powerful political forces for change.