It has been said that even as we read the Bible, the Bible is reading us. And there is a lot of truth to that statement. We encounter words and phrases and verses and stories that play in our imagination, and as we watch the various reactions of individuals to the situations […]
Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her animals, She has mixed her wine, She has also set her table. She has sent out her servant-girls, She calls from the highest places in the town, ‘You that are simple, turn in here! To those without sense she says, […]
Whether or not imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as has often been said, the reality is that imitation plays a profound and often unexamined role in our behaviour as human beings. Rene Girard, who served as a professor in a number of American universities, is often credited with establishing a fascinating […]
I enjoy eating. In fact, over the course of my life, I have actually made eating a habit that I repeat a number of times throughout the day. In fact, if I don’t “feed” this eating habit, a few times each day, my body reminds me of the negligence. And I know […]
My Mom would not like the ending of this miracle. Now don’t get me wrong. My Mom was, and still is, all about food and feeding people. She was always ready for a crowd to burst through the doors and sit down at the table for a home cooked meal. Her pantry was always […]
“I just wanna be a sheep, baa, baa, baa. I just wanna be a sheep, bass, bass, baa. I pray the Lord my soul to keep, I just wanna be a sheep.” It’s a popular little song at camps and one I couldn’t get out of my head this week. Our readings […]
It is hard not to focus on the gospel reading today. The story of the gruesome death of John the Baptist is compelling and has invited artistic representation over the centuries. Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” is one of the best known perhaps because of its own seductive appeal in late Victorian England. Sex, politics and […]
I invite you to close your eyes for a minute and imagine a prophet. An Old Testament prophet. We read about the calling of the prophet Ezekiel this morning, famous for the story of the valley of the dry bones and the “wheel within a wheel a turnin’”. What was he like? Or think […]
Death and despair were lurking in today’s readings. Did you hear it? Did you feel it? The first reading was from the book of Lamentations. The name says it all. Not a book we read from often or probably want to read from often. And most times when we do read from Lamentations, it […]
Robert McKee, who is a well-known professor of creative writing and a teacher about the structure and art of storytelling – once wrote that “storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.” McKee is likely correct – as a species, we love and cherish and find ourselves most fully […]
