Art by David Hayward (Naked Pastor) I was raised in a religious tradition that emphasized trying to make converts to our belief system. Conversion was a central pillar of my upbringing. There was opportunity at almost every gathering to convert to our belief. There was thousands of materials and resources available to you to try […]
Art by David Hayward (Naked Pastor) I’ve been trying to understand and appreciate the role of institutions (the definition I’m using for institutions is “a society or organization founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose)” in the world and my own life. Whether it be corporations, churches, non-profits, governments or community groups. I
I can feel myself slipping. By this I mean, that I am starting to lose my (perceived) foothold on who I am, what I am doing and what everything is. Since I can remember, I have prided myself on my ability to understand what is going on. This is just a general way of saying
A few weeks ago, Josh Walters, John Silvestri and myself were invited to join the Sarnia- Port Huron – Freethinkers for a public dialogue. There was the three of us and three folks from the Freethinkers group and we worked our way through these questions: 1) What is Faith? 2) Where do Love & Morality come
Christianity is a complex system of belief, rituals, lifestyles and systems. It makes no more sense to reject Christianity as it does to reject God. Some would say if you reject specific beliefs (such as Jesus’ divinity or the creeds) then you are rejecting Christianity. Some would say if you reject specific rituals (such as Eucharist
Growing up as a white, middle-class, charismatic, straight, cisgender, Christian male has been quite a ride. I’ve been blogging since 2004 and have published an equivalent of 1.5 War and Peace novels (838,208 words). I was reflecting about how my life journey has been marked by particular truths that I held to. Most of them
Last year, when my mother was in her last stages of liver failure and suffering from hepatic encephalopathy, I found myself in some of the most chaotic and difficult circumstances that I ever could have imagined. She would get into these trance like states, with repetitive screaming, become inconsolable, unresponsive to anyone, angry, cursing, aggressive, and this
When we are thinking, we have two parts of our brain. We have the Neo-Cortex areas, which we will call ambassadors and the subcortical areas that we will call primitives. The ambassadors of your brain are very smart. They are slow. They are deliberate. They are really expensive to run. They do the planning, predicting,
I wrote this last year working my way through the Enneagram. However, after really diving into it I’m realizing many more things about myself that have made quite an impact on me. One of these things that became apparent very early on is my repulsion to being controlled. When I was younger, I wasn’t aware of
I see two kinds of insecurity. The first kind of insecurity is one that thinks of oneself as dumb, bad, evil, a failure or a screw up. It’s a view of oneself that is about your identity. This kind of insecurity can lead to self-pity, depression and a feeling of worthlessness. The first kind can be
My moments of greatest distress have always come from when a relationship is shifting and changing. A friend moving, a break-up, a client firing me, a fight….all these things cause me anxiety. (I’m only beginning now to be able to name that which we call anxiety when I feel it in my own life). In
Once upon a time, somewhere miles and miles beneath the surface of the ocean, there lived a young octopus named Nina. Nina spent most of her time alone making strange creations out of rocks and shells. And she was very happy. But then on Monday the shark showed up. “What’s your name?” said the shark.
Christmas rips open facades. It uncovers what lies beneath. Wheat and weeds grow together. Cold and hot water are gushing from the same spring. Joy and suffering bring the same tears. Those that have eyes that see and ears to hear are caught in the complexity of life and death. Both life and death are inseparable
Today we took a tour of Hebron and Bethlehem. There is quite a bit of history of these two places and they each have their own specific history with Israel. We set out to meet different folks that could share their stories with us. The first thing we saw was the Cave of the Patriarchs.
There is an ease as I stroll Through settlements I visit It feels like home My curiosity is in what I consume The way it tastes when it goes into my body The satisfaction, the creativity, the art My interest is in what it looks like The shape the letters take The colours, the flow,
Identity and meaning are two different concepts that I have been thinking about lately, especially in how they connect. I have some friends who were raised as Christians. Overtime, as they read and grew they began to disassociate themselves from any meaning from the idea of Christianity. The identity was no longer meaningful for them. I
In our first day in Bethlehem, Palestinian territory, we met a Palestinian Christian gay man who gave Josh a haircut and introduced us to his mother who only could remember French. He gave us a tour of the house that his father built ninety years ago and let us try some chocolate cake that he
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. I never understood this quote when I first heard it. I got the kind part, but not the battle part. I think most of us go through life experiencing other people as the sum of our interactions with that person. So unless you know
Almost every day I write little notes to myself and tuck them away. They are usually a quick thought running through my head, anecdotes for the solving of all of the world’s problems or things that I’d like to think further on. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and write something down
Understanding evangelion (Greek word for good news) is critical for understanding Christ and the Kingdom of God. I think it’s time that we admit and separate the idea of gospel/good news from our beliefs of judgment and hell. The good news is many things. Jesus talks about the good news a bit in Luke 4. The Spirit