Photograph by Steve Helber I’m the kind of person that loves conflict, and confrontation, and disagreement because I think that it is one of the best ways to uncover and discover deeper truths that neither side of a conflict are actually communicating. When X debates Y – rarely is the truth X or Y, it’s […]
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What follows is a brief sermon I did on Sunday at theStory after Canada Day. It was meant to provoke dialogue and ask ourselves how we can be better neighbours to Indigenous neighbours. For thousands of years, First Nations people have walked on this land; their relationship with the land is at the centre of
When we celebrate someone’s birthday it’s a way of acknowledging a person’s life. Another year. This seems good. A way to validate an individual, a way to affirm their existence and value in the world. We celebrate when things go well for us. If my child gets a good grade, or if I win the
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
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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
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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
My own experience with humility has been quite forced. I grew up believing in the idea of being humble. My mom used to ensure that I would actually stay humble by constantly telling me that I didn’t think I was as great as I thought I was. Churches teach humility to mean that you don’t
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