I wrote this because organizations like Wawanosh Enterprises should be defended on issues like this. Turning a service like this into a political and economic issue hurts everyone involved. It ends up becoming about making a point that only serves to benefit one individual temporarily while it sucks money and energy away from everyone else. …
A few years back, this guy with big, dark rimmed glasses sat in our church with his friends. One year later, he sat quietly in a living room in Saskatoon across from me. At some point while listening to records and drinking the home brew created by our host, I told him that he should …
It’s a nice Sunday afternoon, I’m reading through the news. An insane image shows up of a man on fire on the front page of the Observer forty minutes ago with the headline “Flames at Ipperwash.” The entirety of the news article was mostly about the situation twenty years ago, with only one sentence about …
A Perfect Example of Why The Sarnia Observer Needs To Die Read More »
My political leanings vary daily. I read anarchist literature for fun. I’m currently reading Che Guevara’s biography. My religious leanings side heavily with those of the Christian anarchists and liberation theologians and anti-colonial thinkers and practitioners. Since I change daily, I’m usually hovering around Libertarian Municipalism, Socialism, Conscious Capitalism, Marxism and Libertarianism. These are all …
Voting Federally in Sarnia-Lambton in 2015 (I Guess I’m Voting After All) Read More »
We all wake up every single morning. We all go to bed at night. We all eat. We all breathe. We all live in houses. We all have relationships. What ends up happening with all of us, is that we take all these things that we all have, and we get into routines. Some of …
Living An Intentional Life: A Sermon On Intention Read More »
The liturgy, like the feast, exists not to educate but to seduce people into participating in common activity of the highest order, where one is freed to learn things which cannot be taught. -Aidan Kavanaugh I’ve been quite immersed lately in trying to understand the kinds of people that are what you would call a …
Learning Things That Cannot Be Taught: A Reflection On Relationships Read More »
I just finished watching Netflix’s series Chef’s Table. It was a fascinating show where each episode dives into the lives of personalities of different famous chefs from around the world. With each chef you watch their progression and struggle into becoming known and respected in their field. As different chefs began to come into this …
There are three kinds of people who have jobs. The Workers: Those that are working to live The Lifers: Those that live to work The Lucky: Those where work and living have no recognizable differences Sarnia has a really high concentration of The Workers. For example, Most jobs in the plants consist of repetitive, boring …
One of my key personal values is this: more can be accomplished and more people can be cared for when groups of people share common values and purpose rather than individuals going off on their own. This is why when we started a brewery in Sarnia, we started with ten people. Starting a business on …
Organize People Who Care, Not Those Who Just Want Jobs Read More »
I got an opportunity to join the good people at Praxis Conference in Houston this week. Some thoughts have been spurring. Every church is formed by the practices that they partake in together. The more that people partake in these practices, the more that they will take a hold on the formation of the kinds …
There once was a man who was righteous, his name was Richard. Every single day of his life was dedicated to the Lord’s work. He raised his family in church, he operated his business honestly and he had a great relationship with his wife. He served on his church’s board, he volunteered his time overseas …
I’m currently reading Culture and the Death of God. I’ve enjoyed Terry Eagleton in the past, especially in Reason, Faith and Revolution where he gives I think one of the best apologies for the Christian faith that I had ever read. Lately I’ve been thinking about the connection between religion and power, and specifically about …
I’ve struggled with how much of my wrestling I can share. As a seen leader of a church congregation there is this expectation that you are extremely careful with what you share. Questioning the incarnation of Christ? Well, fine, but don’t share that you are, you might lead people astray. Wondering if the Bible is …
I’ve been reading a lot about American civil rights movements and its leaders and the South Africa Apartheid. I’m reading this after having read enough of the nonviolence theologians and practitioners of Christianity. So I am always trying to reconcile these two extremes. On the one hand, we have a faith of peace and forgiveness …
We like to think that we live in a progressive society, that we’ve come so far as a society and equality is at the forefront of our minds. One of the myths that we believe is that women were always subordinate to men and that only recently in history did this change. Maybe it was …
For quite a while I’ve had the moral principle of non-violence being necessary for the way of the Christian. Taking cues from John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas I had come to the belief that violence cannot be redemptive. Violence breeds more violence and that we should turn the other cheek. Resist, yes. Resist with …
I am predominately a thinking person. My wife endearingly calls me a robot because when situations arise that would for some evoke deep feelings, I tend to respond with logic rather than comfort. In a conversation with a friend recently, I was explaining how I cannot understand some people’s anxiety especially those where that anxiety …
A friend recently counselled me in regards to my post on Bethel and their fight against homosexuality that “the disciples wanted to call down fire on some folks and Jesus counselled a different approach.” This is a somewhat common response to criticism within the church. There is this desire that some of us have to …
We start life where the way we live informs the way we think. We are raised as children and then eventually grow into adults and we only know life how we experience it. The majority of people stay there. They only ever think as far as their experiences allow. So for most people, their entire …
Action Precedes Belief Only Once You’ve Been Enlightened Read More »
Bill Maher has been growing in popularity as of late. People are really jumping on his no-shit direct opposition to religion. In particular, he was recently on the Jimmy Kimmel show where he stated that “there are no great religions. They’re all stupid and dangerous.” This was in the middle of his rant about the …