Mike - Church Blog - Page 2

People are choosing their own reality, says Matt Taibbi contributor for The Rolling Stone magazine.  In conversation with Trevor Noah on the Daily Show, Taibbi was referring to Kellyanne Conway’s comment on Trump’s version of the inauguration attendance numbers as alternative facts (contrary to what the press and real-time photos actually report).  Excuse me for a moment while I put my seat belt on so I don’t fly out of my chair.  As Barak Obama would say, “C’mon people.”   Interestingly, this whole transaction evokes a much older one.  During his interrogation of Jesus, Pilate is on record as asking, “What...

My grandfather and his brother, my great uncle, were born in the late 1800’s.  Both were farmers in Southern Ontario.  My grandfather voted Liberal. My great uncle voted Conservative.  As I paid attention to my extended family, I noticed that one’s identity was tied to a particular party and that’s how one voted—pretty much always for “the party”.  For my grandfather’s generation and their children, who we affectionately call the baby boomers, partisan politics is for the most part, a way of life.  For those who are Boomers and older, politics is often a “dyed-in-the-wool” expression of either/or—one political party or...

Welcome to the Minister’s Reflections—a place for noticing, for seeing, for gathering thoughts.  Here is the place for theology, for exploration and discovery, for wonder and rest.    If you are reading this, awesome!  Know that I was already thinking about you before you got here and, that I count you among those who form the wider and yes, even global community, that gives shape and identity to High River United Church.    Most of the time it will be me (David) writing here.  My partner and colleague Susan, writes Adventures in Faith and Family which also appears as a link...

Did you know that we have, in our library, three full shelves of resources for those who serve on our church council?  There are books on good meeting practices, books that explain narrative budgeting, communication within the congregation, stewardship and planned giving, record keeping and archives.  There are wonderful books on Christian Education from preschool through youth and adult.  We have resources on Pastoral Care, Ministry and Personnel, Worship and Music, Outreach and  congregational renewal.  Most of these resources are from trusted publishers e.g. Alban Institute, United Church Publishing House (UCPH), Wood Lake Books and Zondervan.  Beneath this section is a...

 As we head into a year-long study of prayer with Rev. David and Rev. Susan, it seems like a good time to pause on our tour of the library, at the section dealing with prayer.  You will find resources here for almost any type of spiritual practice – prayer, yes, but also many other methods of being with the holy.  We have books on meditation, journaling, walking, yoga, chanting, fasting, use of incense, drumming and more.  We have books on the spirituality of gardening, of baking bread, of knitting and crocheting.  You can learn how to make a sacred space within...

I don't know about this guy.  The publisher's blurb made him sound so good: ex-marine (green beret, yet!), successful author, life coach and friend of Oprah . . . . but his prose is strangely empty.  Nice enough stories, mind you, but there's no substance.We have three of his books on our shelves, all supposedly of help to millions.  So what am I missing?If you have read Zukav, and he changed your life, I would love you to write a rebuttal of this flimsy review.I have to concede the guy is handsome but, somehow, that is not enough.What do you think?...

Here is a little history for you.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943, for denouncing Hitler's regime.  It was from his cell in Buchenwald that he wrote to his family and to fellow theologian Eberhard Bethge.  Bonhoeffer retained his sanity by walking his cell, praying and writing letters, eventually coming to see the shortcomings of modern religious practice.  His cry for 'religionless Christianity' changed the way we live out Christianity today.  Bonhoeffer was executed two days before the Armistice, at the hands of a hangman in a gestapo prison.You might say these letters are historic...

  Have you ever wondered how the Old Testament was recorded?  Who did it? How was it preserved? Were changes ever made? How were the books for the New Testament chosen? What books were rejected?  Would you like to read some of those? Try The Gospel of Judas or The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. What writings were lost and have just been discovered? We have translations of both The Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Texts.  That's the fun stuff. Then there are the scholarly reference books you would expect to find: HarperCollins Bible Commentary, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,...

When Bruce Masterman told me he was leading nature study sessions at Canyon Church Camp this summer, I flew to the #500 section of our library to see what resources we might offer.  We have Rachel Carson’s books (Carson is the founder of the contemporary environmental movement) and the early books by Farley Mowat, Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and many of David Suzuki’s stuff.  But for children?  I found a treasure trove!  We have books for kids on oceans and rivers, forests, endangered animals, the night sky, simple experiments, kids crafts and games - all with an environmental focus. ...

This one is for those taking the spring study with Susan, though I'd love you all to read it. What, you may ask, can a new age guru from India teach us about Jesus? Well, quite a lot, actually. While raised with a minimal exposure to Christianity, Chopra sees in Jesus much more than the two facets recognized by Christians. Chopra sees a third Jesus, one acknowledged by the masses of people who don't accept Jesus as the son of God or the son of Man. The third Jesus is the one whose life and teachings revolutionized a largely uneducated world....