If I were to ask you about the longest recorded conversation that Jesus had in the four gospels who would you say it involved? His best friend, Peter? John the Baptist? The High Priests when they were interrogating him or Pilate during this trial? Wrong on each account. The longest conversation that Jesus is recorded…
Agreeing to Disagree
One of the most valuable lessons I learned in ministry, I learned almost forty years ago in my first church as lead pastor.A gentleman by the name of Russell Patton taught me the importance of being able to “agree to disagree”. I didn’t know at the time that Russell was actually quoting John Wesley. I’m…
What’s That in Your Pocket?
I still remember when I got my first calculator that would fit in my pocket. It was in High School, and it cost what then seemed like a fortune. But it could do so much, add, multiply, divide, etc. It could even do percentages and find the square root of any number. At least that’s…
The Cookie?
The headline read, “He wouldn’t give me the cookie.” The story was about a Catholic Priest in Florida who has been charged with biting a woman who wanted to receive communion. A charge that the priest does not deny. If you were reading just the headline and the article summary, you would tend to side…
Reconstruction: Add Wisdom
If you’ve been with us since the beginning of April, our theme has been Reconstruction, and we’ve been looking at ways to strengthen our faith, and possibly reconstruct our faith, if we’ve been struggling with what we believe and why we believe it. Often, when you talk to people who have walked away from their…
Is it time to turn the cruise off?
The other day we were heading to Moncton, and it happened again. I had set our cruise control, at 110ish, and as we were driving along in traffic, I looked down and realized we were only going 88 kph. If you have adaptive cruise control on your car then you know exactly what happened. Adaptive…
Thunk!
It is one of the first things that car buyers notice when shopping for a car, and because of that car manufacturers spend millions of dollars on research and development making sure they get it just right. And you might think that it is a safety or convenience feature, or perhaps a particular design that…
Darkness produces more Darkness
It has been bizarre and disturbing to see the rise in anti-Semitic activities across Canada, especially on university campuses. Some news reports from across the country are more reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s than a country that once prided itself on its diversity and acceptance. I understand the situation in Gaza is heartbreaking, but…
Reconstructing our Faith in the Bible
Reconstruction Faith in the Bible This might make you think less of me, but sometimes I google my name. I know, I’m so vain. There is a little bit of truth in that, but it’s also to keep an eye on who’s preaching the messages that I post online and also to track where my…
Building on Faith
It was twenty years ago that the second most significant event in the life of our church happened. The first of course being its birth. And no, it wasn’t the building. It was the sacrifices and belief in a vision that led to the reality of the building. It was in May of 2004 that…