Well, that was fun, and maybe a little bit convicting. I think that if we were honest today, we’d all agree that there is a feeling of violation that happens when we feel that we have been deceived. Most relationships can take almost anything except deceit. It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “I'm not upset…
A Return to Civility 6. . . Honour Your Parents
Civility 5 A little change in direction here. We started this series on the Ten Commandments, back in June and after the first four commandments, there’s about to be an abrupt turn. Last week, knowing that this week was going to be one of our three family Sundays this summer, I spoke on Commandment #…
A Return to Civility 6: Do Not Murder
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six-year-olds. After explaining the commandment to "honour thy father and thy mother," she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat, one little boy (the eldest child of a family) answered,…
A Return to Civility 4: Keep the Sabbath
What a crazy world we live in today. Do you ever feel like the Rabbit in “Alice in Wonderland”? You know the one, he’s always rushing this way and that looking at his watch and muttering, “I’m late, I’m late”. It seems that every hour of every day is filled to the limit with things…
A Return to Civility 3
Recently I was reading an article written by a friend of mine, Mike McNeil. Mike and I are from the same home church, and he taught at Kingswood University for forty years before taking a teaching position with Kings Church in Saint John. Mike writes a column called Soul Apologetics, and this week the article…
A Return to Civilty 2
A couple of weeks ago we began our series “A Return to Civility” and I mentioned how earlier this year I had speculated on what I saw as a loss of civility in our society. We’ve come to a place where we can no longer agree to disagree, and we’ve stopped treating one another with…
A Return to Civility
Earlier this year I was struck by how uncivil our society has become. I can’t remember if it was a personal encounter with someone or something I saw on the news or read on social media. But I do remember thinking: Why can’t we just be civil to each other, what can’t we just be…
Reconstruction: Is the Bible Sexist?
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…
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…
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…