I had another reminder today not to judge yesterday’s events by today’s standards. It was an article in Saltscape Magazine about past Christmas celebrations at the MRA department store, in Saint John NB. In the story was a picture of an event called, “The Legion Christmas Tree” and it was an appeal for Christmas gifts…
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…
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…
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…
Birds of a Feather
I was reading an article the other day, and if you are thinking, “My, Denn reads a lot of articles,” you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s part of who I am and what I do.The article was from Scientific American Magazine, and it was entitled “Why Feathers Are One of Evolution’s Cleverest Inventions.” And it was…
Shady Stuff
Did anyone catch the news that the next set federal election date has been moved by a week? According to the Federal Election Act, the next election was supposed to be held on or before Oct. 20, 2025. However, it appears that the government has moved the date forward to October 27. The reason given…