Let It Shine
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Let It Shine

At first, it felt a bit surreal. After two years of pandemic restrictions, Christian summer camping was finally returning to normal. One of the highlights of each summer for me is serving for a week as chaplain at Camp Douglas, the Presbyterian camp on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. After checking in at Horseshoe Bay ferry…

Don’t give up!
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Don’t give up!

We are living through some challenging, “unprecedented,” and even discouraging times. I recently watched the Oscar-nominated film “Don’t Look Up”, featuring an astronomy grad student and her professor who make the shocking discovery of a planet-killing comet on a collision course with Earth. When they share the urgent news with the United States president, the…

Applying what we’ve learned for a post-pandemic church
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Applying what we’ve learned for a post-pandemic church

Years ago, I developed a course entitled “Catechesis and Community,” looking at new forms of Christian community and how the faith was being transmitted in a post-Christendom world. I included a whole class on “online church.” At the time, the inclusion of a digital Christian presence was met with raised eyebrows as some openly asked,…

The New School of Christ
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The New School of Christ

Innovation in theological education has always been an essential part of equipping leaders for Christ’s church in the world. Many of our theological colleges across North America have stories of hard-scrabble beginnings, quick pivots, and adaptive responses to the context through various twists and turns along the way, before becoming the more established institutions we…

New Year’s (Missional) Resolutions
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New Year’s (Missional) Resolutions

Where do you normally find yourself at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve? Are you a stay-up-late-and-party kind of person? Perhaps you prefer to keep things low-key in the peace and quiet of your own home? Or maybe you acknowledge a new rotation around the sun by gathering with friends at church for a time of worship? Being on the west coast, we have the advantage of celebrating New Year’s with church friends at a more reasonable 9 p.m., as our kids watch the ball drop at midnight in New York City.

Martin Luther and All Hallow’s Eve
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Martin Luther and All Hallow’s Eve

In a remote corner of my college office sits two full shelves of ‘tacky religious merchandise.’ Surprisingly, I have not purchased a single item of the collection ranging from the rubber ducky nativity set to the John Calvin bobble head doll. Instead, I simply curate the odd assortment of items that friends and fellow faculty members bring back from their treks around the world. Instead of gold, frankincense or myrrh, these wise men and women present their gifts to me andwait to see whether they will be deemed trick, treat or just plain tacky.