Uncategorized

I see that the abortion debate has once again been in the news. As Christians, we usually take the stance for no abortions. But is making abortion illegal the right stance to take?

One year ago, I stood before the members of my congregation and made my profession of faith. In the months leading up to that moment, I learned a lot about the Christian Reformed Church and spent time reflecting on my own journey as a Christian.

In May 2018, my wife Rose and I travelled to the Netherlands for a week-long boat and bike. After completing the tour, we took the Saturday morning train to Dordrecht to visit my second cousins and the home of the 1618 Synod of Dort.

I’m coming to the end of a six-month parental leave. The time I’ve been able to spend at home with my son has been a major gift, though I do feel like I’ve spent the better part of it in a state of altered consciousness.

“Hay’s for horses,” we used to say as kids. “But straw is cheaper.” Truthfully, when Jack and I were newlyweds I didn’t know the difference between a hay field and a wheat field. Over the last 40 years I’ve learned a few things. We rotate crops between corn, soybeans and winter wheat. Cropping can be stressful.

As Christians, you would think we’d be ahead of the curve when it comes to self-care. So many directives for taking care of our bodies and minds can be found also as biblical directives.

“You guys are having so much fun, I’m thinking about taking up drinking,” I said with a grin to the cheerful group beginning to gather in our church’s sanctuary. It was noon on a weekday and this group of recovering alcoholics and addicts was about to start an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting at Peace Community Church (PCC) in Houston, Texas.

A large wooden crucifix stands toward the front of the crypt sanctuary in St. Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal. While the crucifix is not central within worship, it evidently receives much attention. A striking feature of the crucifix is the worn nature of Jesus’ feet – the paint is worn away and the surface smooth from the many hands that have rested there.

Earlier this semester I entered my senior computer science class and greeted my students wearing a T-shirt that boldly declared: “Join the Anti-Revolution Party!” One of the topics for that day was the “Silicon Valley narrative” which seeks wholesale revolution by disrupting the current ways of doing things through technology.

Outside of my family, most people are probably unaware that I am only two generations removed from the practice of arranged marriage. My paternal grandparents were brought together by my grandmother’s eldest brother after their parents had died in a pandemic in Cyprus.

Every morning as a family, we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us act more like Jesus. I often say, “oh, I can see that the Holy Spirit is working here or there or in you or in a sibling or wherever.”

In our last column I summarized some of the contributions Celtic Christianity offers (“Three Celtic Gifts,” April 22). John Bell presented and applied these “offerings” in a recent conference sponsored by the Wisdom Centre in Calgary.