Severe pain radiated from the left side of my chest. My lungs felt scraped raw; two rib joints were so swollen they protruded like giant knuckles. “It’s just inflammation from your body fighting covid. There’s nothing we can do,” the attending doctor said, after several tests had normal results. “Go home and rest. Take Advil.”…
We’re living with exam stress in our house these days. It’s that time of year. And it does nothing – or little – to tell my kids I remember what it was like. All the studying, the cramped hands, late nights, deep breaths and knowing/never-quite-knowing it will be alright. Of course, I remember all that….
Attending church virtually became as common as mandates and rapid tests over the course of the past two years. Churches pivoted and adapted to the changing landscape that Covid-19 created, and many embraced technology to connect people virtually. This has been a saving grace for all of us. During strict lockdowns we were able to…
Back in 2011, I wrote with some alarm about polarization. It was a year of federal election. My wife Betsey and I put up both an NDP and a CHP sign in our yard, for candidates who were both men of integrity and conviction. We added two home-made signs: “think” and “vote”. Things are even…
It struck me recently that I haven’t heard the Ten Commandments read in a worship service for as long as I can remember. I can’t say whether this paucity of Ten Commandment reading is typical of CRC churches, but I suspect it is. This differs mightily from the days of my youth when said commandments…
Editor’s note: This article is based on a group Zoom interview that took place on February 17th. Ian, Jake and Jocelyn each represent a different perspective on covid-19 vaccination. Ian’s father, 78, won’t get vaccinated, which greatly concerns Ian’s vaccinated brother. “That whole internal processing of complex, simultaneous and competing priorities is a challenge we’re…
I met James in 2008 when I interviewed him for a job. He was about my age. He had a son about my son’s age. He was recently divorced, too, just like me. He liked politics, Star Trek, old movies and NFL football, and I liked three out of four of those things, too. It…
I own a copy of the two-volume edition of the 24 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary (O.E.D.) in a slipcase with a magnifying glass in a little drawer on top, needed since the print is exceedingly small. In looking up the word freedom, the dictionary refers me back to the word free since freedom…
As I walked through downtown Ottawa in early February, I was disturbed by signs saying ‘God Supports the Truckers’ and ‘Stand Up for God’. Leaders of the blockade spoke statements of hate and lines from the Lord’s Prayer in the same breath. Prayer sessions were mixed with calling down God’s judgment on a restaurant worker…
In 2020, the fallout of the covid-19 pandemic brought with it a dramatic increase in global hunger. Ongoing war and conflict continued to impact people’s food security. Changing weather patterns also resulted in an increase in floods, droughts and other natural disasters, leaving vulnerable families struggling to meet their food needs. Canadian Foodgrains Bank works…
For nearly two years now the globe has endured a series of lockdowns and emergency measures occasioned by the covid-19 pandemic. Until recently, I treated this as a temporary blip in our lives, assuming that we would soon be returning to normal. Earlier this year, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that masking mandates would be…
How did it come to this? Eighteen months after citizens were banging pots and waving banners in support of health care workers, parliament had to pass a new law to stop abusive attacks as doctors enter hospitals. Over Christmas, public pressure was needed to take down a social media offer of a monetary reward for…
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