MAiD and the meaning of suffering
|

MAiD and the meaning of suffering

We live in confused times. The Government of Canada hosts two websites standing in tension with each other. The first is titled, “Preventing suicide: Warning signs and how to help.” It lists the phone numbers of crisis centres and offers advice for helping those at risk. It then lists the websites of other agencies and…

Holding sadness in one hand, and joy in the other
|

Holding sadness in one hand, and joy in the other

The show The Good Place is one of the most remarkable things to ever appear on television. It is a show about the afterlife – and behind the all-star cast was an all-star team of PhDs who loaded the scripts with quotes and ideas from moral philosophy. In one scene, an angel named Michael muses…

Loss and connection in the time of covid

Loss and connection in the time of covid

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…

Helping us find the words
|

Helping us find the words

Sometimes books appear when they are needed, and the timing of Christiana Peterson’s new book is particularly apt. With the world living through a global pandemic and the realities of mortality prominent in new and frightening ways, Awakened by Death: Life-giving Lessons from the Mystics offers to accompany us as we look our fears of…

Life, death and what comes after?
|

Life, death and what comes after?

J. Todd Billings’ End of the Christian Life is the most profound, challenging and comforting book I’ve ever read about death and life. As well it pulled me back to my grandfather’s death decades ago. Soon after immigrating to Chicago in the early 20th century, Jacobus Cornelis Dekker changed his Dutch name to James Cornelius;…

Extravagant love in the face of finitude

Extravagant love in the face of finitude

Kate Bowler’s new memoir, No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear), is written in typical Dr. Bowler style. A history professor at Duke, she approaches this memoir with facts from her medical records, journals, and interviews that made up her diagnosis of terminal cancer at age 35. Yet it’s not…

It Tolls For Thee

It Tolls For Thee

When I was ten, my grandfather died. Our family was still in Holland. I remember the open grave, lowering the casket and taking my turn pitching dirt into a deep black hole. Adults said Grandpa died in the assurance of faith and the hope of the resurrection. It comforted me; my Grandpa was a child of God. There was no talk of Grandpa happily reunited with Grandma in heaven.

Don’t Cry
|

Don’t Cry

As we anticipate Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17) and as we practice Purposeful Acts of Kindness (as Bob Bruinsma encouraged us to do in the last issue), we would do well to heed kindness mascot Mister Rogers’ advice: “There are three ways to ultimate success. The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” In each moment of potential kindness, however, we must ask ourselves: What does kindness look like in this situation?

Dying to live

Dying to live

“You know, our culture venerates heroes who go on fighting till the end, whether on the battlefield or in a hospital bed. Sometimes, though, retreat is the better part of valour, especially if that retreat avoids unnecessary suffering and leads to new life. I’ve fought this cancer for 13 years. I’m ready to retreat to be with my Lord.”

Believers value life on earth

Believers value life on earth

Believing in the resurrection of the dead should make us less afraid of death. But it should not make us think lightly about life on earth.

Renouncing oblivion

Renouncing oblivion

In March the winning design for Norway’s official memorial to the 77 victims of the 2011 massacre (carried out by right-wing extremist Anders Brievik) was revealed. I was moved by the thoughtfulness and grandeur of artist Jonas Dahlberg’s three-pronged proposal.