I wrote my last blog post shortly after reading Hillbilly Elegy* by J.D. Vance. The book is a very personal memoir which incorporates sociological insights into the roots of poverty among the Scots-Irish people of the Appalachian region, the hillbillies. As J.D. Vance writes, the poverty of a large swath of black people in the … Continue reading Hillbilly connection?
Christianity
WASP to Woke
In my school days, over 60 years ago, I learned that anyone who wasn't a WASP was less than the ideal Canadian. WASP stood for White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant. I could check all the boxes, and felt good about it. What I received in school was an indoctrination into the Orange Order perception of Canada and … Continue reading WASP to Woke
Without me ye can do nothing
The words of Jesus are blunt; unless we submit our lives, our being, to His control, we are not capable of being a Christian. We can pretend, we may think we are doing a great job on our own, but sooner or later something will happen and whatever is really in our heart will show … Continue reading Without me ye can do nothing
The foolishness of preaching
Singing and prayer have always been important ingredients of worship in the Anabaptist - Mennonite faith, but the focal point of a worship service is that which the apostle Paul called the foolishness of preaching. It appears to be foolishness because there are not many powerful orators amongst us, not many who make a great … Continue reading The foolishness of preaching
Wimpy evangelism
Forty-five years ago there was a city-wide outreach in our city based on the theme “I found it!” The slogan was purposefully vague so as to engage all churches who called themselves Christian. The purpose of the slogan was to prompt people to ask “What did you find?” To which the answer was “New life … Continue reading Wimpy evangelism
About my last post
Earlier today I re-blogged an article entitled 14 things you (probably) don't know about Christianity, but really should. The article came from the British magazine Premier Christianity and I decided to pass it on, for two reasons. The first reason was that it illustrated a non-confrontational way of responding to the ideas that people have … Continue reading About my last post
Are we trusting in the wrong DNA?
Doesn't it almost seem that the church we belong to is determined by our DNA? Mom and Dad were Anglican, so were Grandma and Grandpa, so were my my great-grandparents, so I become Anglican too. For others it would be Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Mennonite and so on. But it is part of our heredity. With … Continue reading Are we trusting in the wrong DNA?
The church-state hybrid
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay "We must begin by pointing out that with the launching of the New Testament vision a new idea was being broached; the world was being treated to a new and very revolutionary concept of society, namely, that men can get along peacefully in the market place even though they do … Continue reading The church-state hybrid
But they are different from us
When I was a boy I read historical novels by Canadian and English writers. The hero was always English, honest, brave, generous and kind. Other people were shifty-eyed, dishonest, traitorous scoundrels. As I was an English Canadian, I accepted this as self-evident truth. Later I learned to read French and found historical novels in that … Continue reading But they are different from us
NOISE
When I worked in the Post Office years ago, one of my coworkers was a man named Moe Bailey Moe. had major hearing loss and was oblivious to all the foolish and crude chatter going on around him. If I wanted to talk to him, I first had to get his attention. He would turn … Continue reading NOISE
