Letting go and going
A Sermon on Genesis 12:1–4a, Romans 4:1–5, 13–17, and John 3:1–17 "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I
Living into God’s ending
I don’t know about you, but I used to love apocalyptic films: Alien invasions, panicked pandemics, climate change catastrophes, government breakdowns, and nuclear fallout—our culture has depicted its own destruction in a myriad of ways. And I use to love them all. At least I did, back when
Our hope is built on nothing less
“What is the meaning of hope in a period of history when things are getting worse?” This is a question the Canadian theologian Gregory Baum asked as he watched in helpless horror as the first Gulf War began in the early 90’s. Ever an Augustinian, Baum saw this war
The contaminated church
Let’s not kid ourselves—we are living in the midst of ruins. Like a boreal forest that has been clearcut and replanted, the landscape might, at first glance, appear as if the trees we see now are the trees that always were. Yet the health, the very identity of
Jesus ain’t keeping the shingles on the roof
I can pinpoint the moment I first felt it. Like the feeling of shock plunging into a pool of icy water, followed by a gasp for air—and then the numbness. The moment was a church meeting in which, early in my ordained ministry, a community was debating putting forward
On this rock I will build my church
A few days before General Synod, I dreamed a dream. I was in a large conference centre where various churches were gathered for an ecumenical conference, peculiarly located in the midst of a forest on a hillside. The centre had one small window revealing the vibrant forested valley below. The
Love’s work in the reel
Julia Loktev’s film The Loneliest Planet in review In the midst of a multiplicity of choices, it is difficult to find a film these days whose images and narrative do not come with a short expiration date. For anyone who has ever been in love, The Loneliest Planet is
Eco-theology and ethics Where the River Narrows
In the lead-up to the last Lambeth Conference, I was asked by the Theological Education in the Anglican Communion to join an international panel of Anglican scholars in producing teaching materials to help Anglican seminarians across the Communion to engage with the climate crisis. My task on this panel was