Icons are not pictures of exactly what happened - they are images of the theological meaning of the icon. They are about our present faith.

We are called to be a people of peace, a people of hope...in a world rife with fear.

 

For many Christians, Easter is a high holy holiday — it’s the religious bedrock that not only anchors them in their faith, but it also shapes and governs their view of the world. I’m one of them. Easter matters to me.

 

Imagine a seed of your favourite flower, it appears dead.
Take that seed and mentally plant it in rich soil, with adequate water, and plenty of sunlight.
Become aware of the natural energy of the universe, God’s creative power,
the energy of growth that allows this tiny seed to burst forth.
See the roots shooting out in all directions, becoming embedded in the rich dirt around it.

What distracts you from hearing God’s call?  How do these very same things nurture you?  How can you hear God’s call within them?  How do you respond to these challenges?    

Christmas Eve is an important time for children to touch into something deeper than Santa.

Canada Day, which the country observed yesterday, raises all sorts of troubling questions, some of them quite divisive....I want to run with a question about culture today, but it is a bit of a spin off from the usual culture questions that are raised by Canada Day. I want to ask whether the basic message that Jesus preached in fact raises some even more fundamental challenges to the ways culture is celebrated.

“Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you? But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I. But when the leaves bow down their heads, the Wind is passing by.”

The biblical stories about mothers share some interesting insights.  Oprah Winfrey once said that biology is the least of what makes one a mother.  The biblical witness reaffirms this notion.