When Jesus Goes to College
A forum to discuss the spiritual life and practice in the university setting. Topics will be as wide ranging as a university curriculum, but always focused on the way young people confront faith, doubt and life in the church from a university-age perspective.
Our Secret Treasure: Intergenerational Worship
Our intergenerational communities are a treasure not found in many other places today. Where else might we watch a wealthy business woman caring for the child of a single mom, a homeless man sitting with suburban teenagers, or a surgeon serving a clerk from Giant Tiger? Continue reading
‘Tis the Season to Be Hospitality
What caused them to not only “do” hospitality during this busy season but to stop and “be” hospitality to the strangers I sent to their doorstep? These are people who have begun to understand that these days of feasting call us to open up our lives, our homes, our hearts; to be hospitality to Christ who comes to us in many forms. Continue reading
Considering Contentment
With the myth of control and self-sufficiency, we’ve come to believe that we can only really find contentment and satisfaction in our lives if we choose the right education and career paths. This is our vocation and we cannot be whole without it. But, as one student remarked wryly over lunch this week, “They tell us that, but it isn’t true. It’s a lie.” Continue reading
An Imprint of Hope
I have been guilty during Advent of presuming that I am the only one who waits, as if I alone represent the whole earth longing for renewal. Continue reading
The Art of Translation
How will the world know of our great hope if we do not tell them? How will they hear us if we do not speak their language? Only the art of translation will welcome them home to this great story. Continue reading
Loitering with Intent
There is a term I hear regularly among college chaplains called “loitering with intent.” With so many students and so little time, it is a practice which most of us find remarkably difficult but undoubtedly necessary. Intentional hanging around, it seems, is the best formula for building relationships. Continue reading
(dis)Unity: the broken body on campus
Call me naïve, but I’ve been consistently surprised by the lack of unity between different Christian groups on campus. Continue reading
Social Media as Community
Often, students “do community” via social networking using the same content but different methods as they did when I was in school: they share ideas, plan projects, and exchange movies or recipes. They create insiders and outsiders (as every community does). Continue reading
Welcoming the Stranger
It seems to me that in Christendom we became so accustomed to having “strangers” look more or less like ourselves that we’ve forgotten how to welcome a real stranger in our midst. Continue reading
Workplace Faith
My colleagues in parish ministry hear comments from time to time such as, “You don’t understand what it’s like in the real world. It’s much harder to be a Christian out there.” And, to a certain extent, they’re right. At the very least, working in the Church brings different kinds of challenges than the work of honouring Christ among people who, at best, have pretty different values and, at worst, think our faith is just a big joke. Continue reading
