Pop Culture Piety
Pop Culture is everywhere. It is implicit in what we read, what we watch, where we shop, even our choice of what brand of coffee to drink. Given this, Christ’s call to be ‘in the world, but not of the world’ can sometimes seem daunting to us. This blog will explore various topics within Popular Culture, and how we are called to live out our faith and ministry in these murky and ever shifting waters.
Entangled: Gender and Ministry
In a time when many are growing tired of gender-based distinctions and rallying against such false and insulting judgments , does the church still define ministry by gender? Continue reading
Friendship Wars
It occurred to me the other day that the popular television show ‘The Big Bang Theory’ contains a lot of similarities to the 90’s break out hit ‘Friends’. There is, however, one notable difference: The Big Bang Theory is a better show. Continue reading
Heart Conditions
It seems that online symptom databases are not reliable indicators of the strength or health of my heart. Sure, it would be easier for me to take matters into my own hands, but there seems to be an apparent danger in doing that. Continue reading
Not just a fairy-tale
For while Emma’s role as saviour of Storybrooke is merely a literary device, we remember the one who actually came to dwell amidst his people. Continue reading
Outing Santa
Yet what disturbs me about this article, and in truth what disturbs me about the whole dynamic of a Santa-focused Holiday, is the complaint that in some manner Tatton-Brown ‘ruined Christmas. Continue reading
Is Nothing Sacred?
Cloaked under the guise of ministry to the grieving, Golden Gate is no more than a high end party-planner. Their mandate is to make people feel happy and have a ‘good time.’ Funeral director John Beckwith Jr. is even quoted as saying that their desire is to ‘make these families extremely happy during the worst moments of their life.’ Continue reading
An Advent Retreat
With what appears to be a 2 month barrage of Christmas sales, jingles, and the holiday mantra of “more more more!’, it’s hard not to be sucked into the mentality that the journey to Christmas is about how we best execute our consumer plans. Continue reading
Searching for Sabbath
Is Sabbath observance merely about the demand to go to church? If church attendance is part of our regular life, are we actually entering into the state of spiritual rest if we are simply doing that which we always do? Continue reading
The War of the Poppies
Sometimes pop culture finds meaning in something as simple as the colour of a poppy. Rev. John Martin, our guest blogger has written about the recent white vs. red poppy controversy, which you will find below
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Entering Starbucks and Finding Worship
There is almost a spiritual communion that occurs between barista and customer, a communion in which the customer is indispensable. The one coming into Starbucks is not merely called to experience wonder, but to create it; to join into the drama of the production; to infuse the experience with their own sense of personality, expectation, and dreams. Continue reading
