(Gen. 12:1, Mt. 28:19) – One generational shift at our church is that we cannot assume everyone’s life revolves around the calendar of the school year or seasonal living for the weather. Once, many Torontonians could afford a shack up north, but those houses are often now as expensive as these in the GTA. Families look different now, and so do our socio-economic brackets. My predecessors often took the summer away, inviting in excellent summer preachers, and in Andy Lawson’s case, even writing his sermons for the next year!… Read more
Thursday, October 10, 2024
“You’re here?!”
I get this response a fair bit when I’m at church on a Sunday when I’m not preaching. I suppose people have seen on the sign or the eblast that Dayle or a guest is preaching and figured that means I’m out of town. I still am tempted to tease the surprised person: yeah, I do have to show up for work occasionally!
Perhaps the surprise level calls for some deliberation about when I preach and don’t, when others preach and what I do… Read more
Monday, July 17, 2023
“How long’s it been since you’ve sat in this office?”
“I was last here when mom died. Before that it was when I got married.”
She has been at our church her whole life. Her mom died more than a decade ago. She was married some 30 years ago. I joke that she should come by more often at less momentous occasions. She graces my poor humour with a half-second’s smile.
My office is chock full of books. There are six comfortable… Read more