What are your faith stories? Take a moment if you will, to think about that question. Of course, there are the Sacred stories: the Story of creation, the Story of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, the Stories of Jesus, etc. But there are also other faith stories that begin simply as everyday stories we tell each other. Sometimes, these stories become our own everyday faith stories. My father, who passed away in the early 90’s, told me one of these simple everyday stories. Continue reading →

As a pastor in Calgary, our church would take our youth group out on a camping trip into the mountains in Kananaskis country. We took along our bikes and biked together up to Kananaskis Village. We ate together, worshipped together, sang together, and worked together. It was living with these twenty young people in the mountains that the story of the whisky jack emerged. We had just finished cleaning up after breakfast at the campsite. I was idly finishing up a piece of bread when Continue reading →

  Years ago, too many years ago, I was driving a borrowed Volkswagen Beetle from Camrose, Alberta to my parents’ home in Kelowna, B.C.  I was driving with my girlfriend (still my girlfriend actually—after nearly 40 years of marriage) and a good friend of both of us. In the early evening, just outside of Enderby, the little VW veered and I heard an ugly “thump, thump, thump.” Flat tire. I had just enough VW sense to go to the front of the car and look Continue reading →

I find myself tied in knots, sometimes, by a pressing need for purpose. What is it all about? What is it all for? Will any of this effort matter in 100 years? Then I remember this story: it is the story of Genesis 1, a story of creation. I tell the story inspired by Rabbi Marc Gellman who says, “if you want to know what a story means, tell a story about it.” In the beginning the earth was formless and void, and darkness was Continue reading →

Come with me to the hilltop and catch a vision. Ezekiel was a prophet during the exile. He spoke to his own people who were in exile, who found themselves in a world that was out of joint and fresh out of inspiration. The people of faith had been taken from their land. The places of faith that once seemed to hold them together were far away. The temple and all of the beauty that once inspired them lay in ruins. The faith community, once Continue reading →

He was a little man. I wonder. Is that was where it all began? The bullies at school no doubt found him an easy target. Did anyone stand up for him? Did anyone notice him? It seems that he made his way into accounting. He was good at math. So when the occupying Roman government came calling for his skills, Zacchaeus took the job as a tax administrator. Why not? The community had always told him he wasn’t worth anything. Now at least he would Continue reading →

What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches (Luke 13:18-19). Seeding parables are often about seeding and harvest, stories of ‘bringing in the sheaves.’ The little parable of the mustard seed is about another facet of the dream of God for the world. The birds nesting in the Continue reading →

A good day I stumbled on this video a few years ago. It comes from David Steindl-Rast and the gratefulness.org website. It was worth a second look. Take a moment if you haven’t seen this before. Or even if you have.    

This uneasy story happened in my life as a parish pastor. It happened more often than I would like to admit. I wonder if it has also been in your experience as a part of a faith community. We would sit around the table; church council, education committee, youth committee, or stewardship committee and talk about a new venture. It could have been a meeting to consider offering a new Bible study or funding a youth initiative, or making some changes to worship style. In Continue reading →

Lessons from the sower “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” . . . Michael Jordan I have told this sacred story from Matthew 13 many, many times in my call as a parish pastor. I told it, I think, faithful to the text, and interpretively, into the Continue reading →