Thanks to Ernest for allowing us to carry this video on our website. His text for the sermon was "God is Love” 1 John 4:8b. The sermon was entitled "When God Was A Woman".
Also, thanks to Len LaRue and Keith Strachan for handling the technical end of this upload. Read More...

February 2 is Groundhog Day. It works like this: if the groundhog emerges from hibernation and sees his shadow, this then means six (6) more weeks of Winter.

We are told – always a great way of explaining something that has spurious origins – that it was German settlers in Pennsylvania who began the tradition of watching if a groundhog saw its shadow … and this in 1887 ! The groundhog in that particular locale is referred to as Punxsutawney Phil. Read More...

I get a malicious twinkle in my eye when I hear some of the Christmas carols we sing. Case in point, Away In A Manger. Among the lyrics we find: the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.

Whoever wrote those words never had kids. Or is the counter to that, whoever had kids, never had the Son of God as a kid?

The implication is of course that Jesus was the PERFECT baby. Had to be, did he not? I try not to think about things like that, because I just get dizzy with how logic and piety clash to produce drivel.

Then come the wise men. Read More...

An Upstaging Of The Christmas Story

Monkeys. The story is told of a dozen monkeys in a large cage. In the middle of the cage is a ladder at the top of which is a bunch of bananas. Every time that any monkey tries to climb the ladder to acquire a banana, all the monkeys are hosed down with ice-cold water. Within a relatively short period of time, no one tries climbing the ladder anymore. Read More...

There is an insightful scene in an episode of The Simpsons.

Police Chief Wiggum and Homer Simpson are in pursuit of a car. They are driving in what appears to be desert-like conditions. As the Chief radios in to HQ to inform them of their location he says: “We are directly under the earth’s sun NOW”.

Incredulous? Certainly. Lesson to be learned? Always.... Read More...

I still remember my first (and only) UFO sighting.

A young lad I was, and “it” happened when I was driving down a residential street late one evening.

Some peculiar lights caught my eye, and before I even knew what was going on, I had stopped my car, jumped out, and started flagging any traffic around me to stop and do the same. I was successful in stopping a large dude on a motorcycle to whom I proudly announced: LOOK, a UFO!!!! Read More...

I am confused.

Work through this with me: The Bible says: God is love (1 John 4:8). The Bible says: Love is not jealous (1 Corinthians 13:4). The Bible says: God’s name is jealous and this God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14).

See my conundrum? Read More...

Not in my backyard.

This was said to “certain individuals” who messed around with Churches that Saint Paul had founded.

The way in which Paul expressed that displeasure was so intensely harsh, that most of our Bibles do not have the guts (= rhymes with walls) to translate said anger into English... Read More...

Whilst living in Toronto, I would often see a man in the Subway (i.e., Transit – as opposed to the place you go to lose weight the way Jared did). Perhaps a modern-day Prophet, the Subway gentleman wore a sandwich board that announced: Repent, The End Is Near. I was often tempted to ask him what his sign meant, because words are subject to such a wide swath of interpretation.

Repent is one such word... Read More...

I am impressed with people who have “negotiated” their way out of a speeding ticket, or “bartered” for an amount below the advertised sale price. To find the origin of said activity, all we need do is hit the big “rewind” button…

We read in Genesis 18:20ff that God decided to act on the outcry against the sin of the original twin-cities (Sodom and Gomorrah), and that God intended to destroy the city in its entirety... Read More...

This time of year thoughts turn to baking, decorating, crowded malls and even-worsethan- usual-drivers (it appears that many Manitobans suffer from amnesia brought on by the fi rst snow – have you never driven in this before?)... Read More...

The first words that came out of my mouth were in the German language. Ditto for all my children. When I grew up there were no “bilingual programs” in schools, so we learned English at school AND went to “German School” every Saturday morning (wonderfully painful memories those are).

My maternal grandmother believed that not unlike the generations described above, God also spoke German. She would even quote scripture to prove it citing the phrase: “Und Gott sagte…” (= and God said&hellip. Case closed…God speaks German! Read More...

Towards the beginning of every year in my World Religions Class at the U of W, I have the students engage in an exercise. I bring an inanimate object into Class and “hide it” under the lectern so that the students can not see it. I then ask for a volunteer to come and look at the object (even touch it), but to leave it hidden from the Class. The volunteer is instructed to try and describe the object to his/her classmates until the Class “knows” and/or identifies the object. In all the years that I have done this, no Class has ever identified the object. Sorry, not even close enough to SMELL the cigar… Read More...

Sehnsucht ist so grausam.

Words. You just looked at four (4) words. Did they make any sense to you?

The gist of the above is that the longings and yearnings that you and I have can be very cruel and depressing. Admittedly, it’s a rather bleak view into the existential angst that life may embody.... Read More...

The story of The Flood (Genesis 6-9) ranks among one of the “classics” in the biblical text. It operates on many levels, but covers at least the following bases: sin, God’s reaction to it, punishment, renewal and the rainbow... Read More...

As I eagerly await the first signs of my perennials coming back to life (how do they know when to do that?), I think of weeds. Of “plants”, they are among the first up in Spring, and often the last to go down in Fall. Why are there weeds?... Read More...

2,000 years ago, Philo stated that no one could seriously believe that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. It’s just a myth, said Philo. A story to assist us in understanding that which can not be understood; namely, humankind being created in the image of God... Read More...

I have always been fascinated by the discussion of – and the reaction to – the subject of “myth” with regard to biblical stories. Case in point, how God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs... Read More...

As we embark on a New Year, I am reminded of an incident that occurred during this past Christmas Season. As I entered a Grocery Store with my son, I was asked if I would be willing to donate a few dollars in support of a cause. I politely said “no” to the person, and then moved on. My son asked me why I didn’t give any money considering that the cause was worthy (and the cause was worthy). My response to him was, I just can’t help every cause out there. I can’t... Read More...