Read Reflect Before writing this letter, Paul had spent at least a year and a half among the Corinthians, founding the church there. For part of that time, he paid his way by making tents – hard, tedious work for a man who had once been a prominent lawyer. He likely endured threats; he was […]

Read Reflect Do you listen to country music? Most of us probably wouldn’t admit it. Pickup trucks, pretty girls, lost dogs and the hardships of life. Hurt and revenge and a nostalgia for back home. Country music tends to be a whole lot of sadness and just a glimmer of hope. Today’s scripture passage reminds […]

Read Reflect It is always a sobering site to visit a war memorial, still more shocking to visit a town or village ravaged by violence and war. I have seen many such places in my travels abroad, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after years of civil war in the Kivu Region, for example. […]

Read Reflect In 2016, Canadians received the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s and its findings of the abuse and mistreatment of our indigenous peoples. For over 150 years, religious and civic leaders exploited, abused and mistreated our native populations. Thousands of children were taken away from their families and communities and placed in residential schools which were […]

Read Reflect Every year, millions of women, men and children around the world are victims of human trafficking, mostly bought and sold as commodities into prostitution and forced labour. This exploitative trade criss-crosses the planet and is a very lucrative business. The International Labour Office estimates that human trafficking generates $150 billion in illegal profits […]

Read Reflect “God is on the side of every good person. You may spoil the plans of the poor, but the Lord protects them.” Insert sigh of relief here, because, boy, those are heartening words to hear. But wait – are they? What if I’m not one of the good people, but instead lumped into […]

Read Reflect What is the author trying to accomplish by comparing these four things?  The least we can say is that the point he wants to stand out is really not that evident at all. So then, what can we observe in this comparison between things that are so fundamentally different?  What, if anything, do […]