Salvogesis

  One thing that is a natural analogy is the nature of cruises in general. There are so many people on the trip from all over the world. I met people from Germany, Japan, Columbia, Philippines, South Africa, the UK, the US and elsewhere. People were from different walks of life and different ages. This reminded me of the Kingdom of Heaven and how, Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”   I was also reminded that as is pointed out in Ecclesiastes 9:2-3:     “All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.”   It does...

The previous few weeks I have been camping with Susan and Heather – and coming back here to work: some weeks I was more with them such as last week and some weeks I was more at work here such the week previous.   The themes I have been preaching on lately are what I have been reading about the past few weeks: forgiveness and the Kingdom of God. I have been reading a few books and articles by and about Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He shares some examples about the power one has when they forgive. You can even be free of awful hurts – pain from murder, torture, racism, etc. – by forgiving people who harmed you. Forgiveness can save your mental, emotional and spiritual health.   Last week was also one of my favourite recent sermons; I was reading a lot of liberation theologians so I shared some of my ideas of the Kingdom of God – where there are no more wars, no more prisons; where countries take the resources we currently spend on killing other people’s children and use th...

Today is Fathers’ Day. I was blessed this week in that I was able to spend a lot of time with my daughters and my parents. On Monday, Susan, Heather and I went down to Victoria to spend time with family for Sarah-Grace’s 23 rd birthday. On Wednesday I needed to be in Victoria for a conference, so I visited with Sarah-Grace and Rebecca and my parents some more. Thursday , I came home to get Susan and Heather and we all came back to Victoria again, this time for Sarah-Grace’s convocation. She graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Honours English from UVIC. It was great to spend so much time with my kids and my folks.      I am  so proud of Sarah-Grace (like I am of  all my kids) . The Grad ceremony was good too – some I have been to have been long and boring, but this was a very good one. The Chanceller of the University spoke about Hope. She mentioned hope as being the opposite of being stuck in fear and fatigue. Susan shared w...