Salvogesis

Among other roles I fill, I am a Christian pastor. We are entering the Christmas season. We know how the first Christmas went… What happened?   There is this couple – Mary and Joseph – they aren’t married. They want to be. Mary anyway is probably a teenager. She’s pregnant- very pregnant – and they have to go pay their taxes or something similar. In order to do this, they need to leave their town and travel to the capital city (or a suburb thereof). It was about the same distance as between here and Cobble Hill or Duncan. They didn’t have a car. They had to walk. It would be at least a two day walk.   They get there and, of course, it is time for Mary to have the baby. The water breaks or contractions start or something. They have to find a place to stay – but they don’t have a hotel room and there is no shelter. There is no hostel. Hospitals as we know them don’t exist and Mary is about to give birth. A business owner lets them use his barn and their baby is born.   Now,...

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...