Salvogesis

It has been an interesting week or so here weather wise. I remember last week when Susan was preaching she had us all turn around and see the snow coming down: Great big flakes. Thursday of this week when I first left the house I turned around and came back in to change my coat – I traded my snow coat for a raincoat but that seemed to be a pointless exercise as the weather changed so many times that day that it didn’t matter what I was wearing. Raining, snowing, sometimes so sunny that I needed my sunglasses to even see down the street. Wednesday (or last night too!) was the big snow day – I think – Wednesday was the one where I had the most shoveling to do. After shoveling at home I headed to the corps here and shoveled around the corner. Justin showed up while I was hard at it and he was a really big help especially clearing the loading bay back there! Wednesday was also the perfect sledding day. Heather and I headed out to the hill by Williamson Park sometime after school and sl...

This week we went to see lights in Vancouver. They had an Aurora (Northern Lights) festival at the PNE grounds. Heather was able to go on stage and act out the part of Santa's reindeer, Prancer; she was able to go on a lot of rides and we were able to walk around and look at a lot of really interesting lights. A few days prior, we were in Victoria. This year they have lights in Centennial Square. We took a look at those with the girls’ cousin and my folks. We also looked at the lights in Chinatown and on the Parliament Buildings. And a week ago today Heather and I went to look at the lights at Milner Gardens. That was really quite something. Heather had been the day before so she knew exactly what she wanted to show me in the garden. We looked at all the lights through these special glasses that made them look like stars, candy canes, or reindeer. Then we had story time, cookies and hot chocolate, listened to musicians and carollers and had a very nice tea and scones. Heather ...

Psalm 116:3-4, 2 Samuel 18:6-8, Isaiah 2:4: Remembrance Day Address to the Port Alberni Community by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293 padre, Captain Michael Ramsay, 11 November 2019. This year we mark the 80 th  anniversary of our Nation’s entry into the 2 nd  World War and this, just 21 years after the conclusion of the 1 st  World War. We remember the veterans of those wars and other conflicts today. We remember the peace that soldiers and others died still longing for. We remember. We remember: at 11:00 on this day 101 years ago church bells rang out celebrating peace after 4 horrible years of war in which 888 246 fatalities were suffered by the military of the British Empire of which Canada was an integral part. When World War One broke out Canada was a country of just over 7 million people. Many left their family and work here to serve in the war there. 619 000 Canadians served in WWI and 66 976 never returned. That was almost 1-out-of-every-5 boys aged ...

We have just had a general election in this country. The incumbent won our riding. We wish him all the best in the next term: May it be as productive as the previous one. I really appreciate having an MP in this riding who supports the Army and comes out to our events – the day before the election even, he came out to the   Bread of Life   dinner. Before that he was at our   Pillow fight: Fight against Hunger , and Christmas kick-off last year and he did a number of kettle shifts. We also joined him for a carol sing last year at the arena and more. I mention all of this political stuff because we are continuing our look at Matthew 5 and Jesus’ speech that is often referred to as the ‘Sermon on the Mount’. This is a very political text and it is not dissimilar to many political speeches we have heard over the last 40 days and nights. In the spirit of election night reporting, I will play the part of the pundit today, analyzing Jesus’ address to the crowds. 1. The ...

Today’s offering is entitled ‘Fight like a Christian’ or ‘War like a Christian’. If one is going to speak of such things, it seems appropriate to speak about this at The Salvation Army with soldiers and officers and others associated with the Army present. The Salvation Army has long recognized that our war is not a battle of flesh and blood but a battle with powers and principalities (Ephesians 6:12) and this is a key thought influencing our passage in 2 Corinthians 10 today. At the Army when we become soldiers, full members of The Salvation Army we sign a covenant with God; keeping with our military theme, do you know what that covenant is called? – The Articles of War: Soldier's Covenant. Our text in 2 Corinthians 10:2 says that, because we are Christians we do not live by the standards of this world. The word 'world' here refers to 'society’. Our Articles of War talks about a number of ways that our standards – not as Christians but as Salvation Soldiers – a...