Thinking After

  • Claimed by Costly Grace (Video Resource)

    This spring I was scheduled to deliver a series of lectures as part of the Xplore program at Canadian Mennonite University entitled, “Theological Resistance in Troubled Times:  The Compelling Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”  Unfortunately, COVID had other ideas.  I was only able to give two of the planned six lectures.  Because I was teaching an intensive course on Bonhoeffer at Providence Theological Seminary the week that Xplore was scheduled to start, I had to record my first lecture:  “Claimed by Costly Grace: The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”  You can watch that recording below: (more…)

  • “God’s Unpredictable Plans”

    The following is a response I was invited to recently give to chapter 1 of Matt Brough’s forthcoming book Let God Send: Crossing Boundaries and Serving in Christ’s Name.  Matt is the Minister of Word and Sacraments at Prairie Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  He also serves as the Program Coordinator for the New Worshiping Communities Initiative of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. (more…)

  • Eerdmans Kindle Sale

    Publisher W.B. Eerdmans is currently offering the Kindle version of many of their bestsellers for between $2 and $4.  If you don’t mind reading a book on a screen, it could be a great time to build up your library and add some titles to your COVID reading list.  Here are some of the titles on sale that I would recommend (in no particular order): (more…)

  • The Resurrection and the Groaning of Creation (Video Link)

    My colleague Joshua Coutts, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Providence Theological Seminary, was invited to record an Easter message for the congregation of Fourth Avenue Bible Church in Niverville, Manitoba.  His meditation based on Romans 8:18-25 proclaims the reality of the resurrection amid our current global struggle with COVID-19.  You can view it here.

  • Reading Barth Together

    What the church will look like after the COVID pandemic has run its course is hard to say.  Will modern society’s confrontation with its own mortality lead to genuine pursuit of deeper truth or will it lead to a doubling down on the human project of getting out of life alive?  Will social distancing cultivate a hunger for more meaningful forms of community and authentic relationships or will the move that many congregations have made to online platforms further reinforce our worst consumerist proclivities?  It is perhaps too early to tell. (more…)

  • An Easter Sunday Sermon (Audio Resource)

    Last Easter Sunday I had the privilege of celebrating the resurrection with the Church of Pentecost in Winnipeg.  Overseer Gabriel Addo-Asante has shared with me a recording of my sermon.  In some ways, we find ourselves, just a year later, in a much different space.  In other ways, though, it is the same world:  God’s good creation marred by Sin, held in captivity to Death, redeemed in Christ’s cross, awaiting the final revelation of the children of God.

     

  • “What in the World Is Going on Today”: A Holy Saturday Reflection

    My friend Paul Johansen has been sharing daily devotionals with the congregation of Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough, ON during this Lenten season of social distancing.  He’s given me permission to share his reflection for Holy Saturday. (more…)

  • A Good Friday Sermon (Audio Resource)

    The social distancing measures that have been prescribed in the attempt to “flatten the curve” of the Coronavirus pandemic, have resulted in the unprecedented (in our lifetime) necessity of celebrating the events of Holy Week and the season of Easter in relative isolation in our homes.

    In the attempt to encourage the faithful, and also recognizing that many people now have additional time on their hands, I will be aiming to make available some audio and video of previously recorded sermons and lectures.

    Last summer, one of my Good Friday sermons, “The Death of an Extremist” appeared in the journal Theodidaktos published by the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.  I was able to track down an audio recording of the service in which the sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough, ON in 2009.

     

  • The Meaning of a Sermon: Some Wisdom from Flannery O’Connor

    I’ve had the privilege of spending this week with the Doctor of Ministry cohort at Providence Theological Seminary leading them a week-long intensive course entitled “Thinking and Interpreting Theologically.”  While not large in size, the members of the cohort manage to represent both coasts of Canada, the province of Manitoba, and the country of Nigeria. (more…)

  • “Formed by the Word in an Age of Information”

    My colleague at Providence Theological Seminary, Joshua Coutts, Assistant Professor of New Testament, recently presented a wonderful paper on the nature and use of Scripture at our Fall Biblical and Theological Studies Symposium.  The paper was entitled, “Formed by the Word in an Age of Information: Recovering a Christian Approach to Scripture.”  Another of my colleagues, Ed Neufeld, Professor of Biblical Studies provided a short response, in which he began by drawing some connections between Coutts’s paper and my essay “A Tale of Two Stanleys.”  You can watch both the paper and response below: