January 1, 2004 Giving a gift of sharing often means accepting blessings offered

I once read a long moan about the appalling thoughtlessness and rudeness of modern youth that sounded like a Victorian grandparent of mine on a bad day. photo It lamented the depravity of manners of the young and the...

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December 1, 2003 Nazareth was a place of little consequence

On a recent trip to England (a too frequent occurrence this year!) I saw a newspaper item in which a columnist reports about an encounter with a friend who was in some distress. The columnist wrote, "The reason for this...

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November 1, 2003 A thank you from a frequent traveller

I am writing these notes in a retreat house in the foothills of the Rockies and have spent some of the time in self-examination, (something I always do on retreat) looking back over my time in the office I hold. With a...

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October 1, 2003 On coffee, politics in two disparate places

Friday I am writing this on a flight from Havana, Cuba, to Seattle, U.S.A. Of course, I jest. There is no flight from anywhere in Cuba to anywhere in the United States. It just seems like one flight because I arrived...

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September 1, 2003 Visa denials reveal drop in hospitality

I visited Turku, Finland, in 2000 for a meeting of the council of the Lutheran World Federation. A great moment of that meeting occurred when Canadian Anglicans joined with the Canadian Lutherans in an invitation to hold their...

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June 1, 2003 Human need is immediate, direct and personal

One of the most upsetting phenomena of city life today is the presence of people sitting on the street holding out a hat or a cup, either with a request for change or simply in silence. Sometimes I hear other people lamenting...

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May 1, 2003 Praying for victory brings mixed blessing

The Roman poet Horace used these words in a famous phrase, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori", which translates as "Sweet and honourable it is to die for one's country." I learned those words as a schoolboy during the...

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April 1, 2003 We meet God when we look up

Canterbury Cathedral is one of the few church buildings of my acquaintance that one enters by walking down some steps. Most churches have steps upward or an entrance at ground level. So, when I walked into the cathedral...

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March 1, 2003 Even the poorest among us can be rich in giving

IN many of the addresses I have made, interviews I have given, and questions I have answered during the past months while the residential schools issue was focused on the agreement with the government and the request for the...

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February 1, 2003 No rights, no rules can be absolute

I am celebrating a 50th anniversary of a great moment in the process of becoming an adult - receiving my driver's licence. At the time I was learning to drive, I was in university taking Psychology 100. In those days much...

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