Theological ponderings from William Loewen

Author: admin

  • Flower Power

    Flower Power

    I enjoy volunteering at my kid’s school. It sometimes means juggling my work schedule, but I’m lucky to have the flexibility required to make that work. The school encourages this kind of parental involvement for a variety of reasons. I like being able to see how my kid behaves out of the house, and it’s…

  • ‘Cause they’re not hip with it

    ‘Cause they’re not hip with it

    From time to time I’m in a position where I’m asked to defend the church. Sometimes that means that I have to try to give an intellectual defence for the content of the Bible or my interpretation of the content. Depending on who is asking the question, it’s not always easy, but those kinds of…

  • My yesterday

    My yesterday

    Like many Canadians, I spent much of yesterday morning reading updates and following developments from our nation’s capital. The photos brought me back to the four months I spent living in the city doing a co-op job with Revenue Canada. Ottawa, despite sitting on political, cultural and linguistic fault lines, is a beautiful city, filled…

  • Idly by

    Idly by

    Maybe you’ve heard the news, our government refuses to stand idly by. Our Prime Minister has said it, other ministers have said it, and so, we will join another military exercise, because our government refuses to stand idly by. But even though it might not often look like it, and they usually don’t want it…

  • Wrestling Sermon Series – Week 2

    Wrestling Sermon Series – Week 2

    If you found two people wrestling, what would it take for you to intervene? If you were at a public event, like a church picnic or a community gathering at a park, what would force you to step in? Certainly if one of the combatants was wrestling unwillingly you could jump to their aid. If…

  • Wrestling Sermon Series – Week 1

    Wrestling Sermon Series – Week 1

      Jacob wrestling with God in the wilderness is a better metaphor for religious conversion than Paul falling off of his horse.  

  • I refuse to complain about the weather

    I refuse to complain about the weather

    As I write this, the forecast low for tonight is -8C.  So much snow has fallen here over the past few days that tree branches aren’t able to bear the load of the uncharacteristcally sticky white stuff, and so they are falling. Branches are falling onto sidewalks, onto power lines and onto cars.  City crews…

  • Canadian Camping

    Canadian Camping

    One of the family traditions that we are trying to start is regular camping trips to familiar campsites.  This year we visited three different campgrounds; two of them were national parks and one was more locally administered. We hiked,  we ate smores, we splashed in the water and we took pictures. Except for when we…

  • The threat becomes a challenge

    You might have seen this quote before.  It sums up how a lot of us feel when we’ve had to go through various kinds of adversity before finally achieving success, and suddenly when we are successful, the people who once ignored us now pretend to be our friends. If I ever get to the success…

  • Our daughters’ daughters

    Our daughters’ daughters

    There are a few movies in our collection that we bought, partly so that our kids would inherit a broader musical legacy than their peers, Mary Poppins being one of them.  We love how it celebrates imagination in children and highlights the need for parents, even wealthy parents with servants, to develop good relationships with…