Hopewit

  But now—apart from the law—the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3: 21-26, NIV) New Year, 2018.  My 76 th .  If New Year with its resolutions to do better actually produced a “step up” from the previous year, I should be a pretty remarkable person by now. At least if the

Shekinah Winter, December 2008 “Some few large men sat in the front parlors, without their collars, Uncles almost certainly, trying their new cigars, holding them out judiciously at arms’ length, returning them to their mouths, coughing, then holding them out again as though waiting for the explosion; and some few small aunts, not wanted in the kitchen, nor anywhere else for that matter, sat on the very edge of their chairs, poised and brittle, afraid to break, like faded cups and saucers.” A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas has become classic Christmas-time reading. Rich in imagery and detail, it opens for us a tableau of this ancient Christian celebration as experienced by children in Wales, ca. 1950s. Go back another 110 years to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , ca. 1843, a story called by some “ a Victorian morality tale .” Scrooge, Marley, Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim and the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future still haunt our yul

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. (Matthew 1:17, KJV) Before retelling the story of the birth of Christ, Matthew’s gospel establishes the lineage of Jesus’ adoptive father, Joseph, thereby setting up for the nit-pickers the opportunity for a question: why Joseph’s lineage and not Mary’s? And the answer is: because it was a patriarchal (inheritance through the males) culture and (it’s been suggested) that Joseph and Mary shared a common lineage anyway. Working in a developing interpretive centre here in Rosthern, I field many questions by people hoping to discover clues to their lineage going back as far as possible. We generally seek to track down our heritage patrilinealy with the primary research method involving surnames. This has meant that tracing back as far as Matthew d

Martha and Mary, painted through the prism of bias As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.     She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.        But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”     “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, NIV) Jesus and his disciples apparently stopped in at Martha's and Mary’s house as they traveled. It sounds like it was primarily Martha’s house: “. . . Martha opened her home to him.” Whether or not their brother Lazarus was home on this occasion is uncertain, but Martha and Mary will again encount

Keep Christ in Christmas. At this time of year we hear that a lot. It’s become particularly pronounced since the sensitivity about respecting all faiths in schools and other public places has become a subject of national debate. For human rights advocates and progressives, Christmas as a national celebration that Canadians can enjoy together without reference to only one of the religions is probably OK. For some, “Happy Holidays,” has become a preferred salutation around the December solstice. To others, it’s a negation of faith and tradition, an attack on Canadianess. In places it’s even been characterized as an attack on Christianity, and that in a Christian country! I think we agree as citizens that no particular religion should be favoured in our public institutions, i.e. that students in a public school should not be taught to credit one religion over another. Nor would we impose on patients in a hospital any consideration of their treatment based on their religion

Walking Saskatchewan “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect , exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia: Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (I Peter 1:1; 1:17-19) The Apostle Peter’s letters to “exiles scattered throughout the provinces” (roughly present day Turkey, plus) emphasize a few themes: As Christ suffered, so it is not unexpected that his followers will be made to suffer at the hands of the enemies of Christ, Your minds have been reborn through the Holy Spirit to a new, spiritual understanding of the world, and earthly pleasures and pursuits must no longer bind you