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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was created through a legal settlement between Indigenous communities, the federal government, and churches to inform Canadians about what happened in residential schools. It started a conversation about the relationship between the Indigenous Peoples and the settlers who colonized this land by acts of “cultural genocide,” and it points forward to...

Change is hard, even positive ones. To let go of prior ways of being, even to embrace better ways of being, is still very hard to do. To that end, the shelter community has undergone some challenging changes through the pandemic, changes that have simultaneously illuminated ways that we can learn to love and serve each other better, not just in the shelter, but in every relationship we have. What...

One of the most inspiring and Christlike part of our church is the way that hundreds of us are learning to engage in friendships of mutuality and love with our marginalized neighbours, serving each other, and through each other to see a clearer picture of who God, and becoming genuine friends. It is inspiring to see God changing so many individual lives as a result. But what if God has a higher vi...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are gradually rediscovering the right way to answer the inevitable question: "How are you doing?" The right answer, of course, is: "busy." Alongside all the chaos, pain, and grief it unleashed, COVID-19 did also cause many of us to slow down our lives. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do forced many of us to rediscover the simplicity and surprising beaut...

The third commandment is likely a familiar one: "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." Those who grew up in the church were told that it forbids anyone from speaking God's name carelessly or offensively, especially as a swear word. It has inspired the Jewish community to never speak the name of God at all, and led Christians to be offended whenever they hear somebody yell, "Oh my God!!", "Jesus Ch...

The idea of worshiping idols (which the second commandment forbids) is a strange one to Western society, and to the way we practice our religions. Aside perhaps from Catholic statues and shrines to the saints (which are not idols and are not worshiped), these are simply not features of Western life. It seems like the easiest commandment to obey because literally none of us have ever erected an ido...

What are you most "devoted" to? Most of us are devoted to relationships: with our families and friends, even with our favourite teams and bands. Some of us are devoted to our pursuits: to jobs, education, sports, achievements. Many of us are devoted to goals: to graduation or retirement, to starting a family or emptying the nest, to paying off the house or buying a cottage. These things are the th...

So much of our religious energy is spent in trying to clarify what we think about God, but have you ever wondered what God thinks of you? We probably have our suspicions. Maybe we imagine that God is unconditionally accepting, like a kindly grandpa, or that God doesn't think about us much at all. Perhaps we suspect that God is mostly angry with us, or just disappointed with our failures. Or conver...

"What does God want from us?" That is the question that throughout history has formed the heart of every genuine human quest to connect with the divine. Entire religious systems are formed to answer that question, complete with rules and rituals, traditions and temples. If we answer that question the right way, go to the right places at the right times, and devote ourselves to the right things, we...

Think back to the most significant influences in your early life, the people who changed the trajectory of your life. Maybe it was your parents, grandparents, or foster parents who loved you into loving yourself. Perhaps it was an elementary school teacher who showed you the beauty of math, or the power of art, and launched you into your career. Maybe it was a coach who taught you discipline and t...

In 2009, Simon Sinek delivered the third most watched TED talk of all time. Its premise was simple: the most effective people, movements, and organizations all start by asking the same question: "Why do we do what we do?" It is an interesting question to ask of ourselves: Why did you get up this morning? Why are these your priorities? Why are you pursuing those goals? Why do you spend your time th...

We’ve spent much of the last year and a half self-isolated, quarantined, working from home, navigating massive challenges and changes mostly on our own. In addition, COVID has broken our community into "sides" and contributed to our sense of being alienated from and by those whose experience has been different than ours. At the end of the day, aside from the loss of loved ones, perhaps the greates...

This has been a challenging season for most of us. COVID has been significantly disruptive in our financial and work lives, friendships and family relationships, mental and emotional health, physical well-being, and faith (among other things). Many of us now face a hard questions about how to rebuild our lives, and all of our loved ones, and the rest of the world, are in the same boat. It can quic...

Our culture values and promotes a healthy sense of "self." We are told to know ourselves and love ourselves, to have a healthy self-esteem, full of self-confidence and self-worth. We are told that we are to take care of ourselves, treat ourselves, and even to pamper ourselves because we owe it to ourselves. We are encouraged to be self-starters and self-motivated, with the hope of being self-emplo...

These days it feels like we are starting to get our lives back. We are out and about more than we have been in a year and half. We are seeing friends more, rediscovering things we loved to do before COVID, taking fewer things for granted than we ever have. It seems like we are finally moving past this remarkable experience that we've lived through together. But, before we put COVID in the rear-vie...

There is an old joke that says, "A vegan, an atheist, and a cross-fitter walk into a bar... and thirty seconds later everybody knows it." The joke is that when people discover the "truth" about life, as they see it (that life is better fully respecting animals, or being fully free from religion, or fully embracing a lifestyle of fitness) they can't help but talk about it, all the time, with everyb...

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." With these words, Jesus affirms that our hearts are fully devoted to whatever we most fully invest in. Or, to say it another way, if we were to honestly look at where we devote most of our time, where we pour the best of our energy, how we spend our bulk of our money—it would tell us a lot about the things we actually care about most, about...

The fear in our world is palpable, and seems to be growing. We talk as though everyone is fighting someone, and "they" are fighting against "us." We say that the political right is "at war" with the left, and that faith is "at war" with science. Some say that our rights are being "attacked" and that our way of life is "under siege." Living under this blanket of fear affects how we relate to everyo...

You've heard the saying, "Knowledge is power." You've experienced its truth in too many ways to count. The idea is thousands of years old, found in the Jewish book of Proverbs. Even Jesus affirms the idea that it is the truth that has the power to "set you free." That's why, when it comes to our life with God, we make knowing truth such a high priority. It is why we are so eager to understand the...

Have you ever felt "used" by someone you thought genuinely cared about you? Perhaps it was someone who vowed to love you no matter what, only to walk away when the relationship got hard. Or it was a boss, who professed to value you as a person, yet only ever seemed to take advantage of your enthusiasm. Maybe it was a child or friend, who only ever seemed to care when they wanted or needed somethin...

It’s often said that it takes a village to raise a child. And when it comes to raising the next generation at Southridge, all of us are that village! There’s no substitute for the primacy of a parents’ influence, or the partnership that church programs can provide, however each of us has an essential role to play in investing in the full faith potential in every child within our community. Whether...

The art of delegation is a valuable skill, but there are some things you simply can’t outsource. We sometimes behave as though it’s the school’s job to make my kids smart, their coach’s job to make them a winner, and we imagine that it’s the church’s job to make sure they grow up to be good Christians. But what if that’s not actually the primary role the church exists to play in the lives of kids?...

Every good parent strives to give their kids a better life; to have more, do more, and be more than they could. Knowing no parent can do it all, we often access outside help from experts, like teachers, coaches, camps, and clubs, to teach and equip them with valuable life-skills, believing that education, opportunity, discipline, and entertainment will give them a great life. But what about when i...

Every family has its rules. They are the foundational principles that give shape to family life and family relationships. There are rules about chores and responsibilities and rules about curfews and borrowing the car. There are rules about reconciling conflict and rules about dinner time, devices, and TV time. The purpose of this elaborate structure of rules is to guide the family towards becomin...

Who is your team, the community with whom you share something important in common, which creates a deep sense of belonging? For sports fans, if you see someone wearing your team's logo, you immediately sense a connection (even though they are a complete stranger). For others, those you work with have also become those you play with. Maybe your family is your team, or other LGBTQ+ people, or those...