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Jan 3, 2025 | 
christiancourier.ca | Brian Walsh
The psalmist confesses, “You gave me room when I was in distress” (s. 4:1). You held space for me. You allowed my anguish to be heard. From my experience in ministry to young adults, I can attest that such “holding space,” such giving room for distress, for lament, for sorrow, is at the very heart of a ministry of healing and hospitality. And the struggle has always been to find the words and the music for such space.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
christiancourier.ca | Brian Walsh
On his newest album, The Glad Surprise, Steve Bell reaches out and grabs the heart, the imagination, the despair, the hope, the longing, the pathos and the eros of the soul . . . and that is all in the first song! What is a poor listener to do, but pour a glass of wine, take a seat and spend the next hour with this amazing album? “Glad surprise?” What could be more unlikely? Where is there any surprise these days?
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
zip06.com | Brian Walsh
The political season is upon us, and democracy is at work. Signs for candidates can be seen along our roads and in our neighborhoods. It is encouraging to see voters showing enthusiasm for their candidates. That said, I find myself reacting to the bigger-than-life signs on major roads that distract drivers and clash with the natural environment. Some qualify as “in your face” advertisements, and it is a consolation to know that they will be gone in a few weeks.
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May 3, 2024 | 
christiancourier.ca | Brian Walsh
They say that wisdom comes with age. It isn’t always true, but when we turn to Canadian singer-songwriter, Bruce Cockburn, such deep wisdom is all there on his stunningly beautiful 2023 album, O Sun O Moon (True North). By the artist’s own admission, this is a collection of songs written by an old man. But while some revert to sentimentality and nostalgia in their later years, Cockburn continues to face the realities of the present world in all of its threat and beauty.
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Oct 18, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Cathy Smith |Peter Schuurman |Lloyd Rang |Brian Walsh
All my knotted-up life: a memoirBeth MooreTyndale House Publishers, 2023. After reading All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir, I want Beth Moore to be my new best friend. She’s indefatigable. Hilarious. Vulnerable. I first heard of Moore when she made headlines for being treated crassly by some evangelical leaders, including, notably, John MacArthur.
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Sep 25, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Brian Walsh |Emily Wierenga |Bob Bruinsma |Sara Pot
DANCING IN THE WILDSPACES OF LOVE: ATHEOPOETICS OF GIFT ANDCALL, RISK AND PROMISEJames H. OlthuisWipf and Stock Press, 2022. The teaching technology was primitive and the chalk dust was flying. The professor’s face had a thin coat of white and within minutes the board was full of diagrams, words, arrows, circles. When there was no more room on the blackboard, the professor, in his almost trance-like enthusiasm, moved to the walls and the fire escape door.
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Jul 26, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Kristen Parker |Brian Walsh |Meghan Kort |Victoria Veenstra
Thanh Campbell, well known as Orphan 32, is the new Director of Partners Worldwide Canada (PW). PW’s goal says, “800 million people still live in extreme poverty.
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Apr 24, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Brian Walsh |Sara Pot |Michael Munnik |Curt Gesch
Surrender: 40 songs, one storyBonoDoubleday, 2022. “I am in awe of the poetic power of the scriptures, how you can’t approach the subject of God without metaphor.” So writes Bono late in his wide-ranging and engaging memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. The artist cannot tell his story, or the remarkable story of U2, apart from Christian faith, or apart from scripture.
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Apr 10, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Kathy Vandergrift |Tom Wolthuis |Emily Wierenga |Brian Walsh
Does anyone recall “Build Back Better”? It became a popular rallying cry midway through covid. After the first lockdown, we saw that collective action could develop vaccines faster than ever and provide support to keep poor households afloat. Covid exposed vulnerable spots, such as old age homes, but there was also optimism that we could fix the problems and recover with a more resilient society, better able to deal with other challenges.
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Apr 5, 2023 | 
christiancourier.ca | Heidi Vander Slikke |Emily Wierenga |Brian Walsh |Joanne Spoelstra
“Wait ‘til your father gets home!” How many times did my miscreant behaviour provoke those words from my mother’s lips? Make no mistake – Ma had a penchant for law and order and she was quite capable of meting out immediate discipline. But this was her trump card for especially exasperating infractions. Did she realize how that single sentence would strike remorse into my heart? First of all, if she wasn’t willing to deal with me herself, I knew I had really stepped over the line. Not good.
