NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

As I've watched the  Olympics  these past two weeks, listened to interviews with the  athletes  and between the commentators, there have been two things I have heard more that once. In the endurance sports, such as the Biathlon, you have to expect pain, and work your way through it. While on the slopes and the ice rink, you have to face your fear of falling, of making a mistake and  conquer  that fear. In both cases, t hese men and women aren’t competing against each other as much as they are against themselves Paul likens the Christian life to running a race. “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”  [1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 25 NRSV]  I wonder how many of us would qualify as Olympians in running this race. Do we have the passion ...

“…because we’re fans,” says George M. Cohon, founder and senior chairman of McDonalds Canada since 1978, at the end of their commercial for the 2014 Winter Olympics. McDonalds first began sponsoring the Olympic Games in 1976 in Montreal, and on January 13, 2012 announced that they will continue their Olympic Games partnership until 2020 And over the past 38 years they have a commitment to help to fund the Olympic Games, also the Olympic movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves by both supporting the athletes and recognized the part their families played in making their dreams come true.  So to be a ‘fan’, means to McDonalds that they support the programme with money, with a visible presence at the site with their restaurants, with marketing programmes beforehand centering on the country’s athletes. It takes a commitment of time and resources. It is a good thing! Do we, as committed Christians, support the chur...

“…If you and I are serious about following Jesus…the path we have to follow is not smooth but is like going out to walk today with all the snow and ice on the sidewalks, slipping and sliding. It is not going to be a uniform path to follow, but then it never is…”                                                                (Lifted from a sermon heard on January 26, 2014)   I grew up in a small village in central Ontario, where the winter meant lots of snow at a time when sidewalk plows were virtually unheard of. We walked [or perhaps trudged is a better word] through the snow to school, to our activities, and yes, even to church. It was exhilarating, wrapped in scarves and layers of mittens to brave the elements! The amount of snow this winter brings back those memories. But my arthritic knee and ankles don’t...

"Leap of faith - yes, but only after reflection"        -  Søren  Kierkegaard "Much of Kierkegaard's authorship explores the notion of the absurd: Job gets everything back again by the virtue of the absurd (Repetition); Abraham gets a reprieve from having to sacrifice Isaac, by virtue of the absurd (Fear and Trembling); Kierkegaard hoped to get Regine back again after breaking off their engagement, by virtue of the absurd (Journals); ... the Christian God is represented as absolutely transcendent of human categories yet is absurdly presented as a personal God with the human capacities to love, judge, forgiver, teach, etc."  (ex cerpt from   Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - emphasis mine) Just what does Kierkegaard’s ‘leap of faith’ mean . . . especially if we consider that,   as he also postulates,  religion is ‘absurd’ [or as the dictionary says, ’ inconsisten...