Just past Dudley's workstation, off a corridor leading to the security zone, there was a multi-faith room, a cream coloured space holding an ill-matched assortment of furniture and a bookshelf of the sacred texts. I watched a family from southern India coming to pay their respects to Ganesh, the Hindu god in charge of the … Continue reading A Week at the Airport
Wandering through IKEA recently I came across a display. There, in a plexiglass box, was a living room chair accompanied by a robotic machine that was submitting the chair, over and over again, to the rigors of being sat upon. By the time I saw it, the machine had “sat down” in the chair more … Continue reading Adversity and Authenticity
The insidiousness of the influence of wealth upon those who have it is aptly illustrated by Jacob Loewen in his account of a seminar on worldview which he conducted for some Indian teachers and their missionary colleagues several years ago. He explained to the group that each culture has at its center an “axle” from … Continue reading What must I do?
"Gordon! What a lovely surprise - I didn't expect to find you here!" I was standing at a reception in the garden at Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, chatting with a few others who, like me, had been invited to a gathering of international faith representatives. The posh voice … Continue reading I can identify
I sometimes wonder at what point Jesus Christ, looking down on successive generations of those who bore his name, began to get a bit worried that the project he started might seriously have gone off the rails. Was it when the Roman Emperor Constantine - still a murderous tyrant after his "conversion" experience - elevated … Continue reading A walking stick will do
In February 2000, following the upset win, by 3 to 1, of the lowly Inverness Caledonian Thistles (known as "Caley") over the world-renown team of Celtic Glasgow, the headline in a Scottish newspaper read as follows: "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious". This, in seven short words, is a wonderful example of the function … Continue reading Parable
Walking home from work a few days ago I turned a sharp corner around a building and nearly bumped into a young woman coming the other way. We were the only two people on the street and her reaction, though not one I would describe as fear, certainly had something of the "unknown-man-in-my-personal-space" type wariness … Continue reading Hamartia
