A Little Good News Story

If you are a Metro reader then hopefully you caught their “happy Edition” published on December 23^rd.

Across Canada, all seven editions of the Metro committed to publish only positive news, at least for that day. 

Cathrin Bradbury, Metro’s Editor-in-Chief, introduced the edition with a brief editorial, speaking of hope and optimism, a sentiment that seemed particularly fitting for the edition before Christmas.

And so, in the Halifax Metro we read about the donor who donated 16 new bicycles to the Salvation Army for Christmas and the top children’s names last year in Nova Scotia, (William and Olivia if you are interested).  Internationally they covered the story of how Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who has been tweeting from eastern Aleppo, has been safely evacuated to Turkey. And piles of other “good news”.

And while I understand that we can’t hide from all bad news, sometimes it’s nice to take a break.  And as Christians we need to remember the promise of the Angel, "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.”

Regardless of what we read in the paper, watch on television or see online, the reality is that in Jesus we have good news that will bring great joy to all people.

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Truth from an Unlikely Place

You find truth in some of the strangest places.  I was reading an article online awhile ago, Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell was interviewing atheist Christopher Hitchens.  Hitchens who passed away in 2011 was the epitome of “all dressed up and no place to go”, he was also the author of “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”  

Rev. Sewell, a liberal pastor,  felt that the book’s criticisms were mostly directed at conservative Christianity and so she asked the author,  “Do you make a distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?”

And Hitchens said and I quote, “I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that He rose again from the dead and by His sacrifice, our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.”

So, you would think if an atheist can figure that out it must be a fairly straight forward concept.  The question then has to be: How come there are churches that would deny the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ and his atonement and yet still call themselves “Christian” Churches? 

Maybe for some the challenge shouldn’t be keeping Christ in Christmas but keeping Christ in Christianity.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Back to the Future

It has been over thirty years since Doc Brown warned Marty McFly about the dangers of messing with the space-time continuum, and yet apparently, a group of physicists want to give it a try.  Two professors from Griffith University in Australia and one from the University of California have decided that maybe time travel isn’t just a thing of novels, movies and television shows.  

Professor Howard Wiseman, from Griffith University, recently stated, “In the well-known ‘Many-Worlds Interpretation’, each universe branches into a bunch of new universes every time a quantum measurement is made.”  Indeed!

Have you ever thought about being able to visit the past?  Have you ever wondered if you were able to go back to yesterday, would you be able to change today, and make the world a better place?

Could you have stopped the Holocaust? Or prevented 9/11?  And if you did, how would it effect the space-time continuum?

With apologies to Doc Brown and his compatriots, here is the reality: nobody can change the past, but everybody can change their future.

3,000 years ago, Solomon reminded us that there is a time for everything and our time is today.  And I truly believe that there is a person for every time.  And why couldn’t that person be you?

Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.