Mark Whittall

It’s Pentecost! And it’s chaotic. Violent winds, tongues of fire, shouting voices, bewildered crowds, a cacophony of languages, accusations of drunkenness. Then a voice pierces through the noise: “What does this mean?” It’s a great question! It’s Pentecost, one of the three major feasts of the Christian year, the feast of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean? We know about the other two feasts. We know all about Christmas and Easter, we know what they mean. Christmas is

This is an in-between time. The world as we knew it is no more. The new world that will replace it hasn’t happened yet. We are in-between. The Indian novelist Arundhati Roy had an article in the Financial Times on April 3 entitled “The Pandemic is a Portal”, in which she wrote: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” Now there are

Whenever I hear Paul’s speech to the people of Athens, I always think about fish. Maybe it’s just me. I have to admit that none of my teachers, no commentary that I have ever read on this passage ever talks about fish. But when Paul refers to the God in whom we live and move and have our being, I think fish. It makes me wonder whether fish know that water exists. Whether they even think about water at all. Fish live and move and have their being in water. Can they see wat

So, what comes next? That’s a question a lot of people are asking these days. Are businesses going to open up again? Will schools re-open? Will I get to go to classes in September? When can I go back to work? Is there going to be work for me? When can I leave home, who will I be able to visit? There are a lot of questions about what comes next these days, as we think about moving into the next phase of this pandemic, the ‘new normal’, as some people are starting to call

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” What does it mean to have abundant life, and how do we get there? Well that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? How can I be happy? What does it mean for human beings to flourish? How can we have greater well-being, more life satisfaction, what does it mean to live better, to live more fully? Abundance encompasses all of these notions about what it means to live a good life. It’s bigger than just happiness. One