Mark Whittall

In the bleak midwinter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron Water like a stone. It doesn’t take too much imagination to hear these words as a song for our times. It is winter, and it is bleak as we head into another lockdown in this province. The poet, Christina Rossetti, was well acquainted with bleak midwinters. She endured major bouts of depression and ill-health throughout her life. Yet, her faith sustained her, and even in the midst of her darkest days she wa

There is a pecking order in every society. A hierarchy of status, of power, of value, of privilege. There are people who are honoured, and people who are shamed. Sometimes, most of the time, religion is used to justify that pecking order. God’s name is invoked to uphold our social hierarchies. God is said to favour those on top. In Mary’s time, God’s name was used to uphold a social system of honour and shame, of patriarchy and ethnic nationalism. In the middle ages, society

Many years ago, as part of my training for ordained ministry, I had an internship in the Seychelles Islands. The Seychelles are a cluster of small islands off the coast of Africa, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It’s a special place, and the ocean around the islands is teeming with life. Among the amazing creatures that are found in the waters of the Seychelles are giant sea turtles. And I wanted to see them. So one day while I was there, I asked one of the locals to take

We are in the wilderness. The gospel, the good news, begins in the wilderness. And let’s dispense here with any romantic notion of wilderness. We’re not talking of wilderness as the place you go for a weekend camping trip with your pack full of food and your high-tech, light-weight equipment. No, we’re talking about the wilderness as a barren place, a place with no food, and little water, a place where people die before their time. We are in the wilderness. It is dark, and it