Mark Whittall

There is a common thread running through our readings today, and that common thread is tears. Tears are the very human response to pain and death, the shroud, to use the words of Isaiah, that is cast over all peoples. In our gospel reading, Jesus confronts the reality of the death of his young friend Lazarus, and the tears of the sisters Mary and Martha, and he is deeply moved. Jesus weeps. In our first two readings, both the prophet Isaiah and John, the author of the book

Do you know what it’s like to have your mind blown? Some of you may know that I studied physics at university. One of the great things about studying physics is that it gives you a nice orderly view of how the world works. Maybe you remember high school physics. Falling objects, blocks sliding down inclined planes and all that. One simple equation plus the force of gravity can be used to calculate the motion of everything from basketballs to planets. And once you throw in

“Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.” When is the last time you said words like these? Was it today? Or maybe there’s someone you know who could be saying them right now? If they’re not your words today, these or words like them have been yours in the past, and they will be again in the future. The degree and severity may vary, for we are not all afflicted equally or in the same ways. But pain and suffering, and the bitterness which ca

What if some big pharmaceutical company developed a medication that taken daily would enable you to sleep better and have more energy within three weeks? What if that same drug would reduce your risk of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders? What if it would help you to better manage stress, reduce your risk of substance abuse, boost your immune system and increase your overall health? And what if it would also increase your level of happiness by 25% and increase your

Let me begin by acknowledging that over the centuries, right up until our present times, many people have been hurt by the way the church has used the text that we just heard to justify the prohibition of divorce and remarriage. Divorce is painful enough without having it made worse by having someone use scripture against you in a judgmental way. It wasn’t until the 1970s that our church, the Anglican Church of Canada, changed its canons to allow the remarriage of divorced