Author Archives: Lorne Anderson
The Lottery
I was going to comment on Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address, which was last night, but there is an event tonight that is of greater importance to most Americans: the Powerball lottery draw. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get to Obama’s speech, or maybe I’ll just write off his eight years in office as […]
Requiem For A Rock Star
Davy Jones is dead. No, not that one, not the diminutive member of The Monkees. He died in 2012. I mean the singer who changed his name so he wouldn’t be confused with the singer from the pre-fab four. David Bowie, dead of cancer at 69, only a couple of days after the release of […]
Art, Not Science
The dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. If there was a warning light there it came on. Oil, engine repair both seatbelts, traction control, battery – you name it, it was lit. Of course the seat belts were buckled, and there seemed to be nothing else wrong with the car. Given that the alternative […]
Speaking Christian
I didn’t know it was a language. The taxi driver asked us, “Do you speak Christian.” I don’t. Though I am a Christian, I try to avoid some of the jargon that has sprung up around the faith. In North America it is all too easy to live in a Christian sub-culture that bears absolutely […]
Rabban Hormizd III
There must be some sort of special devotion that causes a person to choose a monastic life. Part of me wishes I had that kind of faith. Though I would probably miss my creature comforts. When I look at the cliff that is Rabban Hormizd Monastery I image what it must have been like for […]
Rabban Hormizd II
In most countries a seventh century Christian monastery would be a place of pilgrimage, or at least a tourist attraction. But this is Iraq, and ISIS is only 20 kilometres from here. There are no tour buses. There is no-one else here. Well, there may be a few nuns, be we don’t see them. But […]
The Refugee Family
I guess you could call them political refugees. It’s a familiar story, I’m sure you have heard it before. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They got out before the soldiers came because they had been tipped off. You can attribute that to divine intervention if you like, or just to […]
Rabban Hormizd I
You can look out from the terrace of the monastery and see where ISIS’ advance was stopped in 2014. Destroying this place would have been the first task on their “to-do” list. High above the Iraqi town of Alqosh, Rabban Hormizd monastery has been a site of Christian worship for almost 1400 years. Founded in […]
Bethesda
In the New Testament book of John here is a reference to a place of healing, pool, that in English is rendered Bethesda. The Hebrew word translates as “House of Mercy.” Just outside of Ottawa there is a retreat centre that aspires to be such a place, the Bethesda Renewal Centre. On New Year’s Eve […]
Refugees and Migrants III – What’s The Difference?
Sometimes I get sidetracked. I wrote this post a couple of months ago as part of a series, and then never got around to posting it. Given that the Middle East refugee crisis is likely to continue to dominate the headlines in 2016, perhaps it is time to look at the subject again. I am […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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