Behind the scenes
Christian rhythms through the pandemic
Before settling on the cover story for this issue, we deliberated for a while whether we were all too weary of Covid to even include articles on it.
But the reality of course is that the pandemic is still the reality we’re living in after so many months, right over the hump and straight into a new year. And we appreciate so much Alastair Sterne’s gentle take on spiritual rhythms that can include collapsing on the couch when it all feels too much.
And hope is in the air – we trust you are feeling it too. Yes, winter is here, but spring will come again, and our homes and churches will one day be fully open again, warm and welcoming.
It will be fascinating to see how these pandemic months have changed us and our ways of participating in community. People are already discussing how church will change, because church has learned it can change – and so quickly.
What will we bring forward and leave behind? We anticipate exploring the impact of Covid for some time in the pages of this magazine, but our emphasis will surely shift from surviving it to thriving after it. We’re as excited about that as you are.
Drumroll please. We’d like to introduce Lennett J. Anderson,
Acadia Divinity College’s newly appointed lecturer in leadership and racial justice. We hope as you read our interview with him – or listen to the live recording on the Faith Today Podcast – you will be encouraged and challenged, just as we were.
This issue we’re launching a series of personal essays called Witness where we give a page to a Canadian Christian to share part of their journey. We’ll prioritize voices we often don’t hear enough from and we’re inviting readers to listen, as we have been asked to do.
How’s your mental health? You’ll find several faith-informed articles here on taking care of yourself – and also ensuring the health of your pastor. We encourage all our readers to put aside any hesitation around seeing a counsellor or marriage and family therapist. All believers know God uses prayer to heal human pain and brokenness – but as many of us can attest He also uses psychotherapists, spiritual directors, medications prescribed by psychologists and much more.
May you be wrapped in His loving care and extend that care to others this winter.
People are already discussing how church will change, because church has learned it can change – and so quickly.
Recent podcasts hosted by Faith Today senior editor Karen Stiller include:
Interview with John Stackhouse on his new book Can I Believe?
Exploring Carolyn Weber’s new memoir Sex and the City of God
How is the Church doing during Covid? With Rick Hiemstra and Tim Day
Religion and tolerance in Canada:
A big sigh of relief, with researcher Sam Reimer
Racial reconciliation and Christian urgency, with Acadia’s Lennett Anderson
Spiritual rhythms, with Alastair Sterne
What’s in a song? With researcher Mike Tapper
Season of hope
Re: Hope is a decision (Nov/Dec 2020) halfway through reading your article yesterday, tears were running down my cheeks. This message, and how you presented it, is so meaningful!
I picked it up again today – same response! I decided I will put copies in several Christmas cards this season. I hope you don’t mind.
Blessings and many thanks to you and all the staff at Faith Today and to your families this forever season of hope.
Mary Flemming, Innisfail, Alta.
Drift versus maturing
Re: Behind the scenes (Nov/Dec 2020) i have valued the balanced emphases found in Faith Today. Often I have advocated when acquaintances spoke of Evangelicals as though we are the same as the stereotypical American Evangelical or Fundamentalist. I value the way you are interpreting the gospel in the spirit of Jesus’ concern for the wholeness of our being.
Jesus was very political in the way He challenged religion and customs of His day, and responded to human need. But unlike some of my Christian friends and my own dabbling in party politics, I am convinced politics is not the way of bringing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I cannot share my allegiance to the Prince of Peace with any human organization or country loyalty.
Like the person referenced in your latest “Behind the Scenes” column, I too am concerned about theological drift. But drift for me as an enthusiastic Bible College graduate has often become maturing as now I look at it as an 83-year-old. That does not negate my concern about the self-deceptive temptations of the devil.
In this decade I have become increasingly convinced God entered planet Earth as Jesus the Christ and is allowing us to see in Jesus God’s best self-revelation. With the help of fellow followers of Jesus, I strive to keep my focus on Jesus, ever trying to emulate Jesus in trust, worship and living.