Every day, port chaplains are reaching out to seafarers that arrive on ships to the Port of Vancouver, sharing the love of God and the Good News with them.

I believe having an “attitude of gratitude”, as the cliché goes, is a good character trait especially if inherent but in years past I struggled to accept it being labelled a virtue. Virtue to my mind denoted an inherent morality that is absolute- requiring no prompting or trigger to reveal itself. Virtue, I thought, simply is. One is either, at heart, virtuous…or not. If that is the case, gratitude would not be a virtue, as it is always predicated upon a favorable action initiated by anot...

A story years in the making. A Chaplains Story. Looking a little like Jesus strolling down the path calling out to Zacchaeus, the Chaplain shouted up to Big Ron on his forklift. "Hey there Ron, how're things?"

Jesus' words, as quoted by Paul: “In everything I have shown you that by such hard work, we must help the weak and must remember the words of the Lord Jesus when he said, ‘To give is happier than to receive’” (J.B. Philips).  What does this actually look like in places like the Downtown East Side of Vancouver? How does this relate to Gratitude?  

Often simple social situations give rise to awkward questions that, on the surface, seem innocent enough but, when examined more closely, actually reinforce the values of the Empire around us rather that the Kingdom of God.

This is the story of a Skeptical Manager & A Corporate Chaplain... Ronnie looked stern and grumpy seated in his big manager’s chair staring at me over the rim of his reading glasses. “So what’s this chaplaincy program all about?”  He gruffed.   I was being weighed, judged and grilled by the company’s new manager, like an uninvited guest at his BBQ party.  He sniffed the air and waited while I collected my thoughts.

God is a playwright who is deeply interested in character development; and he uses all sorts of plot twists and genres and devices, things we can see, in order to bring about the changes we cannot see.  Workplace chaplains remind people that the script of their lives is no accident, that there is meaning and purpose to the plot, the themes and the other characters in the play.  Enjoy this 3 Act Play!

“I don’t know where my anger is coming from.” Randy looked down intently at his French Vanilla Whipped Cream Extravaganza supersize coffee supreme as we sat at a Tim Hortons, not too far from his workplace.