About

Pilgrim Praxis will remind most readers of John Bunyan's seventeenth century allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, narrating the journey of the pilgrim named Christian "from this world, to that which is to come."

The Pilgrim Praxis blog echoes the name and purpose of the more familiar title, but in less story form.   Reflections will sound more like a preacher's sharing than the narration of the layman John Bunyan!  But, I hope, not long and windy  (enough) to put readers to sleep.

The blog's main contributor is A H Harry Oussoren, born in The Netherlands immigrant first to USA and, at age 10, as a settler to Canada, now a retired Christian minister, ordained in United Church of Canada.  Aside from countless sermons, I have written frequent articles and a regular UpFront column for over a decade in the Journal for the Practice of Ministry in Canada.   Past Posts from PMC published in the 1980s and 90s provide some background to contemporary posts responding to current events and reflection.   Occasional contributions by other writers will also appear.   

The purpose:   to publish diverse think pieces opening to more personal faith and shared action on the way to the Holy Centre - knowing that the Holy One is present wherever we find ourselves and with whomever is walking  with us as friend and companions.

May it be so!

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A word about the unusual labyrinth logo - created by a United Methodist congregation in Washington state.  It offers several entrances and diverse paths  leading toward the Holy Centre.   Welcome to all who journey by whatever way toward the divine heart in God's beloved world.

The hunting horns (home page) are the family crest of the Oussoren family, rooted in the town of Oudshoorn (Alphen) on a bend along the old Rhine River in the Netherlands.

I acknowledge gratefully that my life is lived on the Creator’s good Earth and, in Canada specifically.  My apartment home in Ottawa and cottage in Bancroft are located on the unceded traditional territories of the Algonquin First Nations.    I also acknowledge that as a settler Euro-Canadian I have been privileged and have benefitted from the dominance regime of the Canadian Crown and government which has harmed Indigenous peoples. I pledge to advocate for greater justice and respectfully negotiated ways that result in fairer sharing of the gifts and resources of these and other lands from which Indigenous Peoples were dispossessed by the largely Christian colonial settler dominated governments of Canada. I believe that we are all part of the one human family of the Creator and when one family member suffers the entire human family needs to engage in measure to restore family health.

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The church has been part of my life from the beginning.  I was born in the guest room of a manse in next to the church my father served as pastor in The Netherlands.   I studied theology and adult education in Hamburg, Toronto, and Geneva after graduating in Arts at Vancouver's UBC, was ordained in the revolutionary year of 1968, over 24 years served congregations in Whiteshell and St. Rose du Lac (Manitoba), Toronto, Mississauga, and Vancouver; and was part of the United Church of Canada's General Council staff responsible for theological education and diverse local ministries in two separate assignments totaling 13 years. 

Aware of the importance of personal and collective commitment, I learned about community development's crucial role to achieve mission goals.   Christianity is mainly a movement of faith communities, embracing God's mission .   Institutional church is useful only as long as it fosters the deeper connection of faith with the living, loving Creator revealed in Jesus, the Beloved, and the ubiquitous, life and gift-giving  Spirit working within us and all to transform the world into a place where love and justice, hope and peace abound.   

This conviction is reinforced by my love and concern for grandchildren, their parents , and my life partner, Glenys.   I and they are members of the  one wonderfully diverse global human family and part of Creation - all loved into being by the Creator- walking as companions and friends of Jesus, endowed by the ubiquitous Spirit of life.