Yearning For Safety

We all have fears… some of them rational… some of them not so rationale… Last week, you heard my story of being fearful while on a retreat at Tatamagouche Centre… an irrational fear… Fear serves a purpose. In the beginning, we were given instincts to help us survive. We had a heightened sense of our environment so that…

The Jesus Business

That passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth is often read at weddings, to the extent that one year, I was tempted to take if off my suggested list of readings for weddings. And a few months ago, I saw something on Facebook; advice to a teenage girl on how to know whether…

What’s Up With the Bible?

As you can see on the communion table, we have a variety of Bibles. How many of you read the Bible regularly? Do you find it easy to understand? Do you place equal value on all parts of it? Do you read it literally? Or is it a collection of books filled with inspired stories? Stories of how ancient people sought…

God’s Extravagant Gifts

We are still in the Season of Epiphany; the season of following the star. If one of my gifts was solo singing, I would sing the first verse of Do You See What I See? Said the night wind to the little lamb, “Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little…

I Was There That Day!

The first part of this was done as a monologue as one of the many unnamed women in the Bible. Have you ever been caught up in the midst of a crowd… one that you are not sure what is going on immediately? It is somehow both exciting and a little scary. I was there that day……

Follow the Light

The reading was interspersed with my reflection. At the end of my reflection, I offered ‘starwords’ to everyone. A word to carry them through the coming year. Thanks to Marci Glass for the idea. Eternal God, in our struggle to hear your Word, O God, bless even our doubts, our wonderings, our wanderings, our soul-struggles, life’s deep…

Where Do We Find Hope?

Where do we find hope? In the midst of senseless death, poverty that goes on unabated, environmental degradation, some of it taking place right in our back yard, how do we find hope? How do we live hope? Today we heard the first part of the second chapter of Luke, in the coming weeks we…

Do You See What I See?

Do you know that there are over 300 hymns in Voices United that deal in some way with ‘seeing.’ And they usually have nothing to do with actual physical sight. And neither does the gospel reading this morning. In Mark’s gospel, ‘seeing’ is a metaphor for faith in Jesus. In fact, it is the first time in Mark’s…

One Can At a Time

With an election set for tomorrow and the Blue Jays in the playoffs, World Food Day isn’t getting much press! And yet, is there anything more basic than food? Perhaps water, but that’s about it. Did you know that food insecurity rates in Nova Scotia and Halifax are the worst in Canada? In a report, published a couple…