Taking Heart in the Midst of Storms

One of the things that I loved about moving back to Nova Scotia 12 years ago from Ontario that all the water illustrations and metaphors are embedded in our culture. The ocean has been a constant backdrop to life through most of my time in Nova Scotia. I have almost always lived within sight and…

And Joseph Said Yes!

Last week we heard about Mary and her encounter with the angel Gabriel, and her saying yes to God. This week we hear about Joseph having a similar experience and saying yes to God. When have you said yes to God? Some people, no matter what is offered, their initial response is no. Are you…

Creating Community

  First of all, thank you to those who turned out for the meeting on Tuesday evening to share with the presbytery how you thought things were going in this Interim Ministry time, some of the joys and the challenges and then for inviting me to stay with you another year! This means I will…

Courage for Resurrection

The seeds of my reflection this morning were sown by an article entitled An Upside Down Easter Meditation by Parker Palmer. You can find it here. I attended the funeral of a young woman Thursday afternoon, a good friend of my daughter-in-law and my oldest granddaughter’s godmother. Beth was 39 when she died… she had had breast…

Love is Love is Love

It’s been a tough week… locally and around the world… tragedy and terrorism… tears and turmoil. We bring all of that into this place O God… and we also bring hope… and trust… hope and trust that those things don’t have the final say… amen. There are a variety of things colliding this Sunday… it…

A number of years ago I took part in a course entitled the Shaw Transformational Leadership Program at Queen’s Theological School. The goal of the program was: To develop leadership for the 21st century church that works with and through the Spirit of the Risen Christ to bring about transformation in individual lives and congregations. The participants…

Yearning for Connection

As part of my Spiritual Direction training, I had to go on three day silent retreats each year. Since the SD training was taking place at Tatamagouche Centre, it seemed logical for me to book the retreat space at the centre, which is a lovely one bedroom cottage with a fireplace in the living room…

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…