The Story Is Still Unfolding

Ancient Words – Isaiah 43: 18-21 Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honor…

Who’s Missing From the Table?

Last Sunday, those of us that were here, we heard Rev. Andrea Harrison speak about the United Church crest, and the words on it: That All May Be One and then the addition in 2012 of the Mohawk phrase: All My Relations. I look out at all of you for the first time as your…

Room At the Table

When my husband and I designed and built our house 15 years ago, we deliberately made it a place that made it easy for hosting large groups of people. I have a large extended family, most of whom live close by and hospitality is one of the things that I value the most both at…

The Joy of Being Found!

If I had been smarter, I would have done these two parables BEFORE I did the parable of the Prodigal Son… because they are actually a series. Luke 15 contains three “lost and found” stories:The lost sheep (15:1–7)The lost coin (15:8–10)The lost son or prodigal son (15:11–32) Each story increases in emotional intensity:1 sheep out…

Welcome Home

You don’t hear of me in that story that was just read did you? I am Lydia, the mother of those two boys. Those two very different boys… Nathaniel the eldest and Zachariah, the child of our old age… And of course, I am a wife, Simon’s wife… I want to tell you a little bit more of…

Two Parades/Two Visions

There were two parades that day. If you stood in Jerusalem long enough,you might have heard them both. From one direction:the steady rhythm of marching feet,the creak of leather and harness,the unmistakable sound of power on display. From the other… a different kind of noise. Not polished.Not coordinated.Not controlled. Voices rising.People shouting.Branches rustling.Hope spilling out…

Seeking Freedom, Building Home

More than 30 years ago, the Rev. Eleanor Scarlett arrived at Cole Harbour United Church as an intern. I was on her Lay Supervision Team, the group set up to support and evaluate her over the 8 months with us. She came to us from Toronto, after emigrating from Jamaica, she was had been a…

Everybody Knows… and Still We Sing Hallelujah

A five-year-old boy and his father detained in Minneapolis and sent to a Texas ICE facility… An observer shot dead yesterday when he was already subdued by multiple ICE agents… 100 clergy of all faiths arrested for blocking a road while protesting the airlines that were flying people to ICE facilities…. It’s enough to make…

Rags of Light

Think globally, act locally. That’s a phrase that has been used in a variety of settings and organizations since the late 60s. There is no consensus on just who coined it and where it started, but the general premise is the same. “Think globally, act locally” urges people to consider the well being of the…