Scattering Seeds of Hope & Joy

I preached a slightly different version of this in Riandu, Kenya in March.

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…

We’re Seeking Your Presence

We’re seeking your presence.Help us find it today.We wonder and ponder.In so many ways.Hope stirs deep within us.We actively pray.As we await JesusPlease show us the way. We’re seeking your presence.Help us find it today.We wonder and ponder.In so many ways.Peace stirs deep within us.We actively pray.As we await JesusPlease show us the way. We’re…

Don’t Throw Hope Off the Cliff

Hope is not blind optimism. It is not ignoring the realities of injustice, suffering, or rejection. Hope is the conviction that even in the face of resistance, even when we are pushed to the edges, God is still at work. Hope is the courage to proclaim a love that is wider than expected, to insist on justice that includes those who have been cast aside, and to trust in the abundance of God’s grace when the world tells us to hoard what we have.

Hold On to Hope

The words ‘hold on to hope’ kept running through my head yesterday, so this is the result, a new hymn!

Hope Is Worth the Risk

What are you willing to risk hoping for?

Who Are You?

The ocean has always been a powerful symbol or metaphor for God for me. It’s the place that I connect with God most easily. Which is a bit surprising, because I didn’t grow up anywhere near the ocean… but the ocean means home. Whether it’s a warm summer day and the waves gently kiss the…

Sing a Song

I never had much time for Mary, the mother of Jesus, through most of my growing up years. Aside being trotted out, dressed in blue every Christmas, and I don’t I ever got to be Mary in a pageant, I don’t think I ever heard of her again all year. And the only thing that…

Where Do You Locate Yourself in the Story?

Jessie, Ryan and Debbie made a Profession of Faith and become part of God’s unending story at Stairs United Church.

The Presence of Hope

A couple of months ago, I started dreaming, pondering, planning Advent. A colleague and I got together and bounced ideas off one another and by the end of that afternoon, I had an initial focus, along with the scriptures I planned to use. A couple of weeks after that Byron, Jessie, Ryan, and Lynda and…