Don’t Go Away Grieving

What are you attached to? Do you have any ‘guilty’ attachments? Sea salt and caramel ice cream at midnight when nobody is watching? A cigarette now and again in secret? Facebook? Perhaps some on-line shopping? What about healthy attachments? What are yours? Family? Although that is not always healthy… there is a saying, “Each family…

Five Smooth Stones

There are few stories that are more familiar than the one of David and Goliath. Even the most secular people have some sort of understanding of the story. It comes from more than three thousand years ago, but still has echoes today. Israel has come into the Promised Land and become a significant presence there. With…

Naked and Afraid

  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Biblical image when you google ‘naked and afraid?’ And I know that some of you shook your heads if you say the sign before it was changed to highlight Marita’s funeral. But naked and afraid is Biblical! It’s not often that I…

And Mary Said Yes!

Well, good morning everyone. My, what a fine gathering! Do you recognize me without my blue shawl? You know me as Mary, although I was more commonly called by my Jewish name, Miriam. And this is the kind of thing I wore most days, not the blue of royalty, although I am honored that I…

War for the Planet of the Apes

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen it and plan to, don’t read any further. I was a big fan of the original Planet of the Apes from the sixties, so when my husband suggested we go see War for the Planet of the Apes, I readily agreed, despite not seeing Dawn of the Planet of…

Daring to Take Heart

Picture a mid-thirties woman, going through some major life challenges: health issues, marital breakdown, family of origin conflict, financial stress. She is depressed, despairing and fearful of what the future holds. She is walking on her favourite beach wondering where God was in the midst of her life. She came to this beach where she so often…

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…

Love, Poured Out

I am yet another one of those unnamed women in Holy Scripture… Women who played significant parts in our holy stories… but not thought important enough to be named… You people get angry if your name is misspelled in your papers… imagine not being named at all… just ‘a woman…’ Some scholars have thought I was Mary of…

That’s Not in My Job Description!

In order to make sense of the story I just read, you need to have a bit of background. Jesus is taking some time away; he is tired from the demands being made upon him. He was in Tyre, which was an ancient seaport of Phoenicia: one of the great cities of antiquity, famous of its…