The Pull of Light

Did Jesusfeel this wayas the end of dayWhen he sat downAnd reflectedOn how many peopleHe healedHow many peoplehe taughtHow many peopleHe demonstrated God’s love? Did he onlynotice the striving?Did he onlysee what wasstill left to do?Or was he awareof your presenceall around him? Today was and is many things:The fear of violenceThe sweetness of cheesecakeOn…

Friday Five: Holy Week Survival Kit

Five things that I am doing to survive Holy Week! First of all, many people in our churches have no  idea that Lent/Easter is a much more demanding season than Advent Christmas. I didn’t either until my first year of ministry… why that wasn’t covered in my education and training I have no idea! I…

Water Is Life

A number of years ago, I was playing in a ball tournament in New Minas, it was the hottest weekend of the year, blazing sun, there’s a distinct lack of trees on a ball field. There was some humidity and of course, we are all sweating. We were sponsored by Pepsi, so there was LOTS…

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

I created a video of images, both old and current of First Nations people and played it before I started to preach. Some of those are pretty powerful images given what we know about our history with First Nations people. They cast light on history that we probably would rather not know. And yet, we…

Yearning for Abundance

Two weeks ago I spoke of the extravagant love of the father for his wayward son in the story of the Prodigal Son. And how that love was an indication of God’s love for us, immeasurable love, poured out for us. Today we have another story of immeasurable love… a love displayed by a woman… A love…

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…

Covenant Love

  We have entered the season of Lent… a time traditionally set apart to fast, pray and give alms. A time when Christians meditate on Christ’s life and impending death. A time to renew our commitment, our covenant, to following Jesus. Unfortunately, in many cases, Lent has devolved into simply giving up chocolate or something like that. The…

Circling Lent: Astonish

This story comes from my mother, Irma MacDonald, she writes: Further to today’s Lent word ……astonished. Maybe astonished isn’t the right word to use. I don’t know how many of you knew that I was missing the diamond that Dad used to have in his ear.(My father died almost 3 years ago). At any rate…

Circling Lent: Teacher

I love adult study groups and they have been a part of my life since I joined a church and part of my ministry since I was ordained. While I am often the leader, I learn as much as everyone else and from everyone else. It’s exciting to wrestle with questions, to watch eyes light…

Circling Lent: Night

I don’t do a lot of night time photography, mostly because I can barely stay awake after 10, much be out and about. And since I am primarily a fair weather photographer, I don’t do a lot of winter photography either. However, on a trip up the Gaspé Coast of Quebec a few years ago, I…