I’d Say Yes God If I Knew What You Wanted

Do you know what I love about you folks? You are very cooperative!  Almost any time I ask someone if they will do something, they say yes! Not always, but usually. Last week, I approached 4 people about the possibility of us having a student from the Atlantic School of Theology in January, two said…

Trusting in God’s Providence

How many of you recognize the name Corrie Ten Boom? For those of you who don’t, she was a Dutch woman, a Christian, who helped hide Jews in the family home during the war, but was eventually caught and imprisoned by the Nazis, along with most the rest of her family including her older sister…

Will the Truth Set Us Free?

The truth will set you free, but first it’s going to hurt like hell! Anyone recognize that quote? It’s a quote by Dr. Brené Brown; she is a research professor at the University of Houston; she has spent the past sixteen years studying courage, vulnerability, empathy, and shame. Her Ted Talk on The Power of…

Vine and Jesus

It’s Father’s Day in Canada and many other places around the world. It’s one of two relationships that we all have. Whether or not your father is living, whether or not you know who your father is, no matter what kind of relationship you have with your father, we ALL have a father. It’s one…

A Heart for Persistence

You can listen to the audio version here. Last week, at the Covenanting Service, I gave each of the Transition Team members a small pottery heart with the words, ‘Take Heart’ on them. That phrase comes from one of my favourite passages of scripture, from Matthew 14: It’s when Jesus comes walking on the water, and…

How Do We Spend Our Days?

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. I heard those words on a podcast as I drove to Elmsdale this past week. They were written by Annie Dillard, an American writer and poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Those words resonated with me strongly.…

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 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…

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…