Meditation
I thought that this week I would share a meditation through music as well as words. For Everyman was written by Jackson Browne in 1973 at the height of the Vietnam War and the Cold War. While many counter-culture artists were proclaiming an escapist vision of checking out of “the establishment” that seemed like it […]
There was a time when families paid for their church pew. Parents and offspring would wedge themselves neatly, side by side, into their allotted space. Wealthy patrons near the front, working class at the back. People of color, when allowed entrance, relegated to the balcony. In some churches, pews were equipped with tiny wooden doors, […]
Hebrews 12:1-2a “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” Terry Fox was a […]
Liturgy can be lost, in isolation . . .or it can be found, in intentionality.Our Sunday liturgy at Edith Rankin Memorial United Church in Kingston has always literally been the “Work of the People,” and in this Covid-19 world, the people must work to innovate. We have seen some communities of faith move directly to […]
It was a December morning, back when groups still gathered. Before social distancing was a thing. I lay on my yoga mat in the little country church, contemplating the small bedazzled stiletto hanging above the baby Jesus. Huh. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what guided the Magi in the well-loved story, but there it was, […]
The robins are back. They’ve built a spectacularly messy nest on top of the light by our front door, obscuring the warm glow of our shaker-style lantern with long tendrils of garden debris – once the protective layer around last year’s perennials, now a tattered veil. Our feathered friends are not happy with us. They […]
Last week, a reading from the Psalms popped into my mind … How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:4). It struck me that our church buildings have been closed for four weeks with at least another four ahead of us. We, a people with tremendous freedoms have been told to stay […]
This Easter, for most of us, is unlike any Easter we have ever known. This Easter we are making sense of the Death and Resurrection story in the midst of a Human Crisis story. Most of us have experienced some sort of personal crisis … sickness, the loss of a job, a car wreck. Sometimes […]
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (Colossians 3, v.12) Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3, v.14) I created this simple graphic in an attempt to visually illustrate the connection between the various garments of Christian Grace. […]
I remember hearing a story about an off-Broadway matinée being performed on November 22, 1963. There was a moment in the play when one of the characters listens to a transistor radio. As a prop, the character used a real radio, and simply tuned in to the current broadcast. During the particular performance, the actor turned on the radio shortly after 1:30 pm, just as the voice on the radio was announcing …