Pilgrims of Hope
Today marks the last Sunday of the year in the liturgical cycle of our Church, with next Sunday being the first in Advent. As we look towards the new year, I am reflecting on hope since not only is it is the theme for the First Week of Advent, and it also happens to be the theme for the upcoming Jubilee Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope, announced by Pope Francis in May of …
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Room for God to Work
Can you tell me how God is at work in your life today? Maybe pause for a moment and give this some thought…where do you see evidence of the Holy Spirit moving through your life?
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What did you come up with? I suspect each person will have a unique take on this. Did anyone answer, “I don’t know”?
If I am …
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Said He Would Calm the Raging Sea
As a resident of Halifax in 2003 I had the dubious privilege of living through Hurricane Juan, a Category 2 hurricane which tore through parts of the Maritimes just after midnight on September 29th. Those of us living on the Atlantic Coast are familiar with hurricane warnings, but the severity of Juan was unusual and unexpected. Eight Nova Scotians lost their lives in the worst storm to hit Halifax …
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Faithful Servants
After studying the readings for today I wondered how I could possibly say anything about love that has not already been said more eloquently by greater theological minds. I could have used many personal examples such as family and friends, or one of the many folks I encounter who consistently radiate joy, kindness and love. Lately though, my two dogs have been demanding a great deal of my energy, time and resources, so I …
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A few years ago, someone close to me learned through DNA testing that one of the parents who raised her was not a biological parent. This sent waves of shock through her family, in part because half her DNA was from an entirely different race of people with a different language and culture. “Your ancestry DNA certainly sounds more interesting than mine,” was my response, which I now know was cavalier, given the personal and emotional upheavel she was …
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Teach Us Something New
“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” ~Isaiah 43:18-21
Think back for a moment on the teachers you have encountered in your lifetime. Were there teachers you still remember today as “good” teachers? What do you think made them a good teacher? Were they an authority on an issue …
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The Wilderness of 2023
As we observe the Season of Advent amid the wilderness of 2023, we are reminded to not get ahead of ourselves and celebrate Christmas before spending time reflecting and preparing. This is good advice. I do not think we are meant to move from Halloween directly into celebrating Christmas without preparation. But depending on how you look at it, I feel like there is a lot of stuff going on.
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Cowboys, Kraft Dinner, and Racism
I recently had a conversation about watching old movies, specifically the John Wayne-type of westerns. In the 1970s and early 1980s you could watch a John Wayne western any Saturday afternoon on one of the two fuzzy channels we received on television in rural New Brunswick. I experience good, warm feelings when I think of these westerns, recalling memories of feeling safe, sitting on the floor in front of the television …
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Exodus’ telling of the Israelites camping in the desert, coupled with Jesus’ missioning of the 12 disciples to “go out to the lost sheep of the House of Israel,” brought to mind the ongoing Synod on Synodality underway in our Church and its implications for how we as a Church might become less polarized and exclusive, while at the same time becoming more compassionate, loving, and hospitable to everyone Jesus invited to the table. I do not mean my …
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The task of religion is not to turn us into ‘proper’ believers; it is to deepen the personal within us, to embrace the power of life, to expand our consciousness, in order that we might see things that eyes do not normally see. ~Bishop John Shelby Spong
In my last reflection, I wrote about an angel made from a glittery ribbon that watches protectively from the living room mirror in my mother’s home. For years I …
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