August 1 – October 31, 2017 In The United Church of Canada ministers are eligible to go on a three-month Sabbatical after working in a congregation for 5 years. As this is my 7th year here at Robertson-Wesley, it is time to engage a spiritual practice of Sabbath. The term
Continue readingEighteen. Just finished high school. A time when a pretty young girl’s head is embroidered with visions of sugar plums, thoughts of an endless future, a lacy wedding dress, a fine young husband, and a wee house with a white picket fence. And later, the pitter patter of little feet
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“Don’t you want to do better”? This was the phrase uttered by conductor, Dr. Jonathan Griffiths, while he was addressing the massed choir we participated in, preparing for our Carnegie Hall debut in New York City. At the time, it was applicable to getting a bunch of amateur choristers to
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I went to the Taizé service that Robertson-Wesley hosted in November. It was the first Taizé service that I had been to in a long time. And after the first chant, all the memories of why I love this style of service came flooding back to me. I used to
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Recently, this quote really caught my eye (and brain): “If you would like to establish a connection with people from another culture, it’s always good to offer a few gifts as a gesture of friendship. But, an even better way to forge a lasting bond is by creating something together.
Continue readingI have be looking for God for a long time.I think he/she has always been there, right in front of me but I didn’t see. So many miracles that it became easy for me to overlook the obvious. How God works in my life I am uncertain of, but I believe he/she does. I have
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In my role as the Music Editor of Gathering Magazine, a national United Church worship resource, I write an article for every quarterly edition on a topic pertinent to that edition. The most recent edition I was working on was about words and silence, and that led me to some
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GO BIG OR GO HOME Luke 9: 1-3“Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no
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It happened again! I fell victim to believing that success is found and measured in the product. As we come to the end of our second Spiritual Collective I found myself feeling pressure about quantitative tangible results which really belong to the business world not the faith community. The collective
Continue readingI am not an UBER religious person. I believe in God, and try to live by his principles. I joined the United Church at 16, sang in the choir, married in the church, had my children baptized – all the normal average things. But then I went many years without
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