Year A, Advent Four

Theme: Babies and Stars: Promise or Potential? Quotes Potential has a shelf lifeMargaret Atwood All we are not stares back at what we are.W. H. Auden Revised Common Lectionary Readings Isaiah 7:10-16Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19Romans 1:1-7Matthew 1:18-25 For complete texts, please see Vanderbilt Lectionary Resources: Revised Common Lectionary Texts For commentary on original texts, please see […]

Year A, Advent Two

Theme: Those Crazies; They Have Always Been with Us Quotes Being crazy isn’t enoughDr. Seuss Looks like what drives me crazyDon’t have no effect on you–But I’m gonna keep on at itTill it drives you crazy, too.Langston Hughes, Selected Poems In a world full of people, there’s only some want to fly.Isn’t that crazy.But we’re never […]

Year A, First Sunday after Christmas

Theme: Accompaniment: It takes all of us. Quotes It was no messenger or angel but one’s presence that saved them.Isaiah 63:9 Amended Be here now.Ram Dass Revised Common Lectionary Readings Alternate Readings Words to Introduce the Readings We celebrate a new year by singing out the old year and making commitments for the new. It […]

Year A, Advent One

Theme: Raw and Ready Quotes A sage traveling all day is never far from the supplies in his cart, and however spectacular the views he remains calm and composed.Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching Invitation to Gather Before our eyes opened to this daynaught but darkness lay beneaththe lashes, closed, that sheltered us within the nightand let […]

We have a plus sign!

Who isn’t frustrated with Gutenberg, the new Wordpress writing system? Me. I’m totally over it.

Easter: Not quite yet

How do you deal with Easter? I am often asked what it is that we do at West Hill for Easter. It is one of the keystone events in Christianity. As such, it’s expected that every church will address it in one fashion or another. Sometimes, it is a gruesomely bloody re-enactment of the crucifixion. […]

Trentham: A Hymn for My American Friends

An election night like no other The night ended late. Scott and I stumbled to bed after too many hours of the American election and hearts that were heavy with the result. We weren’t shocked. Not as shocked as some. Perhaps watching it unfold from this northern vantage point had already scared us more than […]

Revisioning the Bible

A project based on the Bible For over a year now, I’ve been working on a project that has me reading the Bible on a weekly basis. I had to take a break for several months to deal with The United Church of Canada‘s review of my effectiveness simply because I could not write during the first many […]

A Progressive Path

I was delighted to see that Clair Woodbury referred to the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity’s points in his article in the Edmonton Journal today, Christianity for the Questioning Generation. Clair undertook to write a response to his granddaughter’s request for a brief outline of Christianity that she could share in her pluralistic school. It took him […]

Culture Change – Bahro

  This was taken off the coast of the Great Ocean Road in 2010. It was a wonderful trip. And those who, throughout my entire journey, have modeled that ability to face insecurity without fear, well, they are my heroes and with me every day.

Confronting the Unbelievers

The United Church Observer, a magazine that explores issues relevant to The United Church of Canada (UCC) and its members from an arm’s length position, has drop-kicked the conversation on whether clergy who no longer believe have a place in the UCC’s pulpits. Confronting the Unbelievers was published in its May issue.* It is a conversation that […]

semantics sleight of hand

For the past many years, I’ve been struggling against the power of the Christian story within the traditional church and outside of it. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Baha’i, and so many other religious streams ply stories of a cosmology that includes either a deity residing in a supernatural realm or a life that is more (or […]

the moral of the story

Our final installation in the Academy Award series is Into the Woods, a film that didn’t get nominated for Best Picture Oscar. Still, it has much to say. I captured its relativistic approach in the new words to the old hymn tune Blaenwern – also singable to Hyfrydol – Nothing Once for All. The truth is […]

intentionally focused contemplation: prayer beyond belief

Doesn’t it seem like the plethora of interactive electronic means for communication available to us has made it harder and harder for us to make time in our daily schedule to be truly attentive to those things that matter most in our lives: our relationships; the issues that are important to us; the values we […]

love must be learned

A simple but ever so hard truth from American short-story writer and novelist, Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980).