Origin of this whole darned show…
Where do I come from? How did I get here? Like this? Well, as a conspiration of the molecules, atoms, events and relationships, history and cataclysms have brought me here. And here is where I am from; I will live from here. Flesh from the edge of space, from the vast expanse of history, reality, […]
Dive toward the liberation of doubt
I live so far away from who I wanted to be when I grew up – a scientist, my world built on what could be proven with measurement, numbers, and the experiments woven from them. My world is now language and ideas, things that are ever in motion and often cannot be proved. I do […]
Seas of possibility …
The numeric exponent that might calculate the number of missed possibilities from any final outcome achieved would wrap the world with its length. It’s incalculable. Every word we uttered or wrote, every ornament we chose for the Christmas tree, and any book we finally picked up to read over the holidays will have come from […]
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I can hardly write. The words pasted over this morning’s Almanac card slayed me. Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published never forget you are a breathing accident of chance ample with reverberations of the impossible a bright buoyant moment in the dark indifferent stream of time Maria PopovaAn Almanac of […]
Patience with change …
“[P]atience with all attempts at changing … is respect bestowed on the present…” Maria Popova This quote, from Maria Popova’s An Almanac of Birds, caused me to pause when I first read it. Of course that is true! Taking our time to move away from what has been is a way of honouring what’s gone […]
Year A, Second Sunday after Christmas
Theme: Supersized Superheroes Quotes What do we do with our lives;we leave only a mark.Will our story shine like a lightor end in the dark? Give it all or nothingTerry Britten, Gary Lyle, We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) Superheroes were born in the minds of people desperate to be rescued.Jodi Picoult, The Tenth Circle […]
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 Three
Theme: Hard Work Quotes Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn’t an option; it’s a necessity.Steve Pavlina Revised Common Lectionary Readings Isaiah 35:1-10, Reconsidered For the information of […]
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 […]
Advent Candle Lighting
Many Protestant congregations adopted an Advent Candle Lighting ritual several decades ago. I don’t recall having one in our church when I was a child, but I do remember it feeling like a special part of the December services when I would return from university for the holidays in the late 70s. Perhaps they became […]
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 […]
Resources for inspiring community
Over the years, I have collected and written huge amounts of material and hope you might find it useful as you create opportunities for people to fall in love with being together, the most important achievement of church or any gathering we might hope to create. I’ve two projects underway. Lectionary-based Resources One of my […]
Over the Backyard Fence
Hello, my neighbours! It’s been too long! Scott and I have lived at XXXXXXX since XXXX. We’ve waved at a few of you, patted some of your pets, and said hello at the mailbox a few times. But we’ve not yet managed to get to know you. The challenges of the Coronavirus known as COVID-19 […]
What use is prayer?
A day of sorrow and anger elicits frustration with the act of prayer.
Wow. I’m in the New York Times
You’re probably thinking that it has got to be a total rush to have the weekend edition of the New York Times include a story about you. You’re right. It is. Sort of. When we read articles in newspapers and magazines, it’s easy to forget that there is an entire backstory the journalist couldn’t fit […]
We have a plus sign!
Who isn’t frustrated with Gutenberg, the new Wordpress writing system? Me. I’m totally over it.
The end of one thing; the beginning of the next
The ordeal West Hill and I have been experiencing for three and a half years as my ministry and credentials have been at stake, is over. This coming Sunday, I return to my congregation without a cloud hanging over our heads and secure in the knowledge that the community we have built at West Hill […]
An Amazing Line-up
Ensaf Haidar, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, … Wow. I am simply astonished at the people we’ve been able to schedule for West Hill’s Lives in the Balance Conference, co-sponsored with Humanist Canada. Not only will Ensaf Haidar, Raif Badawi‘s unbelievably strong wife, be with us, we also have Rafida Bonya Ahmed, author and widow of Avijit […]
Shared Humanity
Many of us were moved by the movie Avatar, and some of us most deeply by the greeting spoken by that Na’vi, “I see you.” It is a powerful moment of recognition and an equally powerful reminder to be fully present to the other. But James Cameron didn’t come up with the idea. It has […]
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