Is there a song that sticks with you throughout your day, one you hum in the shower, sing as you walk down the street, belt out loud and proud as you are driving and the song comes on the radio? There are reasons these songs stick...

There is a thirty year old story that has been shared with me by multiple sources about an Anglican Church in downtown Toronto that was about to receive their new Rector. This former church of the establishment had fallen on hard times...

In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken…Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place…

Long time Lutheran pastor Janet H. Hunt says of our Gospel text for today, “I know the images offered in today's Gospel lesson speak of a final judgment where 'goats' and 'sheep' are separated one from another. I know this. And yet I find it most helpful to hear this...

When you think back to the rituals and ceremonies of your religious upbringing what experiences come to mind? For me the first thing I think of is The Introit (churchy language), and in particular the singing of the first verse of Holy, Holy, Holy...

Over the summer and fall of 2017 I have been reading a series of books written by historian Margaret MacMillan. In particular I have been reading MacMillan’s texts on the First World War, the years leading up to this conflict, the war itself and the year spent coming to terms with the war’s fallout. In case you don’t remember...

A popular translation of our text for today reads like this:

You know what kind of people we were when we visited you. We were there for you! And you became just like we are. Just like the Lord is. After all, even in great turmoil, you accepted God's word with the joy only the Holy Spirit can give...

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians from prison. According to Jesus scholar and Bishop Tom Wright “Paul sat in prison in Ephesus with only a few friends and colleagues looking after him when suddenly a guest appeared bringing news from the church in Philippi...

When a challenge presents itself in your life how do you respond? I am a problem-solver, who likes to look at creative solutions to complex problems, I usually take a deep breath and start thinking about all the possible things I can do or say to bring about a better tomorrow. Do I pray about it? Yes I do. But the prayer is often when I walk...

It is human nature to tell stories! Why else would thousands and thousands of people crowd into an auditorium to hear the late Stuart MacLean share his Vinyl Café stories? Frankly any of us can hear such stories on the internet, watch them from the comfort of our own homes on Netflix or listen to a podcast on satellite radio in our car. There is something about the live human voice sharing a reflection...

One of the hardest parts of my work, one of the greatest privileges I am afforded, are the conversations I have with persons who are aware that their death immanent. Facing one’s own death with that kind of clarity can lead to some very powerful insights and revelations. If you watch movies or television you have likely heard some of these conversations...

How we live with disagreement in community is never an easy thing to navigate. If you are like me there is that tension between wanting to feel a sense of integrity, that the community you belong to shares your values and on the other hand the worry that you an extra get a dose of “self-righteous purity” imagining that everyone must think just like you...

Five years ago I was invited to participate on a national United Church committee that looked ahead to equipping churches for the 21st century. One model we looked at closely was the house church, specifically house churches across Canada where faith-filled people with interest in United Church theology and practice were actually living together under one roof...

We didn’t talk much about evil when I was growing up. Throughout my upbringing in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was enormous faith in progress, technology and education to eradicate all forms of ignorance. And the consensus view in that time was this; there is no such thing as evil (a mere superstition). Terrible atrocities, like genocides, were the fault of a lack of education, knowledge, and eventually could be removed from the face of the earth with the right strategy...

Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon point out that this section of the Lord’s Prayer is the “most difficult to pray, the longest and most involved petition in the prayer itself.” Author NT (Tom) Wright suggests the reason forgiveness is such a potent topic in the Christian faith is because for many believers knowing how and when to forgive another can be the most difficult part of one’s faith journey...

When couples come together under one roof there is always some negotiation and flexibility required to find a way to live into new rituals. Eating meals together, and usually in our culture households gather at supper time, is one of those rituals that each partner in the relationship bring their own experience. When Kim and I were first married... 

Last Sunday night we were discussing the Lord’s Prayer at Brunswick Street United Church and the person sitting next to me leaned in and said, “When we live out the justice and love God intended us to embody as a community, as a world, we find the Lord’s Prayer alive and real.” He looked me in the eyes and repeated, “Thy Kingdom Come.” Indeed...

One of the crossroads in my life was a period in the late 1980’s when I had just completed six months of work as a Labourer-Teacher in the Canadian north with Frontier College. My work there was to fetch resources for carpenters and iron workers who were building forms for concrete to be poured...

In recent years I have come to lean more on the Psalms than any other part of the Bible. In my early years of ministry I read the Gospels for inspiration and direction, in particular Luke’s Gospel with its message of liberation and solidarity with the most vulnerable in our midst. But over time I found I needed to be in a more conversational mode with God...

As you know there are many different kinds of laughter. The type of laugh I want to talk about this morning is distinctive, it is the reaction to being told that you are about to do or be something you never imagined possible. All of us have been there, someone we know tells us to be prepared to assume a certain responsibility, an unexpected role, and we simply can’t believe our ears. And we laugh...