A few weeks ago members, many members of our congregation had a wonderful time preparing for and participating in the story of David and Goliath, whether through singing, directing, making props and costumes or cooking that great meal. What made it fun was not just all the hilarity and fun in dressing up, but the story itself, about how we are strengthened by our God when we are up against the giants in our world. more...

But the Lord looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) This is the only tool of discernment that the Lord’s prophet, Samuel is given as he is given the task of seeking out a new King for Israel to replace King Saul who has crawled away in grief to lick his wounds of disappointment. The story in Samuel is a complicated bit of politics, not unlike reading about the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or the political intrigue that swirls around Washington or Ottawa. more...

Can you teach a social conscience?  The answer according to several departments at Queen’s University is that you can certainly give it a good ol’ college try. Several departments have been trying to do just that over the past few years, fields of study such as engineering, business and social policy planning. Students are given an opportunity to work with community groups, that work on the front lines of charity and social change, groups known now as the Third Sector,  to learn from these groups what some of the real issues are and to offer some expertise from their research at university. The engineering students are given real environmental problems, such as the dumping of raw sewage into our lakes and rivers (which we do here in Kingston from time to time right beside my mother’s house), and to develop real strategies that will help alleviate the problems. more...

If any community deserved a Mardi Gras, that evening of wild celebration before the journey of Lent begins, it was New Orleans, for we know that the people and the land of that community have suffered for far too long. The devastation to that city and the other places that were traumatized by Hurricane Katrina are a living testimony to the powers of both nature's chaos and to the chaos caused by human error, short–sightedness, and racism that is human sin. Although we hear many stories of nature's destruction, of human complicity in the storm's fury by the lack of action and direction by the White House Administration, we also are hearing stories of hope and redemption. more...

It was an exceptionally hot day that day and I was tired, as usual. Life didn't really seem that worth living to me for I had spent many years confined to my cot, watching the world happen around me, waiting for people to come to me, finding ways to have others meet my needs. My family had been good to me but my parents had long since died and if it weren't for my friends, I would have starved long ago. They brought me food and drink and made sure I was warm at night and took turns tending to my needs, telling me all the latest gossip. more...

What does it mean to be healed? Does that always mean that we are cured of our illness or is there a way in which we can achieve or be granted healing, a sense of wholeness and peace with life without having been cured?

In my first summer field placement as a student minister in a congregation in Deep River, Ontario, I met a very sick man who was neither cured of his illness, nor I believe – healed. more...

To the world he's dead. But soon, he'll become the most wanted man alive. The terror alert level has just been raised. Every second counts. My name is Jack Bauer, and this is the longest day of my life.... Jack's back!... An often vulnerable, sensitive super hero, Jack foils the attempts of the enemy, some of whom are often within the President's own inner circle, with the his own ingenuity, instinct, skill with weaponry, and the most sophisticated array of technology and special agents that I think television has ever concocted....

However, we have a much older text to refer to when battling against the forces of evil that affect and infect our world on a daily basis, a text that doesn't rely on advanced weaponry, computer technology or skills in the marital arts. more...

Who gets in the last word in your life? To whom or what do you give authority? My own family of origin was a traditional family in that my father claimed to have final authority, at least according to my mother, who when caught in a conflictual situation with her children, would often be heard to say, "wait till your father gets home!" And usually he would rise to the occasion, especially if he had had a bad day at work. more...

It's the middle of the night and after a long time trying to get to sleep, you are suddenly awakened, again. If you are a parent with a young infant, you listen for the sounds of breathing and restlessness coming from the monitor, noticing if there is anything unusual. If you have teenager, you listen more intently to hear if it is the phone ringing, or the creaking sound of a door opening and closing. You listen to your own body in case it is trying to tell you something. You strain your ear to the outside world in case a wind is howling or there is a sudden snow storm that will give you a snow day tomorrow. You try to put your dreamscape into rewind mode in case there were starling dream images that were trying to tell you something important. more...