I know it may sound a little trite in light of the much more serious losses all around us right now, but I’m just going to say it: I am sad about losing Easter. Easter is my very most favourite holiday of the year. And at our church, we do Easter big. I literally started…
Week one was busy. There were so many things to figure out. There were new routines and constant processing and dealing with what was right in front of us. It was moving to our online worship time and calling everyone in church and a thousand meetings. I didn’t have much time to think about anything.…
A few months ago I mapped out the series of sermons I would preach for the next few months. I wanted to talk about a simple concept: love. Each week we would consider what love looks like in a real way. And each week we would look at parts of the story of Jesus to…
I had some great intentions for this week. My kids, I had planned, would have lots of things to enjoy despite all the shut downs. They would stay engaged in learning. They would not sit in front of screens too often. We would do online museum tours! We would have family games nights! We would…
A lot sure has changed since last week. This time last week our staff was meeting in my office, talking about things like our upcoming Easter service and our next round of small groups, breathing near each other all willy-nilly with not a care in the world… One week later we are all working from…
I am going to be completely honest: Covid-19 scares me. No, I am not especially scared for myself, though I am not naive enough to think that I will remain unscathed. But I am worried about lots of things… I am worried about caring for my family if we have to go in isolation for…
There is a little saying that pastors use when we find ourselves facing a situation that is unexpected or requires a skill we don’t have. It is: “They never taught me THAT in seminary!” Seminary is the school a lot of us attend to train for vocational ministry. We learn a lot of important things…
I have always hated doing things in front of others that I’m not good at. I don’t like looking stupid. I don’t like seeming inadequate. I don’t like failing at things. To avoid any of these possibilities, my strategy for most of my life has been to simply NOT do things where I wouldn’t excel.…
One summer when I worked at camp, there was something that happened that became one of our favourite laugh-out-loud stories. It involved a sweet little boy whose name was Kenneth. One particular night, his leader noticed that he had gotten sick during his sleep. His sleeping bag, his pillow, and even his face was covered…
When someone is grieving, there are a lot of times that we anticipate being difficult: first birthdays, special occasions, anniversaries of the loss, and, of course, Christmas. Christmases after the loss of a loved one are forever different. It is hard not to dwell on the empty seat at the table and the gift NOT…
