Have a look at this image and see what the God of Love is saying to you.
It's on my kitchen table because I had my art stuff out on it.
So… if you look at the background of the table, it's all kind of multicoloured in lots of different colours of blue and gold and then there were lots of pastels and different little things that I was drawing with.
And then there are two images. The one in the background has bars on it and the one in the foreground has a figure whose face is blanked out but it's surrounded by colour.
So when you're looking at the image:
Is there a reason why the person has no face and why is it very grey?
And… why are they surrounded by bright colours?
And what do you think the impact is of the bars?
What do you feel the God of love is saying in this image?
And what might be the next stage of the story for the person and the image?

So, you'll be glad to hear I haven't actually finished the picture, it still needs more work doing on it, so it is like a work in progress.

I was thinking of people that were being persecuted, that was in my heart when I was doing the picture, but that there's life around them as well, from God.

There is a lot in the world around us and in our personal lives as well but we know we're anchored in love and in a God who is not asleep, but very aware and holding everything. And so one place where I find that to be true is to always go into nature. And so, as you well know, most of what I share from my art is nature-inspired.
Before we get into the painting that I have today, I just focused in on a few quotes that I wrote in a little
notebook that I have.
My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness. Michaelangelo

Emily Carr is a well-known British Columbia artist who has already passed away, but she writes,
When I go into nature, I stand at the threshold of the divine.

God is like a great breathing among the trees.

Thomas Merton: the gateway of Heaven is everywhere.
John Muir: nature is a mere reflecting the Creator.

So I'm going to take you into the Bible, the First Bible, which is Nature.
And we're gonna see what the spirit wants to share or light up for each one of us today.

So, first of all, we want to look at what we see. Just gaze at the whole image.
Notice the colors, the shapes the lines.
Perhaps there's a symbol in there?
That kind of is capturing your attention.
Maybe you're going to one place where your eye is lingering there.
Don't try to figure it out, just let it rest there.

You might even be avoiding a certain area.
And you may even, within your beings, just wonder like, what… what is there for me there?
And what I'm avoiding or resisting?

And what inspires me?
Where's the yes?

And let's talk about opening our heart and imagination which is a gift from God.
And take a second look.
Are there feelings that are coming up? Longings?
There might even be a memory that you're going back to.

Or hope that stirred.
So just simply be with that.
Let it keep rising up.
Slowly begin to notice what is being revealed in your seeing.
And through what you might be feeling.

What is the invitation in this moment right now in the day-to-day life you're living?

What is God calling you to do or to be?

Are any insights coming up?

Is there an invitation that's growing?

I heard the thirsty throat crack

It cried out,

“How long until there is

 A new song? When will we see you?”

It’s an old song, Lord

It’s an old truth, a liturgy

Winding its way through the ages

Sounding from the voices

Of the dried out and the broken

All sharing the pilgrim’s question

This hunger feels like famine

This thirst is a desert wide

When will justice appear like

Fresh bread and wine?

I sat down on the ramparts

To hear the Lord’s reply.

—eric h janzen

I'm gonna read out the Beatitude for today, and again, it's from the First Nations version, because Sarah sent it me, and I thought it was brilliant.
So Creator's blessing rests on the ones who walk softly.
And in a humble manner, the earth, land, and sky will welcome them, and always be their home.

This is what's called play area of England called the Late District, and I just love being up there and it's by Conniston Waters.

So what I'd like you to do is just to bear in mind the verse I've just read out, and then let God speak to you as you gaze upon this picture, and I'm gonna read the verse again and then just let God just speak to you through it.

Creator's blessings rest on the ones who walk softly,
And in a humble manner,
The earth, land, and sky will welcome them.
And always be their home.

So, as you look at the picture, there may be… look for the shadows and where the sun lies as well.
There may be something from those that just touch you, or the glimpse of the water, and they, um, Conniston waters through the trees.
And if you see through the branches, you'll see blue sky.
With some clouds above.
But just let that image just soak in.

Is this something in the picture that makes you feel welcomed by God?
Is there something that makes your heart just so, so happy?

Sarah Pickering

You can find more poems by Sarah on her substack: https://substack.com/@acrylicsandink

What are you drawn to?

Is there anything you have an aversion to?

Is there an emotion that comes up as you ponder this picture or coming year?

Is there a message for you, a sign, a direction to take, within the image of this photo?

As we enter into this new year, consider it as a portal, a path, a way, and can we see just enough ahead to know that there is light, a passage ahead, another open door, to what might yet come. 

Can you sense the joy?

Sweep the whole painting and notice the shapes the colors, the lines, the details.
You might already be even looking for symbols.
You might also notice that your eye seems to be going in one particular area.
It might be a color, it might be a detail, just don't try to figure it out, just keep moving.

Notice what doesn't attract you, or that you skip over quickly, that maybe even doesn't seem important. Observe that, too. Maybe that's what you want to address, or what the Spirit wants to address in you today as well.
Slowly become aware of the place on the image that is for you today. It might be a color, a shape, a tiny detail.

Stay open and present to it. Just listen to what it wants to communicate to you about.
Open your imagination, there might be feelings coming up, a longing, a memory?
Y
ou might even be just curious, wondering what this woman is thinking about. Or is she thinking?

Is there hope that's stirring for you?

Maybe there's an invitation in this moment of your life, in the day-to-day life that you're living, what is God calling you to do or to be?

What are the insights that you've gained?
Is that invitation still growing in you?

Do another sweep and see if there's anything else that comes up.

Is there something that Jesus is saying to you through this image?
It could be that… Jesus is the light in some… some area of your life.
It could be… that there's an incense of prayer and intercession that is going up to heaven.
Or you might just be looking at a candle that is waiting to be lit
Take a few moments just to have a look and gaze at the image to see what Jesus is saying to you.
It could be that… it's reminding you of Advent approaching
Or it could be that… you remembering Jesus is the light.

What do you see?

Be aware of where the Spirit of God is going to take you, through this image. Just maybe, first of all, just let your eyes just sweep the whole image.

Notice the colours. I always say green is God's favourite colour. 

Notice the shapes, the lines, the details. Look for symbols.

Is there anything your eye is drawn to?
Notice the areas of disinterest too. Is there part you are resisting?

What are you seeing? What memories are being stirred? What feelings or longings?
Is there hope in this image?
Is there an invitation? 
Is there something God is calling you to do, or calling you to be?

Look at the whole image
How might this room reflect your heart?
Would the doors to your heart be open?

Focus on the locks
What are the locks you use to lock off your heart?

Focus on the steps
What do we need to ascend, or is there something we need to overcome in order to move out and engage with what is out there, and beyond ourselves?

Focus on the street
Consider what would draw you out and what you would hope to see and experience once you are at the top of the stairs.

Zoom out to the whole image again
What invitation do you sense being given?

Details:
START: 10:30am but 10:20 for coffee 

Zoom: we will be zooming from there, so it will all be normal for you if you join via zoom.

Address: The church is on Clearbrook, but to get in you need to turn onto Blueridge Drive and then make a right onto Valdes Drive and turn right to access the parking lot.

Our community will enter the building through the first set of double doors, look out for the Bridge sandwich board and Nathan Neudorf's smiling welcome!

Hopefully we'll see as many of you there as possible!

Join us at Fraser Valley Pride this coming Saturday. 
Find us at our booth!

A Summer camp for 6-11 years and 12-14 years.
Camp Spirit at Gladwin Heights United Church, August 5-8

Join our new online community on heartbeat.
Check your email for a link or message Sarah for one 

- L.R. KNOST

What are you drawn to? 
Is there a message in it for you?

Thanks to Ruth Chesterman for this photograph.

Dear Jesus, we invite you into this prayer exercise and invite you to speak to us through our eyes and our hearts as we look at this image.

This image was chosen in particular because it is Missing, murdered, indigenous women time, memory time.

Look at the image. And let your eyes stay with the first thing you see.

Just stay with it for a while.

What thoughts or emotions are coming to your mind? What might you be feeling?

Ask God, as we have, please speak to us. We invite you to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings.

Taking the picture as a whole what else stands out to you beyond the first item you focused on?
How does the entire image make you feel?
Does it provoke any… Questions.
Or stir up memories.
Or even a scripture passage.

The earth is yours, O Giver of Life, 
in all its fullness and glory,
the world and all those who dwell therein;
For You have founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the rivers.
Psalm 24:1-2

This psalm starts out as a psalm of praise for all that God has made.
Read these few verses a few times slowly.
Take a minute to look outside, or go outside, and experience the ‘fullness and glory’ of it all.
Come back and read the psalm again, giving thanks to our Creator.

Earth day is a good day to remember our Creator and to celebrate Their most beautiful creation. At the bridge our tagline is 'Loving God by Loving What God Loves.' This is a deliberate choice to expand it beyond the more expected, Loving God, Loving People, because of course, loving people, but it's more than that. Humans are not the only ones deserving of love, the more-than-human are here too. And loving all of them is how we love God. But there is more, it isn't just that we love, but that we are loved. I have been learning this reciprocity from Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book, The Serviceberry.

Knowing that you love the earth changes you,
activates you to defend and protect and celebrate.
But when you feel that the earth loves you in return,
that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street
into a sacred bond.
ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

Earth Day
by Sarah Pickering

You love us
In the brand new green of spring
The rabbit on the grass, the chickadee
The ice cold of the glacier fed river
Fish, shimmering in patches of sunlight
The bark of the white birch glistening
Gathered together on the forest edge
The sound of crows, cawing in the morning
Calling to one another, deep in conversation
You love us
With provisions of medicine and sustenance
Water, shelter, fresh air
Teach humans how we love you in return
To only use as much
As you are able to give
And not cause you harm
With one strip of bark
From the mighty cedar
You love us, thank you
We have so much to learn

As well as thinking about how you love the earth today, consider how the earth loves you.
Does that change how you look at it?
Does that change how you act?
Does that change how you feel?

The passage for today is Matthew 27:57-66

When it was evening (on Friday) Joseph of Arimathea came forward, asking Pilate if he might have the body of Jesus. Pilate acquiesced and Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn from rock. Then he rolled a great stone so the door of the tomb was sealed and he departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting by the tomb.

The next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate. They said, “Lord, we remember what that deceiver (Jesus) said while he was still alive. ‘After three days I will rise.’ Command, therefore, the tomb be secured until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him, and tell the people he has been raised from the dead.’ and the last deception would be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, “You may have a squad; go, secure it as you can.” So they went with the guard and secured the tomb, sealing the stone.

It is so curious to me that the ones who took Jesus at his words were the ones who worked against him.

Anyway, back to this Saturday of the in between where we find ourselves waiting with Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and the other unnamed women at the tomb. They didn’t know what they were waiting for and although we do, we keep vigil with them.

May you find some space for silence today. Perhaps light a candle. Wait.

A poem for the Silence of Saturday

Saturday
Quiet, nothing
Heavy stillness
Darkness and weeping
Alone with our sorrow
We wait

The First Saturday
A sob rises from deep within
Who will be our comfort?
The One we need, who has always been
Our centre point
- Missing
What will make sense of this moment?
This Silent Saturday we weep
Heaven is silent in our sorrow
We mourn, we console
One another
For He is gone

He is gone to the place of the dead
To burst through the doors
And pull them all up to life
He is lifting Adam by the wrists
Drawing Eve up from the grave
Unlocking doors and leaving them
Swinging on their hinges
All humanity coming with Him
He is harrowing hell
This is liberation day
All past - today - forever
Will rise as He rises
But wait until tomorrow
This is today’s work
Work that He alone can do
While we wait in silence

Poem - Sarah Pickering

The text in Gafney’s Lectionary is a long one for Good Friday. We will start in the middle of it.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this person for leading the people astray. Look now, I have examined him in your presence and have not found this person guilty of your charges against him. Nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look here, there is nothing deserving death in his case. Therefore whip and release him.”

Then they shouted together, saying, “Away with him! Release for us Barabbas”
Barabbas was in prison for murder having masterminded a rebellion that had take place in the city. Again Pilate appealed to the crowds but the crowd kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” He asked them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found nothing deserving of death; I will, therefore, have him whipped and release him.” But the crowd instead with loud shouts that he be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate passed sentence to grant their demand and released the one in prison for rebellion and murder who they asked for, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

Good Friday

The text in Gafney’s Lectionary is a long one for Good Friday. We will start in the middle of it.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this person for leading the people astray. Look now, I have examined him in your presence and have not found this person guilty of your charges against him. Nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look here, there is nothing deserving death in his case. Therefore whip and release him.”

Then they shouted together, saying, “Away with him! Release for us Barabbas”
Barabbas was in prison for murder having masterminded a rebellion that had take place in the city. Again Pilate appealed to the crowds but the crowd kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” He asked them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found nothing deserving of death; I will, therefore, have him whipped and release him.” But the crowd instead with loud shouts that he be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate passed sentence to grant their demand and released the one in prison for rebellion and murder who they asked for, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

How quickly things can turn. Where there had been cries of ‘Hosanna’ there are now shouts of ‘Crucify him!’

As they led Jesus away, they seized Simon of Cyrene who was coming from the country, and they laid on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. A great number of people followed him, and a group of women who were beating their breasts and walling for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep only for yourselves and for your children. Look, the days are surely coming when they will say, Blessed are barren women, and wombs that have never given birth, and breasts that have never nourished. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills 'Cover us’ For if when the wood is green they do this, when it is dry what will happen?"

Now two criminals were also led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Jesus with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They divided his clothing by casting lots. And the people stood there, watching; but the leaders ridiculed him, saying, "Others he saved; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, God's chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him vinegar wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Judeans, save yourself. There was also an inscription above him, "This is the King of the Judeans."
One of the criminals who was hanging there derided him, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same death sentence? And we indeed justly, for what we have done merits what we are receiving, but this one has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your realm." Jesus replied to him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

And it was now about the sixth hour of the day, or noon, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour of the day, about three in the afternoon. The sun's light ceased, and the curtain of the temple was torn in the middle. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Saying this then, he breathed out a final time, Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God, saying, "This man was indeed innocent." And all the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, beating their breasts, they turned back. All those who knew him stood far off; the women who had followed him from Galilee were watching these things.

Try and make some space for silence in today.

Here is a poem to help you reflect and remain in this day, not jumping too quickly through it to Easter Sunday. Sunday is coming, but we aren’t there yet.

We sit with the loss today
We can only lean into You
And find You in the darkness
The sun, in solidarity with
The Light of the World
Went dark that day
We sit in the darkness
The earth, in union with
The Rock of our Salvation
Quaked and was broken apart
When everything shakes
You are
The curtain in the Temple
Once a barrier
Torn, like Your body
A new way is made ready
But first death
But first hell
But first there is work to be done

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain person, and say, 'The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples." So the disciples did just as Jesus instructed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve, and while they ate, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. And they became deeply grieved and each one began to say to him, "Not me, is it Rabbi," He responded and said, "The one who dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. Indeed, the Son of Woman goes away as it is written of him, but woe to the person by whom the Son of Woman is betrayed! It would have been better for that person not to have been born." Judas, who betrayed him, responded and said, "It wasn't me was it, Rabbi?" He replied, "You said it."

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and blessing it, he broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body. Then he took a cup, and giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins, I tell you all, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you all in the realm of my Abba."

What do you notice in this renaissance painting of the Last Supper?
The Passover meal is a family meal, with everyone, young and old at the table. Artists reduce this to Jesus and his disciples but it is totally appropriate to picture yourself at the table with them.

And when they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, "You will all become scandalized to the point of desertion because of me this night; for it is written,
"For I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered?
But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you all to Galilee." Peter said to him,
“Though all become scandalized and desert because of you, I will never desert you." Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, "Should it be necessary I die with you, I will not deny you." Then likewise said all the disciples.

Then Jesus came with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them,
"You all sit here while I go pray there." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed, Then he said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; you all stay here, and stay awake with me." And going on a lite, he fell on the ground and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this up pass from me; nevertheless not what I want but what you do. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, you all were not strong enough to stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you all may not come into the test; indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, for the second time, Jesus went away and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is not possible for this to pass lest I drink it, let your will be done." And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying those words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep now and take your rest. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Woman is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand."

While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came and with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I kiss is he; take him." At once he came up to Jesus and said, "Shalom, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, this is why you have come." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. Suddenly, someone with Jesus reached out with his hand, drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Return your sword to its place; for all who choose the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think I am not able to ask my Father, who will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? How then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must be thus?" At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Is it as for a bandit you all have come out with swords and clubs to seize me? Daily in the temple I sat teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has happened, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

In her commentary on these few verses Gafney writes, ‘Jesus’s embrace of Jerusalem, its history and hopes, ugly realities, looming threats, sacred space, and all of its people - citizens, immigrants, pilgrims, and occupiers - was all inclusive. There is room for all in his embrace.’

Take a look at the painting.

Can you picture yourself in the protective place where the hen and chicks are in this image?
Is there someone or a situation you would like to pull in there with you?
Spend a few minutes telling Jesus about them.

Doves, pigeons, ceremonial ephemera, and money was scattered as Jesus turned the tables. He cleared the Court of the Gentiles of the moneychangers, and merchants, turning the tables on how the temple was operating. This outer court was the place that the nations had been given to come to learn about God and God’s ways. This was a Holy Place. Those doing business in the temple were crowding out the real business of the temple.
 

As the dust and noise settled in the temple court they came to Him. Those who were troubled, those who were suffering, those who needed relief now had space to come to Him, and they came one by one and He cured them.

When the chief priests and religious scholars saw the chaos of the clearing out, the amazing healings that took place, and heard the girls and boys echoing the refrain from two days ago on the streets of the city, singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry. They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what they are saying?”

The children circled Jesus singing, laughing, dancing, and Jesus, looking at them, said to the indignant men, “Yes, come on, I know that you have read the scriptures that say, ‘Children and infants will sing praise’.”

Jesus’ work at the temple was finished for the day and He left them, went out of the city, back to the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany, and spent the night there.

On Tuesday of Holy Week we see Jesus making space for everyone to come to God, pushing back the tables and making room for every nation. We see Him making space for those who needed His help and clearing out the things that hindered them and kept them at a distance.

Take a minute to consider.

Is there anything that needs to be cleared out so you might experience the closeness in the way those who came to Jesus that day experienced it?

Is there a way that you can 'push back the tables’ to make room for someone else to come?

Today is Monday in Holy Week and today’s story (from John 12) finds Jesus, six days ahead of the Passover in the village of Bethany.

He came to the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The very Lazarus that Jesus had recently raised from the dead. They were all great friends and Jesus often stayed at their house as he was passing through Bethany on the way to or from Jerusalem. The siblings held a dinner for Jesus and Martha served the meal while Lazarus sat at the table with him along with Jesus’ inner circle of followers.

Mary took a pound of balm made of expensive pure nard. The scent must have filled the whole house, spilling out into the streets of Bethany. Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with the perfume and wiped them with her hair.

Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, “Why was this balm not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” At face value there is merit to this question, indeed the poor could have benefited from this amount of money had it been sold rather than poured on the feet of Jesus, but Judas was not concerned for the poor but for his pocket. He was the keeper of the money bag and syphoned money for himself from the gifts and offerings made to Jesus and his friends.

Jesus, spoke up, and said, “Leave her alone. It was for the day of burial that she kept it.”

Mary poured out an extraordinary amount of expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus, anointing him for burial. What extravagance. That last line points us to the tomb where we will find ourselves at the end of this week. Mary’s action was both prophetic and an act of love for her friend.

To lavish love on Jesus the way Mary did is not within our realm of things to do, but we can lavish love on another human or other than human in a different way. In a story he told to explain about the kin-dom of God (Matthew 25), Jesus said, ‘My Father has blessed you. Come and take what is yours. It is the kin-dom prepared for you since the world was created. I was hungry. And you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty. And you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger. And you invited me in. I needed clothes. And you gave them to me. I was sick. And you took care of me. I was in prison. And you came to visit me… Anything you did for the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Perhaps this is how we spend ourselves with the lavish extravagance of Mary as well as the challenge posed by Judas (even if he didn’t fully mean it himself).

Is there something you can do to care for someone today?

Image credit: Mary anoints Jesus at Bethany, from a mosaic at Church of San Pio da Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, created in 2009.

• Life After Doom - Brian McLaren
• Zen and the art of saving the planet - Thich Naht Hanh
• A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church - Wilda Gafney
• Memory Serves - Lee Maracle, a collection of her speeches sharing from her Coast Salish perspective
• Outside the Lines - Mihee Kim-Kort - a book about embracing queerness to transform faith
• Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul - John Philip Newell
• Soft Words for Hard Days, Enfleshed Disability Wisdom - which is a collection of poetry by disabled writers
• When Things Fall Apart, heart advice for difficult times - Pema Chödrön
• Sacred Self-Care - Dr Chanequa Walker Barnes
• Celtic Daily Light - Ray Simpson
• Psalms for praying - Nan C Merrill
• The Serviceberry - Robyn Wall Kimmerer
• Practice of the Presence - Carmen Acevedo Butcher’s translation of Brother Lawrence
• The Tears of Things - Richard Rohr
• Dr. Jamar Tisby - find on Instagram, also has written books
• Centre for Action and Contemplation (Richard Rohr & Co. ) daily meditation email
• Love Poems from God - Twelve sacred voices from the East and West - Daniel Ladinsky
• How we learn to be brave - M.Budde
• Coffee with Sister Vassa
• Sri Aurobindo wrote a little book that’s amazing wisdom called “The Mother.”
• Sarah Bessey
• Bob Goff
• See No Stranger, Valerie Kaur
• Mirror Bible... gospel of John
• Beth Moores all my knotted up life
• Some bumper stickers (haha)
• And: The Restorative Power of Love in an Either/Or World -  Felicia Murrell

What and who would you add?

(AND DON'T FORGET YOURSELF!)

Take a deep breath.
My therapist this past week gave me a really great way of looking at our breathing.
She said, sometimes I feel like God breathes for us.
And so when I'm inhaling And we can take a nice big inhale right now.
We're breathing in the breath of life
And as we're exhaling our breath.
We breathe out any burdens that we can hand over to our loving God.

So just take a couple of deep breaths and then  look at the photo.

Look at the foreground, the background.
What details do you notice?
Look at the colors, the texture, what draws your attention?

Let's focus on that for a moment.

And what does that say to you?

Focus in and meditate on that piece that is drawing your attention.
What might God be saying to you through that? Why do you think God has drawn your attention to this.
Do you sense any kind of invitation? Or exploration.
Can you relate to what's in the picture.

What do you think it means?
Do you hear a call?
Does it remind you of anything?
Is there an emotion that this evokes in you?
Is there a word that describes how you feel about what you're seeing, what you're experiencing?

I'm a wolf fan. My niece actually works for a wolf preserve in Colorado and the one thing that has always stood out to me about wolves is they are family oriented. They will do whatever is necessary to protect their family.

What is your prayer? Watching this image kind of unfold in your mind.
For me, my attention is drawn to the person bent over with an unknown face and clenched fists and the feeling that it evokes in me is this is a person who's struggling but that… There is an army behind them, protecting them, watching over them.
What do you feel if you put yourself in that picture?

Shepherd of the Flock by Drew Baker

What about this image catches your eye?
What do you notice?

Reflect on the colour, structure., shadows, values, lines,  intensity and movement.
How would you describe the mood of the painting?
 How do you react to this?
Do you sense an invitation from God?

While looking at this image. Does the artist teach you anything about God's nature and character and does this image bring to mind a biblical or spiritual truth?

Perhaps thanksgiving wells up in you or perhaps the events of this season are weighing you down and you need carrying. Do not hesitate to tell God. Honestly, whatever you are feeling.

This kind of meditation provokes honest thoughts and questions and hopeful conversations with God.
A place where we speak and a place to be silent and listen. Perhaps the best response is to be still and aware of his love.

Some of this is caution, and some of this is meant to be helpful in how to navigate and provide some self-care when bombarded by the fire hose of difficult & alarming news that is coming our way daily.

Primarily, we want to caution you about the amount of time you spend listening and reading about world news each day. This is costing you more than you know, and “knowing stuff” isn’t really what we’re called to. The anxiety that this cycle of news creates, and the energy you burn on worrying about what is to come, is problematic for our bodies, to our hearts, and to how we are able to engage in our day to day.

We can imagine that knowing the new horror of this day somehow keeps us informed, and may help us prepare for some eventuality, but what it’s really doing is overloading our nervous systems.

From an article by Alix Klingenberg, “There’s a relentless, gnawing panic, an alarm that won’t stop ringing. Even a glimpse at the news floods my body with fear, grief, and overwhelm.” Can you relate?

So why do we scroll, why do follow the news, why are we so invested in it? And why do we share alarming things with others? What is this feeding? Is it our feeling of rightness? Or our outrage? Because righteousness and outrage are not healthy forms of engagement. Outrage blinds us to seeing the other and empowers us to dehumanize anyone we don’t agree with.

So again, we want to encourage you all to be very aware of how much time you spend consuming our world’s news each day. Limiting this input is not burying your head in the sand! It is giving you space to be present to what is happening around you and allowing you to engage in meaningful ways with people and things that you can do something about, in the moment.

Let me give you a couple of examples. I (Eden) spent this last week in Toronto helping out our kids. They live right downtown, and it’s a jungle! I took our grandson to daycare each morning and picked him up each afternoon. That required walking at least 3 kilometers in the thick of things each day.

I determined that I would be present to our grandson, and to the people I was seeing along the way. That meant eyes up and ready to meet the gaze of another if they could manage that. Each day, as I passed many of the same people, I began to see a change. It went from them nervously looking away from my clear eyes and smile, to responding with a smile back. More than anything I wanted people to know that “I saw them!” I even had a few people give me a nod. That gave me a dopamine rush that had me smiling for blocks.

One afternoon as I was leaving the daycare with Felix, a man on a bike, who looked like he lived rough, came cycling around the corner and saw me pushing Felix in the stroller. And he cycled close by and looking at me shouted, “Yeah for Grammy!” To which I responded, “Wahoo!”

Another day I was carrying groceries back to the apartment and my eyes were focused on my next step. I looked up to see an elderly woman looking right at me and she gave me a smile. Then she asked me, “How far are you going?” I said, and she offered immediately to put the groceries in her wagon and walk the 5 blocks out of her way with me. I declined, but the groceries actually felt lighter as I walked the rest of the way.

Another encounter I had was watching an elderly woman get out of an idling car to make her way into a bank. I could see how afraid she was of slipping on the ice and snow. So, I stopped, and while standing on solid sidewalk I offered my arm to her to steady her steps. She was so grateful for the arm, and her husband waved his appreciation from the car, and she stepped over the ice and onto solid ground without harm.

I also witnessed a racist comment being made on my flight. I watched and noticed how it had affected the person it was targeted against. I considered what I might be able to do, not in reaction, but with some thought. I was able to let the targeted person know that I heard it too, and that if they wanted to complain or report it, I would give them my contact info and be their witness.

So . . . my encouragement for you today is to spend less time scrolling and watching the news. And more time, looking up, noticing those around you, and engaging with what is presently happening. This is the way we prepare for any other eventuality. Seeing the other and being prepared to engage.

And when you hear and see the troubles of our days, instead of trying to hold the worries of the day in your own hands, bring that event, those people, that leader, that nation, to the Mercy Seat where Jesus will hold them and care for them.

The opposite of despair is not hope, it’s curiosity. Curiosity to look around and ask, what can I do? What do I see? How can I respond? Why is this happening? Where is my place in this? Who might be on my path today?

So, to help activate this for you this morning, can we just close our eyes, and consider what worries we might be holding onto with our paralyzed hands?

Lord knows you have each carried these worries far enough, let’s invite Jesus to come to us and show us what he would like to do with these worries? Let Jesus do the heavy lifting, and we just watch what he does.

Let's pray

Jesus, Merciful One, Friend of Sinners. Have mercy on us as we have taken on the troubles of this world as if we had power to do anything. Show us where we can be light in each day. Create curiosity in us that will keep our eyes focused around us, instead of on the despair we feel as witnesses to a crime. Carry these burdens for us and help us to see you in the eyes of ALL. Amen

These long dark days of our winter can be difficult to endure, but what if we used them to discover or rediscover some things about Jesus that would make a difference to this season?

As we move through these weeks of Epiphany, let’s engage our senses in a way that brings back to us and reveals freshly who Jesus is.

Sight – may we see Jesus among us! May our eyes be wide open to the manifestations of Jesus through others, and let it delight us when we see him!

Hearing – may we be good listeners that recognize Jesus’ voice as though it were our own parent. May we look into the face of the voice we hear and be surprised and thrilled at hearing God’s voice in the other!

Smell – may we recognize the fragrance of Jesus. Let us become familiar with the scent of Mercy and Grace and be drawn to those fragrances in ourselves and others.

Taste – may we taste the goodness of God. And as we taste their goodness, may we extend that goodness to those who need it. May we generous!

Touch – may we experience the arms of Jesus enfolding us in an embrace that tells us how much we are loved. And may we embody Jesus’ embrace for others who need God with some skin on.

Jesus, help us to experience new understanding of you during this epiphany season. Let these epiphanies be a light to our hearts in these dark days of winter. Amen

In wonder of your expansive embrace, we give you praise, O God. Through your radical welcome, you reveal the limitations of our own imaginations. You break down walls and boundaries we don't even realize we have erected.
Like the magi guided by the light of star through foreign territory, you call us all towards you.

You lead your people across borders of hate and into lands of curious and different. You strengthen us as we journey, learning and unlearning stories about one another. Gathered in your presence, we come to recognize the gifts of community rich in diversity.

Therefore, we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna among us

You move in mysterious way, O God. This journey with you is filled with more questions than answers. Each time we think we have you figured out, you surprise us again, revealing yourself in new ways.
In Jesus, we saw your radical welcome of strangers extended in challenging ways. Ways that disrupt our traditions and unsettle our comfort zones.
Jesus broke religious rules in order to include all people.
He lifted up the sacredness of the people and places deemed unclean.
He cared more about the well-being of the oppressed than his own reputation.
Jesus taught us to rethink your presence among us, but we couldn't accept it. Resistant to transformation, your people sent him to the cross.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
"This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
"This cup that is poured out is the new covenant."
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.

May the same Spirit that lifted Christ from the grave be poured out on these gifts. Make this bread and this cup be an extension of your welcome that knows no bounds. Fill us with the courage and faith to join you in the work of tearing down walls that exclude and pointing to the Sacred in the margins.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Our Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kindom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kindom, the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.

Prayer after receiving
God, this meal we shared together is a remembrance of your radical embrace of the outcast and oppressed. May it strengthen us as we open our minds and hearts to new ways of recognizing your presence among us. Amen.

Created by enfleshed.com and used with permission.

1. When you look forward into 2025, is there anything that you think you might need to navigate it well? Is there a word that would encapsulate that?
   
   
2. When you consider how you have managed to cope in 2024, is there anything you think you might need more of, or that would be useful for your heart that may have dwindled this past year? Can you put that into one word?
   
   
3. Imagine you need an upgrade (like your phone). Is there something about how you functioned in 2024 that could be improved and would allow you to move through 2025 in a healthier and more dynamic way? Is there a word for that?
4. With the word you have landed with, consider these questions to help you understand what this “signpost” might be good for?
   
   
5. Will this word inspire an action that I will take? If so, what action(s) and in what context would I use this word, and the action it calls me to?
   
   
6. Is this word a connecting word? And does that determine how you will enter and experience relationships?
   
   
7. Is the word a posture you can take? Is this a position you can situate yourself in that determines how you enter difficulties, or even just new circumstances?

I encourage you to find a way to keep the word in your space. Maybe it’s on your computer, or phone, or you use soap to write it on your bathroom mirror. Maybe you spell it out with magnets on your fridge.

Keep it in your line of sight, and when you come to a place where you sense some uncertainty, consider how that word may help you in your processing.

(Photo credit: Sarah Pickering)

A guide for this Visio Divina

Take a real good look at this photo, and at what's in the vase. 

What draws you to it?

What makes you feel uncomfortable?

Is there anything about the way these bulbs have been planted that speak to you about a process you might be going through?

Is there anything about the contents of this vase that brings you hope?

Jesus would you plant us in places that receive your light, and cause us to grow!

December 21 is the longest night of the year, or at least in the northern hemisphere we experience the least amount of light on this day. In some traditions this day is used as a point in the year where we remember those we have lost during the last year, or ever, if you still miss them. The loss may not be a person though, it could be a relationship, or a role, or an ability, or anything you no longer have.  

From Eden: 

Having lived long enough to have experienced significant loss, I can really appreciate a focus like this. Some years we set up a little “walk through” event that had stations that would give us pause to consider our losses, and who and what we had lost. We are not able to accommodate that this year, but we still want to offer a small way of acknowledging our loss right in the middle of all the Christmas festivities.

I woke up this morning thinking about my mom. She’s been gone for nearly 5 years, and she is still in my thoughts and actions most days. I can still hear her voice in my head saying funny things, wise things, practical things . . .  and sometimes that thrills me, and other times it still brings tears to my eyes.

So, what I would like you to consider on this longest night as you remember your loss, is this:

What gift did that person/relationship/role etc., give you, that you still treasure?

I was born on Christmas Eve, which is such an impractical time to be born! I had two older sisters (4&5) who would definitely miss having their mommy around on Christmas morning. But it wasn’t just the actual day I was born that was challenging, it was every single year after that that would be challenging too. And yet, my mom did not skimp on celebrating my birthday, no matter what else was happening on Christmas Eve! There were birthday presents with birthday wrapping, and birthday cake, and a birthday meal! And though it wasn’t on Christmas Eve, I always had a birthday party with friends too.  

The gift my mom gave me was showing me my value, even when it wasn’t convenient. I haven’t considered that in a long time, and sadly, I think I have put that gift away in a closet that I seldom go into. But as I recall how magical my birthday felt as a child, how I imagined that the entire world stopped to pause for “my birthday”, I think I need to recover that gift. Not for the magic, but for the thoughtful consideration of holding onto my own value and taking care of myself.

What gift were you given that this loss cannot take from you?
How can you unwrap this gift again, to appreciate the giver, and the gift once again?

Another way in: Light a candle

Light a candle
See it glow
Watch it dance
Remember the light
Of the person
You have lost
They shine
Even still
In memory

Consider and name the deepest sorrow you have experienced through the loss of the person or through whatever has been hard that you want to honour. 

Consider and name the greatest joy this person or situation brought you. 

Consider and name the most ordinary thing you miss about this person’s presence or the normalcy of the time and place you are honouring. 

Another way in: Hang an ornament to honour your loved one

You could choose an ornament you already have and add a small tag to it with the person’s name and hang it in pride of place on your tree.
You could buy a new ornament for the person you are remembering and again add a tag, or if you would like it personalized Sarah will be happy to do that for you.

Another way in: Something to release 

Consider what you may be holding on to that is not of good use for your heart.  

If that were an object, what would it look like?
Where do you carry that on your body?
Ask Jesus to show you what he would replace that with?
Are you willing to let go of that difficult or painful or unproductive piece of your sorrow and loss?

If yes, give that to Jesus and receive what he has for you instead. When you feel that negative or unproductive piece rise again, just make that trade again with Jesus. There is no limit to how many times you can make this exchange.
If no, consider why you feel you still want to hold onto it, and when you are ready, have that chat with Jesus.

Another way in: Write it out

Perhaps your loss is less tangible. Perhaps your grief is complicated in that the person still lives but the relationship is broken, or they are lost to you through addiction, illness, dementia, or other situation. 

It could be that  your loss is not human. Loss is loss whether it is a person, a pet, your health, a job, or a thing. Loss is loss and there is no competition to be the one with the greatest loss tonight. If you feel it as loss, if you mourn its passing then it is loss and we honour it. It is good to name the reasons for our sadness.

Take a moment to write it all down.

We can start to feel what we can name. It is okay to sit with the pain for a time, to honour loss or illness or doubt or fear. 

God of all comfort, thank you that we are not alone. There are others sitting beside us in the darkness. We take to heart the knowledge that you are a God who understands our suffering.

As we enter this busy time of Christmas, we don’t have to set our losses aside. We can embrace them as we remember who and what and how we received the gifts they gave, and how these gifts can be renewed in our lives this Christmas.

And finally, a few breath prayers:

Inhale: even in my grief
Exhale: I am held in love

Inhale: all of my emotions and experiences
Exhale: are worthy of honour and being seen

Inhale: My sadness is allowed
Exhale: I honour it without judgement

Inhale: Jesus, son of God
Exhale: have mercy on me.

Sending you much love

Eden and Sarah

As we remember Jesus during Advent, and participate in communion, let’s remember how Jesus has brought us HOPE specifically.
Give thanks.

Let’s consider how Jesus is bringing us PEACE and sit in that peace for a while.
Give thanks.

Where has JOY surprised you? Go back into the memory of that moment and relive it and sense that joy again.
Give thanks.

And how have you felt Jesus’ LOVE? Feel that Love, wrap yourself up in it as if it’s a blanket, and let it keep you warm!
Give thanks.

Jesus, as we draw near to you and remember what you have
provided for us through your life, we give thanks for all the hope, and
peace, and joy, and love your life has brought to ours! Amen

Consider going into prayer with some questions for yourself, that may
help to recalibrate you and your heart during this season.

1. What about this week’s focus am I specifically anticipating?
2. Is this week’s focus something I need, have, or want to give to others?
3. How do I see Jesus engaging with this particular focus in scripture?
4. Do you sense an invitation that you can engage with this week?

Jesus, help us to see YOU in this season, and align with your heart for this
world. Amen

Look at the image.
Let your eyes stay on the first thing you see.
Focus your attention on what catches your eye.
Observe the colors, lines, textures, shape, shapes, movement and figures.

Does it evoke some thoughts or feelings in you?

Now look again, look some more and explore more fully your reactions.
Consider how God might be speaking to you through the picture.
Why might it be evoking this reaction?
Could God be trying to say something to you?

Take time to reflect on your actions with God and notice.
Is God saying something to you about yourself, about your life as a follower of Jesus?

'I took this photo a few years ago but looked at it the other day and thought to myself, these can be fearful times and what are we going to do? All fly off together in fear or come together in community?
That's what struck me. In addition to their being cute and beautiful and all that.
And I want to come together in community, not run away in fear, because together we can make things happen. Good things.' Kathy Klassen

It is important that we learn to lament. It is important that we take our complaints to the One who loves us most. God is ready to hear our anguished cries as we give voice to our own and the suffering of others.

We groan - How long…

If you are in the ‘how long’ it is good to witness to it. Speak it. Lament with all your heart. And then, when you are ready, read on with the rest of Psalm 13…

Notice my heart and answer me, O my Beloved;
enlighten me, lest I walk as one dead to life;
Lest my ego fears say,
“We have won the day;”
Lest they rejoice in their strength.
As I trust in your steadfast Love;
my heart will rejoice, for in You is freedom.
I shall sing to the Beloved,
who has answered my prayers
a thousand fold!
Come! O Beloved make your home
in my heart.

Take a deep breath in.
Take a longer breath out.
Be here.
Do that again.

Are you weeping? Are you crying out ‘how long’?
Are you rejoicing as in the last part of this Psalm as the Psalmist turns it around?
Wherever you are, whichever part of the Psalm you are in is where you should be.
Feel into it and feel through it.

Is there some comfort or an invitation from God in these verses for you?

We have never done a church thing on Halloween night, even when we had many more families with young children than we do now and that is because I want to be in my neighbourhood and I want you to be in yours. I like the kids in my neighbourhood, I like their parents too, and because I like them, I don’t want to miss the one night in the year they are all out in the street.

Last year we had a family of newcomers stop by. The kids were young teens and this was their first ever trick or treat and they were having a ball, running from house to house, marvelling at the event. We got to meet the whole family as they stopped and chatted at our house. The reason they stopped and chatted is because we were outside where they were and we had hotdogs.

We realized a long time ago that we needed to take this operation out to the street and here’s how it works at our house now. First, we fill a table with candles, string lights, and of course candy. Then we wheel our BBQ out to the end of our driveway and cook hotdogs, lots of them. We hand them out to the parents waiting in the cold with their kids and any kids who want one on top of all the candy in their bags and we get to visit while they eat. People tend to linger longer this way and we can chat way more than was possible when we were just jumping up to the door, greeting kids but only able to wave at parents on the curb. Kids get candy and a hot dog and this has become a tradition in our street. A few years ago I remember a dad breathing a sigh of relief that we were doing it again as his daughter had been talking about it since they left home over an hour before.

In the beginning of the book of John, in the Message bible it says, ‘The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.’ The Word is in me and I am in Him and so, I am to His flesh and blood in this neighbourhood. This is how I try and be that on this night. I want to make the most of this opportunity, everyone is out and I want to be right there with them.

Most families love Halloween, it stirs the imagination of children and engages the hearts of parents. Watch your neighbourhood closely this Halloween. Listen to the laughter, take a look at the generosity. Taste the sugar and the energy. See the joy in children’s eyes and notice the parents and see how they connect with other families. This is a great night! Enjoy it! And watch out for Jesus, dressed as a princess or a ghost or a superhero and enjoy Him in the presence of all the children.

Oh, and also, enjoy the teens, if they are still trick or treating celebrate the joy of it with them too.

Tickets at Eventbrite

Philip also has some complementary tickets to give away if you need some help to attend financially. Talk to Philip Janz

As we come to the table we are separate bodies in separate spaces. 
As we look at the image we can see separate bodies but they look so similar and they overlap. There are differences, the colour of the faces but they are similar in the lack of features.

Jesus can be seen here standing with his friends, the disciples. He looks like them, they look like him. They are sharing the Passover meal when he instigated what we call the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist - which means thanksgiving.

When we share this meal together we are separate bodies that are connected by this meal and put together. There is a togetherness regardless of where we come from. There is a sameness and a union. We are one because we all are part of a common humanity, with Jesus. We are also one because we are at this metaphorical table together and the table encompasses all of us. We are the body of Christ and members of one another.


AN OPEN TABLE
by Sarah Pickering

I am welcome here
We are welcome here
There is room at this table
I am surrounded by souls
As found as I am
And feeling equally lost
We are connected by the giver
to the plates with bread
And cups with wine
We are fed from one table
A table of abundance
Love, spread out before us

Godde, I thank You for feeding us,
I thank You for sustaining us
I thank You for Your unfailing love.

Give thanks to the Giver, for They are good
Their faithful love continues forever.

Take a deep breath . . . and let it out.

Take a good look at this photo. Look at the foreground, the background, and every part of what this image holds.

Once you've looked over the entire scene, note what has drawn your attention and rest on that point.

How is God speaking to you through what you are drawn to?

How might it pertain to your life today?

Do you sense an invitation?

Do you hear a call?

Is there one word that describes how this makes you feel?

Do you have a sense of how you want to respond to what God was showing you?

Let this draw you into a sacred time with God.

Words aren’t sufficient to express our deepest selves. Let silence and stillness fill in the blanks. 

Part of being grateful is noticing. Can you make a commitment to noticing over the next six weeks - you could aim for American Thanksgiving if you like - and notice someone, something, a situation, a trait in yourself, that you are thankful for in each day? Try it and see how it feels at the end of that six weeks, we’ll touch back in on that day and see how it’s going.

Before we focus on the days ahead though, let’s take one last look back. The question to think about today is:

‘What happened today/yesterday/last week/this month/this year that you are thankful for?’

If something jumps into your mind that is probably it. It might be a big thing, or it could be a small thing. Either way, notice it, acknowledge it by being thankful.

I am thankful to you for reading. Good luck with six weeks of daily gratitude.

I know, Thanksgiving was so yesterday, but still gratitude is not just for Thanksgiving. Let’s keep going! Today, let’s talk about you! You are a glorious human being. You are created in the image of God and, as the psalmist says, ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’

What makes you fabulous? Where do your strengths lie? Perhaps your perceived weaknesses are also a gift. What is it that makes you thankful for the way you have been created, and the gifts in you that Creator has placed there to be a beneficial presence in the world?

Take a few minutes and do an inventory of your giftedness and your personality traits that highlight your beautiful uniqueness.

I’ll go first, I am thankful for my tenacity, my imagination, and ability to seek out joy. What about you?

‘What is an aspect of your personality that you are thankful for?’

Perhaps you have gathered or are gathering around a table with those you love today. If so, that is wonderful, may it be a really good time.

Perhaps you are missing those who cannot be with you for whatever reason this year or maybe you are missing those who will never be able to be present at your table again. These holiday meals bring that into rather sharp focus. I am sorry. May you know comfort and God’s presence as you sit with this without them.

It is good to be thankful for the relationships we have that are good and healthy and life giving and at the same time to mourn those that are not as we would want them to be. It’s a tension that we all hold in different ways.

‘What relationships are you thankful for?’

How might you tell them about your gratitude for them?

And then for the hard things… tell God about the relationships that are complicated, harder, or absent altogether. God knows all about it already. And if you need to, talk to someone who is a safe set of ears to share your story with. Like the expression says, ‘it’s okay to not be okay’

A very Happy Thanksgiving.

Dear sweet Bridge Community,
I’m grateful for a lot, but I’m particularly grateful for this community. Thinking about your faces makes me smile. Your beautiful hearts move me and others to love deeper, and watching you all care and love those around you, is inspiring! 
I hope this thanksgiving season you not only feel gratitude, but that you also experience the gift you are to others! 
You are loved!!!
Eden

And to echo what Eden said, I am incredibly grateful for the gifts, talents, love and joy that there is in our community. Our different experiences, stories and situations provide both depth and width in our community and make it easy for others to find a place for themselves too. I love that we have a place for questions and that we don’t have to agree, but can still love one another. That’s a special thing and not easy to hold in balance. That’s thanks to all of you!
With big love
Sarah

A prayer:

Oh Creator, how we love thanksgiving as it feels like a clean holiday, no gifts, no decorations (beyond pumpkins) just gratitude, thankfulness and a celebration together over a harvest. We are grateful to the land for providing sustenance for us. From the tiniest microbes and pollinators and everything that makes things grow. We ask for mercy where we have misused resources, damaged the delicate balance of our planet and put ourselves in danger. Show us how to do better. Thank you, all we have is gratitude. You love everything that You have created, help us to do the same. In the name of Jesus, who walked on the earth with us. Amen

There is no gathering of our church community this Thanksgiving Sunday. We don’t meet on long weekends because we think rest and play are important too.

It is easy to overlook the ordinary every day things and take them for granted. Today, pause for just a moment and ask yourself:

‘What’s something enjoyable you get to experience every day that you’ve come to take for granted?’

This is the ordinary things, not the extraordinary. Reflecting on the little things makes them into significant things. I’ll start...

Coffee, fresh, hot and delicious is one thing I can take for granted but am really grateful for.
Visiting with friends and family, either in person or via technology is a gift to me that I am very grateful for, and I take the technological wizardry of it all for granted.



What would you add?
What do you enjoy daily, or almost so, that you take for granted?

We aren’t meeting together this Sunday as it is a long weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving and our habit is to pause our gatherings. This pause allows our community the freedom to explore, live, breathe, and have time with family and friends, however you choose to do that.

Let’s talk about gratitude as it is Thanksgiving (Americans consider this practice for next month.)

The world is tough, and there are hard stories at almost every turn and this is true. But it is also true that there is much to be grateful for and many reasons to give thanks.

The question for today is: What aspects of your city or neighbourhood are you thankful for?

Is it the people? Is it the physical place? Be specific, what do you love about where you live that you are thankful for.

I am thankful to be 100 paces from a waterfall and even less to a forest with beautiful ferns growing in seemingly impossible places. I am grateful for the foodbank and other organizations in our city that care for the marginalized and vulnerable. I am grateful for the people in our church who gather - from here and also fro beyond. I am thankful for the mountains that surround our city and the river that flows to the ocean. What would you add? What would you say about your place?

The language of photography is violent

• shoot with your camera
• capture and image
• take a photo
• grab a head shot
• even the slightly less violent but still ego driven ‘making a photograph'

INSTEAD - we are invited to see
we receive an image
we accept the image as a gift

This takes being aware and receptive, eyes up. Seeing like this means to see from the wholeness we already are and to behold or gaze to receive what is true in the world. We can receive images in the wild, in the domestic, in the ordinary and mundane and in the beautiful, grand and dramatic.

Before I talk about this image I want to invite you to into a position of receiving too. Breathe in, breathe out, rest in this moment, perhaps have your hands open, drop your shoulders, un-clench your jaw. Breathe again.

First, just take a minute to behold this image as you gaze is there somewhere that you eyes rest?
Try not to think too much but just see where you instinctively come to rest does part of the image call you in?
Is there part you the image you don’t want to look at? That can sometimes be as intriguing and revealing as the part you are drawn to.

Consider the elements, is there anything you are curious about?

What might Godde want to say to you through this image, or part of it?
Is there an invitation for you from Creator?

Take another moment to gaze, is there anything else for you to see?
Take in the whole again, is there anything else you notice?

I invite you to look at the whole thing and notice. Notice the different colours, the shapes, you know. Obviously, you can see it's water. You might remind you of being at a lake, of water, kayaking or canoeing.
As you're looking at it, you might even want to look for very different symbols in there and how they might be speaking to you.

Is there a spot on this image where your eye wants to linger?
Are you kind of looking over it, and then always landing back in the same place? Another way of saying it would be is, where's your energy drawn to? Where's your eye drawn to? Is there something that inspires you?

And then on the flip side. Are you avoiding an area? Are you passing over something really quickly or are you resisting an area that is just as important today for you.

So become aware now of the place that's just for you today and just linger there. Be present and open. I might even say, open your imagination.

What kind of feelings, longings, messages, even memories or hopes might be stirred in you. I invite you to make room for whatever that might be in your heart and simply, be.

You might begin to see something coming up that's being revealed to you or a feeling. There may be an invitation to you for this moment in your life. Maybe there's something that God or the Spirit, is calling you, or drawing you to.

Pause

Let your eyes sweep over it again and maybe there's something that you will notice now that you didn't notice before and then just rest. Enjoy the moment and enjoy the quietness.

Spending a few minutes to reflect upon the day that you just lived, can bring much love and healing to your heart as you go to rest for the night. This prayer exercise is an outstanding gift from Saint Ignatius. “Examen” is the Latin word for “a consideration and examining,” and is practiced daily by the Jesuits, and means “an examination of conscience.”

My journal, with many Examens written in its pages, has become a source of astonishing memories that I otherwise might not have recorded. Some of the little, seemingly insignificant moments of my life come to flood me with much more joy and peace as I read them again and receive what was given to me. As well, some of the very painful or difficult struggles that once nearly overwhelmed me become a place of refuge as God meets me there with peace and solutions. I am discovering the truth that God is indeed in all things.

Some nights, however, I simply collapse into bed, and they never get recorded; I merely try to look to my loving God while I drop off to sleep. I used to feel terribly guilty if I fell asleep while praying. When I asked God about this, I was reassured that I wasn’t doing something bad or neglectful; instead, I learned that falling asleep while sensing such nearness with God is a beautiful resting place (Psalm 4:8).

Exercise: Find a comfortable and quiet place to enter this exercise.

MOST GRATEFUL: As events of the day come to your mind, ask God to bring to your awareness the moment for which you are most grateful. (Which moment would you like to relive? When were you most able to give and receive love Today? Ask yourself what was said or done in that moment that made it so good.) Breathe in the gratitude you felt for this and receive a life-giving moment. Rest in this place and receive all that this moment gave you.

LEAST GRATEFUL: Ask God to bring to your awareness the moment for which you are least grateful today. (When were you least able to give and receive love? Ask yourself what was said and done in that moment that made it so difficult?) Revisit the feelings you had without trying to change or fix it in any way. Take deep breaths and let God's love fill you just as you are. Be loved with things just as they are.

GIVE THANKS: thanks for whatever you have experienced. If possible, share as much as you can of these two moments with a friend.

This exercise is meant to have you feeling loved in the moments you are grateful for (re-entering a moment in your day that may have passed too quickly!), but also to feel loved in those moments you are least grateful for. This can be healing because without changing or fixing anything, you sense God’s deep love for you in your most vulnerable places.

From: “INVITED” by Lorie Martin, Prayer of Examen, page 139-144

So, let’s consider those around us that might qualify as your neighbours. They may be co-workers, or people that live near you, or other students in your classes, or any other person you come in contact with on any ordinary day.

You might want to consider “that person” that somehow pushes your buttons, or “gets your goat,” or unsettles you when you see them. You may not even know their name (a homeless person you see around town), or have ever spoken to them, but in this world, they count as our neighbour.

Jesus challenges US to make the changes we want to see in others, so let’s try. Fill in a blank or two on the red sheet of paper . . . filling in how you see or feel about your “neighbour”.

Love my CRAZY neighbour.

And now pray that you would find ways to love this other person. Let your heart move towards thinking of them in loving ways and blessing them with what you sense they need most.

Let’s LOVE our neighbours!

Visio Divina is a form of contemplative prayer, which means that we're using our minds, our hearts, and our imaginations, to recognize God's presence with us. It's meant to draw us into an intimate encounter with the love of God.

Take a moment and look at the photo.
Look at the foreground and the background.
Notice, the details, the layering, any colors or textures.

What's drawing your attention? Where do you focus your eyes.

Focus in on that and meditate on that piece that has drawn your attention.

What is God saying to you through this?

Why do you think God has drawn your attention to this?

‘A spring gently rises up out of the Earth and becomes a stream, which becomes a river, which becomes an ocean, which evaporates and becomes rain, which feeds itself back into the Earth again. Finding it’s way to the surface, water repeats this sacred circle of enduring life.
Water, soil, seeds, plants, the sun, the stars, the moon: these are all our teachers. They teach us about life even as they give us life!’
Randy Woodley, Becoming Rooted.

I invite you to hold a phrase from that piece of writing in your heart as you look at the image. The phrase is: this sacred circle of enduring life.

What is the first thing your eye goes to?

Gaze further into the image and sweep the whole picture, notice plants, rocks, water, ferns on the tree trunk, the colours, the lines, the details, the whole.

Are you drawn to a particular part of the image?
Don't think too hard but stay in your heart. 

Is there any part of the image that you are avoiding because you aren't comfortable with it? 
Notice that.

Do you see anything of ‘this sacred circle of enduring life’ in this image? If so, which part of the image speaks that for you? Linger there. Be open and be present to it. Take a longer look.

Open your imagination. Are there feelings, longings, hopes, memories?

Simply be and let whatever wants to rise in you, come up.

Slowly notice what is being revealed in your seeing or your feeling.

Is there a message from creation in this image that you want to carry with you as we end this practice?

Let go of the image and rest.

Some questions as you look at this image:

Does this image evoke any emotions in you?

What does this image stir up or bring forth in you?

Do you feel led to pray about anything in particular?

Offer your prayers to God in a time of silence.

Pause and look again, and see if there is anything else for you to see in this image.

Visio Divina is a form of contemplative prayer, which means we are using our minds, hearts, and imaginations to recognize God’s presence with us. And it’s meant to draw us into an intimate encounter with the love of God.

The practice is an ancient part of Christian tradition. In the practice we use art to open our hearts to sense the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And it does not require the art to be religious in nature.

Step One:

Take a deep breath . . . and then let it out, releasing any stress or tension you may be feeling.

Take one more deep breath . . . taking in God’s amazing love and mercy . . . and breathe out any burdens you may be caring.

Step Two:

Take a look at the photo. Look at the foreground & the background. Notice the details, the layering, the colours, the textures.  What has drawn your attention?

Step Three:

Focus in and meditate on the piece that has drawn your attention.

What is God saying to you through this? Why do you think God has drawn your attention to this? How is this relevant for you today? Do you sense an invitation? Do you hear a call? Does this remind you of anything? Is there a corresponding emotion? Is there a word that describes how you feel about what you are experiencing?

Step Four:

This next step is about our response.

Try to let your soul and your heart respond and let your mind rest. What is your response to what you are hearing? What is your prayer? Does a longing or desire come out of this? Give voice to the emotion within, by acknowledging it. “I hear you!”

Step Five:

Words are never enough to express our deepest selves. So, turn to silence and rest with your Creator, the One who kissed your soul before placing it in your body, the One who Loves you beyond measure. Savour the stillness and be soothed by LOVE.

“Authentic God experience always expands your seeing and never constricts it . . . In God you do not include less & less; you always see and love more and more.” Richard Rohr

Holy Saturday, March 30, Lent 40

‘All we are saying is give peace a chance.’ John Lennon

Holy Saturday is the day of uncertainty and unknowing. Holy Saturday is the silence between the horror of death and the newness of life and we know what comes next but for those who walked through it first, they had no idea what was coming.

The world can seem to be perpetually in the middle of Holy Saturday because we don’t know what is coming tomorrow.

I wrote a poem for today.

To sit in the darkness of not knowing.
A single candle flame
holding vigil
at the tomb
of Love

This is the biggest of all uncertainties
The flame flickers
Will Life return?
Is Love lost forever?
Will backs and hearts
as hard as iron
soften in the sun?
Will light return?
All is darkness
through the night
and still will be
at break of day

We catch our breath
And tears fall
We weep for our loss
We weep for us all

Will the light return?

If you are sitting with a loss today know you are not the first to do so, and will not be the last. God with us, is still true on this day between.

See you in the morning.

Good Friday, March 29, Lent 39

As we reach Good Friday.

‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.’ The Apostle Paul (Ephesians 2:13-16)

We have a gathering this morning at 10:30am which will take a slow walk through the last moments and words of Jesus.

If you are free I’d love for you to join.

Thursday, March 28, Lent 38

Jesus’ words of comfort to his friends:

‘I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace. In this world, you will be plagued with times of trouble, but you need not fear; I have triumphed over this corrupt world order.’ Jesus (John 16:33)

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day we traditionally mark as the day Jesus had the Last Supper with His community. He gave us the blueprint of communion in this meal but beyond what we have written, we can’t really know what they talked about together. I like to think these words might have been part of it, as He told His friends they did not need to fear. He said, “I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace.” And then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

I love this poem by Malcolm Guite written for this day in the church calendar.

Here is the source of every sacrament,
The all-transforming presence of the Lord,
Replenishing our every element
Remaking us in his creative Word.
For here the earth herself gives bread and wine,
The air delights to bear his Spirit's speech,
The fire dances where the candles shine,
The waters cleanse us with His gentle touch.
And here He shows the full extent of love
To us whose love is always incomplete,
In vain we search the heavens high above,
The God of love is kneeling at our feet.
Though we betray Him, though it is the night.
He meets us here and loves us into light.
Malcolm Guite

Jesus, when we fear, remind us that You said we didn’t have to. Help us to trust in You. Amen.

Wednesday, March 27, Lent 37

‘Peace and love are always living and working within us, but we are not always in peace and love.’ Julian of Norwich

The passage for Wednesday in Holy Week using Wilda Gafney’s Lectionary is Jesus grieving over Jerusalem.

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen, gather her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. I tell you all, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Holy One.”

Jesus’ arms reach around everything. I love the image of God, as the mother hen, gathering her chicks under her wings. The Peace and Love of God, always living and working within us.

‘Jesus’s embrace of Jerusalem, its history and hopes, ugly realities, looming threats, sacred space, and all of its people, citizens, immigrants, pilgrims, and occupiers was all inclusive.’ (Gafney)

The way we live life out is not always an expression of that Peace and Love. Jesus’s peace and love are all inclusive, and all enveloping. How we long with Him for us all to be gathered and surrounded and know the reality of His Peace and Love within.
Let’s pray.

Oh Mother God, gather us under Your wing.
We long for peace, for love, for justice for all. We weep with You for where the demonstration of that is lacking in the world.
Your kin-dom come, and Your will be done.
Amen.

Tuesday, March 26, Lent 36

These words were spoken before the birth of Jesus at the birth of his cousin John in a prophecy spoken by John’s father, Zechariah

‘Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
    God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
    those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
    down the path of peace.’
Zechariah (Luke 1:79)

In Holy week we sit in the shadow of death as Good Friday looms ever closer.

But, in this week Jesus has things to do and say. The story for today finds him in the temple. He drove out merchants and turned over tables of the moneychangers. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are all making it a den of robbers.’”
The poor, the blind, the disabled, all came to Him and He healed them and the girls and boys cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” just like the prophecies had said they would.

Let’s pray:

Our Father in heaven, as Jesus taught us to pray…
There are children the world over crying out - Hosanna, come and save us.
There are children and adults sitting in the shadow of death crying out - Hosanna, come and save us.
We stand with our fellow humans and we cry - Hosanna, come and save us.
And where we can come alongside as your hands and feet, show us.
And where we can be a part of the saving, help us.
Amen

Monday, March 25, Lent 35

Some of the last words for Lent should go to Jesus.

‘The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.’ Jesus (John 14:26-27)

Today is Monday of Holy Week. There is a lot packed into this last week of Jesus’ life. The story for today is Mary (of Mary, Martha and Lazarus) who took expensive perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet with it as her tears fall and she wiped everything with her hair. Judas Iscariot was ticked off because this money could have gone to the poor - more likely his pockets - but Jesus told him to leave her alone because her gift was for his burial. (John 12:1-6)

There is hope for those who mourn. There is beauty in the offering poured out. And there is Jesus, who leaves us all with a gift of peace.

Let’s use a breath prayer today

Breathe in
I am well and whole

Breathe out
and filled with Your peace.

#lent2024 #prayersforpeace

Saturday, March 23, Lent 34

‘World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.’ Dalai Lama

Peace is the manifestation of human compassion.

Human compassion goes beyond feeling sympathy for someone and moves to do something to alleviate their pain. Human compassion looks at the person in front of us and asks how can we help.

Let’s pray

Give me eyes to see my neighbour, my literal neighbour, and my neighbour in the way Jesus talks about neighbours. And when I see, move me to human compassion - not just to sympathize but to action.
May ‘my neighbour’ know peace as their pain is alleviated.
Move me to help in the ways that I can.
Prompt me to reach out and ask for help when I need it too.
It feels too much to ask for world peace, but start with me.
Amen.

Friday, March 22, Lent 33

This is the first half of a longer quote that says:

‘We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.’ William E Gladstone

Gladstone was from a family that had grown rich off the slave trade. He started out in politics defending slave owners and worked on the bill to get compensation for his own father when slavery was abolished through the British Empire. He began as a rising hope for the ‘stern and unbending’ conservatives but through his time in various positions in parliament he changed his mind and position on many things. He changed parties and became the Liberal Prime Minister who was disliked by Queen Vicotria for his radicalism, she called him a ‘half-mad firebrand.’

Towards the end of his life, Gladstone observed, ‘I was brought up to distrust and dislike liberty; I learned to believe in it.’

(Thanks to Professor Richard Gaunt for this insight on nottingham.ac.uk)

All that to say, people can change. We should let them.

Let’s pray.
Where we need to change our minds to bend towards the freedom and peace of others may we do so.
Where our leaders need to change their minds to bend towards the freedom and peace of others may they do so.
Where our ‘enemies’ need to change their minds to bend towards the freedom and peace of others may they do so.
May we all know the Power of Love to replace the love of power.
Amen.

Thursday, March 21, Lent 32

The more extended quote reads:

‘Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.’ Harriet Tubman

These aren’t just words from Harriet Tubman, she put it into action.

It starts with an idea, a dream, a different way of being or seeing and then as we put it into action it becomes a thing. We can change the world that way. What would you like to see change? What is the first step towards that? Take it!

Let’s pray

Creator God, you have made us endlessly creative as you are endlessly creative. Inspire us to use our ideas to make a better world for everyone.
Show us the way of peace so we may walk in it and follow others who are ahead of us and lead those who come behind us on it too.
Amen

Wednesday, March 20, Lent, Day 31

This quote encourages us to turn towards the oppressor and to pray for them, because ‘Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.’ William Hazlitt.

This encourages compassion and lovingkindness towards someone who doesn’t have any of those things for themselves and then turns it outward onto others.

You know those times when you lose your rag at something small and insignificant? I know those moments, and more often than not it is not about the small thing but instead, ‘the issue is not the issue.’ Always there is a war within me that is raging and it is spilling out over something little.

I think because I know what this is like I can have empathy for others in their outburst.

Let’s pray

May we all have compassion for ourselves.
May we have lovingkindness for ourselves.
And then turn and give those away to others also.
In the Name of the One who is perfect love.
Amen.

Tuesday, March 19, Lent, Day 30

The quote reads:
I will dismantle Ephraim’s chariots,
retire the warhorses from Jerusalem,
send home the archers to their families in peace.
He will make peace with the nations;
His sovereignty will extend from coast to coast,
from the Euphrates River to the limits of the earth.
Zechariah 9:10

Palm Sunday is a few days away now, and the verse before this one is foretelling that day when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem, lowly, on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This posture, riding on a small donkey was a signal to the people that he was coming as the king who had already won.

Then there is this verse that talks about dismantling the weapons of war and retiring warhorses because there will be peace from coast to coast, sea to sea, and from the river to the end of the earth.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem says this is already done. And yet, we still fight one another and jostle for space in lands that, one after another, peoples claim as their own. We need an end to all of that so that this verse may be true for everyone, everywhere. I am frustrated by the now and not yet, I wish we could speed the whole thing up to make it all NOW.

Let’s pray
May we dismantle all weapons of war
May the people who fight because those in power who believe it’s the only option, return to their homes
May there be peace with all nations as we remember that we are all humans
May Your sovereignty extend to cover all places, from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.
In short,
May your kin-dom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.

Monday, March 18, Lent, Day 29

This prayer by Justin McRoberts is from a beautiful book of art by Scott Erickson and prayers by Justin. The book is called ‘Prayer, forty days of praying’ and if you are stuck for what to pray and enjoy a good, thought provoking, linocut image then I would highly recommend it.

I love the language of May I… in these prayers as it is a request not a demand, and an opening of possibility.

As we walk towards peace this way of approaching life, with kindness and curiosity is one to take on board. Suspicion and fear can get our defences up higher than they perhaps need to be and lead to conflict and fighting.

Let’s use Justin’s prayer as our today:

'May my initial posture toward strangers be kindness and curiosity rather than suspicion and fear.’

Amen

Saturday, March 16, Lent, day 28

Our small corner of the globe (Lower Mainland, BC)has been glorious today. I hope that you have found some time to be outside.
Breathe in the goodness of the earth.

Breathe in
May we know
Breathe out
Your peace

Breathe in
May we feel
Breathe out
Your joy

Breathe in
May we know
Breathe out
serenity

Amen.

Songs are a great vehicle to communicate. Lyrics and melodies stay in our minds long after sermons, prayers, things we read or things we have heard or said are gone. Those with advanced dementia can often access songs in a part of their brain that seems untouched by the ravages of the disease. That is magical.

This song by John Lennon asks us to imagine a different world. I imagine you will read this lyrics in song, even in your head.

Imagine all the people
living life in peace.
You may say, I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
and the world will be as one.
John Lennon

Imagine… all the people… and all means every single last one of us… living life in peace.

Now, let’s go and make that so in our own corner of the world.

That’s enough prayer for today.

Thursday, March 14, Lent, Day 26

Today’s quote echoes the thoughts from Malcolm X yesterday. He said, ‘No freedom, no peace.’

True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice. Martin Luther King Jr

Justice is the quality of being just, impartial, or fair. There are many people who are living in this world and not experiencing justice, be that racially, because of gender, climate or anything else. How can we make a difference?

Let’s pray.

O God of justice, lead us in the ways of peace and justice. Inspire us to stand in the face of tyranny and injustice and oppression, so that every person may receive justice. May we live for each other and care for each other. Amen.

Wednesday, March 13, Lent, Day 25

‘You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.’ Malcolm X

Malcolm X was a vocal advocate and activist for the Black community and an Islamic leader. He spent time in prison where he joined the Nation of Islam and took the last name X to name the lost identity of his ancestry in Africa. He knew what it was to have no freedom. He experienced that personally and in solidarity with his community.

Glenn Harris, President of Race Forward, and Publisher of Colorlines, wrote, ‘Racial equity is about applying justice and a little bit of common sense to a system that's been out of balance.  When a system is out of balance, people of color feel the impacts most acutely, but to be clear, an imbalanced system makes all of us pay.’

Malcolm X spent his short life pointing out and working for a balanced system.

Good news is good news when it’s good news for everyone.
Freedom is freedom when it’s freedom for everyone.
Peace is peace when it is peace for everyone.
Because we are all connected.

I keep saying that, because it’s true.

Let’s pray.

May those who need peace today, know freedom first.
May those who are exercising power over another rather than solidarity with them know freedom from that system too.
May we all know freedom and may we all know peace.
Amen.

Tuesday, March 12, Lent, day 24

The Psalm I’m reading today says this:

Bring justice to the peoples,
O Beloved,
and your mercy to all
generations!
May the people be known for
mercy,
rendering justice to the poor!
Let their spirits soar as the eagle,
let joy abide in every heart!
May we heed the cry of the poor –
the young and the old,
helping to free all those in need,
awakening the souls of oppressors!

Psalm 72 (Psalms for Praying, Nan C. Merrill)

This is what Jesus came to do and what He sends us to do.

As we read it again, let’s turn it into our prayer.

Bring justice to the peoples - name them, individuals, groups, nations -
O Beloved,
and your mercy to all generations! - name your people, young and old -
May the people - us, the children of God - be know for mercy,
rendering justice to the poor!
Let their spirits soar as the eagle,
let joy abide in every heart!
May we - us, the children of God - heed the cry of the poor —
the young and the old,
helping to free those in need, - pause and reflect on how God might inspire you to action today -
awakening the souls of the oppressors!
Amen.

It is one thing to pray for ourselves, our friends, and the benign other, but we take it to the Jesus level when we pray for the souls of oppressors to be awakened to this Love as well.

Jesus repeated his greeting, “Peace to you, just as the Father sent me, I send you.” John 20:21

Monday, March 11, Lent, day 23

This is about being proactive, not reactive and it is about following Jesus in all things. The world can be pretty messed up and it is easy to react against it or to despair because of it. But we are children of God and as such, we are members of a different kin-dom, where Jesus is Lord. There is a lot of now and not yet about that statement but it is a reality that we are invited to live into.
Does where you are look like the kin-dom of God? Yes! That’s wonderful, enjoy it, but I doubt that is the truth. If your answer to that question is no, then look around, how can you make it so?

We are called to live as citizens of his peaceable kingdom no matter what the rest of the world does. Brian Zahnd

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we want your kin-dom on earth. We want your will done on earth as in heaven. It’s too long to wait for another day for that to happen. We need it now. If it’s in our hands to do something, show us what that is so we can get on with being citizens of your peaceable kin-dom.
Amen.

Nature is really good medicine because we are nature. Humans do well with sunlight, fresh air, and water, you know… all the things that nature needs.

I love this quote - Nature is the best medicine for serenity, peace, calmness, stillness. It’s good for the heart. Karen Madewell.

Doctors can prescribe time outdoors for maladies that nature can help with. That’s a good idea, but sad that it takes being told to by a doctor to go outside.

If you have some time to step outside today, take a minute to look at the sky, be with a tree, spot a spring flower emerging from the earth and drink it all in.

The prayer today isa from The Anglican Church if Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

God of unchangeable power
when you fashioned the world
the morning stars sang together,
and the host of Heaven shouted for joy;
open our eyes to the wonders of creation.
and teach us to use all things for good,
to the honour of your glorious name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

#lent2024 #prayersforpeace

Friday, March 8, Lent, day 21

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison as an anti-apartheid political prisoner, 18 years of which was spent on Robben Island. He was imprisoned in a concrete cell that was 8 feet wide and 7 feet long. I visited the prison on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town and stood outside that dark cell with its one small and very high window. From there I remember you could only see the sky, but you could see the sky. I wonder if that helped in the 18 years he was there. We were given a tour by a former prisoner and taken to visit the rock mine where inmates spent days splitting rocks, it was a somber experience. The end of our tour was to leave the prison gates and walk to the dock to get our boat back to the mainland. They asked us to walk it in silence and to think about our freedom. I don’t often cry, but I did on that walk.

Mandela knew what it was to be imprisoned and so it is important to listen to him talk about what it means to be free.

‘For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.’ Nelson Mandela

Let’s pray

For the freedom that we have we are grateful and do not take it for granted.
May we live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Amen.

Thursday, March 7, Lent, day 20

‘Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace.’ Dalai Lama.

That one sounds a little more easier said than done.

I recently stood at a counter-protest and listened to the vitriol from the protest. It was hard to keep my peace and it was hard to keep my calm.

I see comments and posts that are mean and hateful, and it is hard to keep my peace and hard to find a calm center.

I see governments making terrible decisions when it comes to caring for and protecting individuals in dire need and it makes my insides boil.

And all of this is why I need the peace that passes understanding so deep down in me that it cannot be shaken and to be a place for me to return to.

My simple prayer today is, again,

Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy on us all

Wednesday, March 6, Lent, day 19

‘Peace begins with a smile’ - Mother Teresa.

It might work so it might be worth an experiment to see if we can extend peace to others with a smile. But I can imagine it also might really annoy someone who is really mad at you in the moment so be careful how and when you use it.

Looking at it from another direction… can you imagine God smiling on you, on your family, on your friends, on your enemies, on the whole world?

We don’t have it written down that Jesus smiled but we don’t have a lot of things that made Jesus fully human written down for us. We know he wept but surely he had the full range of human emotions like we do. One of the things that makes us human is our capacity for emotion.

Let’s try a smile today and see how far the peace it brings can spread. And even if it is only in you, that will be enough.

Let’s pray:

When the moment arises today, and joy or a smile is an appropriate response, may I remain in the moment and express that emotion. May that somehow bring peace. Amen.

Tuesday, March 5, Lent, day 18

It seems that the pattern is for Tuesday so be a verse or two from the bible, so here’s the verse for today that I am using as my springboard for thinking about praying for peace.

And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One. Philippians 4:7

In this verse it sounds like the peace of God is a gift given, outside of anything that we need to whip up ourselves. Paul (or whoever wrote Philippians) says that the peace of God will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus.

I love the image of the peace of God standing watch over us. When chaos rages around - the peace of God is standing watch. When frustration with the day consumes - the peace of God is standing watch. When I’m overcome by grief, anger, exhaustion, all the things - the peace of God is standing watch. And a whispered help is all we need to utter and the peace of God is right there. The peace of God has been there all the time, watching over us.

So, today we pray.
Help, God. In this situation (tell Him about it ) - they need help, we need help, I need help, come. Help, God. May Your peace stand watch over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Help, God.

A thought from Julian of Norwich on finding peace in ourselves.

‘He wants us to rest in him. He is all that is, and he knows that anything less is not enough for us. This is why no soul can find peace until it empties itself of all forms. Only when the soul has willingly become nothing, out for love of him who is everything, can it find true rest.’ Julian of Norwich.

Julian, at the age of 30, was close to death, or so they thought. She had visions on her ‘death bed’ and spent the rest of her life unpacking them and interpreting them. She lived in seclusion in a small room in the walls of the church in Norwich, England. Her writings, ‘Revelations of Divine Love’, are the earliest surviving English language works indisputably by a woman.

Her theology is optimistic and she writes of God’s love over and over and I really appreciate her wisdom and dedicated pursuit of the love of God.

‘From the time these things were first revealed I had often wanted to know what was our Lord's meaning. It was more than fifteen years after that I was answered in my spirit's understanding. "You would know our Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well. Love was His meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. What did He show you? Love. Why did He show it? For love. Hold on to this and you will know and understand love more and more. But you will not know or learn anything else – ever.”’
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Perhaps peace in our souls is knowing this divine Love.

Today let’s pray for peace for ourselves, as it is a good place from which to work for peace with others and the wider world.

Divine Love, may we rest in You today. You are all that is, and anything less than You is not enough for us. May our souls find peace in You. May our souls find Your love to be everything. Amen

'I find nature forever gives me metaphors for my life's journey.' Herta Klassen

This photograph was taken on a hike up towards Mount Baker.

What is the first thing your eye goes to?
Gaze further into the image and sweep the whole picture, notice shapes, colours, lines, details, symbols.

Are you drawn to a particular part of the image?
Don't think too hard but stay in your heart.

What are you avoiding because you aren't comfortable with it?
Notice that.

Which part of the image is just for you, and linger there. Be open and be present to it. Take a longer look. Open your imagination. Are there feelings, longings, hopes, memories?

Simply be and let whatever wants to come up. Slowly notice what is being revealed in your seeing or your feeling.

Is there an invitation?

Let go of the image and rest.

‘Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.’ Henry David Thoreau

Choosing a path on which you can walk with love and reverence must surely be a path of peace. Where people are exploited there is no love. Where land is misused there is no reverence. Better to choose a path that is both loving and thoughtful towards all who share it with us. I think this might be a pathway of peace.

Take a walk outside, in nature if you can, and smile at anyone you meet on the trail. Start there.

And so we pray.
May love be our guide on the path of peace.
May we treat the way we walk and those we encounter with reverence.
Amen

“If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” Desmond Tutu.

The archbishop is sounding a lot like Jesus. Jesus was pretty keen on enemy love. This is one of Jesus' classic reweaving of a saying that his followers would have been familiar with. It's a 'You have heard it said, but I say to you...'

Jesus: “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
(Matthew 5:43-37 The Message)

I’m not saying it’s easy but if we want peace then it’s probably something to at least consider.

So we pray:
Point my feet in the direction of love.
Turn my heart towards and not away from my enemy.
Remind me of their humanity, which is as valuable as my own.
And, if it’s possible, open a conversation so we might have peace.
Amen.

Thursday, February 29, Lent, day 14

There is an extra day this year and this is it. Let’s make it count by finding peace, being peace, extending peace, working for peace, and praying for it.

There is so much hatred and anger in the world, let’s move the Jesus way instead. His way is Love.

His way - as Psalm 146 in Wilda Gafney’s version is to be:

Bringer of justice to the oppressed,
Bringer of bread to the hungry.
The Compassionate God sets the prisoners, free,
The All Seeing God opens the eyes of the blind,
The Just God lifts up those who are bowed down.
The Righteous God loves the righteous,
The Mother Of All cares for the stranger,
orphan and widow, she bears up,
but confounds the way of the wicked. 

A simple prayer today, and one that is endlessly useful:

Lord, have mercy.

Wednesday, February 28, Lent, day 13

This quote is from P!nk. These words come in the middle of her acceptance speech for the Peoples Champion award at the People’s Choice Awards in 2019. You can watch her whole acceptance speech on Youtube and you should really go and watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LLnE4dXd_k

More of her acceptance speech says,

“I grew up in a family of activists … and I know that one person can make a difference. You think that you don’t matter, that your life doesn’t matter, get involved. You can’t tell me Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Nelson Madela, Gloria Steinham, Anita Hill, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Malala Yushafsai, Greta Tunberg, tell me one person can’t make a difference. I am a **** derelict from Doyle’s Town. And I have managed to change a little part in my little world and there is so much to be done. I don’t care about your politics, I care about your kids. I care about decency, humanity, and kindness. Kindness today is an act of rebellion. There are people that don’t have what you have. Help them get it. There is a planet that needs help. It feels good to help. It feels powerful to help. Stop fighting each other and help each other. Get together with your friends and change the **** world.”

Maybe, if we stopped fighting each other and helped each other we would be on our way to peace.

Good word, P!nk

Let’s pray:

May we stop fighting each other and find a way to help each other instead.
May we get together with our friends and change the world.
Amen!

Receive my love, O Beloved, You who
hear my voice and my supplication.
You incline Your ear to me, and
I call upon You with trust
both day and night.
When the snares of fear encompass me,
when the pangs of loneliness
envelope me,
I suffer distress and anguish.
Then I call upon You, my Rock,
You come to my aid,
Your strength upholds me.
Psalm 116:1-4 (Nan C. Merrill, Psalms for praying)

As said earlier in this series, we are all connected and belong to one another. Because of this connection, even if we aren’t feeling it ourselves in the moment, there are those who are, and so we can come together to express our fear, loneliness, distress, and anguish and call out to Our Beloved to come to our aid.

Let’s take these words of the Psalm from me to us and turn it into our prayer for today.

Receive our love, O Beloved, You who
hear our voices and our supplications.
You incline Your heart to us, and
We call upon You with trust
both day and night.
When the snares of fear encompass us,
when the pangs of loneliness
envelop us,
we suffer distress and anguish.
Then we call upon You, our Rock,
You come to our aid.
Your strength upholds us.

This quote is from a longer one that says:

‘When we walk like we are rushing, we print anxiety and sorrow on the earth. We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the earth... Be aware of the contact between your feet and the earth. Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.' Thich Nhat Hanh

We are part way through Monday already and even here we can slow down and breathe. I love the image of walking slowing and printing peace on the earth that is in this quote. I feel the importance of treading lightly. I’ve been working on an image to remind myself about treading lightly on the earth because my footprint and the size of it matters.

Let’s anchor this with a breath prayer.

Breathe in
I walk in a way

Breathe out
that will only bring peace

A quick search for quotes on peace pulls up Martin Luther King Jr quite a few times. He was a church leader and activist who was one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement.

His tactic in protest was non-violence. Like this quote says: Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent protest in October 1964.

We can be angry, anger is an appropriate response to and gets us moving against injustice, but anger has to be the motivator, and is not the best or safest place to act from. A non-violent response takes a lot of self-control and a deep centered-ness on Jesus.

So we pray.

There is so much injustice all around and we feel it. It makes us mad as it should. When we are angered by it draw us back to center where You are and show us how we might respond from a place of peace in a way that is non-violent because we are Your children and, like we read in the Beatitudes - how wonderful to be a peacemaker. Amen

Today’s quote is from Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, and the part where He lists all the ‘Blessed are the …’ The one that fits with our theme right now is:

Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God.

NT Wrights version says, ‘Wonderful news for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.

I love NT Wrights version of ‘Wonderful news.’ This is good news because Jesus is doing something different to how the world works. Jesus is establishing a kingdom where peacemakers are beloved children and that is really hopeful.

How do we make peace? I think we could start with treating everyone with kindness. Kindness will get us a long way down the road towards peace.

And so we pray:

Like we have prayed already, we say, Your kingdom come, Your will be done. We extend that to say, may the world start to look like you have intended it. May there be peacemakers on every corner, sharing kindness and expressing their belonging as Your children with generosity and love. Amen

Thursday, February 22, Lent, day 8

Today we have a poem by Kathy Klassen as our prayer for peace. It’s a cry from her heart, take minute to read it and join her.

What I Wish For

I wish for
everyone to be fed
and to please have a bed
with a roof over their dear precious heads

For everyone to be known
no one disowned
discarded, unwanted
or addressed in harsh tones

For fighting to end
and people to mend
For empathy and compassion.
Can we be friends?

For all Wars to cease
finally World peace
and solving this horrific
mind boggling disease

To listen to each other
fathers, sisters and mothers
Let’s share the load
as we care for our brothers

No need for street drugs
addiction is cured
not alone but together
in a community hug

This poem might sound cheesy and easy and dumb
but still, can it matter to relieve even one
of the painful mistreatments in our worldhood?
Instead of ignoring, it’s boring and I am so done?

Kathy Klassen

Mother Teresa said that peace was about remembering that we belong to each other. In this quote, Desmond Tutu, says our humanity depends on it.

Humanity is all the humans but it is also the kindness that we have for one another. The root of this word has the idea that the basis of our nature as humans is to be kind. We should probably lean into that as a whole.

There is a glorious documentary of the relationship and conversations between the Dalai Lama and Arch, as his friends call him. It is wonderful to hear the banter between these two men, their profound thoughts on living through hard things, and their joyful giggles. If you haven’t watched it, I’d highly recommend it. It is on Netflix (and I’m sure other places too) and is called Mission: JOY, Finding happiness in troubled times.

Today my prayer is:

Teach us to be kind
remind us of who we are
remind us that we belong to one another
and our humanity depends
on all of us together.
Amen

Jesus taught His friends a simple prayer. This part of it is one I come back to again and again when I don’t know how to pray. I will repeat, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done,’ trusting in God who is just.

I love the version of what we call the Lord’s prayer in The Message. Eugene Peterson’s version gives fresh breath to words that could become rote because they are so well known. This short section comes from a longer prayer but the few verses ahead of it are important too, Matthew 6:7-10:

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,

Reveal who you are.

Set the world right;

Do what’s best -
as above, so below.”

I appreciate the reminder that prayer is about a relationship with God who loves us, not learning a formula or practicing a program or any tips or tricks or other such nonsense. He’s a good Father and that is good news and when we don’t know what or how to pray these few lines might just help us out.

And so we pray: ‘Set the world right; Do what’s best - as above, so below. Amen.’

Monday, February 19, Day 5 of Lent

There was no thought and prayer for Lent yesterday, because Sunday is always a feast and not a day to fast. Sunday looks ahead to the Resurrection and so is more part of Easter than it is Lent. So, today we begin the first full week of Lent with day 5 and a quote from Mother Teresa, ‘If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.’

How much more would be for each other if we believed we were connected and belonged to one another? How much kinder might the world be? I wonder if perhaps there would be less fighting if I knew that hurting you would hurt me?

I am enjoying the resetting of Psalms by Nan C. Merrill in her book Psalms for Praying. Psalm 50 has something to say about belonging to one another and the Sacred Gift that all of life is:

Have you forgotten that we are to be One in Love and Truth,
and all of life is Sacred Gift?
I know every creature, every plant, every mineral;
I know you – your every need,
and your fears;
The Earth, and all that is in it,
belongs to the Whole, to be
tended by all in co-operation with Love.

And so we pray…

May we realize how connected we are. Oh that we would remember we belong to You and to each other. Let there be peace in our hearts, in our homes, and across the earth. Amen.

This fern is growing on a fallen tree trunk that is covered in moss. This piece of tree has been down for some time and is no longer growing as it started out to but it has become the host home for numerous other plants and probably many small creatures too.

If trees think then I wonder if this one felt disappointment as it fell. I wonder if he felt helpless lying on the ground looking up at other trees growing as he had intended to and reaching for the light as he lay there in the dark. But as he lay, unable to do anything about his fortune, I wonder if there was consolation in the new growth that took root in his fallen body and the tiny lives that moved in to make him their new home. I’m not sure that trees think or feel, but if they do I imagine it might have gone something like that.

If you find yourself in a forest look for the small, surprising things growing in unusual places.

So, to pray…

May we find peace in the places where we find ourselves and recognize life and where it happening. May we learn to be still and may Your life grow in, around and through us. Amen.

I wrote an acrostic for the word LENT about this invitation to go out to where He is.

Lead us* into the wilderness
Expectant that we might meet You there
Noticing the world - - - - - in all the ways she hurts
Take us on a journey to the cross and so bring us back to love

*us is ALL of us. We are all connected to one another.

We picture vast deserts when we think wilderness, and perhaps the wilderness is just that but maybe the wilderness is more full of life than we imagine. The wilderness isn’t empty. The wilderness is WILD. It is expansive and it is teaming with life and there is more to be seen than we will ever see and there is wonder in all of it. Even in the desert there is life that is waiting patiently for the rains and then it bursts into glorious blooms.

The photograph is a path leading into a forest, it is just steps from my front door and a tantalizing invitation to enter in. It too is wilderness because it is wild.

Let us go out into the wilderness and meet Jesus there. I believe he is ready to meet us.

Take a minute, if you can, to stand among the trees, take in the fresh air they generously give us and breathe with them, today let that breath be your prayer.

Breathe in - I breathe in life
Breathe out - as I meet You here

Romans 8:26 - 28 in the Message (with my edit - He to She) says:

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. She does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. She knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

When we look at situations - within ourselves, within our immediate reach, and in the wider world - it is easy to come to the place of ‘what do you even pray?’ If God is powerful then why do They not act? Our knowledge and wisdom is lacking in the face of complicated situations. Not that we stop trying to find out and we still keep searching for ways to help but this is the moment where we find that sighs and groans are all we have.

If all you have today is a wordless sigh or an aching groan then you are in good company. We do not know how to pray but the Spirit comes alongside us and we love Her for it. If we do not know how to pray we have the Spirit with us that with-ness takes away the pressure to know.

Take a breath
Sigh it out in a groan
You are not alone

and repeat

Lent is a season of fasting and preparation ahead of Easter. It is a forty day fast. And in case you are quickly doing the math and thinking that doesn’t add up - you are right, because Sundays are not counted in the fast as Sunday always looks forward to Resurrection and is a feast day.

Last year Eden and I recorded our Ash Wednesday guided practice and we wanted to share it with you again this year so you can watch or listen as it suits you. You might want to have paper and pen to respond and journal as you go through it.

We hope it helps to bring some focus as we head towards Easter together.

Listen to it here

Watch it here

A guide for this Visio Divina

Have a good look at this picture. Notice the details, textures, colours, the foreground and background.

What are your eyes and or your heart drawn to in this picture?

Is there an emotion or sense of something that comes up as you focus on that? 
If so, what is that sense?

Does this in any way relate to an experience you have had recently?

What are you being invited to receive through this Visio Divina?

This is the image we used for Visio Divina when we gathered on zoom this weekend.

Use the steps below to help engage with the image if you need them to assist you.

Step 1
Relax. Closing your eyes and focusing on your breath can be a helpful way to center yourself in Love, and God’s presence. 

Step 2
Gaze at the entire picture. Notice the shapes, the colours, and the lighting. Notice the detail. Read the words.
Once you have visually canvased the painting and quote, note what has drawn your attention.
Just name it or identify it, don’t try and work out why as we’ll do that next.

Step 3
Meditate on the part of the photo that has drawn your attention.
How is God speaking to you?
Why do you think God drew your attention to this particular part?
Is a message conveyed that pertains to your life today?
Do you sense an invitation? Do you hear a call?
Is a memory aroused?

Step 4
Allow these thoughts to descend to your heart.
Is there an emotion that is evoked?
What word describes your inner stirring as you embrace this feeling?
Allow God’s communication to touch you deep within where the Spirit dwells.

What draws your attention immediately?
What emotion does it evoke in you?
What is the invitation?

• RESOURCE https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act 
• BOOK https://www.amazon.ca/Things-Know-About-Indian-Reconciliation/dp/0995266522/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=21+things+you+may+not+know+about&qid=1696171970&sr=8-1 
• PODCAST https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-105-unreserved?cmp=DM_SEM_Listen_Titles&gclid=CjwKCAjwseSoBhBXEiwA9iZtxlff7HeyhyTwoEyZIkagnysmE1oK9g3N85fFAmGbD3LM9S9EX1WVlhoCCcQQAvD_BwE 
• MOVIE https://gem.cbc.ca/bones-of-crows?cmp=DM_SEM_Gem_Titles&gclid=CjwKCAjwseSoBhBXEiwA9iZtxh8sPIzwgolbm9U4Xt-ZmoOEeAtWu07loMkV0hA7UKniieEUtionDxoCcAcQAvD_BwE 
• MOVIE  INDIAN HORSE trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02cyFlnvA4
• BOOK https://www.namwayut.com/ 
• Authors -
• Michelle Good – Five Little Indians 
• Monique Gray Smith – anything 
• Richard Wagamese – anything In the corner of our in person space there is a prayer table. There is a suggestion of a process to guide you if you so wish. This is changed up periodically. This is what is there this season. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2916 Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2916/Prayer We can lose heart in praying when we don't see particular outcomes.

  Consider using prayer as a way to connect with someone or something, in a way that doesn't require a particular outcome.

  Instead of telling God what we want done, and how to do it, let's listen to Jesus.

  Here are some questions you can ask that might give you a sense of connection with a situation or person that demands just can't create.

  Jesus, please show me how you see this person or situation?
  And show me where you are with this person or in this situation.
  Jesus, how much do you love this person?
  And how do you feel about this situation>
  Jesus can you show me where I am in this picture?
  Jesus, please show me how near you are to me.
  
  Now as you continue to pray for this person/situation, consider using the imagery that was formed by asking these questions, to watch what Jesus is doing, instead of telling him what to do.

  Prayer activity:

  Consider drawing, or writing a name or word, that simply connects you to Jesus and this person you are praying for, that came out of these questions. Carry it with you.

  ]]> If you aren't sure how to take communion or why you even would here are a few thoughts. This explanation of the process is on the table in our in person meeting space where you can serve yourself and your friends communion. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2915 Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2915/Communion

  A few things to consider as you receive communion:

  Your sin has not separated you from God.
  God has only LOVE for you, and we are never separated from God.
  Your confession doesn't change God's mind about you.
  God has only LOVE for you.
  God doesn't need to be reconciled to you.
  LOVE has already reconciled you.
  Christ already forgave you at the cross.
  LOVE has forgiven all.
  God's love does not waiver in response to your human condition.
  LOVE never waivers.

  This may just be about being reconciled to your own accusing conscience. Please let Jesus be the Lord over your conscience. The important thing is not to slink away into shame or hide from God like Adam and Eve did. rather, as quickly as you can, get up, and rush back to the Father's house, enter in and be embraced in the Father's arms.

  As you receive the bread and wine, receive with open hands, an open heart, and a willingness to let go of all the things that trouble you today. Lord have Mercy! Amen

  Please accept the forgiveness and mercy God gives, and give the forgiveness and mercy to yourself where you may have withheld it.

  ]]> I ended my message yesterday with a poem about love. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2912 Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2912/A-LOVE-POEM Forever Love, by Sarah Pickering

  There is too much hate in the name of Love
  Instead...
  May Love be our song, our breath, our life
  May we grow through Love, with Love, in Love
  May Love be the air around us,

  Breathing in and breathing out
  Rushed at first, we gasp for air,
  But then slowing, we realize there is plenty
  There is enough

  We are enough
  Love is enough
  May Love forever be our story
  And our underlying melody

   

  The question that arose during the message was:

  How can we love better and could a family model help us to do that?
  If your own family model was dysfunctional as most are and, honestly, all families have forms of dysfunction, chose another model, there are many varieties of family to choose from.

  How can we love better and could a family model help us to do that?

  ]]> Greg shared this version of the Lord's Prayer as part of our communion when we gathered on Mother's Day and offered it as a fresh alternative to what we might know by heart or be familiar with. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2907 Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2907/The-Lords-Prayer-by-J-Philip-Newell Ground of all being,
  Mother of life, Father of the universe,
  Your name is sacred, beyond speaking.

  May we know your presence,
  may your longings be our longings in heart and in action.
  May there be food for the human family today
  and for the whole earth community.

  Forgive us the falseness of what we have done
  as we forgive those who are untrue to us.

  Do not forsake us in our time of conflict
  but lead us into new beginnings.

  For the light of life, the vitality of life,
  and the glory of life are yours now and forever.

  Amen.

  ]]> From a dandelion seed head https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2906 Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2906/A-Visio-Divina--Holy-Seeing As you look at the image, reflect on these questions:

  What about this photo captures your attention?
  
  Does what you are drawn to convey a message for you?
  
  Does this image call you to something?
  
  What word describes your feelings as you ponder this image?
  
  Consider what God is saying to you through this image, and now find a word or two to reflect back to God.

   

  “Authentic God experience always expands your seeing and never constricts it. … In God you do not include less and less; you always see and love more and more.” Richard Rohr

  ]]> Brad Jersak shared some resurrection icons with us on Easter Sunday https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2902 Mon, 10 Apr 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2902/Resurrection-icons

  Brad read these icons with us on Easter Sunday.
  
  In the icons we see Jesus raised from the dead. He has broken the gates of Hades and they and the strong man are beneath His feet. In one hand he brings Adam and in the other he brings Eve from the dead as a sign that ALL rise with Him from the grave. On Jesus' right and left are John the baptist, Kings David and Solomon, and other saints.

  

  

  

  ]]> In the church calendar, today, February 22 is Shrove Tuesday. What is that about? And, here's a recipe! https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2898 Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2898/Shrove-Tuesday--what-is-that

  Shrove Tuesday started when Pope St. Gregory prohibited Christians from eating all forms of meat and animal products during Lent around A.D. 600. He told St. Augustine of Canterbury, a founder of the Christian church in southern England, to enforce those same fasting rules in England. So Christians made pancakes to use up their supply of eggs, milk and butter in preparation for Lent and the tradition stuck. The reason behind the feast has mostly been lost in time but pancake day has remained.

  When the tradition spread throughout Europe, people in France followed the trend. They made waffles, crepes and a dessert many know as king cake to utilize their dairy products. They called it Mardi Gras. You’ve probably heard of Mardi Gras from New Orleans and the festival there.

  Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - pancake day - they are all about the same thing, using up the ingredients that you might fast during the Lent season.

  I’m not intending on giving up any of these ingredients for Lent but I am going to eat pancakes because, well, pancakes.
  

  We’ll talk about the fast tomorrow which is, I think an invitation this season offers us to focus in on the presence of Jesus with us but we will talk about that tomorrow.

  But today, let’s eat pancakes!

  ---

  SHROVE TUESDAY CREPES
  (serves 2)

  1/2 cup all purpose flour
  1/2 cup of milk
  1 egg
  1/8 tsp salt

  Whisk together the ingredients
  Pour a small amount into a preheated pan
  Swirl to spread thinly across the pan and lightly brown it
  Toss or turn over and brown the other side
  Fill with delicious things
  
  Gluten free recipe
  As above but add an extra 1/4 cup of milk to make the consistency work with the GF flour

   

  ]]> We don't gather in a big group on long weekends and here's why. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2896 Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2896/Why-we-dont-meet-on-long-weekends

  We do not gather (officially) on a long weekend. The exceptions to this being Christmas and Easter as they feel a little different for obvious Jesus reasons!

  There is a certain amount of hustle that we live with in our culture without even realizing it and church can fall into the same trap unless we are careful. Rest runs counter to hustle and is so good for us, just think about the Sabbath and the importance that God places on it for all people, creatures and for the earth.

  Long weekends allow us to pause as a community and have the freedom to enjoy those things without having to fit it in around an official church gathering. And, after all, God is not located in the building but is wherever we are, so we can enjoy God’s presence anywhere and worship in a different way.

  Having said that there is a way to participate with our community this family day weekend if you would like to.

  The simple how to: 

  Take a photo of your glorious and messy family
  Tag our Instagram account - @thebridge_abbotsford or post it in our facebook group.
  Use the hashtags #bridgefamilyday23 #bridgeselfiesunday

  I'll repost images as you post them in - watch our stories on Sunday and Monday.

  Or, if you do neither of those you can participate by messaging Sarah. 



  Happy long weekend.
  We are so glad you have been joining in with our church family and are grateful for each of you and we hope that this weekend feeds you, body and soul, with all that is good.

  Sarah

  ]]> My Epiphany word for last year was 'Curiosity' and it made a good traveling companion. This year is 'Joy' - oh this is going to be fun! Last year I wrote a letter to curiosity... (I know, I'm weird) https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2890 Sun, 08 Jan 2023 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2890/Epiphany-words-curiosity--Love-Matters-More

  A tradition from very ancient times was for people to go out into the desert to seek out a mystic who had retreated to the desert to find a place where they could fully connect with Godde*. When the pilgrim found the mystic the tradition was to ask them for a word - a word or phrase that they could ponder for days, weeks, months, the whole year or even a lifetime. In the absence of a desert mystic we randomly selected words and asked Godde to use that word to nourish us or to challenge us, for a word to maybe wrestle with or maybe to grow into.

  If you would like a word and weren't part of our gathering on Sunday I will happily pick one for you, message me here and ask me to choose a word at random for you.

  Curiosity was my epiphany word for last year and It appears that I wanted to write to this emotion and way of being and back in September of 2022, I was obviously feeling that curiosity deserved a letter. Here’s what I wrote:

  Dear Curiosity
  Thank you for hanging around into adulthood. I know we spent much time together when I was a child but thank you for not drying up, turning off, or leaving. I sometimes meet adults who lost you somewhere along the way in their pursuit of certainty. I’m glad you stuck it out with me and encouraged me to hold onto the place of uncertainty and all the ‘what ifs’.
  I appreciate your ‘what if’ question, it has taken me on many an adventure. I wonder is another great starter for any sentence and I feel that’s one that you prompt as we explore the world together. You and your friends Inspired and Creative have been my mainstays and I appreciated that with you three there are endless possibilities. You show me other options, and you point out the incongruous or absurd and you always encourage play.
  Dear Curiosity, I feel like I’d like to keep you for a long, long time, forever if I may. I don’t want to settle for ‘I know’ but stick with ‘I wonder’ and ‘What if’ and ‘Do you suppose.’ Those questions and starts feel like the igniters of adventure and trampolines to take my thinking and bounce it off the walls in all directions.
  My dear Curiosity, I enjoyed you as a small child as we explored the world together. I loved you in school, inspiring learning and exploring topics that took my imagination on wonderful journeys. I love you still in learning and in growing as an adult. There is so much I do not know and have not seen yet and so I’m going to need you to keep tracking with me.
  I need you in regards to people too, not just places or things or situations. Build my curiosity skills in regards to others. May you always be there to encourage me to ask good questions and really listen to the answer, to help me to read people a little like I read books with so much going on between the lines.
  And while we are on the subject of books… there’s the bible. I want to always have you by my side as I read the bible and also as I read what others say about the bible. Help me to have an open-minded curiosity towards it all. I know that I don’t know. I know that I look through my own eyes and with my own story and I never see the whole picture. Help me never to forget that.
  Thanks for being my life companion.
  On to the next adventure.
  Sarah

  This leads nicely into the book study we are going to be embarking on in small groups.

  Love Matters More by Jared Byas is about learning to read the bible with curiosity. More 'what if' than 'I know'. It is going to be a fun one. We'd love you to sign up for a group - space is limited so don't hang about.

  And while we are on the subject of fun... the word I chose this morning was 'JOY' Watch out 2023! This will be a good one!

   

  ]]> A New Year is a place in our lives that can be a marker for change. We're not talking about the kind of change that we might try to make with a resolution, but rather a thoughtful reflection where we adjust and plan for the changes we want to see happen in our lives. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2889 Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2889/A-New-Year Dear Bridge Family,

  We’ve had quite a year, each of us, all of us, collectively. And now another year is fast approaching, and we might be feeling a bit wary of what it might bring to add to the pile!

  If Covid did anything, it beat some of the “happy clappy” out of us, and took away our rose-coloured glasses, and may have left us more cynical than in the past.

  But a New Year is still a place in our lives that can be a marker for change. We’re not talking about the kind of change that we might try to make with a resolution, but rather a thoughtful reflection where we adjust and plan for the changes we want to see happen in our lives.

  In thinking about this we wanted to offer some questions for you to consider if there are things that you would like to either leave behind or move towards in this coming season. You are welcome to interact with each of these questions or pick and choose which questions might be helpful to you.

  When you look back at 2022

  1. What did you learn or embrace that has strengthened you?
  2. What did you find yourself challenged by repeatedly?
  3. Are there things that you “picked up” that you want to lay down?
  4. Is there anything you laid down that you would like to pick up again?

  When you look ahead to 2023

  1. Can you articulate a hope you may have for this coming year (season)?
  2. Are there any voices in your life that you would benefit from listening to more often?
  3. Are there any influences or influencers that really don’t move you towards what you are hoping for?
  4. What is the thing or things that bring you the most life and re-energize you?

  We won’t tell you what to do with these questions, or the answers that come. This isn’t a project or a formula, just a thought experiment that may lead you to some perspective and realization of aspects of your life that need to be noticed.

  Something that may be fun is to listen for a word for this coming year. Many of you already do this, but if you don’t, it can be interesting to have that as a thread that weaves through this coming season and that you can look back on to see what you may not have seen in the moment.

  Praying this coming year has each of you rising to the reality of who you are, and when you look in the mirror you recognize yourself and say, “I see you!” and “I love you!

  Blessings of courage and hope as we head into another year together.

  Eden and Sarah

  ]]> Reflections and poems of various aspects of peacemaking. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2887 Sun, 18 Dec 2022 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2887/Poems-for-peace

  While preparing for my talk on the advent theme of peace, I came across this free resource for the "Peace Project on the North Valley Friends trail"
  
  It has twelve different reflections on various aspects of peacemaking: with self, others, God and the earth. It's a beautiful resource. I'm going to share a few of the selections with you this morning and you are welcome to download it for your own contemplation as well.

  Poems of Peace booklet

  ]]> The third weekend in Advent is JOY and we light a candle of delight. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2885 Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2885/Do-you-need-a-little-joy

  I have seldom met a parent who wasn’t entranced and delighted by their newborn.
  The ancestors of Jesus, all the people in Joseph’s and Mary’s lines must have rejoiced because here he was, the fulfilment of all the promises down through time from Sarah and Abraham, through fourteen generations to Bathsheba and David, through fourteen generations again to those deported to Babylon and the people brought home again.
  
  And finally, HERE HE WAS! The joy! The passage in the Lectionary for this week lists all these people, or all of those whose names are known. It is “A Genealogy of Jesus Christ” compiled by Ann Patrick Ware of the Women’s Liturgy Group of New York. Try reading their names out loud and, if you can, I invite you to imagine them looking over the manger at this tiny, tiny baby and rejoicing with his happy parents.

  A genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of Miriam, the daughter of Anna:
  Sarah was the mother of Isaac,
  And Rebekah was the mother of Jacob,
  Leah was the mother of Judah,
  Tamar was the mother of Perez
  The names of the mothers of Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon and Salmon have been lost.
  Rehab was the mother of Boaz,
  and Ruth was the mother of Obed.
  Obed’s wide, whose name is unknown, bore Jesse.
  The wife of Jesse was the mother of David.
  Bathsheba was the mother of Soloman,
  Naamah, the Ammonite, was the mother of Rehoboam.
  Mach was the mother of Abidjan and the grandmother of Asa.
  Azubah was the mother of Jehoshaphat.
  The name of Jehoram’s mother is unknown.
  Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah
  Zibiah of Beersheba the mother of Johas,
  Jocoliah of Jerusalem bore Uzziah,
  Jerusha bore Jotham; Ahaz’s mother is unknown.
  Abi was the mother of Hezekah,
  Hephzibah was the mother oif Manasseh,
  Meshullemeth was the mother of Amon,
  Jedidiah was the mother of Josiah,
  Zebidiah was the mother of Jehoiakim,
  Nhushta was the mother of Jehoiachin
  Hamutal was the mother of Zedekah.
  Then the deportation of Babylon took place.
  After the deportation to Babylon
  the names of the mothers go unrecorded.
  These are their sons:
  Jechoniah, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel,
  Abiud, Eliakim, Azor and Zadok,
  Achim, Eliud, Eleazar,
  Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph the husband of Miriam.
  Of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
  The sum of generations is there: fourteen from Sarah to David’s mother;
  fourteen from Bathsheba to the Babylonian deportations
  and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Miriam, the mother of Christ.

  Standing peering into the manger are all his ancestors and standing next to them looking too are the angels. The angels are singing of good news of great JOY for all the people. People sing when they’re joyful  and apparently angels do too.
  The shepherds were welcomed to the stable, they must have been delighted to be invited, even them, even there, even so.
  This is a joyful story because God is with us - Emmanuel! I mean seriously, this changes everything!

  Do you see it? Is your heart filled with joy too?

  If you don’t see it right now, because life is hard sometimes, I pray that you might. I pray that your heart might be filled with joy because GOD IS WITH US.

  ]]> Nichole has given us a resource that includes many Indigenous North American Creation Myths. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2878 Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2878/Indigenous-Creation-Myths

  Thanks to Nichole Forbes we have a pretty good Indigenous resource page. If you haven't been there have a look there are many books, movies, websites etc.

  Here's the first Creation myth from the Apache Nation to get you started but there are many more on the downloadable pdf.

  
  In the beginning was only Tepeu and Gucumatz (Feathered Serpent). These two sat together and thought, and whatever they thought came into being. They thought Earth, and there it was. They thought mountains, and so there were. They thought trees, and sky, and animals etc, and each came into being. But none of these things could praise them, so they formed more advanced beings of clay. But these beings fell apart when they got wet, so they made beings out of wood, but they proved unsatisfactory and caused trouble on the earth. The gods sent a great flood to wipe out these beings, so that they could start over. With the help of Mountain Lion, Coyote, Parrot, and Crow they fashioned four new beings. These four beings performed well and are the ancestors of the Quiché In the beginning was only Tepeu and Gucumatz (Feathered Serpent).
  These two sat together and thought, and whatever they thought came into being. They thought earth, and there it was. They thought mountains, and so there were. They thought trees, and sky, and animals etc, and each came into being. But none of these things could praise them, so they formed more advanced beings of clay. But these beings fell apart when they got wet, so they made beings out of wood, but they proved unsatisfactory and caused trouble on the earth. The gods sent a great flood to wipe out these beings, so that they could start over. With the help of Mountain Lion, Coyote, Parrot, and Crow they fashioned four new beings. These four beings performed well and are the ancestors of the Quich.
  In the beginning there was only darkness. Suddenly a small bearded man, the One Who Lives Above, appeared rubbing his eyes as if just awakened. The man, the Creator, rubbed his hands together and there appeared a little girl, Girl-Without-Parents. The creator rubbed his face with his hands and there stood the Sun-God. Again Creator rubbed his sweaty brow and from his hands dropped Small-boy. Now there were four gods.Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, Wind, Lightning-Maker and Lightning-Rumbler. All four gods shook hands so that their sweat mixed together. Then Creator rubbed his palms together from which fell a small round, brown ball. They took turns kicking it and with each kick the ball grew larger. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and blow it up. Then Tarantula spun a black cord, which he attached to the ball and went to the east pulling as hard as he could.
  He repeated this exercise with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to the west and a white cord to the north. When he was done the brown ball had become the earth. The Creator again rubbed his hands and there appeared Hummingbird. "Fly all over this earth," said Creator to Hummingbird, "and tell us what you see." When he returned Hummingbird reported that there was water on the west side. But the earth rolled and bounced, so Creator made four giant posts one each black, blue, yellow and white and had Wind place them at the four cardinal points of the earth. The earth was now still. The creation of the people, animals, birds, trees, etc takes place hereafter.

   

  ]]> Eden spoke on PEACE - this is an extract - listen to the whole message on the podcast. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2837 Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2837/Peace Within community we may consider the peacemakers as the more vulnerable due to their seeming desire to please everyone, or to find the lowest common denominator between beliefs or philosophies. But that is not peacemaking, that is peace faking. A community that is engaged in true and love-based peacemaking is not hiding from conflict, rather it takes note and considers anyone who needs advocacy, it listens to the voices of the marginalized and makes space for a healthy dialogue and considers a path to meeting the needs they hear of.

  When we are focused on peace, and not moving in any manner that would be considered violent, we make space for a path to peace. Bernice King, youngest daughter of Dr Martin Luther King, said this, "Nonviolence works! And it isn't about false peace. Nonviolence dramatizes the issue, stands up to oppressive power, and pursues justice. Its love-centered, strategic noncooperation with evil."

  Peace is not a state of calm due to perfect conditions. Peace transcends our environment and circumstances, to allow us to observe, engage, and be at peace in the worst of conditions.

  How can we grow in peace as a community of Jesus followers?

  ]]> Our celebration of affirmation Sunday was wonderful. Here's a transcript of Stacey Chomiak's message if you would like to read it in full. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2836 Wed, 06 Oct 2021 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2836/Because-of-Love--a-celebration “Because of love, a service of welcome and affirmation.”

  • -  Good morning! First I want to acknowledge that we are on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish, Sto Lo & Kwantlen People. I want to thank them for the honour of being a guest on their lands.

  • -  PHEW I’m SO grateful to be here. I know this isn’t EXACTLY

    the way we had envisioned celebrating today, but we are all still “here” together. I really want to thank the Bridge leadership team for pivoting last minute and finding a way that we could truly celebrate this day TOGETHER. I feel the shared love and energy in this community. It feels really special. Also hi to everyone joining via Zoom! It’s so amazing to “see” you all!

  SO, I’m not sure if everyone is aware, (spoiler alert) but I identify as a lesbian Christian, and my pronouns are she/her. Before we get into what TODAY is all about, I would LOVE to share about my experience of God through the lens of my sexuality. This framing might feel uncomfortable in a church setting, but lucky for me, I’m in a house. So this is perfect!

  - So, I grew up in Winnipeg, in a middle class home, with one younger brother, a mom and dad. We were what you would call the classic “conservative Christian” family. We attended a fairly large Evangelical church, the same one my Mom grew up in. And actually, I loved it! It was my second home. I was baptized days after being born - and then again in youth group just to prove that I was really committed. I went to Sunday School, youth group, Bible summer camp, every single Christian youth convention...

  Also! When I refer to God, I will be using THEY pronouns, because I feel like that is a much more expansive view of the beauty that is our Creator.

  • -  At my public school growing up, I’m pretty sure they called me “Christian Stace”. I was CONVINCED that me wearing overtly Christian-themed tshirts and a cross necklace was going to bring my “secular” friends to Jesus on a weekly basis.

  • -  Simply put, God and Jesus were a huge part of my life. And I felt like the church was my literal family. I believed they would love me no matter what - because, well, that’s what they said.

  • -  Until about the age of 16, my biggest struggle with sin was trying not to gossip about my secular friends at church. I was an extremely “good Christian girl”. And I was super comfortable with the fact that my life consistently fell safely within the boundaries of what a proper Christian girl SHOULD look like.

  • -  Then... I began to notice that my friends started having crushes on lots of boys. I also noticed that I felt nothing. I pretended to feel all the things though, so I wouldn’t be left out. “Oh YES his hair is VERY nice... Uh-huh his smile is SO delightful.... mmmmhmmmm...”

  • -  I slowly realized that the opposite began to happen. I found myself wanting to be around certain GIRLS all the time. And I definitely DID feel all the things about THEIR hair and smiles...

  • -  But I had absolutely NO clue what that meant. There was no

    Christian vocabulary for it. Like literally, I did not even know the words “lesbian” or “homosexuality” existed. They had been forbidden in our house, and I hadn’t heard them at church yet. Also, this was waaaayyy before Netflix.

  • -  I had no tools, no support, and no understanding of what was

    in front of me. I had only ever known this straight, heteronormative Christian world, and my feelings were coming from an entirely different universe.

  • -  This was the very beginning of an arduous 13 year journey for

    me. One where I intensely wrestled with my faith, with myself, and my God. My church home was my refuge since birth. But it slowly started to become a dark & lonely place where I no longer fit.

  About a year into my struggle, I VERY QUIETLY admitted to myself that yes, I was actually attracted to other girls. This led me to learn all about ex-gay ministries and people who had apparently prayed their gay away. Through my hidden research behind closed doors, I learned that this was called “struggling with same-sex attraction”. Christians in the ex-gay ministries spoke of it like a disease that rapidly spread. One that you had to ALWAYS keep on top of.

  This translation of John’s sermon has most of the old English and antiquated terms updated, but there is one that is just too glorious to change, so I will just tell you what it means now, so that you can translate it in when we get there. The term is “fare sumptuously”, and what it means is this, fare refers to things that are meant to be eaten, you’ll see that term on a menu sometimes, and sumptuous refers to extravagance and magnificence. So, the permission given in using this terminology is to partake of this extravagant feast with abandon. No one will be left hungry, so get in there and have your fill.

  There is one more reason why I have chosen to share this sermon this morning. The Christian faith, and the Church, the Bride of Christ has come under some serious scrutiny in this last while. We often refer to deconstruction and have taken note of how many have left the faith. Many are disillusioned and have lost hope, and with some good thought. But in this sermon, on this day, we have hope, we have a solid foundation, we have an ancient tradition that shows us that all is not lost! In this message we are brought back to the Beautiful Gospel, the hope of Christ within us, and the power of his sacrifice on our behalf. We are reminded that Christ came for all, that the table is laden with sumptuous fare, and no one will go hungry!

  John Chrysostom’s Pascal Sermon

  The Lord is risen.

  He is risen indeed!
  IF there are devout and God-loving people here, let them enjoy this beautiful radiant festival. If there are prudent servants, enter joyously into the Lord’s joy.
  Whoever may be spent from fasting, enjoy now your reward.
  Whoever has toiled from the first hour, receive today your just settlement.
  If any came after the third hour, celebrate gratefully.
  If any of you arrived after the sixth, have no misgivings, you have lost nothing.
  If some have been as late as the ninth, come forward, do not be at a loss.
  If any of you have arrived only at the eleventh hour, do not be dismayed for being late.

  FOR The Master is gracious;
  He accepts the last even as the first;
  He gives rest to those of the eleventh as well as to those who have labored from the first;
  He is lenient with the last while looking after the first; to the one He gives, to the other He gives freely;
  He accepts the labors and welcomes the effort; honors the deed, but commends the intent. So, all of you, enter into the joy of our Lord:
  first and second, share the bounty.
  Rich and poor alike, celebrate together.
  Sober or heedless, honor the day.
  Those who fasted, and those who did not, rejoice today.
  The table is full, everyone fare sumptuously.
  The calf is fatted; no one go away hungry.
  Everyone, savor the banquet of faith; relish the riches of God’s goodness.

  No one need lament poverty, for the kingdom is seen as universal.
  No one need grieve over sins; forgiveness has dawned from the tomb.
  No one need fear death; the Savior's death has freed us from it.
  While It’s captive He stifled it.
  He despoiled Hell as He descended into it; it was angered when it tasted His flesh. Foreseeing this, Isaiah proclaimed: "Hell was angered when it met You face to face below." It was angered because it was abolished
  It was angered because it was mocked
  It was angered because it was slain.
  It was angered because it was shackled.
  It received a body and encountered God.
  It received earth and came face-to-face with heaven.
  It received what it saw and fell by what it could not see.
  Death, where is your sting<]]> Last Sunday on virtual church I tried to communicate a little of what I was feeling and maybe some of you are too... https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2770 Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2770/Grief Hi all,

  Last Sunday on virtual church I tried to communicate a little of what I was feeling and maybe some of you are too. I had a whole day where I just felt a deep grief and cried so many tears. Naming it helped me.Then I read this article which communicates better than I ever could. I hope it helps you as it has helped me!

  Janine

  That discomfort you are feeling is grief

  ]]> We are all in this together. Even together with God. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2769 Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2769/A-heart-wide-open-in-solidarity Hey Friends,I just want to briefly reflect with you about what it means to keep your heart wide open in solidarity.  
  I really liked the meditation that Richard Rohr wrote on March 22nd. He started with quoting Etty Hillesum, who, while suffering in Auschwitz, wrote on global solidarity saying, “I am not alone in my tiredness or sicknessor fears, but at one with millions of others from many centuries, and it is all part of life.”
  Rohr says, “The cross is where God says, 'I am with you’”. As “you” hang in your pain try to learn from it.  It will be your teacher.  When we carry our own suffering in solidarity with humanity’s one universal longing for deep union, it helps keep us from self-pity or self-preoccupation. “
   We know that we are all in this together.  Even together with God.  Etty believed her suffering was also the suffering of God.  
  
  Pray “God hear our prayer for the healing of the world.”  
  
  More from the CAC article below. 
  Dean 

  The Path of Descent
  
  Suffering in Solidarity
  Sunday, March 22, 2020
  
  I am not alone in my tiredness or sickness or fears, but at one with millions of others from many centuries, and it is all part of life. —Etty Hillesum [1]
  The “cross,” rightly understood, always reveals various kinds of resurrection. It’s as if God were holding up the crucifixion as a cosmic object lesson, saying: “I know this is what you’re experiencing. Don’t run from it. Learn from it, as I did. Hang there for a while, as I did. It will be your teacher. Rather than losing life, you will be gaining a larger life. It is the way through.” As impossible as that might feel right now, I absolutely believe that it’s true.
  When we carry our own suffering in solidarity with humanity’s one universal longing for deep union, it helps keep us from self-pity or self-preoccupation. We know that we are all in this together. It is just as hard for everybody else, and our healing is bound up in each other’s. Almost all people are carrying a great and secret hurt, even when they don’t know it. This realization softens the space around our overly-defended hearts. It makes it hard to be cruel to anyone. It somehow makes us one—in a way that easy comfort and entertainment never can.
  I believe—if I am to believe Jesus—that God is suffering love. If we are created in God’s image, and if there is so much suffering in the world, then God must also be suffering. How else can we understand the revelation of the cross? Why else would the central Christian logo be a naked, bleeding, suffering divine-human being? The image of Jesus on the cross somehow communicates God’s solidarity with the willing soul. A Crucified God is the dramatic symbol of the one suffering that God fully enters into with us—much more than just for us, as many Christians were trained to think.
  If suffering, even unjust suffering (and all suffering is unjust on some level), is part of one Great Mystery, then I am willing to carry my little portion. Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), a young, Dutch, Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz, truly believed her suffering was also the suffering of God. She even expressed a deep desire to help God carry some of it. How many people do you know who feel sorry for God and want to “help” God within us? She has a stronger sense of the Divine Indwelling within her than most Christians I have ever met:
  And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances, about our lives. Neither do I hold You responsible. You cannot help us, but we must help You and defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last. [2]

  Such freedom and generosity of spirit are almost unimaginable to me. What creates such altruistic and loving people? Perhaps this season of disruption will offer us some clues. I certainly hope so.

  
  Gateway to Action & Contemplation:
  What word or phrase resonates with or challenges me? What sensations do I notice in my body? What is mine to do?

  Prayer for Our Community:
  O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.

  [1] Etty Hillesum,  An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork (Henry Holt and Company: 1996), 157.
  [2] Ibid., 178.
  Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent: 2019), 160, 161–162; and
  A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (CAC Publishing: 2016), 122.

  ]]> Two weeks ago we prayed this together. It's so good it's worth sharing again. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2662 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2662/The-Lords-Prayer--from-New-Zealand This is The Lord's Prayer from the New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book. I love the words of this prayer.

  Eternal Spirit
  Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
  Source of all that is and that shall be.
  Father and Mother of us all, 
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

  The hallowing of Your name echo through the universe!
  The way of Your justice be followed by the people of the world!
  Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
  Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

  With the bread we need for today, feed us.
  In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
  In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
  From trials too great to endure, spare us.
  From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

  For You reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.

  Amen.

  ]]> Shelly read this poem during the service on Mother's Day. It is a beautiful poem written by Allison Woodard. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=2640 Mon, 14 May 2018 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/2640/God-our-Mother God Our Mother.

  To be a Mother is to suffer;
  To travail in the dark,
  stretched and torn,
  exposed in half-naked humiliation,
  subjected to indignities
  for the sake of new life.

  To be a Mother is to say,
  “This is my body, broken for you,”
  And, in the next instant, in response to the created’s primal hunger,
  “This is my body, take and eat.”

  To be a Mother is to self-empty,
  To neither slumber nor sleep,
  so attuned You are to cries in the night—
  Offering the comfort of Yourself,
  and assurances of “I’m here.”

  To be a Mother is to weep
  over the fighting and exclusions and wounds
  your children inflict on one another;
  To long for reconciliation and brotherly love
  and—when all is said and done—
  To gather all parties, the offender and the offended,
  into the folds of your embrace
  and to whisper in their ears
  that they are Beloved.

  To be a mother is to be vulnerable—
  To be misunderstood,
  Railed against,
  Blamed
  For the heartaches of the bewildered children
  who don’t know where else to cast
  the angst they feel
  over their own existence
  in this perplexing universe

  To be a mother is to hoist onto your hips those on whom your image is imprinted,
  bearing the burden of their weight,
  rejoicing in their returned affection,
  delighting in their wonder,
  bleeding in the presence of their pain.

  To be a mother is to be accused of sentimentality one moment,
  And injustice the next.
  To be the Receiver of endless demands,
  Absorber of perpetual complaints,
  Reckoner of bottomless needs.

  To be a mother is to be an artist;
  A keeper of memories past,
  Weaver of stories untold,
  Visionary of lives looming ahead.

  To be a mother is to be the first voice listened to,
  And the first disregarded;
  To be a Mender of broken creations,
  And Comforter of the distraught children
  whose hands wrought them.

  To be a mother is to be a Touchstone
  and the Source,
  Bestower of names,
  Influencer of identities;
  Life giver,
  Life shaper,
  Empath,
  Healer,
  and
  Original Love.

   -Allison Woodard, 9.28.17

  ]]> From the book 'For Those Who Wait' by Tanya Marlow https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=1601 Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/1601/A-prayer-for-those-who-wait Dear Lord, I am waiting for
  (tell Him what it is you are waiting for)
  
  You came to earth as a weak human.
  You will come again in glory as a powerful King.
  In between times, please come afresh into my life.
  I invite you into my frustration, my excitement;
  My disappointment, my hope.
  
  Let me know your empathy as a God-born-baby;
  In control of the universe, yet helpless and flailing.
  Let me know your power as a good ruler
  Who acts at just the right time and comes to make everything right.
  Remind me of the good beginning and the good ending.
  
  Lord be with me in the middle of my story.
  Bring me perspective and let me see your purpose in the waiting,
  While I wait, give me endurance and strength to hold fast to you.
  Lord Jesus Christ, would you come to me today.
  
  Amen.
  ]]> If we see God's discipline as training and understand that the One training us loves us unconditionally, wants only the best for us, and trains us for our healing, then that changes things https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=437 Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/437/Gods-discipline-is-a-facet-of-His-love God’s discipline is not equal to punishment. Punishment has to do with God’s wrath but in Christ we don’t suffer God’s wrath. God’s discipline is course correction and training and the goal of it is healing.

  God’s discipline is an aspect of God’s love because He is love. In Hebrews 12 we read about God’s discipline and the great news is that the One who loves us unconditionally (that means without any conditions whatsoever) is the one disciplining in this passage. He loves us more than I can explain. He only wants our good and His heart is so for us it defies description.

  5 And have you forgotten His encouraging words spoken to you as His children?
  He said,
  “My child, don’t underestimate the value of
  The discipline and training of the Lord God.
  Or get depressed when He has to correct you.
  6 For the Lord’s training of your life
  Is the evidence of His faithful love.
  And when He draws you to Himself
  It proves you as His delightful child.”
  7 Fully embrace God’s correction as part of your training, for He is doing what any loving father does for his children. For who has ever heard of a child who never had to be corrected? 8 We all should welcome God’s discipline as the validation of authentic sonship. For if we have never once endured His correction it only proves we are strangers and not sons
  9 And isn’t it true that we respect our earthly fathers even though they corrected and disciplined us? Then we should demonstrate an even greater respect for God, our spiritual Father, as we submit to His life-giving discipline. 10 Our parents corrected us for the short time of our childhood as it seemed good to them. But God corrects us throughout our lives for our own good, giving us an invitation to share His holiness.
  11 Now all discipline seems to be more pain that pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a transformation of character, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it.
  12 So be made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your tired hands in prayer and worship. And strengthen your weak knees, 13 for as you keep walking forward on God’s paths all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed!

  The Passion Translation
  

  ]]> https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=435 Tue, 26 Apr 2016 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/435/LOVE "God refuses to be known intellectually. God can only be loved and known in the act of love." 

  Richard Rohr

  ]]> What is a Christian? https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=373 Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/373/What-is-a-Christian A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ.  Someone trying to walk in love in any and every situation of life.  
  
  When I use the word, “trying” that’s the human part that we don’t have the perfection of God as expressed in Jesus.  So when we fail, the Bible calls it “sin”, which is an archery term for missing the mark.  I think we Canadians are better served using the words “off-side” as in hockey.  sin makes me think I’m no good and should be shamed and never come to God again.  But “off-side” is a more accurate way to think about what Jesus is saying.  
  You get on-side and carry on.  God still loves you, you just accidentally, or will-fully crossed a line.  A line in society, a line that hurt another person, or a line that crossed your own personal values.  In ice-hockey it’s not devastating to go off-side, it happens in the game, as imperfect players experience the game together.  
  
  Obviously I’m saying more here about dealing with how we react when we get it wrong, as a Christian.  Because that’s usually what trips us up. 
  
  When love happens it’s an incredible experience that draws us close to God even though we aren’t or weren’t away from Him.  The sense of purpose and meaning and shalom as we flow with the love of God on this planet.  
  
  Dean
  ]]> We have an opportunity to serve together. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?" Romans 15:2 https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=369 Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/369/Serving-Together

  Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” Romans 15:1-2 MSG

  If you want to try something crazy this week try looking around as you enter a situation and ask yourself - what needs to be done? and then how can I help?  Or, if you want to try something really extreme try asking someone ‘how can I help you?’
  
  Needs take time, some people have huge needs and some situations are so big that you could look at them and feel defeated before you even start and give up. But that is if you are looking to serve on your own. No single one of us can meet another persons needs, often we can’t even handle our own needs but together, with God’s help, now that’s a different matter.

  We have the opportunity to do something together that will make a difference in our city. The FoodBank has empty shelves and are desperately in need of filling them so they can continue to give to those in need in our community.
  
  Here's the email that came from the food bank this week:
  
  My apologies for this rather unusual e-mail but I need to reach out for your support in prayer and food. For the second consecutive year we have nearly run out of food (10 days left as I write this). This is a very unusual position for us to be in and we have always believed that “God will provide”…and we still do!
   
  However, being somewhat  practical in nature the bottom line is we still need food…quickly.
  
  If you are not familiar with what we do our primary service is providing food for the less fortunate in our community.  We serve between 3000-4000 people every month.  These individuals and families receive about a 3-4 day’s supply of food.  Their income sources are varied but you may be interested to know that 18% of the adults we serve are working.  We have numerous other programs as well:
  
  ·         The Christmas Bureau
  ·         The Free Dental Clinic
  ·         Starfish Backpack Program  (We feed 263 elementary students every weekend)
  ·         The All Play Kids Sports Summer Soccer Camp
  ·         Cornerstone Kids Drop In Soccer
  ·         And so much more
   
  We simply ask today that you consider having a food drive for us this Thanksgiving Season.   We would welcome you sharing this request with others in the Christian community that may consider helping us out.
   
  Blessings,
  Dave Murray & The Food Bank Family
  
  This is something we can do to serve together as a church. Next Sunday, which is Thanksgiving, bring donations for the Food Bank and we’ll make sure it gets to them on Tuesday morning. Obviously feel free to drop it in there ahead of time but I think it would be great to see what we can achieve together, as a church team, I think all the food we bring will be a great visual of what we can do when we work together. No one of us can meet the needs of the 4000 people they feed every month but together we can make a difference. If you aren’t going to be here next Sunday then give your donation to someone in your connect group to bring for you.
  
  This is a simple mission for all of us to be involved in but I wonder what mission God has for your family or for your connect group? What has He equipped you for in the people that He has put together in one place?
  
  I want God to spark an imagination in us for something that we couldn’t possibly do on our own but that with the help of those He has placed around us and with the Holy Spirit to guide us we can do to serve together.
  Let's be asking the questions... ‘What needs to be done and how can WE help?’
  
  Looking at the needs in the world can be overwhelming and even discouraging and we may be tempted to ask God why He isn’t doing anything about it… but maybe He’s asking us that question… maybe that’s what He has put us here for.
  
  So, here’s the simple mission for us all for next Sunday as a big TEAM working and serving together - let’s overwhelm the Food Bank with so much food they don’t have room for it all.

  ]]> Love is spiritual warfare... it locates a chink in the ego or the innermost self... https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=359 Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/359/Love-is-spiritual-warfare "How does love do it?  How does love succeed again and again against astounding odds in coaxing people out of the secure darkness of their selfishness and into the humility and exposure of it's own searing light?  One explanation that may be offered, at the risk of sounding facile, is that love beats the ego at it’s own game. As the only quality that exists for and of itself alone and not in reaction against anything else, love turns out to be the only legitimate egoism, the purest manifestation of selfhood.  In fact, it is the only state in which self can really exist.  When the illegitimate self, the one that is founded upon human pride and illusion, comes up against the real thing, it cannot stand.  It has found what it has been struggling all along to be and so crumbles with shame, relief, joy, realization.  No more is it afraid of losing itself, for it has been found.  Love wins over selfishness by actually making the whole concept of self obsolete, or at least by redefining it out of all recognition.  For it is the special magic of love to demonstrate convincingly that the real goal of self, which is total self-sufficiency, can be achieved only by way of total self-sacrifice.  Only love is completely self-sufficient, for only love has nothing whatsoever to lose in spilling itself out, since that is its very nature.”
  
  The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason, p. 72
  ]]> A thought for today https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=346 Wed, 19 Aug 2015 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/346/A-thought-for-today Hey friends, Here is a thought that keeps rolling in my head this week, “If your only goal is to love, there is no such thing as failure “ ( Richard Rohr )
  ]]> Do you ever wonder if Jesus understands how you feel? This Bible story shows Jesus having deep feelings and emotions. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=337 Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/337/Questions-on-John-11 JOHN 11:1-44    
  
  Do you ever wonder if Jesus understands how you feel?
  This Bible story shows Jesus having deep feelings and emotions.
  
  1. Read it
  
  2. Who is the closest person to you who has passed away?
  
  3. Since Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus (11:11) how do you account for His weeping (33-35)?
  
  4. How does Jesus’ response to Lazarus’ death and Mary’s weeping (35) help you trust Him more?
  
  5. How do you respond to Jesus’ statement and question in verses 25 & 26?

  Lazarus came out of the grave with the grave clothes still around him. Jesus could easily have dealth with the grave clothes as He raised Lazarus but instead Jesus asked the people around to take them off him. We need each other to help identify and shed those things that we have already been freed from but still kind of hang on to us.
  
  6. What are some “old grave clothes” that are still inhibiting your feeling of freedom in Christ?
  
  7. Pray for each other, share with a friend and pray with them or share your prayer request on our prayer wall which you'll find a link to on the home page.

  ]]> A few weeks ago George from Hands at Work joined us and spoke in our meeting. Christa is part of this organization, here is her story https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=197 Fri, 16 May 2014 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/197/ Christa is part of the Hands at Work team in Africa, as part of our family she receives the sermons each week and really enjoyed listening to George speak to us. She writes:

  I wanted to pass on the link for a blog I posted recently on the community of Maranatha. This is the community George spoke about in Zambia and where the team will be going in July. I was grateful for a chance to visit here in March while I was in Zambia myself.

  Read her post

  Please be praying for her and the team from our family that will be going there this Summer as they make their preparations.

  ]]> Stojan passed this on and asked me to share it with you in the hopes that it might bring comfort at this time https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=196 Thu, 15 May 2014 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/196/ Abide With Me
  Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. -- Luke 26:29
  
  
  Abide with me! Fast falls the Eventide;
  The darkness thickens. Lord, with me abide
  When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
  Help of the helpless, O abide with me!
  
  Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
  Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
  Change and decay in all around I see.
  O Thou who changest not, abide with me!
  
  Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
  But as Thou dwellst with thy disciples, Lord,
  Familiar, condescending, patient, free, --
  Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me.
  
  Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
  But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
  Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
  Come, Friend of sinners and thus bide with me.
  
  Thou on my head in early youth did smile,
  And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
  Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee.
  On to the close, O Lord, abide with me!
  
  I need thy presence every passing hour.
  What but thy grace can foil the Tempter's power?
  Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
  Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me!
  
  I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless;
  Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
  Where is death's sting? where grave thy victory?
  I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
  
  Hold then thy cross before my closing eyes;
  Speak through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
  Heaven's morning breaks, and Earth's vain shadows flee!
  In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

   

  Henry Francis Lyte
  "Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte, most often sung to English composer William Henry Monk's tune "Eventide."
  Lyte wrote the poem in 1847 and set it to music while he lay dying from tuberculosis; he survived only a further three weeks after its completion.

  ]]> https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=67 Sat, 05 Oct 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/67/ Hey Bridge friends

  I made a rabbit trail comment about another possible reason that Jesse didn't include David as one of his sons in my sermon last sunday. But I did it without the verses that create the question of David having a different mother than his other brothers. It starts with Psalm 51:5, "conceived in sin";  a married couple is not conceiving in sin.  Then taking the genealogy of David's family in 1st Chronicles 2: 13 to 17 and comparing it to the description of David's family in 2nd Samuel 17 : 25;  a proper translation that has not taken liberties should say in the genealogy that they are "his" (the seventh son's sisters), not all " their" sisters. Abigail is obviously the same person and she has a different father than Jesse. So the only conclusion is that David and Abigail share the same mother. I hope this is helpful. This is how Bible interpretation goes sometimes. Even if someone does not agree that's ok because it doesn't change the point that David was not brought out as Jesse's son until he was pushed to do so, as was my point in my message on 1st Samuel 16.

  Bless you in your study of God's word.

  ]]> The passage this week is 1 Samuel 17-20 https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=66 Wed, 02 Oct 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/66/ There are lots of different ways to access the passage in the week ahead of Sunday so that you have an overview of the narrative of the passage before the weekend.

  As well as reading the bible, kind of obvious I know, there are some other ways...

  You can read it online. BibleGateway.com is one place you find it, but there are many others.
   You can also listen to it if you are in the NIV version of this passage. Click the audio button when you get to the page.

  If you have a smart phone you probably have a bible app already but if you don't I'd recommend the YouVersion app, available for iPhone and android. It has many versions of the bible that you can download to read offline as well as others that are online only. You can also listen to the text on this app.

  And for the visual learners out there - you can't beat The Action Bible on sale at the House of James.

  ]]> Read ahead in Samuel to prepare for the teaching this coming Sunday... https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=54 Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/54/ We are going to tackle quite a lot of text from 1 Samuel this Sunday.

  Having an idea of the story from 1 Samuel chapters 8-15 will help you grasp the teaching more easily, and will help me not have to cram everything in.  

  As you read ahead in preparation for Sunday, here are a few questions to consider...

  Where do you see someone trying to follow a "formula" rather than God?

  What does God really want from people who follow him?

  What are some differences between Saul, the King, and his son, Jonathan?

  ]]> On Sunday, Joyce Rees shared some thoughts from scripture on how we can learn to suffer well, and how to suffer well together as God's people. This post is the manuscript of the teaching she gave. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=53 Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/53/ HOW DO WE SUFFER WELL?

  A)   INTRODUCTION

  This week our community suffered a tragic loss in the death of Dom Cox.  Many of you have known him, some intimately, and others of us casually.  Some only know of him, but each of us is affected by this sorrow, because the scriptures make clear to us we are “one Body – many parts”.

  Our church community also belongs to Kenton Regehr, who was driving the boat when the accident happened.  He is suffering tremendously and we, who are a part of his story, are also called to bear this burden with him and his family.

  This is not the first time our church community has known tragedy, nor will it be the last.  At Christmas we will celebrate the memory and legacy of Myron Berg - through the annual hockey game played in his honour.  His death in a car accident nearly three years ago, and the extensive injuries his family suffered, are not forgotten.  Many of us never had the privilege of knowing Myron, but we’ve witnessed the courage of his family as they have overcome countless hurdles in the healing journey.  Their story has become part of our story – The Bridge story.  We know ourselves to be different because of witnessing the Berg family journey well through their suffering.  We too have learned, and grown, and been shaped by walking alongside them.

  Then, last summer, another family in our church, Joel and Natasha Roste lost their baby boy at birth.  This great sorrow was compounded by another young couple in our church giving birth at almost the same moment, just down the hall.  And both families were attended by doctors from our congregation.  There are layers to the pain and suffering in this story that none of us know well how to navigate, but we’ve prayed for the grace to walk this road well – to love, to serve, and to carry one another through darkness.

  Last night we received word that Doug and Julia Wiens are also in profound need of our prayer and support.  Julia’s water broke last Sunday and because she was only 28 weeks pregnant, and due to the baby’s previously known abnormalities, she is being cared for at BC Women’s hospital.  Although Julia has been experiencing some contractions, she has stabilized and it is uncertain when she will go into labour. The baby could be born at any time or it may take several weeks. Doug says, “Although the doctors hold little hope for our baby we ask that you continue to lift us up in your prayers to the God who can do the impossible.”

  And now today we’ve gathered to worship together and have a new part to play in suffering together.  Perhaps it goes without saying to know that not everyone in this room is personally affected by Dom’s death, but all of us have known pain and loss, to greater or lesser degrees.  And all of us will continue to know pain and loss.  So, regardless of how much pain you, or the person next to you, may be in today, we each must consider what it means to suffer well, and to suffer together as the people of God.

   

  B)   KEEP MOVING TOWARD GOD 

  My relationship with suffering has taught me that suffering is not static.  We are moving in our suffering; either toward others, or away from them – and ultimately either toward God or away from Him. 

  Psalm 84 speaks to this when the Psalmist says, “Blessed is the one who has set their heart on pilgrimage.  Though they (the suffering one) pass through the Valley of Baca…(valley of weeping)… they shall go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” This Psalmist knew there is a trajectory in suffering.  He urges God’s people to keep our orientation toward God, even in our place of pain.

  Often times our movement toward God and even toward others, takes place in the form of questions.

  Times in our life that are marked by profound loss, pain, and sorrow cause questions to erupt in our hearts and minds, which beg for answers.  We wonder, “Why did this happen? What did Dom do to deserve this?  What did we do to deserve this?  Doesn’t God care?  What kind of God are you anyway? How could you let this happen?”  And perhaps a myriad of other questions, each nuanced by our own heart ache and longing unfulfilled.  Some of us hold these questions internally, never giving voice to them, while others rail at the heavens, our anger and disappointment spilling out all over the place.  When profound suffering comes our questions are no longer easily quieted, and ignoring the emotional and social layers to our pain becomes more and more difficult.  And so, asking questions – even angry ones – somehow has a grace embedded in it, because it means we hope Someone is listening.  And there is a goodness in that.  The question asking can be the beginning of a movement toward God.

  If we are to grow in our relationship with God it best happens through honest interaction.  Early days of heart honesty serve to remind us that we are not God, we don’t know all or see all.  Only He has all the answers, and so to begin we must bring our questions to Him, whether we hear the answer we want or not.

  Christians for many generations have also discovered that it is extremely helpful to use the words of the Psalms to give voice to what we cannot say ourselves.  For some of us, it will simply be the act of opening a difficult Psalm (like 88) and letting these ancient words become our own.  As Calum mentioned earlier, when he quoted NT Wright, “The Psalms offer us a way of worshiping God amid any and all emotional states.”

  However you do it, especially in your place of grief, remember to keep moving toward God…keep your heart dialogue going with Him.

  We are human.  It is only right that loss ought to provoke a deep sense of injustice inside us.  Particularly death, the greatest loss, ought to make us feel that something is horribly wrong.  It is.  The world is broken and death is the grave consequence humanity has faced since the garden.  It is not good, not holy, not as we were intended to experience life.  Death is a curse.

  We don’t have answers for many of our heart questions.  But today I believe it is very important that as followers of Jesus we know a few things about what God does say about our suffering.

  First of all, did you know that one third of all scripture is lament?  We even have a book in the bible called Lamentations.

  Lament “expresses an emotion opposite to praise” (Geneva Study Bible)

  “...in lament the psalmist opens his/her heart honestly to God, a heart often filled with sadness, fear, or even anger.” (Geneva Study Bible)

  Psalm 88 leaves us hanging.  It doesn’t wrap up with a big fat “so that” or “but God” at the end of it.  This Psalm being included in the scripture should tell us that God is not afraid of our despair.  He can handle it.

  The sheer volume of scriptures given to articulate human lament should tell us how very willing God is to hear our heart cry, and how essential and important He thinks it is fo]]> We're in 1&2 Samuel together for a twelve week series. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=48 Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/48/

  The 55 chapters of 1&2 Samuel would take us just over a year to complete if we only dealt with one chapter at a time as we have with previous books that we have studied together. So we are going to cover the whole of these two books in a twelve week series before the Advent season is upon us in December.

  We need your help as we go through these books. Would you read along with us? It would be impossible to read and talk on three or four or even more chapters in a regular length sermon. If you read along with the passages we will be teaching on then you will have a sense of the narrative we are addressing in the sermon. 

  So, please join us, here is a list of the dates and passages to take us through 1&2 Samuel. Some passages are longer than others to hold story lines together. Hopefully it will flow nicely this way.

  Sep 8 - 1 Sam 4-7
  Sep 15 - 1 Sam 8-12
  Sep 22 - 1 Sam 13-15
  Sep 29 - 1 Sam 16
  Oct 6 - 1 Sam 17-20
  Oct 13 - 1 Sam 21-25
  Oct 20 - 1 Sam 26 - 2 Sam 1
  Oct 27 - 2 Sam 2-5
  Nov 3 - 2 Sam 6-9
  Nov 11 - 2 Sam 10-12
  Nov 18 - 2 Sam 13-14
  Nov 25 - 2 Sam 15-24

  And if you have any thoughts as you are reading, shoot an email to the office and it will be forwarded on to the speaker that week. We are in this together after all.  

   

  ]]> God's heart is for those who are marginalized...how can we serve our own kids, and how can we serve kids in other places? https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=43 Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/43/ At the beginning of August I spoke rather passionately about God's heart for marginalized people.  We talked about how God himself goes about his mission in the world - how we ought to have the same priorities and practices as He does in order to announce his good news.  For those of you who might be interested, I'm planning to run a small group for eight weeks (January-February) to more deeply explore the theology and practice of the hospitality of God (i.e., mission/evangelism).  

  Then in mid-August, Sarah Pickering, our pastor to children and families, did a bang up job reminding us that God places children as a priority in his kingdom.  She challenged us to put children in the centre of the kingdom community (our church), just as Jesus did so long ago.  It's important the we remember children are often the most marginalized people in society, and sadly this can also be a reality within the Church.  

  In keeping children in the centre of God's expression of love perhaps we ought to first consider the needs within our own  church community.  Galations 6:10 says, "Do good to all, but especially those who belong to the household of faith."  I'm guessing when we mention on Sundays that Bridge Kids needs more help many of you may not know what that entails, so I thought I'd share a few things...

  Our Bridge Kids ministry requires a minimum of 72 volunteers to serve in order to give everyone a chance to participate in our worship gatherings.  Our church community, perhaps for a variety of reasons, did not sign up to help over the summer so there was no Bridge Kids for children in August as planned.  Although we loved having them with us for 8 weeks, it's also extremely valuable for children to have spiritual formation learning that is particularly geared for them.  There are not nearly enough people signed up for the autumn to help with this vital part of our church life. 

  It's important to know that helping in Bridge Kids is fairly easy and unitimidating.  There are no lessons to prepare, and generally little or no prep ahead of time.  In my nearly 25 years of pastoral work I've never seen anyone more competent and gifted in pastoring children and their families than our very own Sarah Pickering!  Sarah prepares things so effectively and efficiently that helping seems more like a gift than any hard work.  Ask any of us who help with Bridge Kids!  Please consider helping with Bridge Kids once a month.  Be in touch directly with Sarah Pickering if you are up for learning more: bridgekidssarah@gmail.com

  And let's all make a real effort to know the names of a few kids in our church community, initiating conversation with them on Sundays, praying for them throughout the week, and finding other ways as God leads us to encourage and strengthen them in their faith.

  And in keeping with children as a priority of God I mentioned on Sunday morning that I recently had a call from the Compassion office.  Bridge Kids sponsor a boy named Federick, who lives in the Philippines.  Our youth have a kid they sponsor as well, and many other families in our church (including our family) also have sponsor children.  I found out this week that Compassion cannot find new sponsors who are willing to help with kids who've been waiting for more than a year to be sponsored.  I wondered if there might be some folks in our church who would want to experience the joy of sponsoring a child in another part of the world.   If you are interested in sponsoring one of these amazing children, please contact: 

  Steve Everett
  Sponsor Engagement Associate
  Tel: 519.668.0224 ext. 177
  Toll Free: 1.800.563.5437

  Or

  Stephen Sutcliffe
  Sponsor Engagement Associate
  Tel: 519.668.0224 ext. 178
  Toll Free: 1.800.563.5437

  excited for our church to keep on loving others,

  Joyce Rees

  ]]> This letter was written by Vicki Keller and read at her memorial service. Her husband Lance gave Dean permission to read it to the church on Sunday and to publish it here. The family hopes that it would be able to give insight to others during a time of struggle. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=39 Thu, 01 Aug 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/39/ Dear Friends and Loved Ones:
  
  As I contemplated this memorial service, I felt great gratitude in my heart that each of you would be here to say goodbye to me. Many of you have shared your warmth, kindness and love with me during these last years. I want to say thank you and goodbye and share with you the lessons I have learned through my dying.
  
  I have profoundly experienced that love is all that matters. Like many people, I occasionally got caught in my pettiness and separation, thinking I knew the right answer. I have judged others and even judged myself more harshly. But I have learned that we carry within ourselves the abundant wisdom and love to heal our weary heart and judgmental mind.
  
  During the time of my illness, I have loved more deeply. My heart feels as if it has exploded. I do not carry anger; I feel we are doing the best we can. Judging others closes the heart and when one is dying, that is a waste of precious sharing. Life is how we stand in relationships to both ourselves and to others. Loving and helping each other is all that is important.
  
  There is naturalness to the cycle of life and death and for whatever reason; it is my time to die, even though I am young. It is okay. It is right and natural. Life is not about how long we live, but about how we live, and I have had an exceptional life. I accept my dying as a part of the wondrous process of life. I am not afraid, on the contrary, I carry with me a profound peace and know without a doubt in my mind where I am going and am confident of those waiting for me.
  
  My sadness is in leaving you. I will miss the deep comfort and love of gently waking up beside the love of my life, giving up our dreams of future years together. I will miss the warm and loving arms of our two precious daughters and the joy that is certain to embrace their lives as they walk into their future. I will miss the laughter and obvious love that you have all bestowed on me with such generosity and warmth.
  
  As I lay here, I think of you all, each in your own special way, that I have loved and shared this special life with. I reluctantly give up walking on this beautiful earth, where every step is a prayer. The glistening sun on the trees, the serenity and beauty of walking in the gentle first snowfall, the sound of the water as the waves hit the shore, digging my feet in the warm sand, watching a beautiful sunset, the wonder and beauty of miracles around us every day... these are the things that I have loved.
  
  Please do not think that I have lost the battle with cancer, for I have won the challenge of life. I have shared unconditional love. I have opened to the mystery of God and feel that divinity is all around us every day and provides us with a path on which our spirit may take flight.
  
  When you think of me, know that my spirit has taken flight and that I have loved you.
  
  With all my love
  
  Vicki, your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister, and always in my heart, your friend.
  ]]> This Sunday we are concluding the "Becoming Fully Human" series. I'm looking for quotes from our church community about how this series may have impacted you. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=32 Fri, 05 Jul 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/32/ This Sunday we are concluding the "Becoming Fully Human" series.

  I'm looking for quotes from our church community about how this series may have impacted you, something you've learned, a God-story that may be a direct result of the series, etc...

  Anyone?

  It'd be great to include thoughts from a few of us, rather than just me...

  thanks,

  Joyce

  joyce(at)thebridgeonline.ca

  ]]> Three vocational artist from our church family shared their work with us this morning. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=22 Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/22/ Joyce Rees had three vocational artists from our church family share with us this morning as part of her talk on creativity from the becoming fully human series. They all agreed to let us share it with you on facebook so you can see their contributions if you weren't there today or would like to experience it again.

  Follow the link on the top right of this page to take you to our church facebook page.
  

  ]]> A discussion on the arts as announcement to the world and inhabitation of the presence of God among His people. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=12 Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/12/ The teaching this Sunday will be rooted in Exodus 31 - drawing primarily on the story of Bezalel and Oholiab, as the first persons in scripture named as being filled with the Holy Spirit. They were empowered by God for the artistic work of creating the Tabernacle as a dwelling pace for God. (interior design)

  In this teaching we will explore the prophetic nature of the Arts and the role of the Spirit in empowering the arts both for announcement in the world, and for inhabitation of the presence of God among His people. We will try to utilize experiential learning on this Sunday, but also through featured art from within our community as a conduit for people to encounter the presence of God.

  ]]> Guest speakers this Sunday - Ken & April Bartsch https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=16 Thu, 30 May 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/16/ We have a treat this weekend as the Bartsch's are going to be speaking at the Bridge on Sunday.
  
  Ken & April Bartsch are just back from leading a discipleship training school in Thailand. They will be sharing how they have been telling stories using film and other media all over the world. They use film to teach the bible and tell tales of God’s transformation in the lives of those they meet.
  Come and be inspired by stories of transformed lives. 
  ]]> Intimacy in relationship is a gift to be enjoyed with God and with others. https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/qry/page.taf?id=43&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=11 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 PST https://www.thebridgeonline.ca/blog/11/ Being human means we were originally created with the capacity for intimacy. This is a gift meant to be enjoyed with God and with others. Our brokenness and sin has drastically impacted human relationships, not just our relationship with God. On this Sunday we want to address how our salvation is meant to be an entrance into relationship with God through Jesus. This renewed relationship then can open up a path for healing our relationships with others.

  Sexuality is perhaps the most devastated part of our humanity, and many Christians do not even recognize that our sexuality is part of our essence as a human being. Because we are integrated beings body, mind and spirit - our sexuality is physical, emotional and spiritual. All aspects of intimacy (emotional, spiritual, sexual) will be addressed in this teaching on relationship that is both vertical (with God) and horizontal (with others).

  ]]>