As our congregation’s leadership has gathered over the past few weeks, we have found ourselves asking the questions, “What now? What is our next step? In light of where we are and where we believe we need to go, what do we need to focus on for these next coming months?” As we discussed theseContinue reading "Back to the Basics"

THE CROSS AND THE SWORD I can still remember that moment of discovery as a child. I was at a friend’s house whose parents took a different view on what sort of toys were appropriate for children to play with than my own parents did. We were playing with toy swords, a sort of forbiddenContinue reading "The Cross and the Sword"

  DRY BONES For the record, I wasn’t there. But I do wonder what I would have done if I had been. It happened like this. I was in seminary and a number of friends were excited about a new guest faculty member who would be giving an advanced course in preaching. He was aContinue reading "Dry Bones"

Shinrin-yoku. Have you heard this term? For the past number of months it has been popping up all over the media-world in places as familiar as the CBC and ‘The Globe and Mail’ and as diverse as ‘National Geographic’, ‘Business Insider’, and ‘Vogue’. The term is Japanese and means “forest bathing.”It became popular in JapanContinue reading "FOREST BATHING AND OTHER THINGS"