Category Archives: Blog

We are now entering the Advent season and our thoughts are beginning to turn to family gatherings, special dinners and exchanging gifts. This time of year is very exciting, but also very busy which can lead to extra stress and anxiety in our lives. I have also watched as my calendar begins to fill upContinue reading “Pastor Charlene’s Message December 2022”

By my best count, this is the 80th time I have sat down to write one of these. I say “my best count” because time and a number of hard drive crashes and file transfers have left some notable holes in my archives. I know this because, as I was preparing to write this, myContinue reading “A Final Word”

This past week an article was published in the National Post with a title I couldn’t ignore. It was titles, “When Going to Church Sounds Like a Mind-Boggling Sensuous Pleasure.” I love that. It was written in response to the ongoing shutdown as a result of the corona virus outbreak. From where I sit rightContinue reading ““A Mind-Boggling Sensuous Pleasure””

Alister McGrath is one of the most respected, most read, and most published theologians alive today. Among his many accolades are his tenure as a long time professor of theology at Oxford, his three doctorates including one in molecular biophysics, as well as his publication of 50+ books including the most widely used theological overviewContinue reading “The Journey”

It is a familiar scene. The hero or heroine is in a moment of turmoil. In those last fleeting moments before facing their great crisis, they pause for a moment of quiet solitude. They kneel at the altar, there at the front of a great cathedral or hastily thrown together chapel. There in that momentContinue reading “A Familiar Scene”

“God hates visionary dreaming” Dietrich Bonhoeffer This is a stark sentence that stands in stark contrast to many of the ways we are used to talking about vision both inside and outside the church walls. We talk often about the importance of having a compelling and transforming vision for our lives and organizations. Likewise, weContinue reading “A Vision of Life Together”

An Advent Narrative As we prepare again to hear the message of Christmas, perhaps you might appreciate excerpts from Walter Wangerin Jr’s short story, “An Advent Narrative,” which imagines God contemplating how to reach out to his child (humanity) and restore her.     I love a child     But she is afraid ofContinue reading “ADVENT 1”

“Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” -Hebrews 12:2 What we “look to” matters. A lot. If you ask two witnesses to describe an event or two referees to call a game or two travellers to describe what they see, it matters that they are looking at the same thing. It mattersContinue reading “Looking to…”