Advent is a season of expectation. We look back to the birth of Jesus and contemplate all that this event means for our lives. However, is it possible to gain a similar perspective from an event that has not yet occurred…
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Thank you for joining us for the 2021 New Leaf Advent Reader. I am excited to share this collection of reflections from writers across Canada during the Advent Season. The authors are pastors and poets; historians and theologians; laypeople and church leaders. And they all come together to wrestle with the tensions of the Advent season…
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What happens when a LANGUISHING heart taps into LAVISH love? Last night, I read the word “languishing” in an article written in the New York Times. This morning, I read the same word – “languishing” - in the book of Psalms in the Bible. When a word I haven’t heard before or in a long time is suddenly repeated around me, I sit up and take notice. I believe it’s God giving me a cosmic tap on the shoulder and I’ve learned to pay attention…
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Each Good Friday and Easter, I have this strange habit of checking to see if the weather matches the theological mood of the day. Will Good Friday be gloomy and rainy? Will Easter be bright and sunny, preferably after a few gloomy days?
Lent invites us into a process of letting go. Perhaps this is most commonly expressed in the practice of fasting traditionally associated with this season. But now, as we enter Holy Week, this reflection invites us to consider letting go in a different way . . .
We were five minutes into the woods, less than ten minutes away from a busy street. All I could hear were the ins and outs of my breath, the soft crunching of snow beneath my feet, the blowing snow, and the sound of squirrels chattering, when, suddenly, blissful silence. Not even the whistling of the wind could be heard…
I’ve always needed Lent in a personal way. I have a tendency to fill my plate to overflowing—drawn to every flavour and texture and combination. Wanting to savour every bit, but also rushing to the next so quickly that the richness of each is often compromised…
I was a confident, if not brazen young adult. I had my opinions and was certain that they were well thought out, informed, learned, and intelligent conclusions. More than once I had someone more aged than I say to me “when you are older you will think differently.” I dismissed their notion as pretentious…
There are many potential roles a pastor takes on, both within the context of church and extending out into the community…
When my church’s worship leaders met a few weeks ago to prepare for our Lent worship series someone jokingly mused, “The pandemic experience of the past year has already demanded that we give up so much. Do we really need to adopt the practice of giving up something for Lent in 2021?”
Today, across the globe, Christians from around the world join together to celebrate this unique Holy Day known as Ash Wednesday…
Joy to the world!
It might be a cold and broken hallelujah, but it's a hallelujah nonetheless.
We made it.
Despite the backdrop of injustice, the broken, decay, unlikely and at times discouraging spaces the people find themselves in, the prophets echo the sentiment of Isaiah 9 more often than we may recall: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness a light will shine.”
A pandemic is an interesting time to have health care workers in your life, as I do. In normal times, I expect to hear stories of sick people and families struggling with loved ones’ illnesses. But what I did not expect during this time are the constant stories of stress and anxiety. Working in health care is always stressful. But this year’s pandemic has accentuated many of these stresses..
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