When I got a job at a youth shelter, I was thrilled. Not only was I going to be employed, but I was going to be working at a place that I had lived at when I was a street kid. I was passionate about helping youth who were experiencing hardships like I had been through and couldn't believe that this opportunity had been given to me.
Christ is risen! Easter greetings from The United Church of Canada Moderator Mardi Tindal from the Mount of Olives, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.
... does it really mean anything for the bigger picture? I mean other than perhaps being able to justify a fixed date for Easter in place of the current floater.
When Betty Lynn Schwab asked how I would feel if she adopted “God’s healing of soul, community, and creation” as the focus of this year’s United Church Lenten devotional book, I was delighted. The biblical reflections and prayers of eight extraordinary writers now offer us an unprecedented opportunity for shared spiritual practice and theological discussion on this theme using this book, Rising with the Morning Star.
As announced last week, I leave for Haiti tomorrow, along with a few other United Church representatives.
I'm grateful for many notes of encouragement, some of which have made connections between the journey of the Haitian people and the resurrection story of Easter.
The people of Haiti are certainly engaged in "practising resurrection," as a Wendell Berry poem puts it, and it will be humbling, no doubt, to hear and see their stories of courage.
Do you enter it after study throughout the time of Lent?
Do you enter it seeing the story alive in today's world, or is it something far removed from where you are
Do you have a special ritual on Good Friday, something, possibly through your church or community, which has meaning to you, but isn't part of the traditional service.
Our little family hadn’t yet finished eating dinner last Saturday when Earth Hour arrived, so we turned off the electric lights. As candlelight softened faces, the conversation hardened. It was difficult and painful to contemplate some of the questions raised by the week’s headlines. Weakening ecological health. Deepening distrust in the church. Tensions between those for whom the church embodies a community of hope and those for whom it represents the weight of oppression.
