Communities following the way of Jesus

On the second Sunday of Easter we usually reflect on a few stories, the story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciple hiding behind closed doors, the story of Thomas, normally referred to as Doubting Thomas, and the story of the first churches as they gathered. Today we will be looking at how all three of these stories can inform today’s communities following the way of Jesus.

Thank you to Ken and Tony, our tech team, as well as, our music coordinators, Marcia, Marily and Sandy, our talented choir, as well as, Crys, Caroline and Katharine for lifting our spirits throughout today’s program.

If you would like to make a donation to St. John’s United Church, please go to: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-johns-united-church-of-georgetown-and-glen-williams/

Thank you for your generosity, it makes a big difference in a lot of lives.

Music in this program
O Love, How Deep
Sandy Woodworth piano, Voice: Lois Fraser, Mark Burns, Rob Allison, Garry
Kirkpatrick, David Hadskis, Sue Taylor, Andrea Vandervalk, Elaine Richardson,
Words: trans. Benjamin Webb 1854
Music: Piae Cantiones 1582
Public Domain

Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness
Sandy Woodworth piano, Lois Fraser, Mark Burns, Rob Allison, Garry Kirkpatrick,
David Hadskis, Sue Taylor, Andrea Vandervalk, Elaine Richardson voice
Words: James K Manley 1975
Music: James K Manley 1975

In Loving Partnership We Come
Marcia Moorcroft piano, Marilyn Willis, Rob Allison, Marcia Moorcroft and David
Hadskis voice
Words: Jim Strathdee 1982
Music: Jim Strathdee 1982
Streaming Licenses
One License A-606768
CCLI 425664

Season of Lent 2021

Throughout the season of lent we will be looking at treasures. What do we treasure? What impact do our treasures have on how we live? What treasures might we be missing?

Jonah: An Amusing and Serious Tale

Welcome to our service today. This week we move from the story of Samuel who responded to the voice of God with “Here I am, send me”to the story of Jonah, who responded to the voice of God with “Here I am, not me, no way, see ya!” The difference lies in the role that prejudice and ultimately the unconditional love of God play in Jonah’s life, and the life of the people of Nineveh.

Message: Jonah: An Amusing and Serious Tale

Thank you, too, to those who are contributing to our service: Sandy Woodworth, Marcia Moorcroft, Carolyn Maule and Katharine Krul.

If you would like to make a donation to St. John’s United Church, please go to: http://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-johns-united-church-of-georgetown-and-glen-williams/
or if you live in Halton Hills you may drop a check off at our mailbox in Georgetown. Thank you for your generosity, it makes a big difference in a lot of lives.

Music in today’s program:

“Open Our Hearts”
© Jim and Joan Strathdee, Desert Flower Music

“Lord God You Love Us, Source of Compassion”
© Ateliers de Presses de Taizé (France)

“My Love Colours Outside the Lines”
© 1995 Gordon Light and Common Cup Company, Andrew Donaldson, Arr.

“I the Lord of Sea and Sky” (Here I Am Lord)
© 1981 Daniel L. Schutte and New Dawn Music

Streaming Licenses:
One License A-606768
CCLI 425664

Listening for Guidance

Welcome to our service today as we continue to explore how God’s light breaks into the world through this season of Epiphany. We will be looking at the story of the call of the prophet Samuel, which I guess could also be called the story of the repudiation of the priest, Eli, who was Samuel’s guardian and mentor. The story is about where wisdom may be found, and what we can learn from people who are flawed or just may not be “our cup of tea.”

Thank you, too, to those who are contributing to our service: Sandy Woodworth, Leslie Michalak, Carolyn Maule, Katharine Krul and Diane Murray-Charrett.

Message: Listening for Guidance

If you would like to make a donation to St. John’s United Church, please go to: http://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-johns-united-church-of-georgetown-and-glen-williams/
or if you live in Halton Hills you may drop a check off at our mailbox in Georgetown. Thank you for your generosity, it makes a big difference in a lot of lives.

Music in this program:
“Behold, Behold, I make all things new”

“I am the light of the world”

“Three things I promise, Lord”

Streaming Licenses:
One License A-606768
CCLI 425664

Title photo by Timothy Eberly at Unsplash.com

Knowing and Doing

Sunday, August 30, 2020
New Revised Common Lectionary, Proper 17, Year A.

How good are you at managing positive changes in your life? What strategies do you use to pick up healthy habits, while letting go of the unhelpful ones? St. Paul leaves his Roman readers with a list of habits he would like them to embrace. Habits like hospitality (even to those who cause them problems), generosity, helping those in need, peace and harmony. He also gives us a bit of a clue as how we might embrace these, or any, new habits in our lives.

Thank you to Crys Doupagne, Shelley Allison, Sandy Woodworth, Katharine Krul, Diane Murray-Charrett, Russell Braun, Lois Fraser and Carolyn Maule.

If you would like to make a donation to St. John’s United Church, please go to: www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-johns-united-church-of-georgetown-and-glen-williams/

Music in this program:
“Will you Come and follow Me” Words: The Iona Community
Music:Scottish traditional arr.
Words and music copyright © 1987 WGRG, The Iona Community (Glasgow, Scotland), G.I.A. Publications, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
(One License A-606768 )

“Take My Life and let it Be”
Words: Frances Ridley Havergal 1874
Music Mozart
(Public Domain)

“One More Step along the World I go”
Words and Music: Sydney Carter 1971
Words and music copyright © 1971 Stainer &Bell Ltd. administrators Hope Publishing Company
(Licensed CCLI Account #4252664)

Tales from the Western Woods: Edgar the Eaglet

Life at the centre of the nest was pretty good for Edgar, in fact he never wanted to leave.  What would he do when the time came to fly?

A new story has been posted to Tales from the Western Woods.

https://taleswesternwoods.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/edgar-the-eaglet/

 

What to hold on to, what to let go of (Easter Sunday)

(For information about this post please see “Listening for the hoisting of the main sail“)

Happy Easter.

In our video today, we hear the story of the first Easter from the perspective of St. John. St. John’s Easter story had a number of interesting elements, one of them being Mary’s encounter with Jesus, where he tells her not to hold on to him. The statement comes out of the blue, there is no indication as to what it really means. Artists have typically depicted this scene as Mary reaching out to grasp Jesus, to hold him in a physical sense. Is there something more to this?

Listening for the hoisting of the main sail

This week’s meditation is in video format. Due to social distancing measures we prepared a video, which meant that not much time was available for blogging.

In my meditation I look at the our current situation from the perspectives provided by the story of the resurrection/resuscitation of Lazarus and the song “Sloop John B”. Blessings.

Here is my introduction to the video:

“Listening for the Hoisting of the Main Sail” 

Scripture Focus:  John 11:1-45 The Raising of Lazarus

If we focus solely on the news we can find ourselves slipping into a sense of hopelessness.  We worry about our health, will we catch CoVid-19,  will our family members, what about our elderly loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes?  We might worry about the state of our economy, or world leadership.  We might get to a point where we can’t believe an end will be in sight.  The story of Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus remind us that it is in the face of this sense of hopelessness that God challenges us through stories of new life–of the phoenix rising out of the ashes, if you will–to look at things from a different perspective.  Love and life are calling to us, how can we give in when God is so loudly proclaiming life in the midst of chaos? How can we share with others the hope that informs our stories and the stories of creation?

https://youtu.be/Xj-iFLMrEvw

Slight Change

Hi, if you have been following my blog, I have made a slight change to help people know who is writing the blog and where to find me if they are looking.  Same content though.

ReInvigorate Your Life

Quite a few years ago while doing some research on prayer, among the usual religious books and articles, I came across a number of articles in popular magazines about the research that Dr. John Thornton was doing on the effect of prayer on patients dealing with various issues from psychological challenges to physical ones. As I dug deeper, I began discovering similar articles in various professional journals as well.  While practicing psychiatry at Toronto General hospital, Dr. Thornton was looking for something that would help his patients at home and between sessions. Thornton pulled together a number of what would be called spiritual practices in my profession that he found helped for his patients. What was eye-opening to me was that he showed that anyone would benefit from these practices, whether they believed in God or not.  In fact, in terms of these practices, Dr. Thornton pointed out that one’s belief about God was immaterial, what was important was positive intent.  What were one considered “religious” practices worked in secular non-theist environments. Dr. Thornton and others went on to form the Spirituality in Healthcare Network.

A few years later, while working on a workshop on a wholistic approach to living with chronic conditions, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Jan Carstoniu, an anaesthesiologist, who with Eric Reynolds, founded the Mind Body Pain Clinic, which looks at chronic pain from perspective of medical and mind-body connections.  Now, some 20 years after I began my research, practices like drumming, meditation, martial arts, Tai Chi, yoga, labyrinth walks, and mindfulness are a few of many core therapies offered at hospitals around the world.  Indeed, a team of Doctors and health practitioners from Stanford University have developed a manual and program called, Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions (Stanford’s Self-management Resource Programs), which not only outlines what these supportive additional therapies are, but in some cases, how they make a difference.

Over the next few weeks I will be looking at some of the practices identified by Dr. Thornton and others, what science has discovered about them, and how we can implement them in our own daily routines to re-invigorate our lives making a positive difference in how we feel.