“Live simply so that others may simply live.” ― Mahatma Gandhi   I was in my teens when I first heard that saying. I created a felt banner of it to hang on my bedroom wall as inspiration and wisdom. But I’ve learned through the years that it is not so easy to live. Living simply in a society powered by materialism is a challenge. The messaging and advertisements all say, “Want more; have more!”   I grew up in a family that embraced “re-use and recycle” long before those words became a catch phrase. My mom and dad both grew up...

One of the most essential things that Jesus commands us to do as followers of his Way is to love our enemies. In his time that would have included the Roman soldiers and the tax collectors who gathered the crippling Roman taxes, people who were really making life miserable for Jesus’ followers, friends, and family. Jesus also would have been speaking to bridging the natural human tribalism that draws boundaries between “us and them.”   In our society, a time when tribalism and divisiveness is as rampant as ever, people are too quickly named as enemies because they have different opinions...

I was six years old and it was my first day at school.  The photo captures me standing in front of my playhouse proudly holding my pink lunch-kit with a black poodle on the front.  This was long before backpacks became a standard part of the school outfit.  I’m smiling at the camera.   A precious moment.  And a moment captured on film each first day of school for my sister and I, a moment I repeated with my sons through their twelve years of public school.    These moments we capture in a photo, and other moments which are held...

The first day of school is coming soon.  For some children and parents, it is an exciting time.  For others, the anticipation of the first day creates anxiety and fears.   Even for a child who has been to school before, the first day can create anxiety because they are having to be away from home and all that is familiar again, and because they aren’t quite sure about who their teacher will be and who will be in their class. Being separated from those we love is a huge thing, whether we are 5 years old, 15 years old, or 50...

God is love! God is steadfast love! Mercy, lovingkindness, compassion, grace – these are the core of who God is, as described in scripture.   “God is love!” is the most used phrase about God within the Jewish tradition.  Jesus echoed this description of God, as do our Muslim brothers and sisters.  In Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism and other world faiths, love is at the core of how one should live.    God’s love is uncontrollable.  By this I mean that I believe that God can be nothing but love.  It is God’s very nature to be love.  It wasn’t a decision...

It’s almost summer time. I remember the fun of anticipating summer as a child. What, of all the possibilities, would I choose to do with my days? I was a farm kid so between laying hens in the barn year-round and roasting/frying hens to be raised, butchered and sold over the summer, and garden & crops to be planted and harvested, we rarely took summer vacations. I remember only one in my whole childhood.   But that was just life on the farm and I knew that there was a great deal of fun to be had right there where I...

Waiting. Watching. Praying.    That is what Holy Week is about.  I just can’t bring myself to do anything that is celebratory or fun on these days, especially on Good Friday.  Even if the sun is shining, Good Friday always seems a sombre day to me.   It may be called “Good” – which is actually derived from “God’s” Friday, in the same way that “God be with you” became “good-bye.”  But though it is called “good,” God’s Friday always feels just like that – a day that I need to give to God, in worship, in prayer, in waiting.   But...

We can’t avoid talking about death when we get to Good Friday.  We might want to.  We might want to protect our children from conversations about death.  But that, ultimately, isn’t helpful.  Death will be part of each of our lives, from the death of a pet, to the death of a grandparent, to our own death at some point, even though we maybe don’t want to think about that.  Protecting our children from conversations about death is no protection at all.   Instead, Good Friday provides one opportunity to show our children how to walk through the death of a...

  I pulled up in the “Diversity” parking stall at the church this morning (created by our children), and couldn’t help but reflect that valuing diversity is something so needed in our society today. A few years ago, our congregation reflected on our values as followers of the Way of Jesus, and the four values that we named as most important to us in living together as a faith community are: Compassion, Diversity, Respect & Courage.   I believe that we, as faithful people, whatever faith group to which we belong, are called to live these values more than ever...

I don’t take the Bible literally. I take it seriously. No Christian really takes the Bible literally, if they are honest. If they did, books such as “A Year of Living Biblically” (A.J. Jacobs) wouldn’t become bestsellers, because all Christians would be living that way.   Every Christian interprets scripture. John Wesley of Methodism said that we bring the faith tradition, our God-given reasoning ability and our personal experience to the reading of scripture, then we consider it humbly in community so that we have checks and balances on our personal interpretations.   If we are honest with ourselves, that is...