When I was 10 years old, I began experimenting with baking and trying my hand at cooking. I was not experienced and certainly didn’t always have common sense to question my reading of the recipes I followed. The first thing I ever baked on my own was banana bread. I used my mother’s hand-written recipe … [Read more…]
As a parent now, I have come to understand the definition of love, joy, and motherhood very differently than I used to, which means when I think of celebrating Mother’s Day, I understand it as honoring more than just the act of having given birth. Mother’s Day is about the love of mothers and that … [Read more…]
One day when I was a preschool teacher, I had a little boy in my class who was sitting at circle time and he interrupts attendance to make an announcement. “My grandpa died.” I said “Oh that’s very sad. I’m sorry to hear that.” I was trying to tread very carefully because his family were … [Read more…]
I love the stories of Genesis because they really get to the bottom of human relationship and human life. They are not preached on often and many people struggle to figure out how to find the lessons in these stories for today’s modern life. But the lessons are there. These stories are examples for us. … [Read more…]
So there has been so many lessons that I have learned since social distancing began. One of the things that I have learned is that I do not like staring at myself as I preach and run worship. I find it very distracting. I have become very aware of my own sensitivities because of Zoom … [Read more…]
If you had to define a Christian to someone, what words would you use? (Invite congregation to help) When Bill and I first started dating, my father-in-law had a very specific idea of what a Christian was based on his experiences as a Jewish man. And I must say his views were not flattering. Yet … [Read more…]
Our Acts reading gets to the point of what the early church and those earliest believers were to look like. It is almost a utopian society for those of the early church. They shared all possessions, all things, they did not act in mere human ways, but always with the Spirit. This was the hope … [Read more…]
I have always loved Palm Sunday and Holy Week, ever since I was a young child. I remember going to worship on Palm Sunday with my mother and brothers. We were in Sunday school from 9 to 10 then we would help clean up the rooms moving tables and chairs and folding up the retractable … [Read more…]
I will be honest. I don’t like being stuck in the house. I don’t like isolation. I have been social, since birth according to my parents, and so for me social distancing has been difficult. For many of you this has only been in place for a few weeks now. But for me with a … [Read more…]
Every year, on Christmas Eve I traditionally have the children place baby Jesus into the mangers. He is never there before Christmas because Advent is meant to be the season of expectation and a time for us to work on displaying welcoming hearts. But this tradition has struck me this year as reminding me of … [Read more…]
