Advent 2023 Devotional

Advent 2023 Devotional

“While We Wait” is an Advent devotional series that seeks to engage our excitement as we anticipate the celebration of the One who has already come. Advent also speaks to our yearning for the One who will come again.During this holy season, let us practice active...
Neighbourhood Story

Neighbourhood Story

We took nothing. We didn’t have the capacity to come alongside a neighbour in need, so I inquired with another neighbour, who was coming out of her own struggles. Katie* had just separated from her husband and was feeling lonely, isolated and empty—she had too much...
When Jesus Said ‘Take Nothing’

When Jesus Said ‘Take Nothing’

Could Jesus be saying that entering the house of another is like entering the holy temple? That living in our neighbourhood is sacred work in a sacred place? “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.” —Luke 10:4a  This instruction often catches us off guard...
Fellowship & Mission

Fellowship & Mission

We’ve all heard the expression “the tail is wagging the dog.” In an organization it implies that something secondary, that should be responding to the primary thing, has taken over and now controls in a way that has displaced what is primary. This kind of situation...
Living in the Light

Living in the Light

Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”  Matthew 4:16 “the people living in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light...
The Story of My Neighbourhood

The Story of My Neighbourhood

My husband and I live in an amazing neighbourhood with many good friends scattered throughout. We have a lot of fun here, but sometimes it can be challenging when people aren’t cooperative or friendly.  For instance, there was this grumpy man who lived on the...

Around the Table: The Practice of Listening

Why did it take so long? At 57, I may finally be learning one of the reasons that God gave me two ears and only one mouth. Years ago I was helping to lead a Church Planting Canada Assessment Centre. I had laryngitis and could barely get a word out. I listened more...
How to Raze a Little Hell!

How to Raze a Little Hell!

razed; razing transitive verb: to destroy to the ground: DEMOLISH If the Kingdom of God exists where the King is presently reigning, than it may be possible to understand that hell exists where Satan rules. Part of the roll of the people of God, according to Paul, is...
Waiting as a Formational Process

Waiting as a Formational Process

“Advent! A holy season in which we connect again with our “inconsolable longing,” as C.S. Lewis called it our yearning for the One who is to come and is also, mysteriously, the One who has come already – come as a child, come as a fellow-sufferer, come as...