The Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches is meeting December 3-14, 1998. The purpose of the World Council of Churches is to come together "as a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and … Read more
Archive for November, 1998
Touchdown Point
Many people, when they hear an aircraft passing overhead, will idly glance up, wondering who is going where, and perhaps wishing they were up there, not down here. Fewer people are aware of the vast electronic radar blanket that covers … Read more
The Gift Of Advent
It always happens at this time of year, as we begin to get inundated with the commercialism of Christmas, that for those of us who follow the Christian calendar year, we find ourselves wishing people "Happy New Year!" Advent is … Read more
Putting On The Gloves
Increasingly, I see the use of rubber gloves working into our everyday lives. On two separate ferry trips recently, the people who were clearing the dishes from the tables were wearing rubber gloves, as was a woman collecting the fares … Read more
Count Your Blessings
There is much in our world, which causes us to be anxious. Natural disasters such as droughts, earthquakes, and flooding can be as devastating as the warfare, terrorist bombings and other abuses we inflict upon others and ourselves. Less violent … Read more
Busy Signals
To accommodate schedules and family obligations of some of our guests, we usually have our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. (In Canada, Thanksgiving is the first Monday of October.) This works well, especially for the "twenty-somethings" because they usually end up … Read more
Bringing The Best
Deuteronomy talks about the tithe, that portion of our possessions that rightfully belongs to God, to be used, according to the passage, to support the Levites (that is, those who serve in the sanctuary), the strangers, the orphans the widows, … Read more
Leftovers For God?
We live in a leftover society. Actually, many of us live on leftovers. We clean out the refrigerator to scrounge a meal from the many that went before. We frequent 'new to you' shops. This is a polite way of … Read more
Weighting For God
The New Standard Version writes these scriptures to read as follows: I use both versions for impact because anything worth doing takes patience and perseverance, especially when we are working hard at something such as a bad habit or an … Read more
Stop Your Crying
It has been just a short time since my husband of 24 years initiated and successfully extracted a divorce from me, shattering my life and separating me from my two teenage sons. My youngest child, a multihandicapped daughter, has remained … Read more
The Doors That Never Close
My husband is on the road a lot, and when he must make a long, quick trip, I try to arrange to go with him to assist in the driving. So it was this week. There is always a two … Read more
What A Difference A Year Makes!
Many, many years ago, we sang a hymn called "Count your blessings". The words instructed us: Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done. The church played a large part in most … Read more
Charles Murray And The Cross
In 1967 while taking a class in photography at the University of Cincinnati, I became acquainted with a young man named Charles Murray who also was a student at the school and training for the summer Olympics of 1968 as … Read more
Barefoot In Prayer
The power of prayer is receiving a lot of "press" these days. People in "positions" are sitting up and taking notice that prayer works. Courses are being taught in the "art" of praying. Most people, if not regular pray-ers, do … Read more
God's Gift Of Life
Part of our church's ministry is our involvement in the chapel ministry at William Head Prison. Some of our members go to the chapel services every week, and often more than once a week. I don't often go with them … Read more
Acceptable Words
In the last few months, I've attended services for several friends and acquaintances who were good people, but not regular church goers. When the service is one which includes a minister, they are called upon to perform a duty usually … Read more
Imprisoned By Time… Freed By Eternity
Love will always reach out toward the eternal. Love comes from that place within us where death cannot enter. Love does accept the limits of hours, days, weeks, months, years, or centuries. Love is not willing to be imprisoned by … Read more
Are You Still Growing?
When I was a little kid, we used to sing an action song that went: Read your Bible, pray every day, Pray every day, pray every day; Read your Bible, pray every day, And you'll grow, grow, grow, And you'll … Read more
The Ministry Of Reconciliation
This is a story of two men. The first is my father. His name is Grant. Grant was born and raised on a small Ontario farm. In 1939, while he peered into a mirror and carefully scraped shaving soap and a few sparse whiskers from his young … Read more
God's Ultimate Plans
When I was growing up I always had a hard time in school with problems, numbers and just basic Mathematics. I struggled and struggled. My wonderful mother, although I didn't think so at the time, would tutor me all year … Read more
Preacher's Day
While sending an electronic card to a friend the other day, I noticed that besides all the usual birthday, anniversary and other such cards, there was an incredible array of options for other "days": secretaries, grandparents, kids, bosses, lefthanded's… even … Read more
Born Again From Above
Isn't this like a campfire minute-mystery in the middle of the night? "You are doomed, Nicodemus, unless you solve this riddle." What better way to keep a Pharisee occupied? Nicodemus was certainly mystified at first, thinking that "born again" meant … Read more
For Theirs Is The Kingdom
When I was a little kid, I was used to this verse saying: "But Jesus called them unto him and said, suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God". … Read more
We See More When It Rains
It was raining during our regular group walk this morning, and a friend who had been walking slowly behind with others, said "Did you see all the starfish?! There's so many!" We had to confess that we hadn't noticed, as … Read more
The Meaning Of Millennium
It's coming, and before you realize it, you will be living in a new millennium. That may be something of a yawn for you, but 1000 years ago there were riots, upheavals, uncertainty and fear to mark the end of … Read more
Our Christmas Bizarre
One of the sources of a non-profit society which survives solely on donations and fundraisers, is a Christmas Bazaar. And a popular place to hold them now is in a large mall, with other non-profit societies. This gives the customer … Read more
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