“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Matthew 7:1-2 Dear Friends, On Sunday, my “soliloquy” was as the brother of the woman who had a blood flow for twelve years. Part of what I wanted to convey was the impact on the woman of being labelled “unclean” because of her ailment. Though we do not look to adhering to all the Holiness and Purity Laws of the Old Tes

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18 Dear Friends, If you were in worship on Sunday, you heard me recount my first experience of doing a High Ropes course. High Ropes courses have various rope, log, and cable elements about 4.5 metres off the ground. They are designed to help people—in a safe situation—to overcome or deal with their fear of heights. In m

it starts when you say Weand know who you mean,and each day you mean one more. The Low Road by Marge Piercy Dear Friends, On Tuesday mornings at 10am, we gather in the church office to have conversations about faith. During the Summer, I’m calling it Coffee, Conversation & Koinonia. In the session we had this week, we watched the video, A Larger Welcome, which featured an interview with Parker Palmer. In the video, he referenced the poem above by Marge Piercy. In our lives, w

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 1 John 4:16 Dear Friends, Last Friday, I attended the funeral of a not-so-old man named Chinyere. Though I never met Chinyere, I did know his brother. His brother had come to Canada and was forced to seek asylum here because if he went back to Nigeria, he would have been killed for being gay. Unbelievably, those who sought to do him harm located his brother instead (who had also moved here) and

“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:21 Dear Friends, On October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas killed 1,195 people. Two thirds of these people were civilians. They also took about 250 people hostage. It was a ruthless, horrible attack by members of Hamas. Israel’s response was to begin a war on Gaza. Since then, over 71,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 171,000 injured in Gaza. In spite of

What does the Lord require of you but to Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 Dear Friends, There was a sermon I heard when I was quite young… The pastor had an empty jar and a bunch of rocks: most were rather small, some were a little bigger, and one was larger than the rest. He began to fill the jar. First with the largest rock. Then the ones that were slightly smaller. Then finally all the rest. They all fit into the jar. Then he dumped them a

[Jesus said,] “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20 Dear Friends, Over the last year or so, many of you probably noticed that there was someone who was parked in the corner of our property and living out of his car. We first noticed him in Spring of 2025. As the property manager at the time, Kelly went out to meet and talk with him to see what was going on. Apparently, “David” was living across the street in a rental property that got cond

I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? Psalm 121:1 … like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house… 1 Peter 2:5 Dear Friends, As you are probably aware, we were on vacation for a couple of weeks in Peru. Laura and I had a really good trip and spent a lot of time in the highlands of Peru. One of our guides shared with us some of the spirituality of the indigenous people. Though 95% of the current population identify as “Catholic,” th

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Dear Friends, On Sunday, April 12 th , I preached about hope . The definition of “hope” I proposed was that hope is having a life-giving future to live into . The main impediment to having a life-giving future is having a life-taking past that casts a shadow on one’s future… and even makes us unable to see it! The question arises, Ho

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28 Dear Friends, As I am writing this, we are a couple of days int

“God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism. By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ.” [Beginning of the Rite of Baptism in the Lutheran hymnal.] Dear Friends, Last Sunday (Easter Sunday), we had four baptisms and I said the above words as part of the baptismal rite in the service. It was a day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. It was a day cele

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 Dear Friends, A couple of years ago at our Annual General Meeting, we did a Values Card exercise to begin to identify the Core Values of First Lutheran Church. The assumption is that God has brought this congregation together and that it is animated by a particular manifestation of God’s Holy Spirit here. The Values Card exercise was an

Dear Friends, The following will not be my normal weekly update. My wife, Laura, shared this post from an American priest with me this morning and I find that it names a lot of the emotion and even personal conflict and challenges that I have as your pastor during these trying times. The priest, Bob Mooney, is in the United States and so his context is from the viewpoint of an American citizen. I think the disparity he names between the core of Jesus’ teaching about love and

Dear Friends, I have an older brother and a younger sister. My brother is only 2 years older than I am so we tended to have a lot of “interactions” growing up. Occasionally, one or the other of us would do something that upset or irritated the other one. It might start with a word or a poke or some other perceived injustice. In order to “restore justice,” the “injured” party would do some kind of in-kind or “appropriate” retaliation: a word, a poke, a shove… Of course, the ot

St. Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God— what is good and acceptable and perfect…” Romans 12:2 Dear Friends, If you have been around the church for a while, you have probably heard of some congregations closing. If we’re honest, the membership of the Lutheran Church in Canada has been declining for a few decades. There are lots of explanations for this: changing demo

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 Dear Friends, Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of Lent and is called “Ash Wednesday” because the tradition and practice of the church is to have our baptismal cross traced on our foreheads with ashes. The words that accompany this ritual are, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” As such,

“So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…” Deuteronomy 10:12 Dear Friends, This Sunday is our last Sunday of “worshiping in the catacombs.” We have been reminded of the promises of God represented in those 3 rd Century drawings of the early Christians: · The Baptism of Jesus – When we are baptized into the d

“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25 Dear Friends, On Sunday, I told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and about how God delivered them from the fiery furnace. It is a story that urges us to stand firm in our faith and to stay focused on worshiping and serving God alone. One of the questions that I raised in my reflection is, Do

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 Dear Friends, Last Sunday, I reflected on how Psalm 23 was a “good friend” to my father as he spent his last few days here on earth. I also shared a few of the Scriptures that are my friends and are ready to ground me or comfort me at any time. For this week’s email update, I thought I’d go ahead and share some of my other Scripture friends

[ God said to Noah] “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Genesis 9:13-15 Dear Friends, Sometime in the past few years, I heard about the distinction between soft power and hard