Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Forgiving our debtors
September 12, 2017
Matthew 18:21-35 Living in Scotland was my first time praying in ecumenical groups. You might imagine, despite theological differences, that we always had the Lord’s Prayer in common, but I encountered differences between the English and Scottish versions, especially the…
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Spirited Reflection: Honouring the Stranger
September 1, 2017
A friend was travelling across Western Canada and stopped at a service station to use the rest room. There he encountered a four year old boy washing his hands. The child studied my friend for a moment. “Are you a…
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Spirited Reflection: Social Justice in the 500th anniversary of the Reformation
August 18, 2017
In 2017, Lutherans worldwide are commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther in 1517. With the assistance of the printing press, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses became the historical document to spark changes in the church. Luther…
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Spirited Reflection: The virtue of justice
August 4, 2017
Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues identified by the philosophers of ancient Greece. These four virtues (wisdom, justice, courage and temperance) were adopted by Christianity and placed into the traditional list of seven Christian virtues along with the…
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Spirited Reflection: Paper Dolls and the United Nations World Day against Trafficking in Persons – July 30
July 24, 2017
In 2007, my workplace registered me to attend a conference on the topic of human trafficking. At that time, human trafficking was barely being talked about in the media. It had been declared a criminal offense in Canada only two…
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Spirited Reflection: Spiritual Validity
July 12, 2017
The erroneous mainstream view of Indigenous peoples as being one indistinguishable group across North America with misguided and superstitious spiritual beliefs is summed up in the term Indian. When the damage done to Indigenous cultures by the reservation system, the…
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Spirited Reflection: Celebrating Ecumenism
June 27, 2017
I want to take a moment to say thank you to KAIROS, for all the work you do. It is of such importance, and such good work. I’m always a little hesitant to use the word righteous when it comes…
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Spirited Reflection: Finding peace through non-violence
June 13, 2017
I was asked by my national church (The Presbyterian Church in Canada) to join KAIROS and the United Church of Canada staff on a trip to Israel and Palestine (West Bank) in April. We were there to meet partners and…
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Spirited Reflection: Reconciling Trinity
June 5, 2017
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 We sat around the glowing rocks. The rattle, glowing above the rocks, kept rhythm, while…
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Spirited Reflection: Another session of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise
May 29, 2017
It’s over. The Narrator has finished speaking. The room falls quiet. The few participants, still standing, glance at each other. The Narrator then asks everyone to think back to what the room looked like at the beginning of the Exercise…
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Spirited Reflection: Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights
May 25, 2017
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their…
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Spirited Reflection: Serious Thought
May 18, 2017
Genesis 1, Verses 10, 12 10: “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of waters called his seas and God saw that it was good.” 12: “And the earth brought forth grass and seed after his…
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Spirited Reflection: Riding on the bus
May 3, 2017
Ihave always struggled with the traditional spiritual disciplines – contemplative prayer, disciplined scripture reading, meditation, fasting. I have tried them all many times, and fallen away every time. I have often felt like a failure. But I’ve come to realize…
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Spirited Reflection: Bread for the Journey
April 25, 2017
After the crucifixion, and unaware of his resurrection, two of Jesus’ disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus, talking about the awful events that had occurred in Jerusalem. They meet a stranger who is unaware of what has happened…
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Spirited Reflection: One blue world – art & healing
April 18, 2017
In this Earth Day reflection I explore environment, art and healing. The image of my painting One Blue World (2004), was a prayer for water. The 2003 Iraq war was in the news everyday as I started painting. I couldn’t…
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Easter hope: KAIROS brief Easter video for sharing
April 13, 2017
Dear Friends, Here is the KAIROS Easter video. I invite you to take a moment to watch it, share it with your family and friends, post it on Facebook and tweet it. Share it on your congregation or community e-lists….
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Spirited Reflection: The Palm Sunday protest march
April 3, 2017
It wasn’t a Sunday walk in the park, you know, this Palm Sunday procession. Not a stroll, or a gentle donkey ride, with friends. It was not a military parade, full of pomp and circumstance signifying very little. Rather, it…
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Spirited Reflection: Living Water
March 14, 2017
Based on: Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:1-5, 13-17 Photo: Ornament made by the Kiilehua family using craft foam, sand and a piece of bamboo. So… there they are, the people of Israel, wandering in the desert…lost… and they’re thirsty… and they’re…
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Spirited Reflections on sheep and goats
March 7, 2017
The “sheep and goats” passage from Matthew: 25 is a familiar one to Christians who yearn for God’s justice in our world. I was recently asked to preach on this passage and decided to consider three different perspectives. The first…
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International Women’s Day— one woman at a time
February 27, 2017
March 8 is International Women’s Day. Although recognized by the United Nations in 1977, it has been celebrated by various countries since at least 1909, when the Socialist Party of America acknowledged the one year anniversary of the International Ladies…
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Spirited Reflection: Risky business
February 21, 2017
These words from Hymn #581 You Are Mine, come often to my mind as I work as a pastor, and as a member of the KAIROS network. “I will come to you in the silence, I will lift you from…
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Spirited Reflection: Relationships, community and change
February 6, 2017
A few weeks ago I was reading about Connie Greyeyes. The interview and accompanying Amnesty International Canada report, Out of Sight, Out of Mind, keep coming back to me whenever I think about community. Connie, an Indigenous woman from the…
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Reflection on pilgrimage of justice and peace: We came, we saw, we listened…
January 31, 2017
In 2015, Bishop Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, The Rev. Dr. Willard Metzger, Executive Director, Mennonite Church Canada and I, The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary of The Canadian Council of Churches, took…
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Spirited Reflection: Mountain moments
January 30, 2017
What is it about mountains? When people in comics seek out wise gurus, they find them at the top of the mountain. Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on top of a mountain. In the story of the Transfiguration,…
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Spirited Reflection: Lazarus and the rich man
January 23, 2017
Luke 16: 19-31 The passage from Luke about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is a familiar one. Things did not end well for the rich man. The rich man died and was buried. We then read that…
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Spirited Reflection: Leave something for the stranger
January 16, 2017
“Do you want to be holy?” the Bishop beamed at my son. He paused before asking again, with a thunderous laugh, “Do you want to be holy?” “Yes”, my son smiled, “how”? He said, “Honour your father and mother”. The…
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Spirited Reflection: Shifting from human-centred to ecological-centred
January 9, 2017
What will be the condition of earth for our grandchildren and great grandchildren? What kind of world will they inherit? It depends on our engagement now in trying to understand our ecological problems. This has been called ecological guidance –…
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Spirited Reflection: Jubilee – a new year reset
January 1, 2017
“Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound…
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