HELLO!

God bless my colleague and your minister of Congregational and Community Animation/Engagement (only in government and church would such a wordy title be constructed) Bethe. She suggested we lift up Children’s Day (November 20^th) with a Sunday worship theme. And like all of her ideas, I acted on it immediately (except I still don’t smile or hug very often, despite her ongoing efforts). You can see for yourself how the children in our church enjoy Bethe’s presence and care (she always has food!). So…on November 16^th we will celebrate and honour Children’s Sunday. My only contribution, to ask Serhii Torishnia, once a child at our church, now a youth, to offer two selections. If you have never heard Serhii play, you have missed the Spirit at work. I attended a UCW AGM where he played. Everyone was deeply moved by his skill and passion.

Our text for the day, Isaiah 65:17-18, is a reminder how God moves among us, even in the most challenging of days. Imagine how things must have felt for the people of Jerusalem in 475 BCE., two generations after they returned from exile and tried to rebuild their devastated city. They remembered the former glory of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the rebuilt version didn’t quite measure up to the glory of Solomon’s Temple. Imagine the prophet Isaiah, walking through the rubble of the city. Much of the city was still in ruin, and many people continued to suffer the effects of oppression and dislocation. In this setting, Isaiah speaks of a vision from God, who, in the midst of human suffering and despite the long wait, is about to do a new and great thing: “to create a new earth…be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating” (65:17-18).

As I read this text a few ago I thought of this quote by Verna Dozier, “The important question to ask is not, ‘What do you believe?’ but ‘What difference does it make that you believe?’ Does the world come nearer to the dream of God because of what you believe?” And this begins to take root, shape, with release from the binding and blinding remembrance of the former ways of being. Not to forget what brought about their emergence, but to let go of the dominance of their pattern over us. Fear and anger and anxiety truly are all around. So what do we do with this? What is God's holy, healing, living invitation in this place? Children, all of us, need a place where all can flourish--where all can enjoy the work of their hands, and where all can delight in the fruits of the vineyards they have planted. Where all can live together in peace and wholeness.

Join me on Sunday, as we offer this prayer. Peace, Kevin

PS Join me and some choir members this Sunday afternoon (the 16^th) at 230 pm as we worship at Oakwood Terrace (10 Mount Hope Avenue), home to Carolyn Bracken and now Myrna Nauss. They love visitors!

PPS Sad news, Fran Wade has died. Her funeral Saturday 2 pm November 22. Leave a condolence: https://www.arbormemorial.ca/en/atlantic-dartmouth/obituaries/frances-willard-wade/150168.html Keep the family in your prayers. I met the family, Fran felt it was “home” at our church.

PPS I will see some of you on Saturday when you come to pick up your chowder order. I will be the one in the Bobby Orr jersey.