This fall I began hosting a weekly opportunity for contemplative practice in our church foyer on Thursday mornings. It starts at 8:00 am with a short piece of recorded music and a brief reading. Then we spend 20 minutes in silence. People are free to spend the 20 minutes in any way they wish. One can sit, one can walk, one can read or write in a journal. It’s a time to practise silent contemplation with others. Just as it can be motivating to go to a gym class to do physical exercise, it can be helpful to do this silent exercise together. All exercise is a challenge! And all challenges need encouragement. And healthy challenges bring rewards. Continue Reading Contemplative Practice

This past summer I was able to attend the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly held in Saskatoon, July 6-10. The big items for discernment were the recommendations coming from two national taskforces: Future Directions and Being a...

“On the road again!  Just can’t wait to get on the road again…” Do you know that song by Willie Nelson? It came to me for some reason as I was sitting down to write this column. It was only ten years ago that we packed our...

Earlier this spring we had a short series at church on the topic of God and Science.   The topic is sometimes framed as “Faith and Science” which I purposely avoided. The title “Faith and Science” implies that science does not...

In recent months I partici-pated in two seminars on the topic of aging. One was led by Dr. Kenneth Pargament from Bowling Green University, and it focused on the spirituality of aging. The other, led by Gerald and Marlene...

Communion has been a topic for reflection and conversation among us over the last several months. During Advent 2013, we read and reflected on the book Take this Bread by Sara Miles. The book tells the story of how a secular...

“Not another visioning process! These things always create lots of smoke but no fire. Results get shelved somewhere and we just carry on as usual. Do we really need another visioning process?” Can you relate to this sort of...