Sunday January 18

Huda started her sermon this morning with an anecdote about a job applicant who listened carefully, figured out hidden cues and got the job.  As a retired educator, I was pleased to hear Huda reinforce the 'art' of listening - not just hearing but actively listening, waiting and giving of ourselves during the process.

In the Old Testament reading, Samuel was sure it was Eli calling him in the middle of the night in the temple but it was the Lord summoning him. In the New Testament, Nathanael was more of a cynic when Philip spoke to him and said they had found the one Moses wrote about - in Nazareth. He did follow Philip to 'come and see'.

It would do us all some good to slow down, hear the cues and really listen.  Daily noise can overwhelm us and then how attentive are we? Prayer can help us 'tune in' and maybe then we can hear God calling us to do something.

What word does God have for you?

Sunday January 11

At Christmas, Karen almost warned us that in the church year, we see and enjoy Christ the baby and child for just a fleeting moment.  And already today we were shown Christ the young man being baptized by John.

We recognize Jesus as Beloved of God. And today we were challenged to think of ourselves as Beloved of God. Does God love what is the best in each of us or are we loved for all that we are?  And do we love all of one another or do we pick and choose the "best" bits?  We are reminded that to love means encompassing all that each one of is.

When have you felt confident that you are a Beloved of God and a Beloved of humanity?  When have you felt that you have received blessings?  And how are we called to ensure that those around us feel our love and through us, God's blessings?  God is delighted with each of us. I pray that I may be confident and worthy of this delight.

Billie S.

January 4 - Epiphany Sunday

Epiphany Sunday, this week after the rush of Christmas, feels like looking back over our Christmas and Advent journey with the advantage of hindsight.  Kind of like watching a trailer for a movie you've already seen, it's an overview of a familiar story.  Singing, "O star of wonder, star of light" has a special meaning when we've just spent the last weeks talking about all aspects of light in the darkness.

During her sermon, Karen spoke to us about the Magi, these vaguely described "visitors from the East." But she also talked about two other Kings, Herod and Jesus.  The contrast between one: conniving, calculating, ruthless, self-serving, inciting fear; and the other in whose presence one feels joy, hope and welcome.

As the delicious smell of the youth baking the galettes de Rois wafted up from the kitchen, we were reminded that we have been kindled by the Christ candle and are called to let God's light shine through us. I felt commissioned by the verses from Isaiah in the opening call to worship:

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
   and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Sunday, December 21

At this week's service, what I was thinking about most was the season of advent as a time of preparation. This week's candle is for love. The children's choir sang about advent, and love. And Christmas is very much about love, even the secular Christmas celebrated in films like "Love Actually," where it is pointed out that "love, actually, is all around.  Just go to the arrivals gate at the Heathrow Airport."

I was struck also this week by the following phrase in an advent hymn: "these days of adventure." Advent is a season of preparing ourselves, our lives, our homes for the arrival of our saviour. And, I think it's highly appropriate for us to think of that as an adventure.  Advent, after all, for many of us involves adventures.  Before we had kids, my husband and I used to travel back to Calgary for Christmas every year, and that was always an adventure of delayed flights, lost luggage and many storms.  Now, various of our relatives come to see us - and our kids - at Christmas, and they undertake their own adventures to do so.  For instance, this year, my father is driving from Calgary to Ottawa to see his grandchildren.  I learned this morning that his car had broken down outside of Thunder Bay and he is now waiting for a mechanic's office to open up Monday morning so he can get the truck repaired and continue on his journey. 

Advent so often involves the adventures, sometimes arduous ones, we undertake for love, whether they are geographical or emotional journeys.  And that's beautiful, and painful.  A prayer for safe passage on your adventures; blessings to all on their holiday journeys.

-Rebecca B.

Sunday December 7

I appreciated what Karen said today about taking a stand against injustice and how difficult that can be. As John the Baptist did, we are called to speak truth about the gaps between our present world and God's dream for our world. Like Karen, I have been finding the news particularly hard to take recently - the racial tensions in the US justice system, and sexual harassment and violence against women in Canada as just two examples. There is profound injustice in our world - but it is hard to stand up to that. Very powerful people and systems have caused that injustice.
 

I am thankful for those who are willing to speak out - who find the strength to stand up to those who are often much stronger. And yet sometimes it is hard for me even to listen to those messages. It can be uncomfortable, as Karen said, or God's kingdom on earth can seem just so far away. I have heard the messages before, calling for action and justice... but that fair, equitable, loving world seems too impossible sometimes.
 

So that is how I am going to try to prepare my heart for the coming of the Christ child this year. To listen anew and to be open to stories I have already heard - both the good news of Jesus' birth, and the hope of those who are working to make this world a more just place. Maybe I will hear in a new way, and maybe I will be changed. And maybe that will be just a beginning step in this new church year in striving to realize God's kingdom here on earth.

"Courage, my friends - 'tis not too late to build a better world." - The Honourable and Reverend Tommy Douglas

Laura S.

Sunday Nov 30 - Beginning with hope

It was such a pleasure to be able to listen to the first sermon for the Rev. Dr. Karen Dimock at St. Andrew's Ottawa. This is the First Sunday in Advent and we lit the Hope candle.  The light burst forth and provided illumination for a while.  I liked it when Karen said wherever there is laughter there is hope.  The ability to laugh in the midst of our foibles is witness to God's presence - perhaps that is why I love to laugh!

There is beauty in the candle flame yet it is fragile - one small puff of air can blow it out.  Hope can be like that for many; just when they feel they have turned the corner something else happens to squash that sense of hope.

Karen also pointed out that when we look at a candle it can make us more aware of the darkness around it and not the light.  We need to focus on that half-full cup!

Christmas is often a time that opens up old wounds or hurts and makes our hearts cry.  As in Isaiah 64:1-9: "Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at they presence."

We need Hope for all parts of our life journey,  Advent is the beginning of our journey at St. Andrew's with Christmas at the start of the year!  Church time is not linear but circular with endings merging with beginnings.  Our hopes and fears come together.  For some they may feel God's absence more than His presence.

How will we take this message of Hope with us this week? Will we grumble less?  Will we reach out to someone? Will we laugh a little more?

As we are vulnerable so is a flame - so is Hope. Yet that same flame is strong as others are lit from it.

We are blessed to have Karen with us this Advent as she begins her journey with us.

Jeanie H.

Sunday, November 23

So one member of the Children's Choir was a little off-key this morning. I don't write this to critique or nitpick. It didn't detract from the beauty of the performance, nor the joy it brought the congregation and the singers. It's just the way it is. Someone was a little off-key.

I spent a few years in the choir. I was (as Tom could certainly attest) far from perfect. Obviously, I never wanted to flub a note or miss an entrance, but it happened, and pretty much every time it did, I was annoyed with myself. Frustrated. Disappointed.

I assume we all do this, to one extent or another. We seek perfection in many things we do, and when we fail to reach this unreasonable standard, we get upset; we beat ourselves up about it. The paradox of it all is that it is human to be disappointed with imperfection, but imperfection is a part of the very nature of being human. We are all flawed. We all make mistakes. We all disappoint.

You're going to walk through this coming week, and you're going to make mistakes. Some may be small, others large, but, regardless, you're going to do it. I'm going to do it, too. This fallen, broken world sees constant human failures, no matter how much we try.

But it is from our humanity that so much beauty comes. We're broken, struggling creatures trying to find our way back to God. Our world is a testament to the persistence, joy and wonder that come out of people making so many mistakes. We're a living tapestry, and every dropped stitch, every frayed corner, every mismatched colour contributes the art of our lives.

No one wants a fake plastic auto-tuned life. Our beauty comes from our passions, and our passions can steer us awry. Even the greatest musicians can miss a note, and even that missed note can infuse a song with even more life. In one of his greatest hits, Curtis Mayfield's trumpet player misses one note in a song's main riff. They didn't stop the recording. They didn't use another take. The squeal is left in, and it makes it oh so much more human (it occurs at the 3:07 mark):
 

So if you're struggling, if you're making mistakes, if you're thinking you just can't sufficiently contribute to the life of your church, your community or your world, take heart. None of us can. None of us can give it 100%, 100% of the time, with 100% perfection.

We each have a part to play. We each have an instrument to grab. Join in, make mistakes and revel in the love of God and Her world. The song is much richer when we all sing along.

We might sing a little off-key, but we'll be in tune.
 

Jonathan M.