Reflections
Grief Should Have It’s Day
This for many of us is a gut blow of a day. It’s hard to catch a breath. The very air we move in seems heavy. We’re frightened and full of grief. Perhaps too full of grief to be angry, though that may come. Or numbness, that may come too, even more numbness than we’ve…
Read MoreWhat I hope for . . .
Today,the fading fibre of my fatherheavy-makes my heart. And there is more. The thick, malignant possibilityof a draining democracy;the stoppers all are out. Circles more and more of politicians’ speechand less of limbless children,mothers’ gasping griefand fathers’ dust-covered diggingwith no end. We hear breaking news that is broken,thin,repetitive.It is hoped, by some, perhaps,manageable. But what…
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Hallowing What Shines Through
It’s early morning and the sky is a thinning dark; the sense of light is in it. It is a familiar long loved fabric washed over and over, the colour under the colour showing through. It is the first of the Hallows Days, the Triduum of Thin Days. Hallows, according to etymonline comes from Old…
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Soft Blossoming Within
These days it feels as though touch is ever more important. I need the soft mulch of the labyrinth under my feet, the cool rain drops left on the deck, the stone in my hand, the basil picked for the sauce. In the midst of the torrent images of war, and genocide, floods, fires and…
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Lectio with a Garden
We open ourselves to the wisdom waiting for our hearts in the garden.
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Swimming Dreams
I went down in the afternoonto the seawhich held me, until I grew easy. About tomorrow, who knows anything.Except that it will be time, again,for the deepening and quieting of the spirit. Mary OliverIt’s been a year; a year with its own particular labours of spirit, mind, and body. Each one’s weight shared with the others. Each…
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Beautiful, Beloved, Beginning
Music Oh My Children Sara Thomsen Prayer: (In unison)Holy One,May we come to this momentas though we were a gardenand You the softening rainas though we were the blossomsand You the orchardas though we were sandand You the tide, offering herself to the shore. May we come to this momentas though we were a bodyand…
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Glittering Pandemonium
Opening to Pentecost Spirit lets in grief and joy. On Friday I watched the news of the shooting at Santa Fe High School as many of us did and felt the spirit of despair lapping at my heart like a cold tide. In the midst of my sorrow, for those who experienced the violence of…
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Rural Context and Culture for Ministry
Dr. Marvin Lee Anderson will be the instructor for this Atlantic School of Theology directed summer study course, in which attendance at Rural Routes Through the Holy (RRTH) forms a key component. Marvin has reflected and taught extensively on his experience of rural contexts. You can read his bio here. You can read the course…
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What is Rural Routes Through the Holy?
Learning, deepening, dreaming ~Finding our voices ~Realizing ourselves as ancestors of the future ~Attending to our neighbour ~Honouring the truth that, “small is also bountiful” ~Becoming community in God ~ Rural Routes was born in my imagination as I worked with small congregations. More than once I’ve arrived on pastoral charges that had a history,…
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Theme 2024 Beautiful to Behold: Broken Open Church
The two parts of this title need one another. You are, as a person, as a community, “beautiful to behold” by the Constant One who sees and holds you. You just are. You don’t earn it by scrambling to find the correct answer; to be bigger, younger, healthier, more right, more (or less) of anything. …
Read MoreRural Routes Through the Holy Schedule – 2024
Beautiful to Behold: Broken Open Church Thursday, June 13th9:30 Muffins, Coffee, Tea10:00 Welcome, Orientation to our time and place, check in and Worship11:15 – 12:15 Taster(s) 12:30 – 1:15 Lunch 1:15 -2: 45 Theme Presentation One and Rural Café2:45- – 3:15 Free time to walk the labyrinth, explore the prayer practices or book/resource/ market table)3:15 …
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