Nelson United Church

Thanksgiving, 2019          As many of you know, I’ve long admired Brother David Steindl-Rast’s work in being a proponent of gratitude and living from a place of thankfulness and gratefulness.  He started an online presence of gratitude at gratefulness.org.  The reflection for this week as part of the weekly email I receive was timely for read on →

Sermon Title: Help Wanted| Scriptures: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 & Luke 17:5-10  The following story comes from a church newsletter from the United Church of Christ in Douglas, Wyoming which is the congregation I served before retiring.      A prison work crew in Tampa Florida was working on the side of the road repairing concrete read on →

Lazarus and Rich Man Luke 16:19-31 Interesting story. Kind of puzzling. I think the first and most important thing in understanding it, is to resist the temptation to make the story Jesus tells about Lazarus and the Rich Man into a blueprint for the afterlife. This is actually a story about the here and now read on →

Sermon Title: Revering God in the Real World. Scripture: Luke 16:1-13 At a large airport, a family sits among what seems to be much of their worldly goods. There are several large suitcases, a big well-taped box, two bulging duffle bags and four backpacks (two of them stuffed with toys). In the midst of this read on →

Jeremiah 18:1-11 I love the image of God as a potter and we as clay creations. Perhaps this is because my mother worked as a potter for part of my growing up. I watched her spinning clay on a wheel, centring it and pulling it up and down, shaping it until it met the image read on →

         We live in a complex world these days.  That’s a truism that hardly needs stating.   A part of the complexity is that our language is changing. Like many, I’ve become a fan of the Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, who landed safely in New York after a 2-week journey across the sea.  She has talked read on →

Spirituals Sunday Vignettes taken from a worship service prepared by Alydia Smith with some additions and editing by David Boyd. A HISTORY IN SONG The 1600s Slavery existed in Canada, as it existed in colonies throughout the world. The first documented slave in Canada was named Olivier Le Jeune in 1628. (However, there are reports read on →

         This sermon arises out of today’s theme, which is about Celtic music.  I’m reflecting on my own Celtic roots and the Celtic roots of one part of the United Church.          In a little book I’ve come to love, Celtic Christian Spirituality: Essential Writings Annotated & Explained, there’s a chapter called Blessing as a read on →

         Hope is a difficult thing. But, it’s an important thing, perhaps the most important thing.  Remember that line near the end of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption? Tim Robbin’s character, Andy Dufresne, is at his wit’s end and says some alarming things to Red, played by Morgan Freeman.  But he talks about hope as the most important read on →

         I read an interesting and funny little blog in The Christian Century magazine about the passage from Luke’s Gospel, which starts with a question asking Jesus to intervene in a family dispute.  Garret Keizer wrote, What if we were given only the first part of this story and were required to supply the ending? read on →