Sharing stories of life, faith, and ministry in the United Church and beyond.

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” —Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”

Facing the Past, Transforming the Future" href="/blogs/round-table/facing-past-transforming-future"> The author in the centre, leads a group of Black clergy on a visit to the cemetery at Amber Valley, AB.

Everyday Skeptics: Devotions for Spiritual Growth is the new United Church Lenten devotional for 2019. It features reflections from United Church partners who do…

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Everyday Skeptics Show Us Prophetic Risk" href="/blogs/round-table/everyday-skeptics-show-us-prophetic-risk"> Lenten book editor Alydia Smith, dressed in a long purple dress and detailed necklace, sits in a large comfy to read a copy of the book "Everyday Skeptics."

For the last decade, I have been teaching at…

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Acts of Radical Solidarity " href="/blogs/round-table/acts-radical-solidarity"> A group of Indigenous Lumad farmers and supporters sit for a photo on the steps of the seminary's Administration building.
Quebec City, traditional territory of the Wendat people, hosted one of the last hearings of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls…
MMIWG: Bringing Safety for Women and Children" href="/blogs/round-table/mmiwg-bringing-safety-women-and-children"> A blanket from the National Inquiry, sharing the poignant words of Psalm 118:5 and a drawing of a shoreline and a lake.

We have received many comments and questions about whether or not to incorporate the “’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” into Christmas carol services. Thanks to…

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Unwrapping "The 'Huron' Carol"" href="/blogs/round-table/unwrapping-huron-carol"> A copse of winter trees silhouetted in the snow.

They say a picture is worth more than 1,000 words, and I agree.

To try to understand the Rohingya crisis, I had read much about who the Rohingya Muslims are…

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Her Eyes: A Rohingya Child in Bangladesh" href="/blogs/round-table/her-eyes-rohingya-child-bangladesh"> A Rohingya girl, having just crossed the border from Myanmar, shows her new identity card that she was given by United Nations workers in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

People sometimes share that they forget I am a person who is totally blind. I experience this as a good thing, an acknowledgment that they feel acceptance, and…

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Disability, Who Me?" href="/blogs/round-table/disability-who-me"> Sharon Ballantyne wearing a colourful minister's stole across her shoulders. Sharon Ballantyne is ministry personnel, serving a rural pastoral charge about two hours northeast of Toronto. A 2018 McGeachy Senior scholar, her work is focusing on equity.

“Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see…”

For no reason I could think of, this was the song I was…

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Note from Nora: God in Unexpected Places" href="/blogs/round-table/note-nora-god-unexpected-places"> Two black dogs play together in the fall leaves.

In the summer of 2018, our church decided to try Vacation Bible School camp (VBS).

The last time the United Church had organized a Vacations Bible School in…

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Freezies, Games, Prayer, (and More Freezies)" href="/blogs/round-table/freezies-games-prayer-and-more-freezies"> A group of campers at the Vacation Bible School hold a bunch of snails and slugs.

When I acquired HIV in 1987, it was “a death sentence”. One of the first comments made by my GP in 1990 in Regina, when he gave me the HIV+ test result, was that I…

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The End of AIDS by 2030?" href="/blogs/round-table/end-aids-2030"> Some of the chaplains at the 22nd International AIDS Conference.