Easter Monday
Just a note this morning to say that I’m in transit today – I’ll post a column tomorrow. Love, Katie
the messy table
Holy Week
I’m not sure if they heard it mentioned at church or if I slipped it into the conversation, but the kids are wondering about Holy Week. Not the stories – they have those down pat. But the terminology. I heard them discussing it the other day and they are a little confused. They seem to think that “holy” means “ancient.” Long ago and far away and all that jazz. Which makes Holy Week into History Week or something.
Refreshment
Yesterday, we had a guest preacher at church – the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster – and he brought with him this […]
Celebrate and Rejoice
This story has within it all the great father and son stories, and all the tales of brothers. It is Aegeus waiting on the cliffs for Theseus, it is the birthright battles of brothers Jacob and Esau, it is the love of Jacob for Joseph, it’s Daedalus and Icarus and a father’s fateful providing. And yet, it is more.
Rich Food for Lent
Maybe it’s just my greedy, foody nature, but I love the language here. Isaiah sings to my soul in this passage. This is a prophet for me. I hear this call to an attitude of abundance away from the perspective of poverty. Instead of being bound by want, and worried about cost, we’re called here to enjoy and see that there is plenty
Proud Jerusalem and Christ’s Wings
This is one of those passages that makes for an excellent children’s story. I must confess, I do like getting a chance to share my chicken impression with a congregation. Not every day, eh? But it’s memorable as a message, too. Jesus subverting gender stereotypes and comparing himself to a nurturing mother. Jesus stretching out his arms to lovingly gather us in. And memorable, too, the glimpse of Palm Sunday ahead.
A Week Ahead
The week ahead is an interesting one. Pancake Tuesday. Ash Wednesday. Valentine’s Day. NiteKirk on Friday night. And a week off school for my kids. This morning opens with a family peanut butter factory at the other end of the table. It’s one of those February days when you can believe that spring in coming. The light is gentle and the sky finally open.
Wonder
This morning is one of those mad winter days when the wind blows everything across the sky. The clouds are dark, bringing snow or worse, but every so often they are scattered and the sun breaks through, changing everything. It’s a good day to read about the transfiguration.
Hands-on Living
… it’s also being able the celebrate their goodness, not just for the pleasure of eating them, but for the pleasure of having crafted them. There’s a messiness and a joy to this hands-on kind of living.
Good Wine and the Festal Life
You have to wonder what life was like at home. The party is is full swing and social disaster looms. The wine has run out. The family will be dreadfully embarrassed and everyone is sure to remember this as the stingiest feast all year. Mary sees what’s happening and calls for Jesus. She points out the problem, putting it in his hands, as if he could solve everything. How did Mary know?
Because it is time to share the news
New year, new start, and news to share. We’re pregnant. Baby #3 is due in July – an astonishingly wonderful bit of announcement and of course I’m grinning as I type this.
Merry Christmas from the Messy Table
Christmas Eve.
There are, of course, still presents to be wrapped. And lists to be checked. Likely cupboards to be checked, too, because I do follow in my mother’s footsteps and file things away in odd places to be forgotten and then remembered never quite too late.
An Expectant Kick
There’s a scene near the end when Juno finally tells Bleeker that she loves him – she says that every time she sees him, her baby starts to kick a lot. She thinks that it’s because her own heart starts to thump.
Which made me think about Elizabeth.
Practical Theology and Subversive Advent
If Advent is a time to review our expectations, then John is the perfect spokesman. He’s loud, direct, and very specific. John’s good news is news of good. He is describing and prescribing a Good way to live.
Notice the Verb
The Spouse thought I dodged the women bishops question last week, so I wondered aloud on facebook if I should write a mid-week rant. Many said yes, and many contributed their thoughtful two-bits, and I scribbled away, sorting through the mad, the sad, the confusion of church politics and biblical interpretation. I got a lot of words down. But then I didn’t feel like it anymore.
Are we there yet?
Advent begins on Sunday. The counting up and counting down. It’s a strange season to be a Christian. It’s a time of waiting. In our […]
November Wind
It’s one of those blustery November mornings around here. The garden gate is crashing open and clamming shut. The sky is empty of birds, but full of leaves, and the trees are madly shaking their branches as if trying to get everything to stop and sit still for just one moment.
I know just how they feel.
Hannah and her sisters
The story of Hannah holds Christmas at bay a little. And it also honours our almost-there already impatience about the whole thing.
A fourth birthday
It was Blue’s birthday on Saturday so he came into our room early. Groggy parents greeted him appropriately, but at first, he flatly denied that it was his birthday. Of course, it probably didn’t seem like it yet. Mum and Dad were still in bed, and the house was definitely lacking in friends and balloons.
Happy Reformation Day
Wednesday isn’t just Halloween. It’s Reformation Day, too. 495 years since Luther took his hammer to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. I had a minister in Ottawa who thumbtacked the theses to our church door to celebrate. Quirky but good, I thought. So maybe this might be considered my own form of thumbtacking. Trick or treat…