Author Archives: stjamesunitedchurchdartmouth

Midweek Message – December 17, 2025

Worship – It’s Advent 4, we’ll light the candle of love in our Advent Wreath. The scripture reading is Luke 2: 1-7; it’s the story of Jesus’ birth. My reflection title is Lost In Translation: Rethinking the Birth of Jesus. I’ll explore preconceived ideas, biblical history, and was there an inn? Hopefully by Sunday itContinue reading “Midweek Message – December 17, 2025”

Connected to Heaven and Earth

Highs and lows… Terror and joy… Heaven and earth… Advent asks us to open our hearts to all of it. The nativity story itself holds this tension: a birth surrounded by angels and shepherds, yet set within a world marked by empire, fear, and displacement. (Rev. Janice MacLean) Let’s listen to the words we areContinue reading “Connected to Heaven and Earth”

Midweek Message – December 10

Worship – We continue our Advent Journey to Bethlehem and light the candle of JOY! The scripture is Luke 2: 8-20 (CEB); it’s the story of the angels telling the shepherds of Jesus’ birth and my reflection title is Connected to Heaven and Earth. It may seem out of order, when we haven’t even celebratedContinue reading “Midweek Message – December 10”

Midweek Message – December 3

Worship this week: It’s the SECOND week of Advent! We light the candle of peace. The scripture reading is Luke 1: 26-38 and you will once again encounter Mary! The choir has a piece to share and Joan Clark is bringing in a nativity to speak about. It’s shaping up to be a great Sunday! WouldContinue reading “Midweek Message – December 3”

Light Is Returning

Anyone else feel like crawling into bed right after supper? The only thing that keeps me sane at this time of year is counting down the days till the days start getting longer. It’s less than three weeks before that happens! Surely we can last long? It’s no wonder ancient people of all sorts inContinue reading “Light Is Returning”

Midweek Message – November 26, 2025

Journey to Bethlehem is the theme for Advent as we begin the new church year this Sunday! The scripture reading is John 1:1-6, 14, ‘In the beginning… which while not a typical Advent reading is appropriate as we begin once again. We hear about the light coming into the world. We are also celebrating communion.Continue reading “Midweek Message – November 26, 2025”

Born Again and Again

This is the 5th and final week in the Theological Banquet Series. I’ll recap in case you missed the earlier installments. This series is based on the book Undivided Love by Janet Gear, a United Church minister and theologian. She uses the metaphor of different courses at a banquet to describe different ways in whichContinue reading “Born Again and Again”

Midweek Message – November 12, 2025

The renovations are coming along, the offices should be ready for painting very soon. The first picture is where I’ll be hanging my hat for the remainder of my time with you and the second is where you will find Cathy. Isn’t that a great built in unit, you may not be able to tellContinue reading “Midweek Message – November 12, 2025”

Midweek Message – November 5, 2025

I’m back after 2 weeks of productive Study Leave and a couple of days of comp time! My time away was refreshing and renewing as I did a deep dive into Advent and then attended the Lester Randall Preaching Festival, which included listening to some great preaching as well as attending/ participating in 3 workshops.Continue reading “Midweek Message – November 5, 2025”