Author Archives: stjamesunitedchurchdartmouth

The Courage to Stay in the Dance of Love

This little plaque was given to me at my 8th birthday party, and it’s one of the few things I took with me when I left home as a young teenager. Now, I don’t think anyone, even the most religious amongst us would consider giving something like this to a child now. And in retrospect, alongContinue reading “The Courage to Stay in the Dance of Love”

Midweek Message – January 7, 2026

The Theology and Music of Leonard Cohen Series continues this week. The scripture is 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8; we often hear this scripture passage at weddings, sometimes at funerals, but Paul wasn’t talking about romantic love, he was writing to the Christian community in Corinth. I’ll unpack that a bit more on Sunday. I’m pairingContinue reading “Midweek Message – January 7, 2026”

Broken Hallelujahs and Holy Light

How many of you were familiar with the line of the series: There’s a crack, a crack, in everything, that’s how the light gets in. It’s from a Leonard Cohen piece called Anthem. The universe cracked open billions of years ago to let the light out… Just as we heard in our reading from Genesis,Continue reading “Broken Hallelujahs and Holy Light”

Midweek Message – December 31, 2025

Happy New Year’s Eve! Ours will be very quiet as my husband has been sick since before Christmas. To the extent that there is a pile of presents still under the tree because we haven’t seen any close family. We start our series on the music and theology of Leonard Cohen this week: There’s aContinue reading “Midweek Message – December 31, 2025”

Lost in Translation: Rethinking the Birth of Jesus

I think it was the first year I was at the Atlantic School of Theology, and we were deep into some scripture studies, exploring when a particular passage was written, who was it was written to, the political context in which it was written etc. And then of course, what difference does that particular storyContinue reading “Lost in Translation: Rethinking the Birth of Jesus”

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”