We decided to cancel in-person services while our area is in the Orange Level of virus risk. Today Peter posts a short meditation based on Scripture and a poem by Rumi to encourage honest feelings and hope in the midst of the chaos in the world and in our lives. We are also posting two beautiful videos that we watched last week in David Moore's church services. One, is by a Muslim singer and one is by a Jewish singer. We recommend watching Forgotten Promises by Sami Yusuf first, and then following that with One Day by Matisyahu.

Jessica Williams speaks poignantly about her longing for a bigger God than the one she was given in early life or at Bible College or as an adult in evangelical churches. She wants a God that is big enough to reject violence and manipulation and who is just as present for the marginalized as He/She is for those who are not marginalized in a society or a church.

Walter Thiessen prepared his sermon in the middle of the night after the US election, after he (mistakenly - he blames CBC) thought Trump had won. While the news cleared up that misunderstanding, he went ahead with that theme anyway.

Today Peter Fitch spoke again from 1 John 3. He looked at the last part of the chapter. He thinks the author is identifying ways to know that you've made a good choice in life, that you're on a good path. Lots of people chimed in and shared their ideas about how to be confident in the decisions that have been made.

Peter Fitch speaks about evil and good emotions in his description of 1 John 3:11-17. The passage uses Cain and Abel as an illustration of what can go wrong if we don't learn to transfer from dark waters that we swim in to lighter ones.

Peter Fitch returns to his talks on 1 John. This passage centres on Chapter 3, verses 4-10. He thinks that there are important keys here that help with discernment about whether or not a group is on a good path. In the final analysis, it indicates that "you are what you practice", as Walter Thiessen remarks in the middle of the talk.

Jessica Williams gives a beautiful talk about the self-emptying love of God that is expressed in Jesus and in all of creation. She encourages confidence in our own true selves so that we, too, are free to give ourselves away to the call and invitations that we receive in life.

We began our church on October 4, 1992, so this was our 28th birthday. We had a full band, something we haven't done too often during the pandemic, and Peter Fitch spoke about the recovery of tradition. He focused on mosaics in Ravenna and the way the early church blended beauty with meaning. His talk concluded with an invitation to sit as an ancient before the beautiful invitation of the mosaic apse from Sant' Apollinare de Classe.

Laurens van Esch spoke this morning about the Quaker spirituality that he knew in the Netherlands. His talk hits on the problems with perfectionism in individuals and with hierarchical structures in societies. He speaks as well about generous receptivity toward the spark of divinity within each of us, and in everyone we meet.

Peter Fitch shares his thoughts on the first few verses in 1 John, Chapter 3. We are all children of God but this is particularly true if we remain connected to the anointing that was described in the last chapter, the source of love and compassion that flows from God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, into all of us, encouraging empathy and acts that bring about justice and beauty.