NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

As we progress through the season of Lent, we are urged by the lectionary aa well as by the words spoken from the front of the churches to consider how we live and what we do with our lives. Many of us take up a new spiritual practise perhaps denying ourselves something we enjoy or adding something to our daily routine that we think will benefit our spiritual growth in the long run.  What we can seen to be doing is in fact judging our lives and then trying to make them  better by doing ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’. Quite a while ago I received a note from one of the readers of this blog and it has stayed with me over the time since it landed in my inbox. ‘I just coined the term "nudgement" for myself this morning.  I was thinking of how EFM interprets "judgement" as something that surprises you or that you weren't expecting, which is a gentler notion of "judgement" than some of us grew up with, something that is enough out of the ordinary to urge us ou...

“Let anyone with ears listen!” ~ Matthew 11:15 And we were listening … and we heard a ‘chirp'.  And what were we listening to - nothing less than outer space! Galileo’s telescope gave us the eyes to see with, and now scientists have added the ear with which to hear.  While I don’t even pretend to understand what gravitational waves can be, nor the science that has gone into proving this theory of Einstein’s that even he doubted, what I can understand is that this has opened up new frontier of human knowledge. Whatever it shows us, whatever it reveals about what is out there, about the whys and the wherefore of interstellar space, will lead us into a deeper understanding and appreciation for this universe… and thereby, for ourselves. Galilei Galileo’s invention led to him being tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, forced to recant and to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. Yet he gave us theeye to see with. Are we g...

 ‘By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ Genesis 3:19 Most scholars now agree that the texts found in Genesis began to be written down sometime in the 10th century BCE and were based on oral and written traditions. It is this verse that the words of the Book of Alternative Services, ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return’ , harken back to in the imposition of ashes during the Ash Wednesday service. This is a change in liturgy from the understanding shown in the words of the Book of Common Prayer which says in the same service: ‘Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection into eternal life.’ Three years ago we attended an Ash Wednesday Service where the words had morphed one more time. That time what was said during the imposition of ashes was ‘Remember that you are stardust and to stardust...

“Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.”  Tryon Edwards [from Wikiedia: Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894, Detroit,) was an American theologian, best known for compiling A Dictionary of Thoughts, a book of quotations. He published the works of Jonathan Edwards (the younger) in 1842. He also compiled and published the sixteen sermons of his great grandfather, Jonathan Edwards, on 1 Corinthians 13 ] Just lately I have become aware of changes that have happened unbeknown to me. One I can explain and it links into the title quote for Aesop, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’.  A year ago this January when my husband was hospitalized it was a long, long way each day from the parking lot to his room. This January, when the same thing occurred, the distance to the room seemed much shorter even though the rooms ...

I’m sure we all have heard the old adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. The original phrase ‘‘Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread” had its first recorded use in the 1860, but the concept is quite old going back to Roman and Anglo-Saxon times. I know I heard it many times during my growing up years.  And I must admit that in late years I have tended to relegate apples to an occasional rather than a daily fruit. That, however, is about to change! The following landed in my inbox not long ago and made me rethink my relationship to the lowly apple. Any one of these claims is certainly a reason to add apples back into my daily diet. “Did you know that –according to Medical News Today, which ranks apples as the Number One healthiest food based on research studies– apples can potentially: * Have the same effect as statins in preventing vascular deaths… * Improve neurological health… * Prevent dementia… * Reduce risk of st...

Seen on a billboard:            'Jesus is Lord and you know it!' My immediate reaction was that the word 'better' was superimposed between you & know, making it read in my mind, ' Jesus is Lord and you better know it!' . In this permissive society we live in, no one likes to be told what to believe, to say, or to do. And that was part, but only part of the reason for my reaction. I had NO idea who had caused the sign to be written and that was a bigger cause for my discomfort. It is bad enough to have been told what you believed but even worst not to know the credentials or the belief system of whoever did so. But this also got me thinking of the importance of language; in this case of one little word. Because had the billboard said 'Jesus is Lord and I know it' , that would have been completely different. I probably would have thought, "Good for you. You have a conviction and you want to share with others." And...

I am tired of continually being asked by people “So where do you go to church now?” or, conversely,  “Where are you going to church on Sunday?” Now I know this is basically our own fault, because every Sunday has found us in church for the last 50 years.  The church we go to regularly on a Sunday morning, was built in the last decade, has a large paved parking lot with plenty of parking for folks like us with handicapped stickers. It is right next door to a Tim Horton’s and every Sunday you can see the people walking into that building with their cups of Tim’s in their hands. Should they prefer something cold, than there are vending machines inside for that. The parking lot, driveways, and sidewalks are ploughed and sanded well before we get there in the inclement weather. The building itself is climate- controlled year round, and has only the newest and most up-to-date equipment, including an elevator and washroom facilities on each floor, is bright and clean, and attra...