NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

‘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 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 is referenced in the Book of Alternative Services during the Ash Wednesday service, ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return’. A few years ago now we attended an Ash Wednesday Service where the words had morphed to ‘Remember that you are stardust and to stardust you shall return’ moving into the cosmology of the 21st century, connecting our bodies with the whole universe. These express the beliefs of a differing world view. They both call us to remember that life on this earth is impermanent and fleeting. They call us to pause and to ponder our lives. Which resonates with you doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it makes...

Over the past month, I, like many of you, have been watching an Amaryllis grow to maturity, waiting for the day when it comes into full bloom. As it bends daily towards the winter light coming in the window, I turn it, so that the following day, it’s stem will straighten and the stalk will stand tall again., knowing that one day it will bloom.  How like raising a child that is. You watch over them daily, correcting here, praising there and hoping that they will one day become fully-functioning members of society. We all have those events in our lives that push and pull us in diverse ways. And that is how we are like the Amaryllis as it bends towards the light. We too can bend until we are out of shape, and unrecognizable to even ourselves. When that happens (and it will)  we need to remember those words that are repeated so many times throughout the bible, “Fear not!”. Don’t fear either the good times or the bad times. If we have our feet firmly planted on the way ...

When I asked our PSW if she had gone out on New Year’s Eve, she replied  “No’. Then she went on to explain that the PSWs were all on ‘High Alert’ because if things could go wrong, New Year’s Eve was a prime time for them to do so. The phrase caught my attention because it was an apt way of explaining my life for the last 2+ months. Six times over that period we have had to drop whatever we were doing, or hoped to be doing, and make our way down to the ER at Toronto General Hospital. Yes, ‘high alert’ covered that way of living. But here’s the thing. What if we, as followers of Jesus, are actually called on to live in ‘high alert’ 24/7?  What if we have become so complacent, so conscious of what society expects from us that we have forgotten the radical nature of Jesus’ teachings. If we really want to live out the basic premise of Golden Rule, to actually do good to those that hate us, to help those who need help no matter who they are, then we too are being calle...

“Here is a simple rule-of-thumb guide for behaviour. Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them . Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.”   Matthew 7:12 [MSG] New Year’s Eve has come and gone. We chose, albeit unwillingly, an unique way to ring in 2020 and the new decade by spending the 24 hours from the afternoon of December 31st to the following afternoon in the Emergency Department of a large city hospital. But that’s not why I will never forget this New Year’s. I will never forget it because of what I learned. Despite the fact that it was probably one of the busiest nights of the year for the Emergency Department, and we were their least critical case, the staff were unfailingly thoughtful and kind to us throughout the entire 24 hours. From moving us to the quietest part of the Department so that my husband might be able to get some sleep, to providing both of us with heated blankets, they did every...

Read in the Babylon Bee [2019] U.S.-Bible scholars now claim the wise men didn’t deliver their gifts in person a few years late, as is commonly believed, but instead delivered presents directly to the Messiah using Amazon’s convenient one-day Prime shipping. “Instead of making the long, dangerous trek through the desert, the Magi simply hopped on Amazon and ordered gold, frankincense, and myrrh for one low price with free one-day shipping included,” said Dr. Brad Larson of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  “There really was no sense in going all that way when Mary and Joseph already had a convenient Amazon Wishlist all set up for the newborn king.” Of course, scholars think the wise men committed the gift-giving sin of going “off-list”, ordering Jesus things they thought He would enjoy rather then sticking to the list. “We appreciate the gesture, of course,” Mary reportedly told a source. “But diapers and a Starbucks gift card would have been a lot more useful. ...

“…  believing something to be true has nothing to do with whether it is true.” Marcus Borg (Convictions:How I Learned What matters Most) The story for today is a true story. Although if you remember this quote from Marcus Borg that I used last week,  that really doesn’t matter… The scene is in an ER waiting room in the downtown hospital in a large Canadian hospital.  It is just after midnight and the night is clear, but frosty and cold. A couple sat there through the night, waiting for their friends to reemerge from behind the sliding doors that they had gone into some time before. Here is their story as they told it to me. * * * * * * "As we sat there watching we could see the story playing out in front of us. We chatted for most of the evening with a woman who was well known to the staff, Her take on downtown life in the big city and her interactions with various hospitals was fascinating to us, the story of a unknown culture. She eventually got into a...

Since human civilization first began, people have been telling stories. Sometimes these stories were based on fact, sometimes not. But what many of these stories had in common is that they were a vehicle to pass along knowledge or understanding to those who were listening, a way of teaching some of the great truths of existence. In the words of Marcus Borg (Convictions:How I Learned What matters Most) “…  believing something to be true has nothing to do with whether it is true.” And so for this Advent Season, I thought I would take a look a a few of these stories… Mr. Rogers once said “The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile.” I recently read about a experiment. Someone took 3 glass jars, placed them about a foot apart, placed an inch of plain rice in each one and then an inch of water. Every day, this person looked into the first jar and said kind and loving things to the rice and water like ‘I love you...