YFC is a Christian, faith-based movement. Their leader and model is Jesus, as described in the Christian Bible. Jesus said, “people will know you are my followers because of your love for one another” (The Gospel of John, paraphrased) They are an international entity, with a local group in Shelburne.
Read MoreSlavery existed across British colonies, but often white Canadians, both in and outside the church, talk about enslavement by fixating on the Underground Railroad. Alydia Smith through her own experience in church culture, addresses this misconcpetion.
Read MoreRev. Teresa 'Terri' Hord Owens, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), offers a sermon on becoming the church that Jesus has called us to be - fully committed to anti-racism. The Diciples of Christ are in full communion with The United Church of Canada.
Read MoreJoan Chittister, with her straight forward manner and deep love of God and people, offers a modern, intelligent, Christian spirituality one can live with day by day. Here are three different podcasts of interviews with sister Chittister, centred around her books, all of which reflect a Christian Spirituality for the 21st Century.
Read MoreSr. Joan Chittister is one of the most articulate social analysts and influential religious leader of our times.. In her message, Contemplation in the Midst of Chaos, Sr. Chittister, O.S.B., reflects on what it means to be spiritual, to be contemplative, in the midst of the private chaos that sometimes clutters our lives.
Read MoreWhile all members share in Christ’s ministry, the church from its earliest days has recognized that God calls some to exercise specific gifts of leadership, both paid and voluntary. These ministries of leadership are based in God’s call and therefore serve to remind the community to whom we belong.
Read MoreThe black church is a musical bootcamp. Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Anderson Paak all found their start singing in the church. Sound Field (PBS) travels to Chicago, the birthplace of gospel music, chatting with gospel artist, Donald Lawrence and then to Orlando to meet singer Tye Tribbett at his church.
Read MoreBlack Gospel Music has a long standing tradition in the Christian Church, with its powerful message and joyous sense of celebration. Contemporary artists of the 21st century offer that same emotionally rich experience with modern rhythm and blues arrangements. Such rich offerings.
Read MoreThe heart of the Christian faith is the hope of new possibilities in the midst of failure and despair. That is the Easter story - that something new and never imagined emerges from the dying out of something known. Enjoy the music of celebration.
Read MoreThe early community that followed Jesus was a community of practice. Jesus’ followers did not just sit around the campfire and listen to lectures on Christian theology. They listened to stories that taught them how to act toward one another, and what to do in the world.
Read MoreThe Easter Triduum begins on Maundy Thursday evening, includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and ends on on the evening of Easter Day. We are called, through this holy time, to stay steady, to stay awake, to bear the sorrow, to adjust to the darkness, and then, to celebrate all that we do not understand.
Read MoreAmid the on going struggles world wide to find compassion and grace in the midst of violence, Christians celebrate the power of courage and love in the midst of adversity and hatred. Good Friday is a challenging day, for a struggling, yet still beautiful world.
Read MoreMacrina Wiederkehr’s wonderful book, Seven Sacred Pauses, is an invitation to learn, and practice, the ancient spiritual discipline of praying the hours. Macrina offers this practice as a unifying place for all faith traditions, and those with no formal faith at all. She sees it as a place for all of us to live our our fullest lives.
Read MoreContemplation, in its simplest analysis, is the spiritual arena that lies beyond our own personal efforts, where knowledge exists that cannot be obtained through the well worn pathways of intellectual acquisition.
Read MoreSpirituals are uniquely American music, emerging as they do from the African American people who endured slavery. They were people who had their own native African spirituality taken from them, abruptly and violently, as though it were of no account. And then Christianity was forced upon them.
Read MoreThe Crucifixion of Jesus has been a focus for painters throughout the ages. What is depicted reflects the time, place, economics and politics of the painters and the culture in which they reside. Most notably, European artists from the Renaissance on, have painted Jesus, his family and his disciples as Caucasian, when in fact, Jesus was in the middle east, and would have had an ethnicity that reflected his birth place.
Read MoreThe hymn "This Day God Gives Us" has a wonderful lyric that draws us into a meditation of the moment, a gratitude for all things, and the safety of the divine embrace. It is a modern take on the ancient Celtic writing St. Patrick's Breastplate.
Read MoreAs people of the way we need to be able take into account many parts of an argument or situation, to have a voice that can hold two opposing ideas at once, without feeling the need to choose one against the other. It is a voice that is more interesting in nurturing than opposing, more interested in discovering than demanding, a voice that is more interested in serving, than oppressing. Jesus was such a voice. And it is a challenging one.
Read MoreIt is such a strange landscape to be living in. Everything looks the same, but it's all different. Simple things like shopping have become complicated rituals that need careful orchestration. Simple pleasures like visiting for a morning chat, are bound by rules and rituals we could never have guessed at.
Read MoreWhen we quiet ourselves, and listen to our inner wisdom, we do know how to proceed. We may despair, we may feel low in spirit, we may be sorrowful. But we do have a plan of action. We do know what we are to do. Hold steady. Keep your eyes on God. Keep your arms open to the world. Know you will sometimes be hurt, and keep loving anyway.
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