Most clergy are running on raw nerves by Christmas Eve. The bustle of advent activities, community commitments and tending the sick and bereaved all take their toll. People expect the church service to set the mood for all that’s special about their Christmas celebration. I was more tired than usual one Christmas Eve and still […] Read more
Stories by Rev. Joyce Sasse
Family stories give kids hope
These have been tough times: too much water, too much cold, too much drought and fire in the north, tremors and tornadoes everywhere. Everything is extreme. The compounding of these things from one year to the next threatens our livelihood and our way of life. Anxiety and despair hang over us like a dark shadow. […] Read more
Challenges during the summer that never was
Rural people feel at one with the land. When it is healthy and productive, they feel contentment. When the land suffers, as the Prairies have this year, that pain touches the people. Looking back on a summer that might have been, we remember late snow and excessive rain. Fields, roads and communities were flooded. There […] Read more
When the bond is broken
Becky fell into the role of caregiver by happenstance. An elderly neighbour needed support and Becky was readily there to pick up the mail, bring a few groceries and drop by for a cheery check-in. Her fiercely independent neighbour sometimes viewed Becky’s help as intrusive. “When you just go ahead and cut my lawn without […] Read more
Past mistakes – Spiritual Vignettes
Long after he had retired, the elderly businessman confessed it was the mistakes he’d made in his life that haunted him the most. In spite of relatively strong family ties, a good business history and many thoughtful acts, feelings of guilt robbed him of finding satisfaction and peace. Guilt can corrode our lives like a […] Read more
Under God’s wings, a refuge
The poet sees pain. Some people grieve the death of loved ones. Many are exhausted from constant labour and endless debt. Some brothers haven’t spoken to each other for years. No matter how they try, some wives can never live up to their husband’s expectations. So it was in the time of Israel’s King David […] Read more
Crossing a new threshold – Spiritual Vignettes
Peter’s interpretation of the dream he had on the rooftop of the tanner’s home in Joppa marked a pivotal point in spiritual understanding. The dream was of a sheet being lowered from the heavens with all kinds of living creatures in it. What did it mean for one who had followed Jewish dietary law to […] Read more
Father Albert Lacombe – Spiritual Vignettes
Mon Petit Sauvage was what family members called Albert Lacombe when he was a child, a term of endearment for this youngster raised by French parents whose descendants included an Ojibway chief. Was this what made Father Lacombe’s 60 years of ministry with the Cree, Blackfoot and Metis of Western Canada so wonderful? Was it […] Read more
Somebody bigger than you and I – Spiritual Vignettes
This year we seem to be repeatedly knocked off stride. We get blind-sided. Our bubbles burst. So much of what we’ve done seems to be for naught – and we despair. Stress and exhaustion push us to work even harder, until we verge on physical and emotional collapse. The predominant question: What more can I […] Read more
Culture and agriculture – Spiritual Vignettes
Our world has become fragmented and Michael Schmidt is trying to bring fragments back together. What he saw in the 120-year-old barn on the Glencolton farm near Durham, Ont., was how he could bring his passions for music and agriculture together. The cycles of nature fit well with the rhythms of music. This is a […] Read more
