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When our family gathered (virtually) last Christmas, I was delighted to find several books among my gifts. To be honest, I usually receive books for Christmas, but this gifting was unusual. Most years, the books come from my wish list; perhaps one or two find their way under the Christmas

There is never enough time to read. This truism shapes the world we live in. Every moment has to be wrestled away from the time commitments and pressures that threaten to monopolize our time. Our families, friends, church community, and careers are great gifts, but they all need our time.

In May, I had the immense pleasure of hosting a virtual roundtable discussion on Kirsten Pinto Gfroerer’s new book, Anchorhold: Corresponding with Revelations of Divine Love. The discussion participants included myself, Kirsten Pinto Gfroerer, Chris Trott, Joanne Epp, and Val Neufeld. The following article is an edited transcription of our

I am writing a book about the poetry of George Herbert, the 17th century Anglican priest whose work is broadly recognized as one of the English church’s greatest spiritual resources. Many readers will know his hymns, such as “King of glory, King of Peace,” “Teach me my God and King,”

With the hot and languid days of summer finally here, it’s time to get into the glorious activity of leisure reading! This June, we’ve put together a deluxe issue featuring a whopping 18-page-spread dedicated to the joys of reading. We’ve decided to call it, simply, The Reading Issue. The Reading Issue features

I call it PPE—Paul’s Pandemic Egg-bake—and it has become a regular part of the Sunday morning routine in the Peters Derry household. PPE helps answer the question, “What makes this day different?” and provides both a therapeutic and even spiritual practice that refreshes and renews me for another week. I

In 2002, I took part in a one-day workshop on ritual as part of my chaplaincy training at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The workshop was over 19 years ago, but it still impacts me to this day. In the workshop, I was encouraged to utilize my imagination and creativity and

Front line staff have been pushing themselves to provide compassionate care to people who are in a vulnerable stage of life, and many of these workers have gone over and above what is expected of them. I have witnessed staff members giving haircuts when hair salons are shut down, donating clothes to a client in need, volunteering

I am a Certified Spiritual Health Practitioner (SHP) working in long-term care. In this age of COVID-19, I have never felt so needed and so helpless all at the same time. We, as SHPs, have the privilege of working in the homes of the people we serve. Our residents allow us into their

For May, we’re looking at the importance of ritual in the midst of upheaval, and ritual as a form of spiritual care. This issue features contributions from four spiritual care workers, along with a couple of reports from the Archives Committee. Chris Salstrom writes about a spontaneous ritual that sprang up

In the old Newtonian paradigm, we perceived a billiard ball universe. A closed system machine that was predictable. That paradigm was so set, that we didn’t even bother to ask which billiard cues were hitting which balls. Now that we live in a post-Einsteinian world, we know that energy is

It can be difficult to find peace amidst the busy-ness of life. For me, one of the guaranteed times that have I found peace is in Sunday worship. The joining of souls in common worship, the saying in unison of prayers and creeds, the singing of thought-provoking hymns, and the communion around the table have been a weekly resetting of my life for over a

We all have periods in our lives when we feel trapped and powerless—certain that anything we might try to say or do to redeem ourselves, or to correct a misunderstanding, will only worsen the situation.  This could be a strained relationship with a friend or family member.  It could be a serious misunderstanding

For April’s issue we’re meditating on Bread in the Wilderness or less formal litanies of praise as we encounter them in our everyday. In our first feature, Donald Phillips speaks through the voice of Psalm 62, as he invites reflection on the solitary nature of suffering. Then, we are treated to the

Of the one hundred or so references to prisons, imprisonment, or prisoners in the New Testament, nowhere is the prisoner denigrated and the imprisonment or the prison system positively affirmed. This is astonishing and already tells us very much: the New Testament comes from the underside of structures of power and control. Indeed, in repeated instances, the reader is advised to take special

Sometimes the world changes and we are caught right in the middle of it. A year ago, was the beginning of that moment for us, and every day since is lived in light of a new world, with new habits, fears and hopes. In some ways it is easy to say what has changed. We