Today is the first day of autumn, it’s warm out, but the leaves have started to change. The nights have become crisp and cool. There have been frost warnings already.

I’m not a big fan of winter, but oh boy, do I love Autumn. So today I just want to celebrate the beginning of this beautiful season:

Dear friends, may the changing seasons remind you of the One who set the moon and sun in place and that our times are in His hands.

Because French Bulldog puppies are LIFE (and I often feel this way about Mondays):

A little Biblical humour for ya:

I mean, one can hope…but I’m not gonna get my hopes too high:

This is accurate:

Little bit of Marvel and 90’s music mash-up humour for you:

Ah, I sing this to myself ALL the time this year:

This one is for a friend of mine who is convinced EVERYTHING is because of ghosts:

I can’t be the only one who lives this way:

And some Star Wars Zoom humour for you (Seriously teachers, I’m praying for you as you navigate online and in-person education):

These two seem to go together, and are reminders of what our faith is all about:

And finally, this blessing for your day:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep laughing and thinking and drawing closer to God!

This week in worship, we turned to the Book of Daniel to see how Daniel’s friends surrounded him with prayer in the midst of a dangerous and impossible situation. This week we are sticking with the simple format of recording the sermon and sharing the hymn of response video here on the blog, but we continue towards developing a fuller online presence of our worship service.

The Hymn of response was, “I Need Thee Every Hour,” by Anthem Lights:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on being a friend who prays, asking your friends to pray, and holding to the purpose of being God’s people in this world.

Here are some lovely resources to help you worship in advance of tomorrow morning (if you are showing up in person) or tomorrow afternoon (if you are continuing with online worship!)

So, I know she’s my friend and I’m biased, but my friend and I’m biased, but the sensitivity with which my friend Shelagh sings #661 We give thee but thine own, brings me such great joy. I hope it does the same for you as we prepare for worship tomorrow:

I have found this a meaningful song since I first encountered it when I was in my 2O’s. Shane and Shane, covering Rich Mullin’s Sometimes By Step:

This might be a bit of a heavy burden for our pastors to carry, but I also thought it was a beautiful call to action for all people of faith, everywhere:

This is a lovely and meaningful thought by worship leader, and recording artist, Chris Tomlin:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on praising God!

You know I love memes. They are quick, pithy, sometimes funny, sometimes deep. Sometimes a combination of both.

A friend sent me this one:

And it made me laugh, but also it gave me a profound sense of relief. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

My friend, The Janet, is fond of telling me that words have power. Whenever I say anything about myself that is framed in a negative way, she gently corrects me. So reading the above, I can hear her voice in my mind, saying, “Be nice to my friend Rebekah! Don’t call her stupid!”

But at the same time, I know that sometimes I just get it wrong. Sometimes I make bad choices. Sometimes I just don’t think it through. I don’t know everything. And in the midst of an unprecedented year, a pandemic and the accompanying brain fog, sometimes I’m just plain lacking in intelligence.

What a gift to know that God already factored that in. He knows our weak spots and our character flaws. He knows the brain fog and lack of band-width we are plagued with, in the midst of this plague.

So the words of scripture, are true (because this is basically what that meme is saying):

Until tomorrow, dear friends – if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, and I’ll say it a thousand more – trust in God, He’s got this!

I was sent this by a friend of mine who would describe herself as some who is without faith (I struggle to even write that, because she’s also someone who has always been a hopeful, encouraging, kind and generous friend – and I think all of those things are pieces of God reflected in her!).

I’d also say about my friend that she has been following my blog, and finding comfort here even despite her lack of an articulated faith… And I find that beautiful as well.

I love what Rumi says here, because I think much of what this year is calling out of us, and necessitating in us, is a need to re-frame things. When we were quarantined and mostly staying at home, there were memes going around encouraging people to remember that they are blessed to have a home, rather than thinking that they are “stuck at home.”

Reframing is hard. It takes practice. So today I want to encourage you to practice reframing things. When a negative thought is persistently arising in your mind, stop for a moment. Ask yourself how you might change perspective on that thought to make it something with a positive aspect.

Rumi does this by reframing “I’m so isolated/alone,” into “God has sent everyone away to spend one-on-one time with me.” And that is theologically sound – God loves you enough to want to spend lots of one-on-one time with you, and God is able to do that and not abandon the other 4 Billion souls on the planet!

So what do you need to reframe? Begin with just recognizing the thoughts that need reframing. After you’ve recognized them and sat with them for a bit, then begin to think of possible reframes. The way to do that is to think of a dear friend, or a beloved child, and ask yourself how you would say that thing to them (it’s often easier to be kind to others than to ourselves!).

God loves you and wants you to be kind to yourself as well as others.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, spend some one-on-one time with God, recognize how dearly He loves you, and recognized that being kind to yourself is another way of sharing His love in this world.

(The image of God bending down to listen is one that always brings me comfort. May it bless you to imagine your Heavenly Father bending close to hear your prayers!)

Sunday was…strange and wonderful. It was a joy to see members of my congregation – lots of waving and crinkled-eyes (smiles covered by masks, but you can still tell when people are smiling!). We kept our distance, we sanitized our hands, we had check-in for contact tracing, we were careful, but we were TOGETHER in a way we hadn’t been in six months.

To say emotions ran high and were complex, barely begins to cover it. I was by turns, anxious, stressed, thrilled, blessed, joyful, and struggling with all that has changed. And yet, it was good.

I was surprised, more than once, at the emotions that bubbled to the surface. And probably one of the biggest moments for me, was when I pronounced the benediction. It’s the same words I have used to bless congregations that I have served over the last thirteen years of full-time ministry. The words I learned from my Dad, who has taught me so much about ministry, simply by being a man of integrity and character who always strives to honour Jesus.

This is what I say at the close of worship, and this is what I hadn’t said for six months until this past Sunday:

Some things have changed, there is no doubt about that. But some things are as they were. Some things are too strong, too resilient, to be taken down by the changes that have happened. And speaking words of blessing to people, remains a powerful way of shining light into a dark world.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, hold tight to the things that are too strong to be taken down by the changes surrounding us!

Well, ya know, it IS 2020:

I’m definitely not finding it as difficult to know what day of the week it is, recently, but this still cracked me up:

Well, you know….we’re all thinking a little differently these days:

Loved this cute one:

I mean, this just says it all:

One of my favourite lines from Lord of the Rings:

I’m a grammar police person (but also a terrible proof reader who is plagued by typos and autocorrect fails):

A little wisdom from Nelson Mandella:

In other words, I’m a klutz!:

Loved this simple prayer:

And from Scripture, this blessing for your day:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on laughing and thinking!

Hello and welcome, dear friends! Today marks a New Beginning at Graceview as we gathered for in-person worship for the first time in 6 months. It was good to see familiar faces, to find the rhythm of preaching to real live people again, and to simply be together. God has blessed us.

Here is the sermon from the service. This was a first crack at recording it, and it’s not perfect, but it’s also not so bad. I hope you are blessed by it!

While we are not able to sing, we used this Audrey Assad version of Holy, Holy, Holy as a hymn of response:

Until tomorrow, dear friends, listen closely for the voice of the One who created you and calls you His own!