November 8 , 2026

I want to add a second reading this morning, that actually is listed in the lectionary, and it is from the book of Joshua chapter 3. This book is basically a record of the conquest of the promised land. In verse 10 Joshua says, “By this, you will know that the living God is among you, and that God will thoroughly drive out the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites before you.”

It would seem that humanity, even God‘s chosen are bound to be in eternal conflict. This passage pretty much points out that the promised land wasn’t so much given, as it was taken from a number of the local tribes, only some of which were just listed. We as a species are greedy. Greedy for power, land, wealth, and domination. Consistently we draw God into these desires that have no other logical conclusion than the killing, oppression, and subjugation……..

November 1, 2026

The first letter we heard today is Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. And he addresses this letter specifically to people who have lost loved ones to death. And he knows that they are grieving, and he knows that they are afraid of where they have gone and what’s going to happen to them. 

And I just want to say that it’s passages like this that have actually given rise to the ‘Left Behind’ book series and the theology that goes with that. And so I’m glad that I got to talk about scriptures like these to challenge this strange and I believe bad interpretation of these scriptures. This is going to happen because these modern interpretations are taken completely out of context. The modern interpretation has the focus of this passage being the end times. However, I don’t believe at all that this is what Paul is talking about. 

October 25, 2026

The task that each of the partners today have accepted is to share special or significant celebrations or worship services in their church year. These festivals and celebrations reveal our values as well as our theology or how we relate to the divine. The protestant branch of the Christian family, of which the United church is part sought to simplify the faith and in as much as possible, tie our practice to what we find in the Bible. As Martin Luther wrote, “Sola Scriptural” or “only in the Bible” and not just based on the dogma and doctrine of the imperial church.

The church, or more precisely those who sought to create the United Church of Canada, understood two important things. ………………………….

October 18,2026

Well, here we are one week after Thanksgiving. Perhaps some of us are still enjoying leftovers. Perhaps there is pumpkin pie in the refrigerator, or at least the memory of a good meal shared with family and friends. Thanksgiving invites us to pause, to give thanks for abundance in our lives, and to recognize the many blessings we so often take for granted. 

But today, as we observe the World Day of Prayer to End Poverty, I want us to imagine something a little different.

October 11, 2026

Other than having the word, thanks in the scripture reading this morning. The scripture lesson doesn’t appear to have much to do with Thanksgiving. The problem is not the scripture rather Thanksgiving today has moved away from its original intent. We are so focused on the big meal and family (which is nice) but we have lost site of the why of this celebration. And for that, I think Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is important.

This letter, starting with the first 10 verses we heard today is a powerful example of a God who is active in the lives of those in the Church of Thessalonia and of Paul, Timothy and Salvinus.

October 4, 2026

We are on the edge of making a momentous choice. One full of hope. But one which requires saying goodbye to who we have been and all the attachments and all the yearly rituals that give us a sense of who we are as a community of Jesus followers in our area. More than faith, it is all these rituals and traditions that tell us who we are and what binds us together. How in the name of heaven are we expected to say goodbye to all that?

The Apostle Paul faced the same issue. The same incredibly hard choice. The law and not just a 10 Commandments, but the whole of the Mosaic laws had given his life structure, purpose, and ritual.

September 20, 2026

There are times when the word peace can feel almost naive. We say, “Peace be with you.” We sing about peace. We pray for peace. And yet we live in a world where peace can seem impossibly far away.

We look toward the ongoing suffering and conflict in Israel and Palestine, and especially toward the anguish of Palestinian people who have endured displacement, occupation, violence, loss of homes, hunger, fear, and the death of loved ones. We hear the cries of people on all sides who long to live without fear. We encounter images and stories that can leave us angry, heartbroken, confused, and sometimes even helpless. And perhaps the most difficult thing is that there are no simple answers.

Peace does not mean pretending that injustice doesn’t exist. ……………..

September 13, 2026

This is the second Sunday of the Season of Creation, and although the theme this year is, Living Water, we need to spend time talking about our relationship with the land. Even if we’re not farmers, we still live on the land, worship on the land, and derive a great deal of our sustenance from the land.

Neither of the scriptures seem to relate directly to soil management, but then how we relate to the land is as much a spiritual issue as it is an environmental issue.This is the second Sunday of the Season of Creation, and although the theme this year is, Living Water, we need to spend time talking about our relationship with the land. Even if we’re not farmers, we still live on the land, worship on the land, and derive a great deal of our sustenance from the land.

Neither of the scriptures seem to relate directly to soil management, but then how we relate to the land is as much a spiritual issue as it is an environmental issue.

September 6, 2026

Last week we heard Psalm 137 which is written from the time of the Babylonian exile. Well the Book of Ezekiel is also set during the Babylonian exile (Ezekiel 1:1), after the fall of Jerusalem at the beginning of the sixth century BCE. Ezekiel, a priest, is among those exiled and is commissioned by God as a prophet to the demoralized people of Israel.

His message initially centres on God's judgment against Israel's idolatry and injustice, interpreting the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple as divine judgment carried out through the Babylonian armies (Ezek 7-10; 21). Yet Ezekiel’s message does not end in judgment: God has not abandoned his people.

August 30, 2026

Mosquitos! Yes, they may be a reliable source of food for birds, bats, dragonflies and frogs in the chain of life, but they are also vectors for deadly disease, especially malaria. 

So why am I considering mosquitoes as one our “inventions of summer?”  

Because life is sometimes hard and we are living in troubling times and mosquitoes, with their annoying ways, can teach us something about praying through hard times. 

Janice MacLean writes’ “We’re talking about the hard times that come to each of us as part of being human with soft bodies in a hard world. We get bad news. We struggle with disappointments or anxiety or fear. We grieve the loss of loved ones or dreams, or the best job ever, or a friend who moves away, physically or emotionally.

August 23, 2026

Today is the fifth Sunday in our summer series called Inventions of Summer. The series was put together by Janice MacLean and distributed by the United the Church of Canada. It supplied some wonderful beginning thoughts, ideas, themes, scripture lessons and many of the prayers shared in worship. Rev. Chris, Rev. Gaylyn and I are indebted to the church for this wonderful gift of creativity. The theme for today is string beans. When I think of string beans, what comes to mind is what some called pole beans but I in reality beans that grow on a low bush or those that climb a trellis are both string beans. String beans have a long history in Canada. Among the Haudenosaunee nations string beans were considered to be one of the three sisters. The three sisters were three crops that were planted together, squash, corn, and beans. The beans were encouraged to grow on the stocks of the corn and the string beans gave nitrogen to the soil. The squash with it’s prickly leaves gave protection and ground cover to shade the earth and lock in the moisture. One helping the other. In such a way that all the plants were helped to stretch toward the light.

August 9, 2026

I’ve never been much of a gardener, so I always get a little nervous speaking from a place of ignorance, when Jesus talks about growing plants.  But it’s not just ignorance, there’s wonder there too, as a child I didn’t understand how God could fold something the size of a watermelon into such a small seed.  Or mustard plants.  Or fig trees.  I know Jesus uses these images because they were ordinary, not requiring huge leaps in his listeners’ imagination, but what I wouldn’t give for Jesus to use what I know, maybe talk about Marvel movies?  Poet Mary Oliver revelled in what she knew, these images more prevalent in these summer months, the creations or inventions of summer.  Loving the seeds and growing things thriving when the sun is high in the sky, she captured the power of this season in her poem The Summer Day

August 2, 2026

It’s always easier to yearn for a time other than the one you find yourself in.

I grew up in the era of playing outside until the streetlights came on.  It was almost magic how the day faded away unnoticed, with gathered gratitude better seen with the sun no longer there.   But it wasn’t night.  Not yet anyway, as dusk’s lingering light allowed for as much joy as we could squeeze out of little moments.  Then before we were called inside, if we were paying attention, light would return as the unnoticed fireflies used their lights to find each other.

July 26, 2026

I’m grateful for Rev. Tim Graham who led our first three shared summer services, and how last week’s message so beautifully dovetails into where I’d like to start this week.  Tim spoke about The Last Lecture, based on the work of Randy Pausch, who while reflecting on his own mortality pondered what it means for us to live a meaningful life.  It’s not unique to Tim’s retirement, but all of us face our ever diminishing resource of time. 

June 21, 2026

Happy Father’s Day to many of you gathered here or online who are fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfather’s, stepdads or mentors of young people who turn to you like a father.

For many this day is one to celebrate, for some it is a painful reminder perhaps of fathers who were not loving and supportive, or in some cases abusive. For some it is a reminder of father’s who are no longer with us. It is a day that can bring mixed emotions so before I begin I just wanted to acknowledge that.

June 14, 2026

I was talking with Dennis Dechart last week and he was telling me stories about how hard it was to get rid of a weed call sow thistle that has appeared in the community garden behind the church and then later that same week Chris Robinson and some folk from the property committee we’re struggling to get the Buckthorn trees out of the backyard here. Man there seems to be a goodly number of plants out there that disrupt what we want to see in our gardens and lawns. And getting rid of them is easier said than done!

June 7,2026

The Genesis reading is beautiful poetry about the relationship between God and all things that are in creation. Yet this beautiful poetry has been abused and used in the many attacks that Christians have made against the 2S LGBTQ A+ community. Christians have pointed out, see right there in the scriptures, God made them, male and female, for the explicit reason to reproduce. There’s no doubt about it that plants and animals need to be reproduce for a species to survive, but that doesn’t mean that every single plant or animal needs to be reproduce. A rose is just as beautiful regardless of whether it’s seeds ever find their way to the ground. ………….

May 31, 2026

Trinity Sunday comes early in the season of Pentecost for a very specific reason. After all Pentecost is a celebration of the work of the Holy Spirit. To help us understand the trinity I need to ask how many people here have heard of Unitarians? Well, it may surprise you, it certainly surprised me, to find out that Unitarians were part of the early Christian church. It was only during the time of the first councils that were debating what would be the official Christian theology that a split emerged. The Unitarians argued for God in the singular as an undivided entity. Universally identifying this God as God, the Father or Creator alone.

May 24, 2026

Hello my name is Katherine Bitzer, and I’m a member of Trinity United Church.  It is my absolute pleasure to be up here today to talk about Gifts into Action: the work of The Working Centre (TWC).  Some of you are very familiar with TWC, some are aware of its presence in our community, and some of you may be hearing about us for the very first time.  What I know is that even after being a part of The Working Centre for over 20 years, I still think to myself often enough, “oh, I didn’t know we did that!”  To start with a broad stroke: TWC is “a volunteer-inspired venture that seeks to give access to tools and opportunities to build community”.  …..