We can imagine being on a small fragile boat, in stormy waters,- no match for the elements..

Just so, we can imagine ourselves feeling very small  and  fragile when the storms of life threaten to overwhelm us.

The ship, or boat, has always been a common image for the church.

That’s where we get the word “nave” for the area you sit in- it’s from the Latin for ship.

There are cruise ships and ocean liners- and some churches are like that., or used to be.

This stems from Richard Bott's thread on Creedo amd Gord's post in Should we pray to Jesus or God. I have spent over night thinking about this.

These are personal musings and I speak for only myself.

There is the story told of the lapsed Catholic who hadn't been active in the faith for many years calling for a priest and last Rites when he was dying.

As I rolled into Toronto’s Union Station yesterday, I felt too overwhelmed by stories and reflections to pull them apart for telling quite yet. After 52 discrete events or gatherings in 27 days, they will take some time to sift and sort. Visits throughout Alberta and Northwest Conference were as extraordinary as the others, and different of course. 

Spirit prompted me to reflect on the nature of hope during my final offering of theological reflection at this past weekend’s national justice-making Turn! gathering in Pinawa, Manitoba. 

In a couple of weeks I am to begin a series of presentations named "Stepping Further Out" (Ottawa - Oct 27; Calgary - Oct 30; Vancouver - Nov 6). As a way of summarizing the past I am flirting with these paragraphs. I wonder though whether it is too harsh, not tough enough or just true. I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks.

Three years ago, the situations of The United Church of Canada and General Motors had a lot in common.

Although we made gestures, in the form of motions and policy formation, and talked a lot about innovation we did not really appreciate the depth and speed of a rapidly changing context. We operated with varying degrees of a sense of entitlement, our dealers/paid accountable leaders had grown accustomed to a certain degree of “loyalty” from their customers/parishioners and were fundamentally confused by this new reality.

The essay Heraclitus at the Crematorium would also have fit in the Health and Aging area but I'm more interested in café members thoughts from a faith perspective.

The author concludes his story, a reflection on the death of his father due to Alzheimer's, with this (the quote is from Heraclitus):

I've recently been learning a great deal about world issues in the environmental context. I mean, water shortages and soil erosion and that sort of thing. It's all pretty apocalyptic, to be honest with you. And depressing.

As the stars were gathering in Hollywood on Sunday, another group of stars was gathering at Eastminster United Church to celebrate how churches and other communities of faith are turning deeper and deeper green. It was fun to be there.

Hope-filled conversations about my letter of January 17 continue, and I am deeply grateful for your dozens of blog comments, other blog postings, hundreds of e-mails, and many newspaper articles and letters to the editor. Here’s the opening to an opinion piece (“Let’s bring some hope to our fragile planet”) published just last Saturday, February 20, in the Kamloops Daily News (Kamloops), page A12, written by Dawne Taylor:

With you, I continue to pray and act from a deep sense of relationship with the people of Haiti. It’s also been a week of responding to enthusiastic (mostly) response to my letter, “Where Is the Hope after Copenhagen?” within media interviews, correspondence, and conversation.