This week’s General Council Executive meeting unanimously decided that the work of the General Council Office will be focused on supporting denominational identity and connection. (Read more about these decisions on the United Church website.)

In the days since our meeting, I’ve been blessed by events and conversations that have reminded me of core strands in our denominational DNA—our identity.

Three eagles caught my attention within moments of arriving on Haida Gwaii last Thursday, signalling the strong spirit of things to come over the next four days. I was able to catch only a few images. Capturing an eagle’s elegant flight proved impossible.

You already know about my admiration for Haitians and their strength of Spirit. You can also imagine how the challenges facing Haitians have been lying heavily on my heart since returning from our visit with partners there.

This afternoon I arrived in Toronto following a five-day visit to our church partners in Haiti. What I witnessed there is beyond anything I could have imagined—unbelievable destruction and suffering on the one hand, and amazing hope and faith-filled action on the other.

This is the first of several reports we will make about our visit. (More in a moment about who travelled with me.) You can see my video message from Haiti on YouTube.

As announced last week, I leave for Haiti tomorrow, along with a few other United Church representatives.

I'm grateful for many notes of encouragement, some of which have made connections between the journey of the Haitian people and the resurrection story of Easter.

The people of Haiti are certainly engaged in "practising resurrection," as a Wendell Berry poem puts it, and it will be humbling, no doubt, to hear and see their stories of courage.

Our little family hadn’t yet finished eating dinner last Saturday when Earth Hour arrived, so we turned off the electric lights. As candlelight softened faces, the conversation hardened. It was difficult and painful to contemplate some of the questions raised by the week’s headlines. Weakening ecological health. Deepening distrust in the church. Tensions between those for whom the church embodies a community of hope and those for whom it represents the weight of oppression.

Mary Ann Hodge, the Chair of the Environment Committee of First-St. Andrew’s United Church of London, Ontario, was kind enough to send along her news release this week describing how they at First-St. Andrew’s have taken up the Moderator’s challenge. In their words, they have

Last week the bread bakers of Wilmot United Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick, reported in. These good folks had just finished preparing 2,297 packages of flour to be sent across our beloved church—and were getting ready to do more! Each of our church’s 13 Conferences was asked to provide locally milled flour.

Today’s newspapers are full of stories about the changing face of Canada, including Statistics Canada’s projections that minorities will be majorities in two Canadian cities by 2031.

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.