Archive for June 2012
Iris blooms at the Guild Inn, Scarborough
Sunday’s sermon at Newtonbrook United Church focused on the topic of life as a blessing. It ended with the following quote from Anne Lamott:
“I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We’re here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature.
You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play.
You don’t have time to carry grudges;
you don’t have time to cling to the need to be right[1].”
[1] Quoted in Sojourners, March 6, 2008 from an interview in The Washington Times
On June 18, 2012 the CBC radio program “As It Happens” interviewed the Moderator of the United Church of Canada. Mardi Tindal, the Moderator, was responding to Senator Eaton’s remark that churches should NOT have the right to speak on public policy. To listen to this interview, and Senator Eaton’e comments, go to:
The Greek Theatre at Scarborough’s Guild Inn
On Sunday, June 3, 2012 we celebrated “Environment Sabbath”, according to our United Church of Canada calendar. At Newtonbrook United Church our sermon concluded with the following poem, written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his book, The Brothers Karamazov. The poem invites us to find meaning in the inter-connectedness of all life on earth. It leads us away from an anthropocentric perspective of life on this beautiful planet.
Love all creation,
The whole of it and every grain of sand
Love every leaf
Every ray of God’s light
Love the animals
Love the plants
If you love everything
You will perceive
The divine mystery in things
And once you have perceived it
You will begin to comprehend it ceaselessly
More and more every day
And you will at last come to love the whole world
With an abiding universal love
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov
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