The Parish

Jesus may be less concerned about what we do with our money than what our money does to us. 

"When a flower doesn’t bloom you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower."  ~Alexander Den Heijer

Lisa Janz is a professor of Archeology at the University of Toronto who believes in deep time, she is also deeply spiritual, and one of the many voices that make up our rich and diverse community called the Parish.  

Our practice of faith can be a set of activities that touch the surface of our lives but Jesus wants to get at the substance.

In the end what have you gained if you have it all, but it cost you everything?

We may numb ourselves to avoid it but at some level we all know the existential ache of spiritual beings who are trapped in physical bodies.

I cannot fix you, but I can help set you free.

She had been assured that all would be well, and all was not well - so she knew this wasn't the end.

We like to find God in our burning bushes and the parting seas, but God was in the bush before it was lit afire, and can still be seen in its charred remains.
  God was in the water before it was cut in two and remains in its reflection when the waves are reunited.

It can be comforting to see the Lord’s hand in the history pages of our lives. But God wants to be in the current events section too.

Sometimes we wrestle with what happened behind us, believing it's affecting what lies before us.

 If we're obsessed with doing the right things for God, we may miss the good things God has for us.

Christian is the Co Executive Director of One City Peterborough, in this message he discusses the non violent resistance as the beautiful way of Jesus.

The right things brought together in the right way can create something completely unexpected and greater than the sum total of their individual parts as long as they don't include sliced cheese and hotdogs.

The resurrection body of Jesus still has visible wounds. But those wounds are the source of comfort and healing for us.

Sometimes just opening our eyes and getting out of bed is an act of faith that has us participating is the resurrection story God is telling all around us.

It can be hard to see things the same way when we are standing in different places.  It's when we come together that we can see how deep and wide love can be.

When the disciples prepared that Thursday night seder meal, they didn't know it would be their last supper with Jesus. But he knew, and he had some special words for them.