Greetings, “Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for God is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.” - Psalm 147:1 This week, we have great news at Briarwood! This Saturday is so exciting! The Lakeshore Light Opera is back to entertain us with another evening of Celtic Music! What a joy it will be to listen to them sing and to sometimes sing along with these Celtic favourites. During the difficult years of shutdowns, my colleagues and I would t

Greetings, “And Jesus came to them and said, ‘...Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” - Matthew 28:20b On Sunday we read Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. The voice of Satan was a strong temptation, but Jesus filtered it into the background and reframed the message, remembering his belovedness in God’s eyes. We are constantly bombarded with so many messages these days. Through it all, we, too, can remember that we are beloved in God’s eyes and that J

Greetings! “Just when [Joseph] had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” - Matthew 1:20 “Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, [the Magi] left for their own country by another road.” - Matthew 2:12 Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech urges us to choose a better way as a society. Platitudes about racism are not good enough. Real change of s

Greetings! “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaim God’s handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1 On Sunday, as we contemplated the Magi following the Star of Bethlehem, I talked about the James Webb telescope images. I want to share with you a link to a Zoom Room event hosted by Columbia Theological Seminary on August 3, 2022 called: James Webb Telescope Images—What Are We Seeing? They invited four professors to talk about these images: an astronomer, a theolo

Greetings! “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.” - Psalm 107: 8, 15, 21, 31 2023 is here! As we look forward to the year ahead, Monica Coleman reminds us (in her newsletter) to also look back and appreciate our accomplishments in the year past. I’m one of those people who always wants to do more. It’s not just the societal push for productivity – which is a real thing. I have big dreams and big ideas and I want to learn thin