Rock the Bible : June 2013

Dear Light Reflections Followers.  

I would like to invite you to an exciting on-line Facebook Bible Study called “Rock the Bible”  It’s 30 days + 30 amazing United Church leaders and over a dozen posts by special guests (Shane Claiborne, Lois Wilson, Dennis Gruending, Donna Sinclair, Fulata Lusungu Moyo, our Moderator and more…) = one of the coolest, free (yep-free) social media based Bible studies ever.
For the whole month of June, join spiritual seekers coast to coast to rock the Bible from various perspectives and have a rockin’ time doing it. Get ready to Rock The Bible!

Click on the link or log on to your Facebook account and type https://www.facebook.com/groups/RocktheBible/ then click the “JOIN” button at the left top of the window.

Blessings,
Norm

The 4th Sunday of Advent, 2012

We are coming to an end of our Advent journey, and an end to our time together at LightReflections.ca.  In our Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent we read about the meeting of Elizabeth and Mary, two women whose lives were changed by the action of God, two women whose lives were ground zero for God’s new direction for the entire world.  Just as the shepherds would do later in the Gospel, Mary went with haste to “see this thing that has happened” which the Lord had told her about. (Luke 2:15)  Richard Choe‘s photo of a painting by aboriginal artist Gail Bressette Isaac reflects the beauty, intimacy and unity that must have been a part of that meeting.  In her reflection, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson pauses to wonder about that very grounded meeting of two women of faith, and draws us into contemplating what might be gestating in our own lives.  Meanwhile, Maureen MacLeod-Oliver takes us on her personal journey to a new life, and asks us to ponder a question based on Mary’s response to her news, “How will my soul now magnify the Lord?”

As this is the last blog for this season, thank you, our readers, for your companionship on this journey.  Thank you, too, to our bloggers for their insightful and illuminating reflections, as well as my co-moderator, Susie Henderson.

I wish everyone all the blessings of the Christmas season.  For those of you on this side of the equator, enjoy the beauty of winter, and for those on the other side, have a great summer!  We will be back in February at Lenten Block Party where we will once again gather voices from our community to reflect on the lectionary readings for Lent.

Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all!
Norm.

Links: Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Advent | Reflection by Natalie Wigg-Stevenson | Reflection by Maureen MacLeod-Oliver

3rd Sunday of Advent, 2012 (Year C)

“What then shall we do?”

The question is one of the pivotal moments in this Sunday’s Gospel text.  It is a question that plagues us whether we are have or have not.  For those of us with meager means it is often a question of survival.  For those who are blessed or lucky to have what we need, it is a question that nags us (and rightfully so) when we are faced with the depths of human need or the groanings of creation.  Richard Choe‘s image for this Sunday brings the stark contrast of the question based on the perspective of two different worlds.  I wonder what happened a few minutes before this image was taken, as the one man approached the other on the street?  What were each of them thinking as the distance between them closed?  And then at the moment when their paths crossed, at the threshold point of their meeting?  Was there any kind of acknowledgement?  Did they know what to do?  Did one or the other reach out? Was there an interaction?  Or was it simply a passing by–a missed opportunity?  In her reflection for this Sunday, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson reminds us that the question is not to be taken lightly, John the Baptist makes it clear that how we answer is important for us as we prepare for the coming One.

Blessings of this season of contemplation,
Norm.

PS:  For those who attended the Ched Myer’s webinar on Luke’s Reveloutionary Christmas Carol, we have added a tab called “Adventus” where you are welcome to share your thoughts and activities related to preparing for the age to come.

Links:  Advent 3C Gospel Reading | Reflection on the reading by Natalie Wigg-Stevenson | Ched Myer Reflection page “Adventus”

2nd Sunday of Advent, 2012

The image from Richard Choe for the Second Sunday of Advent speaks to me of the thin places, those places that are at the threshold between heaven and earth, where heaven touches the earth and John the Baptist’s message that the Realm of God is at hand.  In the Gospel readings, John the Baptist comes out of the fringes (the wilderness) to prepare the way of the Lord, to announce the arrival of the threshold between Heaven and Earth.  Natalie Wigg-Stevenson reflects on what the impact of the threshold between heaven and earth might be for us today, while Jamie Holtom reflects on Zecharaiah’s (John, the Baptist’s father) threshold experience as he moved from imposed silence to speech.

Wishing you the blessings of waiting on the threshold!
Norm.

Advent 2C Texts | Reflection by Natalie Wigg-Stevenson | Reflection by Jamie Holtom. | Bios

1st Sunday of Advent, 2012

Apocalyptic descriptions and the signs of the end of the Age continue through from the end of the last church year, to this new church year.  In the Gospel text, Jesus describes the fall of Jerusalem, a stressed earth and the ongoing birth pangs (growing pains?) of the coming realm of God. The picture painted by Jesus is reflected in the striking image provided by one of our guest contributors, photographer Richard Choe.  Does it describe a crying out against the bleak sky, or a calling forth of a new reality?   Natalie Wigg-Stevenson questions the relationship of these disturbing texts with spirituality, while I (Norm Hennig-Pereira) look at the possibility that Jesus may be referring the disciples to another silent, fringe reality below the stress and chaos.  Please join us in the conversation!

Blessings of Advent,
Norm.

Links to:
Gospel Text for Advent 1 (Year C) ,
Reflection on Advent 1 Text by Natalie Wiggs-Stevenson,
Reflection on Advent 1 Text by Norm Hennig-Pereira.

Welcome to Light Reflections 2012

The light and lights of Advent illumine and warm the cold darkness of Winter in the northern parts of the world, as well as the growing edges of our Spiritual lives as we look forward to Christmas and God’s full revelation in the Christ Child.

Welcome to our 2012 edition of LightReflections.ca, thank you for dropping by.  We hope that you will find inspiration and invite you to comment.

Our companions on the way this season include Natalie Wigg-Stevenson, who teaches Contextual Education and Theology at Emmanuel College, Richard Choe who has taken the photographs related to each of the Gospel lessons, Jamie Holtom, Teresa Burnett-Cole and Maureen MacLeod Oliver through the sharing of their experiences and their relationship to the texts.  The reflections are published on the Monday prior to the relevant Sunday of Advent.  You may navigate to the texts and the reflections by using the tabs in the header or the menu to the right under “Pages”.

As we move through this season, I would like to also draw your attention to KAIROS Canada’s Advent Blog, based on their new Advent resource, Seeking Shelter.  In one of his Christmas sermons, Martin Luther noted that if we really believe that we would treat the Holy Family any differently than those who first encountered them, we can prove it by how we treat the most vulnerable in our own neighbourhoods.  KAIROS’ Advent resource and the blog seek to find ways of welcoming the Holy Family today.

May you be blessed with the illuminating warmth of the Advent Season,
Norm.

Click here to go to our archive of 2011 Advent reflections.

Preparing for Advent 2012

Welcome to LightReflections.ca!

Over the next few weeks we will be preparing the site for a new series of blogs beginning the 26th of November.  As part of that preparation we will be moving the previous blog entries to a new archive folder which will appear as the Advent 2011 tab.  This may mean that some links will not work, we apologize for this and will be working to fix whatever we can.  You will be able to access the 2011 blogs through the Advent 2011 tab at the top of the page or the Pages menu list at the right.

Blessings,
Norm Hennig-Pereira
Chair, Faith Formation, South West Presbytery
United Church of Canada

Advent 2011: 4th Sunday of Advent Reflections

Companion on the Way

Michelangelo, "La Pieta" - Detail

When I find myself in trouble,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking Words of Wisdom,
“Let it Be.”

-”Let it Be” by Paul McCartney

While it was the voice of his own mother that came to Paul McCartney in a dream during a turbulent time with the Beatles that was the inspiration for the song, the message echoes that of another Mary facing her own troubling, though joyous, news with her own words of wisdom, “Let it be with me according to your word.”  The reading for Advent 4 relates a part of the life story of Mary, mother of Jesus, which inspires Doug McLeod to draw on her wisdom to look how we deal with the challenges we face in life, while Jennifer Henry reflects on the roles of those who help others through the act of giving birth.  Bill Kervin reflects on this moment as turning point in the life of Mary and perhaps the world.

We have also introduced one other page to our blog site this week that we hope you will take time to review and respond to, our “About You!” page.  We have had so many visitors, that we wanted to acknowledge your presence and thank you for being a part of our journey.

A special thanks to my local companions on this Journey, my co-moderator and strong right hand, Susie Henderson, our wonderful and inspiring contributors, Bill Kervin, Jennifer Henry, Jennifer Mountain, Ted Grady and Doug McLeod and especially the support of Elaine Eve, who keeps the rest of presbytery up-to-date on this blog, and the rest of the Faith Formation team.  I wish you all the blessings of the coming season and a happy and prosperous new year!

We are also happy to announce that our committee has decided to post a weekly Lenten blog in mid-February of 2012 reflecting on the readings for the Sundays of Lent.  We will keep you posted and look forward to your company there.

Returning to the Gospel lesson for Advent  4, pause to ask yourself, “Who are the Mary’s in my life, the companions from whom I have received wisdom on my journeys?”

Blessings,
Norm Hennig-Pereira

Links: → Advent 4 Readings | Reflections by: → Bill Kervin, → Jennifer Henry, → Doug McLeod

Advent 2011: 3rd Sunday of Advent Reflections

"Walk Together" by Emiliano Spada

We are witnesses.

This week our contributors to LightReflections.ca have gathered around the word “witness” in terms of being a part of something and sharing that experience with others.  In the life of faith we seem to stand on the threshold of two  two important witnesses: there is the witness of and for events that happen in this world, and there is the witness of and for God’s presence in the world, often in spite of how things might seem in the world.

Bill Kervin looks to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico for Angelic witnesses to God’s presence there and the call to end the devastation that violence has brought perhaps the most violent city in the world.   Jennifer Henry reflects on the tragedy of the December 6th massacre at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal and witnesses to the promise that God’s presence in the world will have an effect that is “both personal and political or perhaps better put, both pastoral and prophetic.”  Ordinand Ted Grady asks us a question as we live in the tension between the events of the w0rld and the witness to God’s presence, for whom or what will you bear witness?

Links:  Texts for Advent 3 | Reflection by: → Bill Kervin   → Jennifer Henry   → Ted Grady

Advent Blessings of Light, Hope and Peace.
Norm Hennig-Pereira

Advent 2011: 2nd Sunday of Advent Reflections

Flinders ranges by Ged Unsworth

The Road We Travel

Its a long road to freedom, A winding, steep and high.  But when you walk in love with the wind on your wings and cover the earth with the songs you sing, the miles fly by.

- Sr. Miriam Winters

In this week’s reflections on the texts for the second Sunday of Advent, in light of the Gospel reading Bill Kervin reflects on the way of repentance or metanoia, ordinand Jennifer Mountain looks back on the road that has taken her to this moment, and Jennifer Henry reflects on the Hebrew Testament reading in terms of what it is that keeps us going on the roads we find ourselves travelling.  Come join in the conversation along the way where, for a few moments, our paths meet.

May light and peace flow in your heart, and overflow into your world as you follow your path through this season of Advent.

Norm Hennig-Pereira

Advent 2 Texts | Bill Kervin Reflection | Jennifer Henry Reflection | Jennifer Mountain Reflection