By SHELLEY McVEA Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. – Hebrew Scripture “Singing is the most dangerous activity you can do during this pandemic.” We started back to our in-service worship meetings in the middle of September. […]
Category: Open Doors
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: The strength of a community is shown in its ability to help others in times of need
By REV. ANGELA J. CLUNEY The well-known quote: “The church is not a building, the church is a people” has never been more true than during the past months as we have found ourselves living with the COVID-19 pandemic. Churches and our attendees have had to rethink our understanding of what “the church” means to […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Closing doors but opening hearts and minds
By REV. LUCY REID The most counter-intuitive task I’ve ever had to do in almost 40 years as a minister was locking our church doors in mid-March and putting up a sign saying we were closed and services were cancelled indefinitely. The pandemic has forced us to stay away from each other and cease our […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: When we begin again after COVID-19, can we see the world through a different lens?
By WAYNE WALDER I wonder…..has the angel of death in the story of Passover touched us? In the old story her touch is misfortune, yet her touch is perfectly normal. We all face misfortune, illness and death at one time or another. But in this pandemic, COVID-19 has touched the whole world at the same […]
Open Doors: Here’s to you St. Patrick…
By SHELLEY McVEA Pick a saint, any saint. Most of us would be hard pressed to name one beyond the big three – Nicholas (my favourite), Valentine, and Patrick. Veneration and celebrating of saints seems to have gone out of fashion not only for secular people, but for many of us religious types as well. […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Memory and the soundtrack of our lives
By KAREN DALE All it takes is one song to bring back a thousand memories. The songs which make up the soundtrack of our lives often come from our teenage years and our twenties. This is the time when everything is new and meaningful. Later, life becomes a bit of a blur. One of the […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Making a better place for all in 2020
By DAVID McCLEARY Happy New Year! My name is David McCleary and I am the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church. We are a historic convention Baptist church that has been trying our best, by the grace of God, to faithfully serve the Beach community for the last 125 years. We are grateful for the time […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Christmas can be part of our daily lives all year round
By REV. ANGELA J. CLUNEY Over the past few years in our society, there has been an abundance of special days being highlighted in the media such as: Giving Tuesday and the National Day of Kindness. These days focus on campaigns which encourage the generosity and goodwill of people. We are asked to reach out […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: How a community becomes beloved
By Rev. WAYNE WALDER Beloved community is not always beloved. There are people who can push your buttons, step on your toes, ruffle your feathers and generally rain on your parade. The person who coined the phrase, beloved community, at first probably said, “darn that community!”, (or worse). Community, as a spiritual practice, is second level […]
Open Doors Spiritual Matters: Journey provides gifts and teachings if we are willing to notice and receive them
By REV. LUCY REID This summer I had the luxury of a sabbatical: three months of paid leave for rest and refreshment, travel and study. In planning it a year ahead, I knew I wanted to spend the first month walking, so that the all-consuming thoughts about work would have good chance to roll off […]