Author Archives: Haliburton United Church
Fighting the Fog
“… for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again …” Proverbs 24:16a The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects have seeped into virtually every aspect of our lives. It’s causing pain through illness, death, fear, overwork, financial hardship, isolation and more. For many of us, it’s also causing a kind of fog to settle in mentally, […]
Minutes for Mission: Jesse, Part 2
After a brain injury and the death of his mother, Jesse found himself homeless and sleeping in a storage unit. Now, thanks to employment training and support programs run by Mission & Service partner Stella’s Circle combined with his hard work, Jesse is a trained greenhouse technician. He leads a new social enterprise that grows […]
Our Job Description
“You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:13a, 14a Having been retired for several years now, I must admit that I haven’t been giving much thought to job descriptions. However, thinking about what God expects of me has prompted me to once again think about what […]
Minutes for Mission: Jesse
The transformation that began on Palm Sunday is at the heart of the Easter story. It’s at the heart of Jesse’s story too. When he was 12 years old, Jesse had a traumatic brain injury. His life instantly changed because his brain didn’t function the way it once did. By the time he was 17, Jesse had been hospitalized 32 times. […]
Not Finished Yet
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely … “ 1 Thessalonians 5:23a Let us meditate for a moment on the scripture found in I Thessalonians 5:23-24. This is a closing prayer Paul penned to the church in Thessaloniki, located along the coastline of the Aegean Sea in northeastern Greece just over 300 […]
Minutes for Mission: Aria
We all know what it’s like to need a fresh start. But some of us have more support systems and opportunities in place to help us get the new beginning we need. Aria was in the third year of getting a law degree when she discovered she was pregnant. Without close family to lean on […]
Does God Take Sides?
“Now they are Your servants and Your people whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.“ Nehemiah 1:10 Let me begin with a Bible quiz. We know that God is Spirit as affirmed in the Gospel of John [4:24] … that is, He does not look like a created human […]
Hope
“… but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31 In thinking about the focus for the devotion, the thoughts kept coming to me about the major challenges of the […]
HUC closes in accordance with provincial shutdown
Haliburton United Church is closing again for Sunday services and other gatherings of more than 10 people. The closure is effective December 26 until January 23 in accordance with the province-wide shutdown announced by the provincial government on December 21. The shutdown is an effort to flatten the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in […]
Haliburton United Church 