Thank you Cheryl, for continuing to offer these guided meditations to help us focus and set our intention. 

Breathing and Smiling
Inspired by Thich Nhat Hann

"Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment!"

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4
This first chapter of Genesis that we just saw unfold before us,  it might just as well have begun with “In the beginning was RELATIONSHIP” … the way it imagines this explosion of interconnected relational LIFE flowing from God … light and darkness, day and night, sea and dry land, plant and seed, fish and birds, wild animals and domestic. 

You can’t miss it … the creation is permeated with God’s own essence of life-in-relationship --relationship that is marked by diversity, and relationship that nurtures and sustains and generates yet more life.

On this day, as we celebrate the 95th anniversary of The United Church of Canada, I have been thinking of those founders back in 1925 and wondering what they would have made of the world that we face today.

So much that we take for granted would seem completely strange to them. On the other hand, so much of the way we are living today would have seemed completely strange to all of us just a few months ago. At the beginning of this year we would have shaken our heads in disbelief if someone what tried to tell us some of the things that we accept as part of our reality during this COVID-19 pandemic time.