Well tomorrow is the big day. I guess it's too late to ask if you are ready. Do you have all your gifts bought and wrapped, the tree decorated, the baking done? Hey don't give me dirty looks, I'm just asking. More than at any other time of the year people are thinkin about gifts.…
“What does Jesus have to do with Christmas?”
Penn of DennLast week I was talking to a friend of mine who is a music teacher in the elementary school system. He was telling me that in one of his grade five classes they were discussing Christmas songs that weren't really about Christmas. Jingle Bells was mentioned, as was Frosty the Snowman. When pressed…
The Gift of Christmas 2 Preparing the Gift
The quest for the perfect gift. Some of you know what I mean and others, you haven't got a clue. There are some folks who every gift is a challenge, to get not just a gift but to get the right gift. The gift that says just the right thing at just the right price.…
By Chance and by Choice
December 6th was the anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, but I'm sure most of you knew that. And you probably knew that it was the largest man made explosion until the explosion of the atomic bomb. The Halifax explosion has defined our city for the past 90 plus years. And I knew all those things…
The Promise of the Gift
When you think of Christmas what comes to your mind? Before you answer let me tell you a story I heard many years ago. It happened in a grade four Sunday School Class and the teacher was asking the class a question, I don't know what the context was or why she was asking it,…
Oops
It was supposed to be a prank that everybody would talk and laugh about for years. Instead it turned into a tragedy that cost one friend his life and another friend his freedom. All because someone didn't stop to think. On Thanksgiving Day, in Manchester Vermont, a 23 year old man decided to wake his…
John the Baptist, An Almost Familiar Story
It is a familiar story for this time of year. A heavenly messenger, a miraculous birth, a normal childhood a short ministry preaching to people who loved his message and hated his message and then an untimely death at the hands of the authorities he had offended. Most people could fill in the missing details…
Dreamer
You every have weird dreams? I mean really weird dreams? I normally don't remember my dreams when I wake up, but this past Sunday night, three of them were in the forefront of my mind when I awoke. I dreamt that I gave flowers to our General Superintendent and she ate them. I dreamt that…
Taking time to Remember
It was quite the crowd. They were all there from the very young to the very old. From babies in strollers to veterans in wheelchairs and they had all come for the same reason; to remember.I marvel each year at the number of people who show up to the Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph…
God Loves Lost People
If you've been around Cornerstone long enough you have probably heard our mission statement or perhaps you've read it on our website. Late in the last century when Angela and I were dreaming about what this church would look like we were told that an important part of that process was to develop a mission…