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Berwick Trinity United Church, 240 Commerical Street, Berwick, NS (2026)

05/24/2026

Reflection-Acts 2:1-12 & 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Over the last little while, there’s been a phrase that has been coming up more and more often in our cultural lexicon when the topic turns to how we relate to one another as human beings in any configuration, and the phrase is this:

“Love Language”

Has anyone here ever heard that phrase before? (Wait for responses) Can you say more about it? (Wait for responses)

I first became acquainted with this phrase and the ideas behind it by way of a book that Ian and I received as a wedding gift twenty (soon to be twenty one) years ago. The book is titled (not surprisingly) “The Five Love Languages”, and was first published in 1992 by Baptist Pastor Gary Chapman. In the book, Chapman identifies five different ways people in a loving relationship can express their connection to each other- speaking words of affirmation, spending quality time together, giving meaningful gifts, performing acts of service, and sharing of physical touch. After identifying these ways of expressing love, Chapman explains how important it is for one person to understand the other person’s primary and secondary love languages, so that in living together, so that together you will be able to interpret what you are trying to express to each other through your words and actions. He also spends much time describing how misinterpretation of these diverse ways of expressing love can lead to much misunderstanding and confusion between those in relationship, concluding that “lasting love requires diverse relational behaviors rather than speaking a single preferred language.”. In other words, respecting and making room for someone’s preferred and primary way of understanding love is more important than ensuring that you are both speaking the same language at all times.
While this book was originally published as a way of helping those who were in committed partnerships to uphold those relationships, the author in later years went on to apply this idea to other kinds of human connection- including parent and child relationships, workplace relationships, family relationships, and friendships. Even though these books and their author are not as referenced as much as they may have been in their earlier days, and even though much scientific research has demoted the author’s ideas about love and relationships to something that is more anecdotal than anything else, the notion of each of us and all of us having a different language to help us to make sense of whatever it is that might seek to connect us, and that so much could be gained by seeking to understand those differences to the point of absolute fluency in them, could still have something to teach us about how to live better with each other in our present culture and world.
This was certainly the case in our reading from Acts, where we hear about what many refer to as the “birthday” of the Christian church-the day when the followers of Christ were empowered to follow in Jesus’ way through the intervention of an unexpected yet long awaited force known as “The Holy Spirit”. Up until this point in the lives of these disciples, the Jesus movement had pretty much remained an “in house” project, staying almost exclusively between those who had been part of Jesus’ original inner circle-almost all of them were from the same part of the world-some even originated from Jesus’ home base of Galilee. As a result of this, there hadn’t been much call or need for these disciples to become fluent in any ways or languages other than the ones that they were familiar with, because they were all already well versed in the culture from which they had first encountered Jesus. The members of this community all knew each other, and were all comfortable sharing the teachings of Jesus amongst themselves even as they began the process of moving on without the leadership who had been at the movement’s centre . They would often get together to share in prayer, an activity that would bring them together in one location as they connected with the Divine and with each other.
But then on that fateful day, everything changed, when an uninvited yet much waited for rush of wind breathed a new kind of life into this cohort of Christian believers-the kind of life that called them to make room for others in what they were intending to be about in Christ’s name. This inspirational incident was both chaotic and transformative, as it empowered the disciples of Jesus to speak the words of Christ in languages that, while foreign to them, could be easily understood and embraced by those who couldn’t help but overhear the commotion that had overtaken this small community. In that mysterious moment, the words spoken by the disciples became a new kind of “love language”, as it inexplicably translated Jesus’ message into something that could be fully understood by those who were listening, regardless of their primary dialect in everyday life, and thereby allowing this message to do its’ intentional work of drawing different people together into one community, revolving around one goal-which was understanding and sharing God’s love through the word and example of Christ with each other, both here and in the communities they would return to once the Pentecost festivities had come to an end for another year.
By the time we get to Paul’s ongoing correspondence with the church in Corinth, much of the confusion and chaos that had surrounded the events of that first Christian Pentecost celebration had died down, and the people of God had immersed themselves in doing what they could to build up and strengthen this new community of faith. And yet, in this corner of the fledgling kin-dom of Christ, a new kind of misunderstanding had cropped up amongst the residents of that community, over which of the many spiritual gifts that existed within the abilities of the people was to be regarded as the most valuable. At the time of Paul’s letter, the spiritual blessing that was held in the highest regard was the ability of a select few to speak in a language that even fewer of their neighbours could understand, leading to the church community becoming secondary to a splinter group that was becoming overly enamoured with the insider status that this particular gift had surrounded them with.
In an effort to shut down this division before it could take on a life of its own, Paul makes a point in his letter of reminding the people of Corinth that there were many diverse ways of being together in this community, and as such there were a great variety of “languages” that this community had proven to be fluent in over the course of their life together, represented by the diverse spiritual gifts that were possessed by the citizens of this church community. Paul provides a laundry list of these other gifts that had been forgotten and ignored by the Corinthians in recent days-the ability to speak words of great wisdom and knowledge, the ability to heal, the ability to have faith and to speak in the name of that faith in a prophetic fashion, and the ability to discern what was right-as a way of telling the congregation that these gifts existed in abundance alongside and in addition to all of the awe that currently revolved around the speaking and interpretation of tongues, so that the people of Corinth would not allow these other “love languages” to be silenced or to fall dormant from lack of recognition of them as having a place within the life of this community. To do so would be a complete reversal -and even a betrayal-of the infusion of the Holy Spirit experienced by that first Christian community on that fateful Pentecost day, which had transformed the language of Christ’s message into something that everyone had full and complete access to, whoever they might be or wherever they might come from in the world. No, in order to fulfill God’s vision through Christ, room would have to be made for the sharing and living out of ALL of these holy gifts, so that the love of God could be expressed fully and completely through them in all of the relationships and connections that would be built between this cohort of the whole people of God. That was the ultimate purpose of all of these gifts of the Spirit, and in order for the community to be as healthy and whole as God intended for it to be, all of these gifts would need to be recognized and lived out as outlets for God’s all encompassing love in the lives of everyone, without exception. Such a vision of wholeness could never be fully achieved by placing one or more of these love languages on a pedestal, especially if said gifts were by their very nature far too limited in scope or accessibility to be of any real use to the common good. Rather, it could only be realized if a community cared enough to become fluent in more than one of these expressions of God’s love through Jesus Christ, and then to use those languages to invite people more fully into community, in a way that they could make sense of.
On this Pentecost Sunday, we are reminded of the tremendous legacy that has been passed down to us as present and future bearers of the Holy Spirit in today’s world. We all have a spiritual gift to share with the world as part of this family of faith, something that enables us to keep the conversation going-the one that first began with so much fanfare during that first Pentecost celebration. We can all speak fluently in one or more of the love languages that have been taught to us by the teachings of our faith and the example of Christ, and there has never been a time in history where those languages have not needed to be spoken, and spoken loud enough to be heard over the racket that teaches us to be suspicious or dismissive of anything or anyone different from us. We all have the ability to say something, do something, be something that moves the Holy Spirit fully into a world that is crying out for the kind of love that has the power to make the world a different, better place. Let us join in with our different ways and different voices, knowing in our hearts that all of these diverse notes, all of these diverse parts, will add something important to the message that the Spirit has to share with everyone and all of creation. May it be so. Amen.

05/22/2026

From our UCC neighbours in Aylesford.

05/17/2026

Reflection-Based on Matthew 28:16-20Acts 1:9-14 and “Look Ahead” by Dave Panting and Rawlins Cross

When I was growing up on our family farm, I had a number of dogs that were part of my life during that time. One of them was a yellow labrador retriever that joined our family when I was in my early teens. His name was Cody, and he was one of the sweetest, most lovable dogs I have ever had the privilege of knowing during my life. Cody has been gone for a long time, and even though it pains me to speak ill of the dead, I must confess that there is one aspect of Cody’s personality that I will never forget. With all of his sweetness, lovability, and loyalty, the one thing that I could never deny about my dear Cody was that in so many ways, that dog was dumber than a bag of sand! I remember this clearly, because in addition to being our family dog, Cody was also one of my projects when I was involved in our local 4H program-which was Dog Obedience. During our weekly sessions, Cody and I were often singled out as an example of what NOT to do, as the other participants and their Mensa worthy canines all sat or stood looking at the two of us with pity and impatience, as we struggled to learn even the simplest of commands as quickly as they had all done a while ago.
When I think back on my time with Cody, though, one incident stands head and shoulders above all others when it comes to my recall of his lack of intelligence. One afternoon, I had to leave school early due to a doctor’s appointment, and since the school day was practically over, I returned home instead of returning to class. Since it was a nice day, I decided to spend it with Cody out in the yard.
As we were sitting together on the lawn, and I was patting Cody and talking to him, we heard the sound of my school bus driving by on the highway, and we watched it pass our house. All of a sudden, Cody jumped up, shook my hand off of his head, and began running out of the yard. Confused, I stood up to follow him, whereby I was able to watch him run up the driveway to wait at the top of the hill. The same place he would wait every day for me to come down from the school bus. The same place that he now expected to greet me coming off the school bus, even though I was not on the school bus that day-I was in fact sitting right next to him, patting him and talking to him.
When I realized that this is what Cody was expecting, I wasted no time in calling out to him from the bottom of the driveway. If I close my eyes, I can still see the look of surprise on that dog’s face, as he tried to puzzle out how he had missed seeing me get off the bus and move past him so quickly. Eventually, he got it, and came down to join me in the yard again, and as far as he was concerned all was right with his world, even as I was laughing under my breath and shaking my head.
I share this story today because it reminds me of today’s story of the Ascension, which comes to us from two of the writers of the Gospel of Jesus. It’s a hard story for us in the 21st century to get our heads around, due to its supernatural elements and the larger than life events that see Jesus being drawn up into the heavens, away from the view of His disciples, after having spent some borrowed time with them after His resurrection. Funnily enough, though, it is these elements that have the power to make this story so appealing to us, as we too have a tendency to hold onto the idea that some magical person might come back into our lives and make everything all right for us and for the world. We’ve clung to this fantastical vision of Jesus and how He left this world, all the while pinning our hopes on the suggested notion that someday, He would come back in just that same incredible fashion to make things right in this world that we are a part of.
But what if by focussing too much on the supernatural aspects of the Ascension story, we’ve turned too far away from what the story is really about, which is much more ordinary and yet much more meaningful because of its ordinariness.Beginning with our reading from Matthew’s Gospel, we find Jesus having a final gathering with His band of followers, handing out final instructions for how they are to carry on a ministry in His name once He has departed from this realm. It is Jesus’ intention that everything He stood for would be part of the future of this world, represented by those who had learned all about it from Him during His time in their presence, and so He is once again imparting this wisdom and its nurture to these ordinary individuals, trusting that they would carry it on in all that they were about.
But even in the midst of that final lesson, we are told by the writers of Matthew that there was some doubt swirling in the minds and hearts of those who had been assembled. Over the centuries it has been assumed that the uncertainty is somehow rooted in the disciples’ inability to fully believe that it is Jesus who is standing in their midst at this moment, and who has been walking alongside of them in the days since the discovery of the empty tomb, but what if the doubt in the disciples’ hearts could be coming from a different source?
After all, the folks who had gathered around Jesus that final time were representing a fractured, still wounded community that was still trying to make sense of their place in the world after all that had happened in the last while. They were no longer a team of twelve, now that Judas had died after betraying Christ to the authorities, and even amongst the eleven who were still seeking to represent Christ and Christ’s way, there was much reason for a sinking sense of morale, due to the heavy memories that all of them carried of how they had abandoned Jesus when things got too risky, for Him and for them. In light of this, perhaps the doubts that the disciples were harbouring in their hearts in those final moments had less to do with their faith in Jesus, and more to do with their faith in themselves and their ability to carry any of this important work forward into the future that Jesus was inviting them to take part in.
Is it any wonder then, that as we turn to our reading from Acts, where the writers of Luke take over the telling of the story, that we see the disciples with their faces turned upward, frozen in place, unable to move in any direction, while longing to follow Jesus wherever He seemed to be headed? As long as Jesus was still visible, things had the power to make sense, and they could function, but now that Jesus was no longer in their line of sight, the disciples felt they had no choice but to follow His last known trajectory with their eyes, trying to keep connected with what He had trusted them to carry on in HIs name-it was all they could think to do in those early moments of departure.
It isn’t until a pair of mysterious strangers appear that reality is reintroduced into the lives of these followers, as these mystical figures inform the followers of Jesus that even though this was the place where they had last seen Christ, this would not, could not be the place where His mission would move forward from. If these disciples were going to live fully in Jesus’ name, according to His way, they would have to look in a different direction than the one they were currently looking. Instead of looking up to Jesus, they would have to look outward into the world that they were a part of, trusting all the while that they would see Jesus there as well, in each other and in those who would join them in this important work. Instead of remaining static in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Christ in what they already knew, they would have to trust that as He had promised them, He would be with them here in this world, in this life, to be found in the vision that Jesus had left in their care upon His departure. This vision would need to be strengthened through community building activities such as prayer, and it would need to make room for others, such as Jesus’ family and members of His former entourage, but this is how it would be carried forward into the future that was waiting for them.
It is this forward motion that is part of our ministry in Christ’s name as well. The mystical, larger than life elements of the Christian story may give us a lot of fuel to work with as we seek to live and work and make a difference as modern day followers of Christ, but these parts of the story are only a small part of what we are called to be about. Where we will find our meaning and our purpose is in the ordinary ways of the ordinary folks who looked away from the skies and the past glories that it held for them, so that they and we could look ahead into whatever would or could come next for all of us. Let us continue to turn our views and our visions in the direction that Christ calls us to move toward, trusting that even in all of our ordinary humanity, Christ is with us and will be with us wherever we see to go next. May it be so. Amen.

05/10/2026

Reflection- Based on Proverbs 31:10-31,2 Timothy 1;1-7 ,John 14:15-21
A few years ago, my husband Ian and I took a summer road trip into the United States, intending to visit Washington D.C. . During our travels, we took an unexpected detour into Lancaster, Pennsylvania,and decided to spend a day seeing some of the areas associated with the Amish who made their homes in some of the communities in that county. One of the places that we visited was a museum that was dedicated entirely to quilts made by women from the nearby Amish communities, and as we made our way through the exhibits, marvelling at the beautiful artistry on display in those quilts, we came across this quote that was posted on the wall. The quote said
“The most lasting legacy an Amish woman leaves behind can be found in the quilts that cover her family while they sleep”.
This quote has stuck with me to this day, but over the years, I have come to see it a bit differently. I still see it as having a deep truth to it, but at the same time it brings to mind something that is also so true about this particular community. More often than not, an Amish quilt is not the work of an individual woman Rather, the quilts are a community project, worked on by women of all ages until the project is complete. The quilt might go to one woman’s home at the end of the day, but before that, it is worked on by any number of women, all of whom add their stitches and expertise to the finished project and its design. It’s easy to imagine that as a group of women gather around a quilt to put it together,that those who had more experience with this form of artistry might use that opportunity to pass their wisdom down to the younger individuals who had come together to be a part of the circle.And, an interesting bit of trivia about Amish quilting practices that was also part of the museum’s display, when a quilt is just about ready to be completed, one of the women will deliberately add an imperfect stitch to the quilt, as a reminder that nothing crafted by human hands can be considered to be absolutely perfect.
As we turn to our first reading today, we find ourselves face to face with the image described by the writer of the book of Proverbs of the “ideal woman”. Right away, it’s a pretty tall order, one that it’s hard to imagine that any ordinary, flesh and blood female could live up to on an ordinary day. If we look at it like that, it’s pretty intimidating-this expectation to be all things to all people in one single life. But what if the writers of Proverbs was not simply describing a single woman, a single wife, a single mother? What if, instead, the writers were describing many different facets of womanhood, in an effort to express how all of these gifts and skills and talents and personalities might work together to build families and the communities that they call home? Imagine if the woman who is upheld for the beautiful clothing that she has made for her family, lived alongside of the woman who got up before dawn to prepare her family’s meals for the day, and that this woman lived alongside of the woman who worked so hard in the vineyards during her waking hours, and that they all lived and worked alongside the woman whose expertise is in non profit, charitable endeavours that make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. Imagine what a legacy these women, working together for a common purpose, might leave for their descendants to learn and benefit from in some way? Perhaps the woman from Proverbs is too much for one woman to live up to, but perhaps we can find parts of ourselves in that one woman and live up to that small but important standard.
In Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, we see the Apostle doing his best to leave his young apprentice with some important food for thought as he prepares for his inevitable demise at the hands of the state. He does this by reminding Timothy about the legacy of faithful example left for him by not one, but two women who played a part in raising him to be the person he was today-his mother Eunice, and his grandmother Lois. Working together in a family unit that had become part of a larger, and still growing family brought together in Christ’s name, these two women had embroidered and stitched within Timothy a strong belief in something greater than himself-a belief that had, if Timothy could be reminded to draw upon it in times of uncertainty-could enable him to withstand whatever challenges life might bring his way as a follower of Christ. We are not told much about the faith lives of either of these women, but whatever faith they had lived out during their lives and passed on to their descendants over the generations had made an impression on extended family such as Paul, so much so that he feels called to remind Timothy of its lasting influence over current events.
It is this same spiritual influence that Jesus is encouraging His followers to embrace in our reading from John’s Gospel today, as they sought to make sense of the life they would one day live as members of community in Christ’s name when the time came for Jesus to depart from them. This spiritual connection ,this love, was already part of who they were as a community, and they would be the bearers of that love in the lives of all they would encounter in this world. Jesus was already a part of them, and this would reveal itself in how these disciples would live with each other and with those who would join them in future times. Even though Jesus would only be a memory by that time, the example and influence He had left for His followers would find a way to take on a life of its own, drawing more and more people into its’ warm embrace as time went on.
On this Christian Family Sunday, let us hold up the ways in which we might all be family to one another, in this place and beyond. By supporting each other in the ways in which we try to be there for each other and love each other in all ways, we make it possible for God’s love to reach its’ fullest potential.Such a love is not something that any of us can carry out alone, but we can each carry a part of it, seeking to share it with those around us in all that we do. There is so much room for love in this world, let’s all do what we can, where we can, however we can, to make sure that it lives through each of us and all of us, together. May it be so. Amen.

05/05/2026

In commemoration of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit Peoples, we have placed a symbolic red dress outside of our church today. Pinned to it is the text of a prayer that was used during our Cafe Church service this past Sunday. Here is the text of that prayer:
A Prayer for Red Dress Day (May 5th)
Creator,
On this Red. Dress Day, a day of remembrance, we lift up our hearts in
solidarity to honor the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls,
and Two-Spirit people. May we see the empty red dresses as sacred symbols of the
loved ones stolen from their families and communities. We ask for comfort and
healing for the families who continue to grieve and wait for answers. Mend the
broken hearts of mothers, fathers, children, and communities torn apart by
violence, systemic racism, and neglect. Strengthen us to be witnesses to the truth,
to call out injustice, and to create a world where all your children can walk in
safety and dignity. Amen

04/26/2026

Reflection- John 10:1-16
This past week, I came across a sentence by way of social media that I have not been able to get out of my mind. And the sentence is this

“ What if Jesus is what God has to say? What if Jesus is what God is trying to tell us?”
It’s an interesting idea, isn’t it-that one of Jesus’ identifying traits could be, that through His life and His example, a message that God is trying to communicate to us about our relationship with God, and just as important, our relationship with each other as people and as a people of God. So much of this idea depends on what we believe that God is trying to get across to us, and sometimes, what we believe God is trying to convey sounds eerily close to what we have already made up our minds to be true about our neighbours and the world that we live in. If we already have a preconceived idea about who someone else is, or who they might be, it stands to reason that we might try to put these ideas in God’s mouth by way of Jesus’ teachings, so that we can confirm that yes, God has the same suspicions and dislikes of “those people” that we do, rather than allowing God’s message shown by Christ’s example and Christ’s own words to challenge or undermine those views that we have become far too comfortable with for our own, or anyone else’s, good.
In our reading from John’s Gospel today, I think it’s helpful to be reminded that in this passage, where Jesus uses agricultural imagery in the instructional parable that He shares with His listeners, that “the listeners” in this case are Jesus’ fellow faith leaders in the community-in this case the Pharisees. This was a group of folks who had been speaking loudly about God to the people of God for a long time, relaying a message that portrayed God as someone who was not interested in things such as compassion or mercy or in including those who had been pushed to the margins of society , but who instead expected everyone to fall in line with God’s impeccable expectations, or else they would face punishment and retribution at the hands of the powerful. This passage, remember, comes immediately on the heels of one that details Jesus’ compassionate healing of a blind person’s sight, after these same leaders had tried to engage the crowd in a debate about whether this person’s individual failings or the mistakes of their parents had led to them having this debilitating condition as part of their life story. This is the kind of harmful theology that was being passed on to the people by these leaders, along with many other ideas that had led to the general public being afraid of God and hesitant to feel secure in God’s presence.
Jesus’ message to the Pharisees and other faith leaders is in itself an effort to counteract the toxic theologies being delivered so shamelessly by these powerful individuals, while at the same time trying to express clearly what God has been trying to say all along. To convey this message, Jesus uses imagery that would have been familiar to those who lived and worked in an agricultural economy-the image of a shepherd who also acts as gatekeeper for a flock of sheep that has been entrusted to their care. More than just the visual image expressed by a shepherd-something that everyone could easily imagine in their minds-Jesus puts a great deal of emphasis on the auditory impact of His imaginary shepherd, stating that the sheep had become attached to the shepherd based on the sound of their voice, allowing it to become something that they could recognize as being something that they could follow and know that they would be kept safe and cared for.
But how would the sheep come to know that a particular shepherd and their voice could be trusted? After all, most if not all shepherds would have a voice that could be used to call the sheep together from where they might be standing on their own, bringing them together into a flock that could be more easily led from place to place. The answer to this, Jesus explains, is that the voice of a true shepherd could be discerned not only by how they said things to the sheep, but also by the content of what they expressed to the sheep. If a shepherd, for example, had a voice that was alluring in tone but was actually being used to say things that were intended to frighten the sheep into a kind of stunned obedience, this would not result in a healthy, life giving flock. If, on the other hand, the voice of the shepherd was offered up to use words of comfort and encouragement, and was accompanied by actions that would let the sheep know that they were safe and cared for, all of these cues together would inform the sheep that yes, this shepherd was the one to follow, because they would be leading them away from danger and toxic things, into something that they could rely upon and believe in to keep them happy, healthy, and whole.
After so colourfully explaining to the Pharisees the difference between a good shepherd and an inferior one, Jesus reveals to these fellow leaders that even though they have been using their voices to lead the people of God, what they have been saying to the people has failed to represent the true nature and intention of God in the lives of those under their care, and that He Himself had come to take back the flock that they had managed so poorly up to this point. As the shepherd that the people of God truly needed, Jesus declares that His voice and the message it has been expressing all throughout HIs ministry is the true one, because it is conveying to the people of God what God, their God, was truly trying to say to them all along. That God was love, God was compassion and mercy, God was big enough to make room for everyone, no matter who they were or what they might have done, that God loved them so much that a shepherd such as Himself, who would stand up for them and help them to heal, had been sent by God to renew and change their lives for the better, by leading them away from those who had used their voices to harm and corrupt, to a place where renewal and healing could happen for them, and all who could come to join them in time.
In our culture today, there are many voices that try to speak for God and God’s vision. Some are presenting something that misrepresents completely what God is all about, and what God wants us to be all about in this world, while using a voice that tries to draw us in with a promise of easy answers and security, while others try to encourage us forward into the kind of world that God has always had in mind for us and the whole of creation with a voice and a message that are in complete synch with each other in both word and action, elocution and example. It is up to us as human beings to use the wisdom and intelligence that we have been blessed with to make up our minds and hearts as to which shepherd is truly speaking to us using God’s true voice. If it doesn’t sound like the God we know and love, the God who loves all of us, we know better than to listen to it or to follow it where it might want to lead us. May we always remain fully attuned to what God is trying to say to us, this day and always. May it be so. Amen

Berwick Trinity United Church

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