The Church Mouse

Social isolation and loneliness are widespread, with around 16% of people worldwide – one in six – experiencing loneliness. While the latest estimates suggest that loneliness is most common among adolescents and younger people, people of all ages experience loneliness – including older people, with around 11.8% experiencing loneliness. A large body of research shows that social isolation and loneliness have a serious impact on physical and mental health, quality of life, and longevity. (Retrieved from:  World Health Organization, Social Determinants of Health. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health/demographic-change-and-healthy-ageing/social-isolation-and-loneliness) For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Matthew … Read more

Give us this day our daily bread.  (Matthew 6:11) Last week I took some time away from “all of this” and spent the day with my BFF Vicky.  Vicky is my ‘soul-sister’.  She has been part of my life since Before Kids . We worked for years on the same team together; she was present at both of my kids’ births (one that involved a looooonnnnnggg time standing over me and the loss of a pair of shoes because I threw up on them) and has been a God parent and indulgent auntie in my whole family’s life.  Vicky and … Read more

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17: … Read more

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work.. (Exodus 20:8,9) “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.” (Deuteronomy 5:12) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For … Read more

(This week’s blog is written by request from The Rev. Bronwyn Corlett, Rural Ministry Coordinator, Growth Department, Organizational Development and Strategy The United Church of Canada) Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones … Read more

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. (Matthew 10:14) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34,35) integrity noun [U] (HONESTY):the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change (Cambridge English Dictionary) When I was a team member of the at the old Kingston Psychiatric Hospital, way back … Read more

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;     fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)  Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. (James 4:17) God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.  That whosoever believes in Him shall not die, but have eternal life (John 3: 16)   This week has been a tough week to watch unfolding in front of us, eh.  The increased social action in Los Angeles, with the unexpected and kind of horrifying order to have the military go in … Read more

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis … Read more

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1: 17) Trendy: adjective   informal Modern and influenced by the most recent fashions or ideas (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trendy)   When my kids were younger and still at home living in our house like kids live with mountains of laundry, spills, overflowing backpacks and shows strewn from the front door to the back door, we had an older couple without children spend quite a bit of time at our house.  I like having people come visit and I … Read more

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good … Read more