March 29, 2026
Holy Week Greetings to Melville United Church!
Play ball! That is a message being proclaimed this week as Major League Baseball teams begin their regular seasons. As folks know (or will figure out) I follow a bunch of sports. One of the sports I grew up watching with my dad a lot was baseball, for a few reasons. First, there were daytime games on the weekend to watch, and my dad and I could talk about players and teams. TV options were limited but you could always count on the Game of the Week. Secondly, there was lots of math involved in the statistics of the players and the teams (numbers, lots of numbers). Thirdly, being in French Immersion from grade 1, we were asked to try to watch some French TV during the week – and well, the Montreal Expos on French CBC fit the bill for part of the school year. Fourth, for those who watched the movie “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner they know the bonding experience that happens between a father and son just playing catch with a baseball and a couple of gloves. I still love to watch baseball and listen to the story-telling that goes with the pace of the game.
As you may have figured out, I grew up an Expos fan. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I suspect that part of the reason I was an Expos fan is because that’s what I could follow on TV (media influencing our opinions). French CBC even had midweek games on to watch! As a young boy, the Blue Jays had just started as an expansion team, we were in the Boston television market so would get quite a few Red Sox games, and my dad was a St. Louis Cardinals fan. Yet it was Expos baseball that I could watch on TV, so I grew up cheering for Steve Rogers, Tim Wallach (I still have their Petro Canada glasses from 1984), Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Gary Carter, Jeff Reardon and on and on… and I still hold fast that the strike shortened 1994 Expos team would have won the World Series. Of course, the Expos relocated to Washington and though I still follow (and celebrated their World Series win), the Jays are now my team of choice.
The beginning of baseball season brings out everyone’s hope for their team. There is hope that the veteran players might have great seasons. There is hope that new young players will reveal their talent at the big league level. There is hope that new players signed will fit into the team. Hope abounds and if you put it all together, maybe, just maybe a shot at the World Series title in the fall!
This Sunday is Palm-Passion Sunday. As we gather for worship in Ilderton at 9:45 and Melville at 11:00 we will hear the contrasting pieces of scripture from Palm celebrations to pain and sorrow of Jesus’ death. I realize that not everyone is able to attend services on Good Friday, so I have always felt that it is important that the crucifixion be shared in Sunday worship – so that those who are back for Easter, hear some of the passion narrative and death — so the resurrection can be celebrated! (I will note here that Ilderton and Melville will have a combined Good Friday service at Melville on April 3rd at 10:30am with music and reflections that focus on those last hours of Jesus’ life).
Palm=Passion Sunday begins with hope. The disciples and others are gathered with Jesus outside the gates of Jerusalem. They have witnessed all the buildup — Jesus has been preaching and teaching and gathering followers for three years. He has taught about the Kingdom of God, he has taught about compassion, he has butted heads with some of the political and religious elites. Like a baseball fan, there is a growing sense of hope that maybe, just maybe, Jesus is the one to lead them to the Promised Land. For some of his followers, maybe, just maybe he is the one to lead a revolution against the Roman occupiers and he will rule over Israel as David had done!
“Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The parade of triumph will not lead to an overthrow of Roman occupation. Rather an arrest, a trial and a parade of sorrow to the cross. And then the disciples, the women, the followers, will wonder in sorrow what went wrong, not expecting what is yet to be revealed.
May we not rush to Easter but live in the roller coaster of emotions that the followers felt… and the grief, fear and sadness of seeing their teacher, their friend, Mary’s son, crucified.
Steve
March 20, 2026
Greetings to Melville United Church,
Last November my mom died. Though I’d been away from Prince Edward Island for the better part of 25 years we connected regularly – with frequent visits when Amanda and I were in the Maritimes and by phone and an annual visit as we drifted to Ontario. Before we moved to Ontario, we had noticed that mom seemed to be struggling with her memory – just not as sharp as she used to be.
As COVID receded, mom was able to get into a specialist and officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. For me, having walked with many families through the diagnosis during my time in ministry, I was not surprised at the diagnosis, though my stepfather took it hard. For the next three years he did his best to adapt his schedule to keep her comfortable at home where she had a routine and a familiar setting.
But last June she had a fall and broke her hip. She had been unsteady and had a walker, but she didn’t always remember it was hers. She was taken to the hospital for surgery knowing they could repair the break, but not sure what mobility mom might be able to regain. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that her mobility wasn’t going to come back, and she was going to need nursing home care.
Amanda and I were down to the visit in the late summer and spent time with her in the hospital and I remember fondly the last visit as we shared some Swiss Chalet. She wasn’t overly communicative and only nibbled on her food…. But I will always remember sliding, piece by piece, my chicken skin (what a sacrifice!) to her plate knowing that is what she loved and watching her pick up each piece savouring the flavour with a contented grin on her face. It was a special moment, yet in my gut I wondered if this would be the last visit that I would have with her…. But if so, it was a great memory.
In mid-November I got a call from my stepfather, mom had dramatically declined and the nursing staff would only be able to keep her comfortable. She was no longer able to swallow. Sadness flowed through me. I debated trying to get to PEI, but with my stepfather and brother having things under control, I decided, without regret, to cherish that last visit with my mom a few months prior.
When I received the phone call the next night, the grief and sadness was there. We knew it was coming, we knew it was coming soon, but it still hits hard. Theologically, as a family of faith, we heard the proclamation of Martha in John’s Gospel “I know you are the resurrection and the life”, but in that phone call the grief was overpowering. Over the next couple of days there were tears and sadness as I arranged to go to PEI for her funeral.
Everything went as you would expect with the funeral arrangements… a time of visitation with many of my mom’s teaching colleagues and a few students she impacted. A few family friends and a service of celebration of her gifts and the promise of a God who walks with us. More time to shed tears and be together.
Leaving the Island I thought I was mostly okay. It was a few days after the funeral, and everyone had a plan. I was returning through the States and reached the border crossing. All he did was ask me what I was doing in the Maritimes in November, and the tears exploded trying to mutter out something coherent about my mother’s funeral. I don’t think he knew what to do with me and sent me on my way. I felt so embarrassed but with his simple question, I couldn’t hold back the tears.
That’s a bit longer a story than I was planning for this week, but I know that each of us have experienced grief. Sometimes it is tears and sadness, sometimes there is anger and shock, sometimes there are questions, encounters or events that bring back those emotions. In John’s description of the raising of Lazarus those emotions flow. Martha is angry that Jesus wasn’t there. Mary and the community filled with tears. Jesus initially cold and distant, weeps in community with others. Lazarus is raised, but as we have encountered in John’s Gospel, the teaching is the story… a community that grieves and still finds its way.
I think what we need to hear from our Scriptures today, is grief touches us in different ways… and that’s ok. The challenge is to feel the promise that Jesus shares, “I am the resurrection AND the life”. A message of promise of life after death, but also the promise of a God who is with us in life, helping us to experience abundant life here and now, share that abundant life with others, and to celebrate those sacred moments and memories.
Let us come to worship this week at Ilderton (9:45) and Melville (11:00) to hear these powerful stories of Scripture as Jesus’ ministry brings him ever closer to the cross. Let us know that it is good to grieve, good to tell our stories, and good to find hope in both lives lived and life in the here and now.
May we know God’s comfort and promise every day.
Steve
March 12, 2026
Greetings to Melville United Church,
Our culture, subtly and sometimes not so subtly, determines what sports we want to watch, what events are important. Sometimes culture feeds us and sometimes it is the other way around. For example, there was no bigger event than the Olympic Gold Medal hockey game Canada vs USA, top NHL players, one game for the gold medal. It was talked about for days and on that Sunday morning it was a game watched by hockey fans, Olympic fans, and even those who aren’t fans… many churches tried to adapt their schedules because it was the event of the Olympics to watch.
Meanwhile, my father and stepmother were in Portugal for a couple of weeks that coincided with the Olympics. They weren’t bombarded with hockey, instead much of the Olympic coverage they found focused on sledding and cross-country skiing events. Portugal obviously is not a hockey powerhouse, so their culture and media focused on other events. The day before they were leaving, they were excited to find Rachel Homan’s bronze medal curling game, only to have the broadcaster drop the game to cover the 4-man bobsleigh in the middle of the fifth end. Disappointed they had to rely on me and my stepsister for updates! The media, seeking to draw ratings, often reflects the culture of the day – whether good or bad.
In the afterglow of the Olympic Games, the Paralympics take the stage in the Olympic host cities adapting the facilities for their events. Though there have been irregularly scheduled Paralympic Games since 1948, it was in Seoul, South Korea, after the 1988 Summer Games that the Olympics and Paralympics Games were tied together. The media was there from across the world for the Summer Olympics, but they quickly disappeared after the flame was extinguished. The Paralympics got lip service and only localized personal interest stories.
Over the last 40 years, the Olympics still get the vast majority of media coverage, but Paralympic coverage continues to grow. More events, more people and countries involved. It is still not a “mainstream” event, but CBC Gem is live-streaming many events, and some are even making broadcast TV. The Paralympics are still broadly overlooked by sports fans with NHL and NBA playoff races and Spring Training baseball, but more people are paying attention. Culture is changing.
This week the season of Lent continues with the encounter between Jesus and the man born blind. The blind man has been exiled by his community. Even his family doesn’t seem to want to have a relationship with him and leave him to beg at the city gate. Jesus comes along, hears his cry and offers him healing, yet even after his healing, there is a stigma attached to his identity. Even though he is healed, he is not welcome, not seen. But Jesus welcomes him into his fold, a child of God, loved by God.
We can claim these attitudes as “it was the past”, but if we are honest with ourselves, we are still struggling to fully embrace people with disabilities into our “cultural norms”. We are improving, but there is still room to challenge the blindness that keeps us from embracing everyone as part of God’s flock, part of God’s family. When we gather on Sunday (9:45 in Ilderton and 11:00 in Melville) we will bring our praises to God who walks with us and shares with us, and the world, amazing grace. May we continue to follow the Christ who shows us the way of love and mercy for everyone.
Steve
March 6, 2026
Greetings to Melville United Church,
In school I excelled at subjects that had concrete answers or a formula to follow. I was good at math, sciences, and history because there was a right answer that could be solved using a formula or from memory. Meanwhile, English was a more challenging topic. Though I was an avid reader, I never seemed to be able to articulate and justify the deeper meaning of stories or poems. I could summarize the plot, but when asked to go deeper into literature or character development, it was often a challenge.
Mathematics made sense. There was a logical progression of steps that would take you from an equation to an answer. When I went to UPEI (University of Prince Edward Island) it was logical that I would continue to study Mathematics and Physics – but I never had a plan for what I would do with my degree. In another life or in slightly different circumstances I suspect that my math/logic interest could have led me into business/finance or perhaps into engineering.
However, my experiences in church and youth group (that I mentioned last week) quietly broadened my horizons. When I was first considering discernment into ministry there was a push for second career folks (or folks with life experience) for admission into theology programs. That conversation (and my mom’s influence as a teacher) led me to Mount Allison University to first complete my Bachelor of Education degree and eventually a year of teaching in North Carolina before coming back to Canada for formal ministry training at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax.
One of the many things that I quickly learned (unhappily) when studying theology, much like poetry and literature, is that there are often more questions and interpretations than answers. Though I have studied various ways to read Scripture or explore my relationship with God, the reality is that we (all of us) are all theologians and we (all of us) interpret God’s presence and our Scriptures through our own experiences. This leads to different questions, different answers, and sometimes uncertainty. And that’s okay!
We hear that uncertainty from John’s Gospel reading this week. It is the story of the Samaritan woman who comes to draw water from the well and engages in a conversation with Jesus about “living water.” She returns to her hometown, not with certainty of who Jesus is, but inviting others to come and see. “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” She hasn’t fully processed her conversation at the well, but maybe, maybe this man is more than he appears? She doesn’t wait to have all the answers before sharing her story, inviting others to come and see and experience Jesus for themselves.
With time change reminder for Sunday morning, we will worship at our regular times of 9:45 in Ilderton and 11:00 in Melville. You are invited to come and see, come and listen, come and know a God who loves us, all of us, with our convictions, our questions, and even our uncertainties!
Steve
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