Sunday May 31, 2026
Greetings!
A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through the news and came across an article that there were about 1,000 new marine life forms discovered in 2025. We might think that we know the world thoroughly, but in areas of deep water, where the pressure from the accumulating amount of water is still beyond our scientific ability to explore safely, there is still much life to discover. Even on land there are new life forms being discovered across the planet – in the rainforests and beyond. At about the same time that this announcement was made, the Artemis II mission had finished its fly-by of the moon and talk of further exploration in space is being worked on. There is still much for us to learn about our solar system and the universe, and even our own planet.
This Sunday we will gather to celebrate Trinity Sunday. We have spent the first half of the Church Year journeying through the Seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and celebrations of Pentecost. Hearing stories, sometimes interconnected, of Creator, Christ and Spirit. This Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost, we bring those pieces of our faith together in a celebration of these three ways in which God is revealed to us.
The primary reading is that of the seven days of Creation (Genesis 1). The first of two distinct creation stories in the Bible (Genesis 2:5 begins the second Creation story). The first Creation story was an attempt by a people of faith to describe the wonder and power of a creator who brought light, life and order to the universe and to the world. In its day it may have been thought of as a scientific understanding of how the world came to be and the animals, the birds, the fish of the sea and humankind – but our knowledge base has grown and we see the world, and indeed the universe in new and exciting ways!
As folks know, I come to my faith through the lens of math and physics. I come to my faith understanding how gravity works to hold the moon in its orbit around the earth as we orbit the sun. I come to my faith celebrating the wonder of science that allows life in many forms to thrive on this rock that circles a small star. I come to my faith realizing that there are far more creatures in our world than we have ever known – more than could have been known by the people who first put stories of Creation into our Scriptures. I come to my faith understanding that creatures evolve over thousands of years based on their surroundings. I come to my faith knowing that I, and indeed humanity, do not have all the answers.
I come to my faith trusting in a God that exists beyond human understanding, though we still try to put God’s presence into human knowledge. I come to my faith praising a God who “has created and is creating” in mysterious and unfolding ways. I come to faith listening to the voice of wisdom and compassion that Jesus shared with his disciples and with the crowds. I come to faith feeling the wind of the Spirit nudging me to share God’s love in the world.
Faith is not a static story where you can find the right answer (it pains me to write that as a math person), but faith is within each of us, evolving through the multitude of our individual life experiences. It can be uncomfortable, it can be unsettling, maybe for a while we feel lost, but through it all, it is my hope that you can find a deeper relationship with God and with all of God’s creation.
This Sunday we meet at our regular service times of 9:45 in Ilderton (with the Sacrament of Baptism) and 11:00 in Melville (regular service). Let us worship and dance to God’s Spirit that flows among and through this marvelous creation and our lives. Link to story from Discover Wildlife re new marine species
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/marine-animals/new-marine-species-discovered
The Rev Steve Longmoore
May 24, 2026
Happy Pentecost!
The Season of Easter comes to an end with the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a Jewish Festival of first harvest and the giving of the Law to Moses. It was a day that was already celebrated by the Jews, who were gathered in Jerusalem when, in our Acts version of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in wind and fire comes upon the disciples who were gathered and blows them out into the world! As we celebrate images of wind and fire, I invite you to wear some fire-coloured clothes – the reds, the oranges, the yellows that bring a different kind of life to our Pentecost worship this week (of course, you can wear your bright and energic clothes any Sunday!).
Wind is an unpredictable force. We have a lot of weather analysis, still not perfect, that helps to forecast when winds will increase – or tornado watches/warnings as we have experienced over the past couple of weeks. I had a Facebook reminder that Thursday was the four-year anniversary of the derecho windstorm that blew through most of southern Ontario. I remember being in our apartment in Sarnia (facing East) when the wind seemingly picked up without warning blowing its way through the region.
As one who grew up in the Maritimes (and also my year in North Carolina) the more significant wind concern was the risk of a hurricane making landfall – most notably in my life time the experiences of Hurricane Juan and then a winter later “White Juan”, a hurricane strength storm that in the middle of winter brought snow instead of rain. Though we are now better able to prepare ourselves for the storm that comes, wind can still cause damage, though more of the damage in today’s storms is from the water and flooding.
Yet, for the people in the time of Jesus, the weather was not seen as predicable. The wind was chaotic and seemingly gusting out of nowhere – perhaps in advance of a storm or perhaps on its own. Windstorms could blow up dust, bring with it damage to houses and marketplaces, and for those who might have been fishing a life-threatening event. It was not something that could be tamed, controlled or predicted. The wind just blew.
This week when we gather on Pentecost (regular services at 9:45 in Ilderton and 11:00 in Melville), we will hear the story of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples in the sound of a violent wind and in fire. We will imagine the disciples rushing out into Jerusalem and the chaos that ensues! We will celebrate communion together as we celebrate the mystery that is the Holy Spirit, a reminder that the Holy Spirit is another way in which we feel God near to us.
In contrast, we will also hear from John’s Gospel when Jesus appears amidst the fearful and grieving disciples in the Upper Room, on the day that the tomb was found empty, and breathes on the disciples inviting them to receive the Holy Spirit in his resurrected presence.
The Holy Spirit comes to us and our lives in many ways – comfort and encouragement like the scene in John; energized and unbound like Peter and the disciples in Jerusalem.
For me the celebrations of Pentecost take me back to 1993 and my first Maritime Conference Youth Forum event. The event where I really felt in that community that the Holy Spirit was nudging me towards a path of ministry. I wasn’t ready at that time to go where the Holy Spirit was nudging but it was a start… built around the hymn and theme, “I Feel the Winds of God Today”. May the wind of God fill your sails and remind you of who you are and whose you are, in the wonderful world that God loves.
Steve
May 15, 2026
Happy Easter!
It was 23 years ago this month that I was ordained in Maritime Conference by the United Church of Canada. It was a Conference-wide worship service, a celebration of eight new Ordinands being sent out into ministry across the country. There was a part of the service where each of the Ordinands would come up onto the platform and representatives from General Council, Conference, Presbytery and congregation would lay hands and pray for each of us by name. It is a powerful (and for a person that doesn’t like attention) an awkward part of the service. A group of people, leaders in the church, praying for you and the ministry that you will provide for the world.
However, many of us have been prayed for by name on our life journey. We were prayed over at the time of our baptism with the sign of the cross claiming us in God’s love. We were prayed for when we chose to be confirmed into the Church, claiming for ourselves the baptismal promises made on our behalf, complete a prayer of encouragement as we go into the world. We were prayed for when we were married, a prayer for the relationship, for growing in love with each other and living in God’s love. We might have been prayed for by name during a time of illness or struggle, by a friend or by a church leader. We may also have been prayed for by name during the remembrances of someone whom we loved dearly. We are often held in prayer more frequently than we imagine, but when we hear the words, they can bring comfort, strength and encouragement.
As we come to worship on the last Sunday of the Easter season we hear another reading from the Gospel of John, a part of Jesus’ farewell prayer. In the other Gospels, Jesus goes out into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray – but the writers don’t offer us Jesus’ language. But John does. In the part of Jesus’ prayer this week, Jesus is praying to God that he might be glorified but is also praying for his disciples – that they might know God’s love, know God’s abiding presence, know eternal life.
I can’t imagine being one of the disciples and suddenly Jesus is praying for me. Yet, as he finishes his teaching he turns to God in prayer. But there is something else about this prayer. Jesus and discipleship are not restricted by time and space. We are disciples, we are followers, we are being called to ministry. But that’s not all. We proclaim that Jesus lives. It is not a stretch to imagine that Jesus continues to pray for us. Pray that we might know that we are loved. Pray that we might know God abides with us. Pray that we might know and share God’s love in the world.
Prayer isn’t a mechanical device that you can pull apart and figure out how it works. Prayer is a trust, a relationship. But prayer can be an obstacle to faith when we feel that our prayers are not answered. But for me, being held in prayer brings comfort and support and reminds me that I am loved – come what may. Prayer opens my heart so that I can feel that God’s abiding presence is near. As Jesus prays for us, may we model his prayer and pray regularly for those close to us and indeed the world that is God’s love.
On this Victoria Day long weekend, we will gather for worship in Ilderton at 945am and then in Melville at 11am. We will gather to worship with music, scripture and prayer and know that God is with us holding us close.
Steve
May 8, 2026
Happy Easter!
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. For many it will be a time of celebration for the mothers and mothering figures that have guided us along the way. There will be phone calls, brunches and stories to be told. Enjoy that time together. Rejoice as family and give thanks!
But for some Mother’s Day is twinged with sadness. Remembering mothers and mothering figures who are no longer with us – whether physically or emotionally. This weekly e-mail serves a variety of purposes, including sharing what I see in the world, in my life, or to remind people that we are not alone. For me, this Mother’s Day is going to be sad – my first Mother’s Day after her death – no phone call, no reaching out, no knowing that she is there – even if more than a thousand miles away.
As we turn to our Scriptures for this week, we have a scene of tenderness. We are back at the tail end of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of John (John 12-17), what is referred to as “The Fairwell Discourse”. After all the signs that Jesus performed, he brings the disciples into an Upper Room to teach them how to serve, how to love each other, to know that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come, that they will never be alone.
In his teaching this week from John 14:15-21 there is a simple line that caught my attention. “I will not leave you orphaned”. Now I know that in the context of Jesus’ teaching, he is speaking of the promise of the Holy Spirit to come and be with them after his death. Yet, as I read this line in the context of Mother’s Day and my grief this week – it is comfort. My Mom taught me how to love others. My Mom encouraged me to love God. And even in death, I know that I carry my mother with me wherever I go. To use the language of Jesus, I have not been left orphaned by her death, her spirit is still with me.
I imagine Jesus trying to teach with tenderness and compassion what is to come. Planting seeds that will bear fruit – if they should feel abandoned or lost. Jesus knows the disciples are not ready for what may be coming. He wants them to know that they will have each other and that they are to lean on each other, to love each other. They will not be orphaned; they will know that God is with them – whatever situation unfolds.
Our service this week will be back in our normal times and locations – 9:45am in Ilderton and 11:00am in Melville. The message and music this week will reflect the tenderness of this conversation between Jesus and the disciples. We will come with joy and celebration, in Melville the Sunday School will share some of their Exodus learnings – and then turn to songs of comfort and tenderness that remind us that as much as Jesus loves the world, we also know that “Jesus Loves Me”. May you feel God’s love,
Steve
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