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Dear Glen Morris United Church, 

Peace be with you! What a blessing and an honour it is to be able to serve you once again as your minister. I am looking forward to many (socially distanced) reunions and building new relationships too. Thank you for the very warm welcome I have received so far. 

During this season of Epiphany we find ourselves navigating the cold and darkness or winter alongside the isolation of yet another lockdown and soaring covid19 numbers. While our sense of exhaustion and frustration may be pushing us to despair, let us take hope in knowing that in any and all circumstances, God still calls to us to be part of building God’s kindom here on earth. Our loving and creative God invites us to live out our faith in so many ways; in reaching out to others and also by reaching inwards. I hope that together we can still find ways to deepen our faith in spite of or because of all the challenges we are currently facing. 

In a world that is always pushing for bigger, better, more - it can be a spiritual practice to rest. Let the wintering plants and animals teach you that we are allowed to take breaks and more slowly: good enough is truly good enough and that simplicity can be nurturing. 

My contact information is the same, please don’t hesitate to reach out:

Michikobownkai@gmail.com

647 967 0746 

Yours in Christ, 

Rev Michiko

 

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WHERE THE MAP BEGINS

A Blessing for Epiphany

.—by Jan Richardson

from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Season

This is notany map you know.

Forget longitude.

Forget latitude.

Do not thinkof distancesor of plottingthe most direct route.

Astrolabe, sextant, compass: these will not help you here.

This is the map that begins with a star.

This is the chart that starts with fire,with blazing,with an ancient light

that has outlasted generations, empires,cultures, wars.

Look starward once, then look away.

Close your eyes

and see how the map

begins to blossom

behind your lids,

how it constellates,

its lines stretching out

from where you stand.

You cannot see it all,

cannot divine the way

it will turn and spiral,

cannot perceive how the road you walk

will lead you finally inside,

through the labyrinth

of your own heart and belly and lungs.

But step out and you will know

what the wise who traveled

this path before you knew:

the treasure in this map

is buried not at journey’s end

but at its beginning.