by Janice MacLean | Dec 5, 2019 | Ordinary, Reflections
A Gentle Stirring of Life and Hope I’m haunted by this image. Before you read more about it, take the time to explore the entire image with your eyes: Notice the shapes, the different figures and symbols…. See if there is any part of the image that asks for your...
by Janice MacLean | Nov 23, 2017 | Email Retreats, Lectionary & Scripture, Reflections
I love gates and all they symbolize. This gate was particularly enticing as it was open and beckoning me through. It was a day of blue shadows falling on the path. The blue shadows of Advent beckon us. Advent is the time to hold our endings even as we cradle our...
by Janice MacLean | Nov 7, 2017 | Free Stuff, Ordinary, Reflections
A special gift for you from the Prayer Bench, an Advent calendar. Each day from December 1 to New Year’s Day, it offers you a practice or gesture for creating hope, peace, joy and love in complicated times. Your Advent calendar is available as a free instant...
by Janice MacLean | Dec 15, 2016 | Ordinary, Reflections
The day of the first snow was heavy and wet It settled on trees like a heavy cloak. Young Jasmine woke and quickly dressed in her pink snowsuit And kneeling in the snow, she freed the branches of her “baby apple tree” from the weight of snow. Perhaps it was the...
by Janice MacLean | Nov 29, 2016 | Photos for Eye & Soul, Reflections
It takes a long time for wood to become stone and a slow letting go to become something new. In the press of these Advent days We wait And we listen for invitations that ever so slowly make us a new thing. [Pause and breathe into what is pressing upon you.] Photo...
by Janice MacLean | Nov 29, 2016 | Audio Blog, Reflections
Listen to a gentle and meditative reading of Jesus Family Tree. Now reflect: “And now you are part of that Great Family which has become as many as the as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand in the desert.” With gratitude to Kathy Carr for...
by Janice MacLean | Nov 25, 2016 | Audio Blog, Reflections
If you enjoy burning incense this is a perfect story to do so and let the smell take you deeper into the story. Here is a simple process for Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading) to use with the audio recording. Listen for a word or phrase that speaks to you. It might drop...
by Janice MacLean | Dec 21, 2015 | Lectionary & Scripture, Reflections
“Just when Joseph resolved to do this.” (Matthew 1:20)
Resolved. Firmly determined. Definite decision. Joseph resolved not to subject Mary to public disgrace but dismiss her quietly. They were betrothed, more than engaged; they were espoused to one another. Their...
by Janice MacLean | Dec 17, 2015 | Ordinary, Reflections
John Heidt told me this story: A grandfather and his young grandson visited the ocean. The excited child ran to water’s edge and plunged his tiny bucket into the cold water. Running back to Grandfather, he shouted “I got the ocean. I got the ocean.”...
by Janice MacLean | Dec 10, 2015 | Ordinary, Reflections
After months of picking up beach glass, I found a red piece, a solitary fragment perhaps from a ship’s lantern or a treasured bottle. Joy. I named it Joy. In honour of great delight and pleasure They visit rarely. Each time there is occasion for joy I remember...
