In an article today The Salt Lake Tribute begins  “Community of Christ calls its first female president-prophet 40 years after opening ordination to women.” ….If you haven’t caught up with the news there is much abuzz on social media about the appointment of Stacie Cramm to lead our faith community.

  A New Year to me is like sitting on Tiona beach and looking east.

An entire ocean of possibilities, including sunny days and a few storms with howling winds and giant waves, stretch out across the seemingly endless sea.  If we let ourselves, we could become so afraid of the potential dangers, so safety conscious, we would miss the adventure.

I wonder that this time of year, can bring out The Grinch in all of us sometimes, despite all the good will. 

I am extremely hesitant as I begin to write this, because I know the likelihood of what will follow as a result. It always does. No matter how I preface it, regardless of how it is phrased, inevitably the responses come. “Oh come on, of course you can!” “Don’t be like that!” “We don’t care, just give it a try!” And… it only seems exacerbated at this time of year. 

We have now entered the Christian season of Advent that is celebrated in Christian communities right throughout the world.  The word “advent” comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming”.  It is a season observed in many Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. 

o we need to be reminded of ways to boost our Christmas spirit naturally? What could be seven ways to do this? Hint - The best way to boost our Christmas Spirit is to give it away.

“We do a lot of looking: we look through lenses, telescopes, television tubes….Our looking is perfect everyday– but we see less and less. Never has it been more urgent to speak of seeing…

The Advent season is a good time to reflect on the Biblical roots of taking non-violent direct action for justice. Rachie and Mike of Great Britain’s Christian Climate Action will share the Biblical roots from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. People of faith made courageous decisions in the past. They risked something new. Now it’s our turn to risk something new! 

Have you seen the new mini series “All the Light We Cannot See”? It is based on a book by American author Anthony Doerr. The novel is set during WW11. It focusses on Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl who lives in her uncle's house in Saint-Malo after Paris is invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940, and Werner Pfennig, a clever German boy who is accepted into a German military school because of his skills in radio technology.

If you Google noteworthy news in 2010 there isn’t anything recorded globally that seemed to affect us here in Australia.