If you were thinking of year-end giving to the work that you value, it is not too late to make your gift. We are grateful for your support as we continue to offer, encourage and teach friendship in Christ in 2020 and beyond.

If you have always wanted a sterling silver harmonica then you ought to have purchased one of four Tiffany Advent calendars - available for $112,000 US. The harmonica, diamond encrusted watches and other baubles fill the calendar’s 24 days. More appropriate to my pay grade – Tim Horton’s has an Advent calendar with coffee pods of varying flavours. Great ways to get you in a reflective space for the period before Christmas we call Advent.

It struck me in this post-Thanksgiving period that perhaps the opposite of faith is ingratitude. The story of the 10 lepers healed by Jesus triggered this thought.  Ten yelled for help and on their way to see the authorities their bodies became healthy and clean.

This has been the season of “hospitality” for Touchstone. The creating and receiving of hospitality among friends on retreats, in our home, on walks and golf games, memorial events and meals. Helping to create an atmosphere of hospitality for God among us has also been a key part of a rich recipe of nourishment and encouragement.

 We weren’t in a Walmart. It was the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the last Sunday before Lent, when the minister made this announcement. He emphasised that we were going to say and sing Alleluia in abundance that Sunday because they wouldn’t be in the liturgy again till Easter Sunday morning.  That’s six weeks of no alleluias – approximately the length of time Jesus spent in fasting and prayer in the desert as he began his ministry.