Tracy's Blog

“ Almighty God, whose Son fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are but did not sin, give us grace to discipline ourselves in submission to Your Spirit, that as You know our weakness, so we may know Your power to save, through Jesus Christ our Lor d, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.”   This prayer is the Collect (opening prayer) for the first Sunday in Lent from the Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada (page 286). When we prayed this prayer last weekend, the line “so we may know Your power to save” jumped out at me. This is what Lent is about. Knowing God's power to save us from our sin. This has been an encouragement for me this Lent as I've set in place certain disciplines that I believe are in submission to the Spirit and what has been revealed is my weakness. My need of a Saviour. So, if you are finding you are seeing more of the parts of your life and pers...

I attended the Ash Wednesday service at St. Margaret's last week and was deeply touched. The opportunity to confess my sin and receive God's mercy was very beautiful. How needy we are... and how graciously God provides. I wanted to share one of the prayers we prayed as it sets a meaningful tone for Lent: “Lord, for thy tender mercies' sake, lay not our sins to our charge; But forgive that is past, and give us grace to amend our sinful lives; To decline from sin, and incline to virtue; That we may walk with a perfect heart before thee, now and evermore.” Book of Common Prayer p 614 God not only forgives us, but He also gives us the grace to change and improve our lives. And the prayer tells us how to do it: “ To decline from sin, and incline to virtue.”   I love that line. Why? Maybe because it gives me visual images that help me understand what it means to repent. I can imagine moving my body away from sin like a child who doesn't want to eat what is ...

It kind of caught me off guard.  I had just preached at the early serice at St. Clement's and was going to be the guest preacher at the 9:15 am service at St. George's. Mawejje (the priest from St. Clement's Anglican Church ) had instructed me to meet him at my in-laws house in Selkirk so I could leave my car there while we drove to the nearby town of Clandeboye to St. George's Church.  But when I got to Bob and Adeline's, he wasn't there.  I knew he needed to warm his car up since it was colder than -20 degrees but as I waited I began to wonder why it was taking so long.  Then I had a thought that surprised me, "Did Mawejje really say to meet here? Or maybe I misunderstood him." I thought I should phone him but realized I didn't have his cell phone number.  I started to review the conversation we had had only 10 minutes previously.  And that's when a feeling caught me off guard.  I started to feel a slight panic.  What wa...

I hang out with a group of Moms every second Thursday morning. Usually we chat, drink coffee, and eat snacks. Last week, the coordinator, Michelle, gave us a challenge. She encouraged each woman to share one healthy habit that they would like to implement. The idea is that we will hold each other accountable to developing these habits by checking in in two weeks to see if we've established the habit. If we have, we are welcome to add another habit to the list. If not, we don't add anything new until the first is established in our life. With Lent approaching (Ash Wednesday is Feb. 13 th ), I've been thinking about holy habits – activities we do regularly that draw us near to God. When it comes to these spiritual habits (or disciplines), I am leaning towards the approach that our coffee group has: develop one habit at a time. I know that there are many activities that will help us grow in our faith in God - such as prayer, Bible study, Scripture memorization, giving...

Our four-year old son, Timmy, has been having trouble going to Nursery School in the last couple of weeks. It wasn't that he didn't like the program or that he didn't have other children he knew there, it was that he worried I would forget to pick him up. He wasn't sure how I'd remember to pick him up so he couldn't trust that I would. So, we worked on a plan to ensure that Timmy knew I had reminders. First, I asked him to remember every other pre-school time – had Mommy or someone he knew picked him up? Yes. Second, I set my alarm on my cell phone for 15 minutes before I needed to be there. I showed him how it worked and assured him that I would come when it rang. Third, I wrote his name on the palm of my hand and showed it to him. Well, on Monday morning we set out to Nursery School and his anxiety was very high. He was crying alot and saying “I won't go to pre-school” and “Mommy won't pick me up”. So, I addressed these words, we prayed to...

We are still looking at John 2:1-11 this week BUT it isn't at verse 4 as I didn't get anywhere in my attempt to figure it out this week. (Maybe next week?!) What I want to ask you about this text is: Did you notice the servants? I'm so impressed with the servants in this story. Why? Well, let me tell you! But first let's look at exactly what they did: John 2:5-9a “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim . Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so , and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine . As you can see by my bold highlights, I'm impressed with the servants total obedience to Jesus. They filled the water jars “to the brim”...

Our Christmas wreaths and garlands have been put away, the artificial tree has been stuffed into it's box which now has duck tape around it to keep all those green boughs in, and all that's left of Christmas treats is a candy cane or two but guess who is on my mind.... Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Why? This coming Sunday's gospel reading is John 2:1-11 .  It's the story of the wedding at Cana when Jesus turns water into wine, when Jesus did " the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him " (John 2:11) and it starts with Mary. John 2:1-3 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.  Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." The passage starts by saying that Jesus' mother was at the wedding.  This caught my attention because it is the first mention...