Kathy Twynam
Halloween,Then and Now
Facebook, that ultimate time-waster, is known for all kinds of crazy stories, memes, political rants, recipes (which often feature a perfectly good chicken breast or pork chop smothered in brown sugar, cheese, or other calorie-laden ingredients), etc. etc. etc. The other day on Facebook I ran across the following statement: “Thanksgiving, Halloween, or Christmas – one of these holidays must go. Which one?” Clickbait that I couldn’t resist. For me, it was a no-brainer – I could definitely do without…
Charles Wesley – more prodigious than Wordsworth!
One of my favourite hymns in our Book of Praise, which unfortunately we very rarely sing, is And Can it Be That I Should Gain, by Charles Wesley. We sing many of Wesley’s hymns, and I have often wondered just who he was, that he seemed to be able to provide a hymn for every occasion. Our Book of Praise contains 19 of them. The Methodist hymn book Hymns and Psalms contains 150. I had a vague idea that he…
Prayer for Home and Family
This is one of my favourite prayers. As I read it, I picture a family, father, mother, several children, and perhaps grandparents, sitting around a table in reverent attitude as one of their members thanks and beseeches God in this perfect prayer of thanksgiving and intercession. It would be equally suitable for our church family as we assemble each Sunday for worship. Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank thee for this place in which we dwell; for the…
Memoirs of a Christian Education
I am the product of a thoroughly Christian education – Catholic elementary schools through Grade 8, and Saint Joseph’s High School, a private, all-girls convent school, through Grade 12. Public funding was not fully extended to Catholic high schools until 1984, under Premier Bill Davis. Whether this should be the case in our modern diverse society is an argument for another day, but the first British North America Act of 1867 guaranteed public education support (up to Grade 8) to…
Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead With help from an essay by Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard, from The Book of Virtues, edited by William J. Bennett. The year was 1862. The Civil War was raging in America. In the battlefields of the country, men were dying, left maimed and bleeding on the field until the battle was…
Happy Canada Day!
Since you-know-who took office you-know-where, Canadian patriotism has been soaring. In honour of Canada Day 2025, and in honour of Simcoe Day, celebrated in Ontario on the first Monday of August every year, let’s find out just who Simcoe was. John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (Ontario) from 1791 to 1796. He founded York, now Toronto, and was instrumental in introducing courts of law, trial by jury,…
Morning Has Broken – Eleanor Farjeon
Kathy Twynam Morning has broken, like the first morning;Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,Praise for them springing fresh from the Word. (Interesting note: I looked up the lyrics on the internet in two different places, and in both cases the last word of the first verse was “world”. Our hymnbook uses “Word”, which I believe is the correct version, but requires some knowledge of Christianity to understand.) At our May Outreach meeting,…
The Witch and the Wardrobe – But No Lion
On May 21, Bob and I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see the Shaw production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series. I went with trepidation, because the Narnia series is very dear to my heart and I was afraid the stage production would ruin it for me, just as the Mirvish production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child managed to ruin Harry Potter. (My opinion only –…
Presbyterianism Through the Eyes of Lucy Maud Montgomery
few months ago, I was tidying up a bookcase in my home that is dedicated to all the beloved and much-read books of my childhood and youth, books that should have long ago been passed down to my nieces or my grandnieces but that I have never been able to part with. One shelf holds the eight novels that make up the Anne of Green Gables series, authored by Prince Edward Island’s most famous Presbyterian, Lucy Maud Montgomery. A ragged,…
And the Two Shall Become One..
The Story of a Successful Amalgamation of Two Amalgamation is not palliative care. In a time when many churches are struggling to stay alive and when options to close or amalgamate often lead to the inevitable demise of the congregation, it is nice to know that it does not have to be that way. Amalgamation can be highly successful and can breathe new life into a church community that thought there was no hope for its survival. In the Year…
If it Doesn’t Give you Joy, Out it Goes!
I look around my house these days, and it’s easy to get discouraged at so much clutter! It’s not a big house, as houses go. It’s a fairly basic three-bedroom bungalow of about 1800 square feet, built in 1955, and it’s pretty dated. In 1994 we moved in, and in 1998 gutted and replaced the original kitchen. In 2002 we did the same to the main floor bathroom. The updated version of both is now outdated. The kitchen is large,…
Money Talks
So far in my life, which has included service not only to our church but to other organizations in which I have served as an executive member, such as the now defunct Home and School Association, my long-ago bowling league, and Let There be Music Choir, I have always managed to steer very clear of anything to do with looking after other people’s money. Taking care of money and making financial decisions just wasn’t happening, no matter in what other…
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