Authors: Susan Lukey

Confronted by tragedy, grief, and loss, we are too often bereft of ritual in White North American culture. What do we do when the fickleness and frailty of life has devastated us? The call came on a Friday afternoon. The caller was crying uncontrollably, but then we understood. An 18-year-old...

I was caught off guard by a question on this year’s annual statistical forms for The United Church of Canada: “How many volunteer hours are contributed by people in your congregation?” This question led to an interesting discussion by our church council. Are we volunteers at church, or do we...

I am so glad that people are eager to find the material from each Gathering issue on the website. The Gathering team is working at refining our schedule so that you have what you need when you need it. We’d like to share with you the process for adding all...

The question came to me, “Why do we still use the Lord’s Prayer when the language is archaic and we don’t believe what it says?” Indeed, the words may not express exactly what we believe. “Our Father who art in heaven…” In my daily prayers, I often change this to...

The church in which I grew up had a beautiful set of stairs leading from the front door to the sanctuary. As a child, I loved skipping up those steps to enter the sanctuary, the steps giving me the feeling of entering a very special and sacred space. I also...

Every hymn, prayer, song, idea, sermon, photo, and personal approach in worship has a cultural origin. Nothing is neutral. For too long, the frequent assumption has been that materials from White, usually British, European, or North American, cultures are the standard or neutral materials. When we list the cultural origin...