Authors: Alydia Smith

It’s one in the morning on Sunday, and I am practising the latest youth ministry fad—something to do with pool noodles and Bibles.… It’s like spaghetti, I remember one book saying, just throw things against the wall and see what sticks. I was willing to sacrifice the weeks of preparation...

When in congregational ministry in downtown Toronto, I made a friend from the Nation of Islam who would visit me on rainy days. At the time, I thought he was bold, brazen, and wrong to declare, in my church office, that I served a White church. I argued with him...

I once had a friend who responded to every request and idea from me with something request and idea from me with something along the lines of “Impossible! Can’t be done.” I’d say okay, and then a week later, he would casually show me that he had done the thing...

In the first Advent Unwrapped Newsletter (subscribe for free) of the season, I wrote about how far it feels that we have strayed from the world God imagines* , and how grateful I am for the season of Advent, a time to dream of a better world, a time to...

Happy fall, everyone! A quick October note to let you know about three new improvements to GatheringWorship.ca that we’re excited to share with you! You asked for easier access to the upcoming weekly services, and we are excited to deliver the new colour-coded tiles (based on the liturgical season) to...

My mom loves to recount the story of a little Alydia in a very cute dress with matching hat, gloves, purse, and frilly socks, climbing over the pew to tell the very proper church women singing behind us to “shut up because my mom says so” during the singing of...

On Easter Sunday, the music minister at my church weaved The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” into his postlude, and it felt so right, because wow, it has been a long, cold and lonely winter. And wow, it feels like years since the sun (and The Son) have been here...