Authors: Alydia Smith

“Oops, sorry,” I said to my mom as we lovingly packed up our Christmas tins last year. “We have an extra tin now.” Christmas tins are priceless treasures in our house. We never have enough; between craft sales, friends, families, and neighbours, we always have more cookies than tins. Homemade...

Greetings Gathering Community, “Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our [autumn]”! It is hard to believe that we are already halfway through fall, but here we are preparing for All Saints’! There are a lot of wonderful new things to explore within the Gathering community this...

One of my favourite Christian terms is a metaphor: Jesus the gardener. I am sure it has something to do with the random seedlings in my house. Truthfully, these seedlings rarely make it outside to the garden because they are almost all tropical plants from lush and beautiful Jamaica that...

I have been writing to you from the Worship, Music, and Spirituality Desk for over a decade now, and one of the things I have consistently heard over the years is what a blessing Gathering is. I have translated this compliment to mean anything but blessing (e.g., lifesaver, treasure, practical)...

Here is a story of two songs: a hymn from our existing collection and a folk tune I grew up with. VU 468 “Let us talents and tongues employ” (tune LINSTEAD, Jamaican; words by Fred Kaan, 1975) is a joyous communion hymn that is all about abundance: “Loaves abound!” “Linstead...

“Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them.” —Exodus 15:20–21a I don’t know what the Holy Family brought with them when they were fleeing Herod. I don’t know...

We, the Gathering Worship editorial team, would like to introduce ourselves to the whole Gathering Worship community! Get to know a bit about who’s behind the names that appear frequently on your page and screen—the people who put it all together. Meet Alydia Smith. What Brought Me to Worship Leadership...

Blessed Season of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Gathering community, Many of us are starting to plan and prepare for the Advent and Christmas season. Luckily, the ACE issue of Gathering is packed full of great resources that you will want to mark as Favourites,* such as “Welcoming Children into the...

In the past three years, as discussions on mental health and wellness have become more prevalent, pithy sayings like “It’s okay to not be okay” have flooded social media streams. But the way social media has responded to women like Simone Biles, Meghan Markle, and Naomi Osaka, who choose to...