Salvogesis

  New Year’s Day. This is often a time of resolutions. Did anyone make any resolutions this year? I had one friend who said that they would give up drinking for January – and then they thought about it a while and declared that they would give up drinking on Wednesdays in January.  This year I resolve to keep up my Bible readings (as I have done for many years) and my exercises – mostly stretches. The older I get the more I need to stretch. I was injured during covid and walked with a limp for well over a year and it was through my exercises that God made it so that I could walk without a limp again. It is the same with exercising our spiritual disciplines like prayer and Bible study. They strengthen us so that we do not get injured spiritually.    If any of us are looking for resolutions for a New Year, a New Life, Paul in Chapter 4 of Ephesians has some good suggestions.  He says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the c...

  This has been a busy Christmas season – as are all Christmas seasons at The Salvation Army, We have had a few rookies this year- Dave, our Community Resources Director (food bank and Christmas Hampers) was brand new and so was Adam, our Kettle Coordinator, and others. Karyn, our intake worker, has had some serious health issues. The team did great pitching in, helping each other out. The need was up this year, like it seems to be every year and, of course, we have had a lot of other things to deal with this year as well   The beginning of the Christmas Season seemed a little bit like a Hallmark Christmas movie with all the drama involved: the Temporary Use Permit was a real show. We were led to believe that the area would be re-zoned and that the renewing the TUP was just ‘a matter of marching’, as the expression says.   Of course, we now know that that wasn’t true. Like on a Christmas special, it appeared that there was at least one ‘evil’ city councilor who was workin...

December 2025 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.    While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: Yo...

Among other roles I fill, I am a Christian pastor. We are entering the Christmas season. We know how the first Christmas went… What happened?   There is this couple – Mary and Joseph – they aren’t married. They want to be. Mary anyway is probably a teenager. She’s pregnant- very pregnant – and they have to go pay their taxes or something similar. In order to do this, they need to leave their town and travel to the capital city (or a suburb thereof). It was about the same distance as between here and Cobble Hill or Duncan. They didn’t have a car. They had to walk. It would be at least a two day walk.   They get there and, of course, it is time for Mary to have the baby. The water breaks or contractions start or something. They have to find a place to stay – but they don’t have a hotel room and there is no shelter. There is no hostel. Hospitals as we know them don’t exist and Mary is about to give birth. A business owner lets them use his barn and their baby is born.   Now,...

December 2021 Isaiah 9:6-7a For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,   This was verse that I had to memorize as a small child growing up on the Island here. It was my line is a Church Christmas pageant. The Christmas pageants were always quite exciting and performing in them was always a little nerve-racking. The church was always filled to capacity – even the balconies and the lobbies were full. There were stage lights shining on you. There was the microphone in front of you. With all of this going on it could be very difficult to remember your line. Thankfully, I did. And I still do. This memory verse has stayed with me decades later and there is not an Advent Season that passes without my reflecting on this passage. I am so ...

Almighty God. You are our refuge and strength; we humble ourselves in Your presence, and, remembering the great things you have done for us, we lift up our hearts in adoration and praise. As you have gathered us together this day, we give You thanks for all who served their country in time of trial. In remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, make us better men and women, and give us peace in our time, O Lord.   Today is Remembrance Day, when we remember the many people who left home to serve in the first world war and all the conflicts that followed. Here are some of the stories of those who left their family here in the Alberni Valley:   George Morton Bird wrote this from the front on April 16th, 1917: “I suppose you have read all about the Great Easter Advance... If you should get an opportunity to see any of the moving pictures of it, you might see me amongst the other boys. I am the first man in a party of 12 or 13 advancing in single file… Arthur Lewis, Pryde...