Entries by First United
Schooling and Covid in El Salvador
~Pat McPhee As we watch, with concern, our rising numbers of COVID cases here in B.C., we can’t help but compare with the stats coming out of El Salvador. The tiny, impoverished country of 6.5 million souls is roughly two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island. Last week, B.C. (with a population of about 5 million) […]
A Path to Empathy and Understanding, Part2
~Sharon Wilson ?Two weeks ago Cheryl invited us to look with fresh eyes and an open heart at the dreams and visions of others. This is not as easy as it sounds. It means focussing on another with openness and without judgement. It challenges us to rise above our certainties and allow ourselves to explore […]
Blessed Reunion
A couple of Sundays ago in the lectionary we heard the emotional story of Jacob’s reunion with his brother, Esau. They hadn’t seen each other in years; now they were grown men with families of their own. When they reunite, we are told in Genesis 33 that Esau threw his arms around Jacob and they […]
A Path to Empathy and Understanding
~Sharon Wilson Last Thursday evening I was settled on the couch to watch Joe Biden’s acceptance speech but the most moving part of the evening was the speech given by 13-year-old Brayden Harrington. If you have suffered from a speech impairment you will have watched this with a massively open heart and a deep well […]
A Poem
What a person desires in life is a properly boiled egg. This isn’t as easy as it seems. There must be gas and a stove, the gas requires pipelines, mastodon drills, banks that dispense the lozenge of capital. There must be a pot, the product of mines and furnaces and factories, of dim early mornings […]
Response to Covid-19 in the Okanagan’s homelessness and support sector
~Shirley Piedt, Outreach committee One of the challenges during COVID has been providing housing and programs for people who live outside. It goes without saying that preventing an outbreak of COVID-19 among those living outside is prevention for all of us. You may recall that First United hosted a film called Us and Them over […]
