Last evening, (Palm-Passion Sunday), the Sanctuary Sounds Ensemble, a 20 member ecumenical choir (of which I am a member, singing bass), sang Fauré’s Requiem at Messiah Lutheran Church. Dr. Joy Berg conducted us, Jane Kristenson was organist, Nansee Hughes-Soprano, and Colden Palo-Baritone were our soloists.  Fauré composed the Requiem in Latin between 1887-1890. One possible factor that may have motivated Fauré to compose this work—although several are sceptical—were the deaths of his parents. The first performance of the Requiem to ..read more

Healing through Prayer: Health Practitioners Tell the Story Authors: Larry Dossey, Herbert Benson, John Polkinghorne, and Others, with a forword by Peter Downie Publisher: Anglican Book Centre, paperback, 167 pages, including Forword Contents In addition to the Forword, this volume contains 5 parts. The part titles are: Part 1: Science and Spirituality; Part 2: Healing Prayer in Practice; Part 3: The Healing Community; Part 4: The Perspective of Other Faiths; and Part 5: A Healing Program at a Local Church. Each part contains a number of chapters, with a wide array of authors. With ..read more

Called to Serve: Reflections and Memories of a Prairie Pastor Author: Darryl Roste Publisher: Marjorie Zelent, paperback, 260 pages, including Acknowledgments, Contents, Prologue, Introduction, 29 Chapters, For Further Reading, Unpublished Articles and Five Selective Books, plus Foreword, and Words from a Colleague Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson Brief Observations  I was grateful to learn that retired colleague, an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Darryl Roste, had recently published this memoir, and was able to purchase a copy from him.&nb ..read more

Concise Encyclopedia of Preaching Editors: William H. Willimon & Richard Lischer Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, hardcover, 518 pages, including Preface, Contributors, and Acknowledgments Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson The Editors  At the time this volume was published, William H. Willimon was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke Divinity School. He was an editor-at-large for The Christian Century and served on the editorial boards of The Christian Ministry, Pulpit Digest, and Leadership. His books hav ..read more

A Brief Christmas Reflection “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” (John 1:5, NRSV) “The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” (John 1:5, The Message) This year, as Christians around the globe prepare to celebrate Christmas, and worship Jesus the Light or Life-Light, tragically there is far too much darkness in the world.  The war in Ukraine continues, and it doesn’t look like peace will prevail in the near future. The country is being destroyed by the Russians, with their cons ..read more

Christ the King Sunday Yr A, 26/11/2023 Ps 95:1-7a  Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson “Worship Christ our King with joyful, thankful hymns of praise” Today is Christ the King Sunday—the last Sunday of our present church year. Our psalm for today is Psalm 95:1-7a, which is a hymn of praise. However, it is also (according to my NRSV Lutheran Study Bible, pp. 849-850) an enthronement psalm, a festival psalm, and a liturgy. It is an enthronement psalm because it celebrates God as a great King. It is a festival psalm, since scholars believe that it was sung during all three of Israel’s major ..read more

25 Pentecost Yr A, 19/11/2023 Ps 90:1-8, 12  Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson “Life is short, live a full, meaningful, wise life, with the time God gives you” Psalm 90 is chosen by some people and pastors to be read at funerals. Indeed, it is an appropriate psalm for funerals, since one of the important messages of Psalm 90 reminds us that life is short, therefore live a full, meaningful, wise life, with the time God gives you. The superscription of Psalm 90 states that it is: “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.” If this psalm does go back to the time of Moses, then it is one of the older ps ..read more

Prophets Of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen And The Apostle Paul Author: Matthew R. Anderson Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Volume 15 in a Series on Advancing Studies in Religion, hardcover, 182 pages, including Acknowledgments, 11 chapters, Notes, Bibliography, and Index Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson The Author  The Rev. Dr. Matthew R. Anderson is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada, and he teaches biblical studies at Concordia University and St Francis Xavier University. His PhD in Religious Studies (New Testament ..read more

24 Pentecost Yr A, 12/11/2023 Ps 70  Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson “Waiting for God’s help” Have you ever been in one or more troubling or dangerous situations in life when you yelled out “HELP!” as loud as you could? Perhaps it was in the water, and you or someone else was in danger of drowning. Or perhaps you felt that someone was threatening you, or you might have been in a war like the Ukrainians, Israelis and Palestinians—and you thought that you might be killed or severely wounded or taken as a hostage. Or perhaps while climbing a mountain you became terrified, and paralyzed, believ ..read more

All Saints Sunday Yr A, 5/11/2023 Ps 34:1-10, 22  Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson “Praise, prayer and God’s provision” Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday. We remember the saints who have gone before us to their eternal reward, as well as the saints among us today—whether they are famous or ordinary folk. Saints here, in this congregation. We are all saints, since the definition of a saint is a forgiven sinner. Speaking of such a sinner- saint, we focus on David and Psalm 34.  Psalm 34 has the following superscription: “Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he dr ..read more