Grace Pritchard Burson

Things I Swore in Seminary I’d Never Do

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In the post-COVID world, there are many things we would never have dreamed of doing in “the Before Times”, but that are necessary in the situation we find ourselves in now.  Here are a few that I’ve encountered as we prepare to reopen the church for worship. Reservations: With restrictions on how many people can safely occupy a single indoor… View Post

Peter walking on the water

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All Saints’, Dorval Proper 19, Year A August 9, 2020 I don’t think it would have happened exactly that way if we hadn’t all been so tired. Jesus was already exhausted with shock and grief when he got there, and the rest of us weren’t in much better shape; and then the crowds showed up, and instead of the quiet… View Post

Wrestling with the Word

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All Saints’, Dorval Proper 18, Year A August 2, 2020   Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. This sentence is often cited… View Post

Incumbent’s report to the parish meeting

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Rosanne Harrison and Margaret Beattie at Rosanne’s farewell party, July 18 The last time I wrote a report to Corporation, it was March 10. Just a scant few days before lockdown started, and yet the schedule and concerns I described in reporting on the prior four weeks seem like they come from another world entirely. What work and life look… View Post

Weeds in expected places, and blessings in unexpected ones

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All Saints’, Dorval Proper 16, Year A July 19, 2020 My chickens, 2014. I have a friend and ministry colleague who lives in Baltimore and is deeply involved in community gardening endeavours. He remarked on Facebook earlier this week: “I was working in the garden this morning with a man who is an ecology journalist. He said that historians have… View Post