Launched out of a desire to foster a uniquely Canadian reflection on our faith, the New Leaf Writing Collective is a collaborative effort providing space for conversation around issues that planters, starters, and spiritual entrepreneurs are facing in our current landscape.
In the British comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a scene that is ancient and yet so contemporary. The legendary King Arthur appears before a peasant named Dennis to ask for directions…
Here’s an ancient and revolutionary idea I’d like to introduce to you this Advent season: You are the light of the world.
You may read this and say, “Really? What’s so revolutionary about that? Did Jesus not say that?”
Yes, he did…
Welcome to the 2025 New Leaf Advent Reader. We have been offering Advent reflections from the New Leaf community since 2018, and we are glad to bring you reflections again this year. Here at New Leaf, the team is so grateful for the community that contributes …
Every year since my kids were old enough to anticipate Christmas, I have hoped to add practices to our family routines to mark the days of Advent with a touch of the sacred among the commercialism that crowds in at this time of year. So far, I have had little success making space for my idealism, and this year is no exception…
I start decorating my home for Christmas early. It isn’t really out of excitement, more practicality. Thanksgiving is actually my favourite holiday, so over the years, I’ve collected a bunch of decor for the earlier celebration. Orange is my favourite colour, fall is my favourite season and way back when I was a varsity athlete, Thanksgiving was the only weekend in the fall term I had enough days off in a row to go home. Then as a pastor, it was the main holiday I had the most flexibility around my work…
Water is life. We need it to survive. A hot July afternoon has us craving for multiple glasses of the cold stuff. Water is also comfort. Nothing beats a steaming cup of chai on a chilly December morning. But water outside my body, especially deep water, is a different matter altogether. It presents itself as danger…
There is a big difference between a paper cut and a stab wound. Though some might argue that a papercut hurts much more, it heals quickly, and soon you forget all about it. It was just a little cut and, after all, the paper didn’t mean to hurt you. Stab wounds, on the other hand, are rarely accidental…
Welcome to this place outside where you were told the Light lived.
Welcome to a place of fear-filled change, mighty rest, or rebellious hope…
I live in Regina, SK, on Treaty 4 Territory, where it is pretty dark this time of year.
I love it.
I savour it.
When it starts to dissipate, I find myself thinking fondly about when it will return the following year…
