About the Author: Rev. Dawn Hutchings

B.A.(Hon.); M.Div. I serve in Team Ministry with Pastor Tom Doherty at Holy Cross Lutheran Church; a small progressive Christian community just north of Toronto in the town of Newmarket. Holy Cross Lutheran Church is a place for seekers of a Christianity that is unconstrained by church dogma, liberated by reason and imagination, and nourished by our passion for peace, justice, and diversity.
  • Can, will, or indeed, should ‘the Church’ Survive?

    By Published On: March 19, 2023

    For far too many selfish reasons, I do hope that the church will survive. But for the sake of LOVE, not only do I hope the church does not survive, I believe that the church should not survive.

  • Rev. Dawn's Retirement: Goodbye Sermon

    By Published On: July 25, 2022

    But as I leave you, I want you to know that you have taught me well, you’ve LOVED off some of my rough edges, and even though I may be worn, I am also excited and hopeful.

  • John 20:19-31

    By Published On: April 28, 2022

    Resurrection is not about the physical resuscitation of a corpse. Resurrection is about the wisdom and the courage to proclaim with our lives that Jesus’ vision of the Reign of LOVE continues to rise in us.

  • By Published On: April 10, 2022

    In the midst of the chaos, which is Ukraine, Father Stephan spoke about life. Five funerals yesterday, a wedding and a baptism this morning. Father Stephan is from Kiev, where he hopes to return soon.

  • By Published On: March 7, 2022

        In the wilderness of these days, I find myself tempted to retreat from the world around me. The pandemic has trained me

  • By Published On: January 2, 2022

    I wonder what the numerous losses our world has experienced in the past two years may have liberated us from. What joys may we discover in this liberation? In the freedom from the way things were? In the discovery of stars to guide us? In the joy we allow ourselves to take in each new birth.

  • Mark 13:1-8

    By Published On: November 14, 2021

    I used to think that the end of the world would come in a blaze of glory. I used to think that when the world ended there would be plenty of warning. I used to think that if you paid enough attention to what was going on around you, you would be able to tell when the world was going to end.

  • Mark 10:35-45

    By Published On: October 31, 2021

    Excuse me if I sound a little too indignant but jockeying for a seat during a global pandemic is more than a little tone deaf, when according to the United Nations, yet another 150 million or so people will be plunged into poverty this year, swelling the ranks of the global poor to over one and a half-billion people, over half of which are children.

  • 1 Cor. 13 and Romans 8:37-39

    By Published On: August 12, 2021

    1st  Corinthians chapter 13. Danna recited it from a brand-spanking new translation of the Bible; you may remember, if you are of a certain age, it was called “Good News for Modern Man:”

  • By Published On: July 18, 2021

    We can no longer deny that the seeds of racism and hatred are growing at a pace which threatens to choke our long-ago dreams of a multicultural paradise.

  • By Published On: May 19, 2021

    While he was dying of cancer, American poet and short story writer Raymond Carver, penned a poem which, although it is but a fragment of a poem, it has the power to move me into the deepest part of my very self. This poem would eventually be titled, “Late Fragment”

  • By Published On: March 17, 2021

    On this St. Patrick's Day it is fitting to receive a blessing from a grand Irishman whose writing reaches into my soul.

  • By Published On: March 5, 2021

    It may seem ludicrous for this “progressive preacher” to find herself tempted to pray for a miracle. But the region in which I live has been under a strict stay-at-home order since Boxing Day. So, right about now I sure could use some sort of miracle to occur which would release us all from this COVID enforced lockdown.

  • By Published On: January 11, 2021

    This past Wednesday was the Feast of Epiphany, the day when Christians celebrate the long journey of the Wise Ones who, according to our foundational myth, arrived at the birthplace of Jesus, who is described in the Scriptures as the embodiment of DIVINE WISDOM.

  • By Published On: December 16, 2020

    What a strange Advent this has been. In the midst of this pandemic, so many of our rituals and customs have been set aside as we struggle to do our part to slow the numbers down and bend that curve. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much of an appetite for John the Baptist’s ranting and raving this Advent Season.

  • By Published On: November 22, 2020

    Traditionally, the last Sunday of the Church year is celebrated as Christ the King or the Reign of Christ Sunday. But we here at Holy Cross, we are a progressive bunch, and we are accustomed to looking beyond images of kings or rulers to imagine the wonders of CHRIST who has cosmic dimensions.

  • By Published On: October 14, 2020

    Our gratitude for the great fullness of our lives is only the beginning of what it means to be alive. It is not enough to simply be grateful for all that we have all that we will receive. Our gratitude for the reality that our cups are filled to overflowing with blessings leads us to thanksgiving.

  • By Published On: October 2, 2020

    I wonder when I stopped looking to the rivers, or to the sky, or the oceans, or the mountains and all the creatures who live upon the Earth so that I might find the answers to my questions. I can’t quite pinpoint the moment when I stopped fishing for answers in Creation and began fishing in libraries.

  • Exodus 3:1-15

    By Published On: September 2, 2020

    It has been said that the shortest distance between humanity and the truth is a story. I believe that it stands to reason that a good story, a really good story has the power to reveal truth about the MYSTERY which we call God. So, let me tell you a good story.

  • By Published On: August 18, 2020

    Looking upon the sea of interpretations of the story about Jesus walking upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee, makes me feel like that young monk who continues to sink each time he tries to find his way across the lake.

  • Matthew 14:13-21

    By Published On: August 13, 2020

    During our lock-down we have found new ways of being the Church, new ways of seeing the DIVINE in one another, new ways of communing with one another.

  • By Published On: July 16, 2020

    To the powers that be, Jesus’ execution was little more than the routine death of a homeless, outcast who spent far too much time creating social unrest. Nothing more than the insignificant death of a troublemaker without influence in the halls of power, who would not or could not moderate his own behavior. An insignificant troublemaker dies, under the rule of law, and yet, the impact continues to reverberate all around the world, nearly 2000 years after it should have been long forgotten.

  • By Published On: June 7, 2020

    How did we get here? All over the world people are marching in the streets proclaiming, “Black lives matter.” Millions have defied the fear of the corona virus, and taken their lives into their hands to venture out into the streets to protest the systemic racism that permeates institutions all over this planet.

  • By Published On: June 2, 2020

    Like many of you I have watched a wept as over and over again, young black men and women have their breath taken from them as they are murdered in the streets, in their yards, on their porches, and in their beds by the very ones who are sworn to protect and serve them.