Prayer can be a challenging undertaking. It’s hard to set aside the time, focus our minds, and still our hearts. It’s hard to know how to pray. We can always pray for urgent needs related to health or finances. But apart from those, what should be our regular priorities in prayer – for ourselves and for one another?

Do you ever feel a little hard up? Most of us end up feeling at some time like we could do with a little bit more—a bigger house, a newer car, etc. That feeling is not only confined to material things.

One of the great scientific news stories of our generation is that of the development of the COVID vaccines. One of the closely-watched facts surrounding the vaccines has been their projected effectiveness in warding off infection. Levels of effectiveness vary across vaccine types and range from percentages in the 60’s to 90’s. The message has been essentially this: with every vaccine, results will vary, and not everyone will be spared infection. Expect a mixed response to the vaccine.

Switzerland is a country that has managed to remain remarkably stable – the Swiss Franc is a byword for stability. It follows a formal policy of neutrality, established in 1815, and it has not been in a state of international conflict since that time. Wars can be raging all around, yet Switzerland manages to stand apart. Whatever one makes of the approach, it is hard to argue that it hasn’t served the nation well.

When income tax was first introduced here in Canada in 1917, the new Income Tax Act ran just shy of 4000 words. It was a simple document outlining a simple law. Since then, the rules and regulations have ballooned to just over 1 million words.