Our spiritual practices carry us through the times of transition in our lives, when we wander in a metaphorical desert. For migrants, refugees, immigrants, and others, the journey is more than a metaphor. In this Lenten devotional, daily reflections by diverse contributors invite us to reflect on and embody God’s welcome and love for people who are on the move for a variety of reasons. A study guide for in-person or online groups is included.

Julie McGonegal is a writer and editor who delights in language that dwells in the intersection of spirituality and social justice. She has a Ph.D. in English literature from McMaster University and has taught immigrant and Indigenous literature at various Ontario universities. Julie is the author of Imagining Justice: The Politics of Postcolonial Forgiveness and Reconciliation(McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009), and co-editor of Literature for Our Times (Rodopi, 2012). She lives with her partner of 25 years and her three children in Barrie, Ontario, on the traditional territory of Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabeg peoples.

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Kay Cho is an ordained minister who has served in The United Church of Canada for 42 years. She studied at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, San Francisco Theological Seminary in California, and Emmanuel College in Toronto. She has also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Victoria University at the University of Toronto. Kay is currently interested in the international campaign Peace Korea Now and closely watches the peace talk process in the Korean peninsula and around the world. Kay and her husband, NamSoo, enjoy golfing and gardening with compost in their retirement.

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Rob Fennell is Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax. He gets preoccupied with subjects like pilgrimage, biblical interpretation, Christology, the Trinity, C.S. Lewis, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He enjoys hiking, action movies, canoeing, and chopping wood. He is Founding Director of Camino Nova Scotia; chair of the editorial board of Touchstone, a Canadian theological journal; and an ordained minister of The United Church of Canada. Rob’s most recent book is The Rule of Faith and Biblical Interpretation: Reform, Resistance, and Renewal (Cascade, 2018), and he is a co-editor of The Theology of The United Church of Canada (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2019).

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Sheng Ping Guo is a Ph.D. candidate in theological studies at Emmanuel College in Toronto. His dissertation is titled “Third Space: The Bread of Life Christian Church (Ling Liang Tang) as Independent Sinophone Christianities in the Global Landscape (1942–2017).” He was awarded the 2017 Doctoral Fellow of the Forum for Theological Exploration (Atlanta); the 2017 Matteo Ricci Doctoral Fellow of the University of San Francisco; the 2017–18 CCKF-ERCCT Residential Research Fellow of the University of Tübingen, Germany; and the Elizabeth White Bursary from The United Church of Canada Foundation in 2018 and 2019. He has authored many essays and presented his academic findings in North America, Europe, and Asia.

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Peter Haresnape is the National Coordinator of the Student Christian Movement of Canada and one of the pastors serving Toronto United Mennonite Church. He is one of the organizers of the annual ecumenical Cahoots Festival of Faith, Justice, and DIY, where participants share skills, games, questions, meals, and stories to practise being the radical, non-hierarchical, peacemaking community that Jesus has called us to be. Peter lives with husband and housemates in the former Catholic Worker community and happily identifies as an #Ecumenerd, enjoying cups of tea with friends and enemies.

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Jim Hodgson is a journalist with extensive experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the past 35 years, he has written for a variety of church-based media. He worked in the Dominican Republic for two years in the late 1980s and in Mexico for six years in the mid- and late 1990s. From 2000 until August 2020, he worked with The United Church of Canada as Latin America/Caribbean Program Coordinator.

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Won Hur was born in South Korea and came to Toronto with his family when he was 10 years old. He studied economics at the University of Toronto and travelled solo for five months to Southeast Asia upon graduation. For three years, he served as United Church overseas personnel in Japan, which allowed him to study Japanese archery as a spiritual discipline. His writings have appeared in Clergy Journal, Seasons Fusion, and Advent Awakenings. Since 2003, he has served Ebenezer United Church in Markham, Ontario.

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Nanette McKay is a member of Fisher River First Nation in Manitoba. She graduated with her Master of Divinity from St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon. She has worked in pastoral ministry with the United Churches of Circle Marsh Pastoral Charge in Manitoba and with the Saskatoon Inner City Ministry. Nanette has also worked in community economic development as Director of the North End Community Renewal Corporation in Winnipeg. She spent two years as overseas personnel with the United Church, with the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy in the Fiji Islands. She currently works with Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network in Winnipeg as the Director of Human Resources.

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The Rev. Debbie McMillan acknowledges that she was born and raised as a biracial settler on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabeg nations, within the lands protected by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum agreement and the Between the Lakes Treaty. Debbie was taught to call her hometown Hamilton, Ontario. As the child of a single mother and as a racialized woman, Debbie has spent her life dealing with systemic racism and economic injustice. Debbie graduated from Emmanuel College and was ordained in the United Church in 2008. She moved to Barrie, Ontario, to accept her first call. She returned to Hamilton in 2016 to care for her terminally ill mum, who passed away in 2018. Debbie has won awards for her writing. She is proud to serve as the Full-Time Minister for St. Andrew’s United Church in Hamilton. Debbie and her partner John have been together for 16 years. They both enjoy Star Wars, the Marvel Universe, and leisurely hikes.

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Deivit Montealegre has dual Colombian and Argentinian citizenship. He is a Ph.D. candidate studying economics and theology at the Toronto School of Theology and Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto. He holds a master’s degree in theology from the same university, and a diploma in ecumenical studies from the University of Geneva and Bossey Ecumenical Institute. Deivit is the former Programme Executive of Globethics.net South America.

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Japhet Ndhlovu is an ordained United Church minister. He has lead responsibility for engagement with global partners in South Africa and Southeast Asia for The United Church of Canada. He holds a Doctor of Theology in Practical Theology from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Japhet is a passionate ecumenist and social justice worker. He enjoys listening to all genres of music, cooking, taking long walks, and travelling.

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Chris Pullenayegem has worked as The United Church of Canada’s lead staff person for faith formation and congregational mission in the Church in Mission Unit and as a new ministry animator with EDGE. An immigrant of Sri Lankan origin, he has extensive experience in the areas of church renewal, church planting, mission, and faith formation. He also has expertise in policy development, newcomer integration, cross-cultural competency training, and leadership development. With an academic background in law, psychology, and change leadership and his deep roots in theology, Chris helps congregations discover and fulfill their God-given role, especially in rapidly changing environments. Chris is a musician and loves the outdoors and, of course, good rice and curry!

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Keith Reynolds is a husband and father living in Stratford, Ontario. He is a minister at Avondale United Church as well as a spiritual director, writer, and workshop leader. Keith has served in a leadership capacity in various parts of the United Church during his more than 20 years of ministry. For over 28 years, he has maintained a close connection with L’Arche, a community of people with and without intellectual disabilities who live, work, learn, and grow together in friendship and belonging. Keith also enjoys softball, running, tennis, kayaking, cross-country skiing, and hiking.

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Miriam Spies is an ordained minister currently engaged in doctoral studies at Emmanuel College in Toronto. Her work focuses on people with disabilities and leadership within the church, including naming and dismantling the barriers that limit how we experience ministry by marginalized communities. She enjoys travelling and visiting with family in Alberta. Miriam has also loved meeting Christians all over the world through the World Council of Churches. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her new niece.

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Linda Yates is a retired ordained United Church minister and a writer, spouse, mother, and grandmother. She has a doctorate in ministry, with a focus on death awareness. Before her life in ministry, she was an infectious disease research laboratory technologist, so things both theological and scientific fascinate her. In her final years of active ministry, Linda was also a volunteer Medical First Responder for the rural area she served. This experience, and surviving cancer, has taught her to embrace life in all its beauty and terror, but not to hold it too tightly.

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