Diana Duncan-Fletcher, Author at Dialogue

A Spirit-filled Pentecost

June 9, 2025

Do you ever have days when you wake up thinking positive thoughts but as the day progresses nothing seems to go well? Perhaps people you counted on disappointed you by their actions or words. Too late you realized that their motives were selfish ones, and your own beliefs were inconsequential to them. Or, something that you had accomplished and were proud about, was played down by someone you genuinely admired. To top it off, he or she was disparaging about

Mary did you know?

March 4, 2025

My challenge this Lent is to think about Jesus’s mother and how she coped through this most bewildering time. According to what is known, we believe she was now about 48 years old and a widow. She had other children, but did not have much family support according to what Mark wrote in his Gospel Chapter 3: 21. The family in Nazareth believed Jesus was insane. So Mary’s real “family” included His disciples and the group of women followers who

Oh God, where are you in all this?

October 17, 2024

“Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.” – Mark 6:20 Do you ever have days when nothing goes the way you want it to? Perhaps, before you have your first cup of coffee, something upsets the apple cart and, from that moment onwards, everything goes awry. One Sunday I recently made it to church in time and sat quietly meditating. l had chosen a spot far enough away from anyone with small

The Lord is my Shepherd, I’ll not want

July 11, 2024

“Only God can judge,” and “I am a child of God,” are two phrases that I say to myself often. It helps keep me focused on the importance of letting go of opinions that I really have no right to express (This is apparently one of the things I do from time to time that annoys people. When the priest at the church I attend told me this, I challenged her to give me an example of when that had

Prayer CAN change your life

May 13, 2024

This morning, during the quiet time I try to have each day, a special memory came to me. This is a time when I take a lectionary reading and have a devotional interpretation of it. Then I pray for those who come to mind. I ask God to protect them. I had not thought of Colin for years. It goes back to 1988 when I was a single mom and lived in an apartment in Scarborough with my daughter, Jennie.

For all the saints

April 3, 2024

This past Summer I spent a long weekend in Quebec City. I was there essentially to join with family to celebrate the life of my brother, David Salisbury Keppel-Jones. He died of Parkinson’s Disease on May 12, 2021 during the Pandemic. I found that was a time of peaceful closure. On the following Sunday, some of us went to Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral for their morning service. I entered this beautiful Cathedral church building filled with numerous stained-glass windows. Images

A teddybear and red mug are held in the hands of a small white child. The photo is cropped tightly.

Day by day

September 1, 2023

Two close friends of mine, Lina and Elias, are pastors in an evangelical church. Our families have been blessed to know each other for almost fifty years. Part of their ministry has taken them, and their family, to Uganda and India. There, they worked with the poorest and marginalized as missionaries. They wrote letters throughout this period to my family. We kept them in our thoughts and prayers and encouraged them by sending care packages of supplies not found where

A stock image of a homeless person lying on the ground wearing a red toque. They are next to a sign that says 'Homeless and Hungry'

It takes courage

June 1, 2023

One of my favourite Biblical verses is: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118: 24 KJV. When I am having a difficult day, it is a reminder; when things are going well, it is a thanksgiving; when I need courage, it is all encompassing. All in all, it is a blessing. Every one of us has a hidden list of thoughts and prayers that we keep inside and

A white man with glasses in a collar and robes stands in front of a church wall. The photo is black and white and clearly white old.

Share the light and Be firm in your faith

March 1, 2023

“See the light in others and treat them as if that is all you see.” (Wayne Dyer) The above quote is a great one, but hard to accomplish! We all know people we admire who are full of light which radiates into our world. Their charismatic attitude cannot help but draw us to them. It helps our desire to be like them and pass along their motivation. But in my case, at least, my good intentions are there, but are

A yellow sign in both English and Afrikaans reads: "For use by white persons. These public premises and the amenities thereof have been reserved for the exclusive use of white persons. By order provincial secretary."

Making life count

December 1, 2022

“Come, let us walk in the light of our God!” – Isaiah 2: 5 One of my children, then aged seven, questioned me as to why everyone refused to talk to her about two young men we knew who were in love with each other. “Mom, as Jesus loved everyone without exception, why would it be different for His loving them?” You will agree that this was an issue I never expected to be having with my daughter at her

Christian Love and acceptance

June 1, 2022

Angela Schaffner wrote: “We each have our calling and our place within the body of Christ, and God calls us to be a collective success …. a collective focus joins us more intimately with the purpose of loving God and one another well.” When I read these words it made me realize that each one of us has a role to play in creating a true Christian life. The well-known passage in I Corinthians 13: 1-13, is a guideline, but

A black and white cameo style image of a man in middle age in 1800s clothing.

Abide with me

March 1, 2022

“Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; “In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.” The words above are two lines out of the hymn ‘Abide with Me,’ often sung at funerals and remembrance ceremonies. The hymn asks God to remain with them throughout life and death. It was written by Anglican priest, Henry Francis Lyte, in 1820, and first sung at his funeral in 1847. All the words are meaningful and thought provoking–especially now. Take a few

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