A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton, Sunday Feb 8, 2026 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray
Writing in Vatican News Tiziana Campisi describes a most unusual Papal event:
“An unusual Sunday Audience took place on 1 February 2026 in the Apostolic Palace, which was reserved for Gentlemen of the Papal Household, Antechamber Officials, and Papal Chairmen [yes, those who would carry the Pope in his ceremonial chair when required], referred to as the ‘sediari.’ Pope Leo XIV took the occasion to express his gratitude and appreciation for their daily serv ice. Their dedication, the Pope acknowledged, accompanies and daily assists his apostolic mission, to the benefit of all those who meet him during state visits, audiences, and other solemn and more relaxed occasions.
“I think that your work,” the Holy Father said, “can be well summarized by three verbs, which safeguard its meaning and value: to prepare, to welcome, and to greet.”
I love those words: Prepare; welcome; and to greet. They describe a particular practice, a protocol, a welcoming presence not only in the palaces of prelates, not only in the fictional world of Downton Abbey, but applicable for any of us in our daily cycle of social relationships.
Our homiletical trip last week to Minneapolis demonstrated the good, the bad, and the ugly characteristics of human relationships. On the plus side, Minneapolis, and Minnesota, have become the hallmarks, the high-water mark of neighbourly relations, practices which resist, individually and collectively, the evil actions of an increasingly visible white supremacist administration which seeks to restore slavery and the firm enforcement of a subservient class. For more, read Stephen Miller.
Prepare . . . Welcome . . . Greet: our neighbours; our co-workers; our life companions; our leaders; our family; our friends; the strangers who appear in our midst. In all our relationships it is possible to brighten the darkness with healing light. Writer Anne Lamott tells a lovely and poignant story:
A great war horse comes upon a sparrow lying in the street on its back, with its legs sticking straight up in the air. The horse bends down, sneering, and asks, “What on earth are you doing?
The sparrow replies, “I’m trying to hold back the darkness.”
The horse laughs contemptuously and says, “Good luck with that. What do you weigh, about an ounce?”
The sparrow says, “One does what one can.”
In the face of darkness and evil, what can one do?
What a great question: What can one do? Well, we do what we can; at the very least we do something; we learn and share with others as we try to live hopefully and lovingly. We identify and announce the truth. Let’s listen again to Anne Lamott:
What else can one do to help hold back the darkness? We can shine a little brighter . . . [L]ighthouses do not run all over the island looking for boats to save. They just stand there, giving off light. Now, in the face of the current streams of evil, some days are just too long, period; and all one can do is to keep the patient comfortable — hot tea, warm baths, gentle walks, bingeing on TV series . . .
Anne’s inspiration is similar to what we hear today from Jesus, the Light of the World:
“[Let] your light [. . .] break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”
Kathie and I will travel in the next few weeks to Vancouver Island so I can research my next book, a history of Aboriginal Neighbours (AN), an amazing group of mostly female leaders in the Diocese of Islands and Inlets (BC) which since 1996 has built bridges between Indigenous communities and settler Anglicans.
Only three years following Primate Michael Peers’ apology to Indigenous Anglicans, long before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, long before Orange Shirt Day, long before we understood the effects of inter-generational trauma on residential school survivors and their descendants, these strong, compassionate, intelligent women — some has left our world; many are still alive — they have now worked themselves out of a job. First Nations now advocate their own positions and rightly so. The AN story, however, needs to be told, documented, and cherished. It is an amazing and compelling story of reconciling leadership.
AN was founded at the request of Anglican Bishop Barry Jenks in 1996; Barry was my bishop for a time who became a close friend. Barry accepted the offer of Victoria-based Mavis Gillie and others to commence this work. Mavis was a woman of considerable ability and fierce determination. An article in the Island Catholic News minces no words:
“She was charming, but courageous. She was forceful but sensitive to the needs of those around her. [She is described] as someone who “never flinched” from “telling truth to power . . . Mavis always pursued fairness and truth. She organized media events and free information packages. She lobbied cabinet ministers and appeared before committees and commissions.
In 2001 Mavis made a submission to the Select Standing Committee regarding the Aboriginal Rights referendum of the Gordon Campbell government. [At this point Mavis’ and my ministry in Summerland intersected — Some in the room today gave me their referendum ballots which we delivered to Grand Chief Stuart Phillip for destruction in protest of the referendum process.) While the referendum passed, government abandoned the futile process weeks later, shortly afterward to change both its tone and approach to the treaty process and to reconciliation itself.
A few years later, in 2010, Mavis helped to recover a Talking Stick that had been given to the Aboriginal Rights Commission by the Gitxsan so that ARC could speak for them. It had gone missing. After it was found, there was a ceremony in which the Stick was gifted to the UVIC law school. Prior to that ceremony Mavis brought the talking stick to me for meetings at my Colwood church as we prepared to host The Blanket Exercise. She was instrumental in connecting me with Indigenous language teachers on the Tsartlip First Nation (on Victoria’s Saanich Peninsula) as part of an Environmental Justice Camp in 2006. With so many, I followed in her path, a commitment I continue today.
In large projects and in small gestures, we can all prepare, welcome, and greet — the new day; the new person; the new possibility; the new challenge; even the piece of history we regret, about ourselves. We can take the love shown us in Jesus, the light of the world. We can let it shine in and through us, everywhere, always.
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Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 
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