A sermon for Thanksgiving weekend, Oct 11, 2026 — The congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC by the Very Rev. Ken Gray
Howdy folks; it’s great to be back with you, in this pulpit after 77 days away, from preaching and from church. Much has happened for me and for you I am sure during that same time.
With 12,000 others Kathie, Juno and I were evacuated from Summerland, initially gathering at the home of Dave and Trish House for one night, later moving to Nelson for a couple of weeks to join our then, pregnant daughter. Some days, there was as much smoke in Nelson as here in Penticton given the ferocity of the Spokane fire. Not fun. We were however safe, fortunate and grateful.
We returned to Summerland for a few days until Hannah brought forth our first grandchild, Jack, born on September 7 of this year. We had early-days ringside seats cuddling the little fella and watching his parents deal with a cavalcade of new responsibilities. All was well, if a little busy, until Kathie tripped on the stairs and broke her Humerus (not funny) bone. Life went sideways and remains disordered though she is now considerably more comfortable.
Beyond our own lives, and here in BC, we have multiple elections before us. While there is interest in both, in Summerland the civic contest is demanding the greatest attention. Turning southward, all eyes are on the US midterm elections as the Trump administration continues to destroy the economy, the environment, the courts, the rule of law, and the practice of human decency, kindness, and interpersonal respect.
Still facing south, we all recoil with horror at botched executions — actually executions in general — in Tennessee. Similarly, we continue to learn more about the sinister players who contributed to the Tumbler Ridge shooting here in BC. Thinking globally, there is also the growing threat posed by Artificial Intelligence, a seemingly untamable beast unbridled by those who possess the technology who expect to profit from its indiscriminate and widespread implementation.
As a former resident of Kamloops, I was appalled by the recent odious public display of racism by Canadian white nationalists, our own version of the KKK. Here in Penticton, a number of us in the room today joined over 1,000 supporters who walked from the Safeway parking lot to the Syilx Indigenous Residential School monument a week ago Wednesday on Orange Shirt Day. To hear the words spoken by leaders: “Thank you for coming out to support us,” hearing the songs and drums, smelling the smudge, had me thinking that times have changed, incompletely, but significantly.
And then:
The Toronto Blue Jays did what none thought possible. They parachuted from the top of the American League to the very bottom in a single season. It’s like someone pricked a balloon with a pin. As a result I tried watching hockey but I can never find the puck. In desperation I tried watching golf. Gimme a break; do people actually watch golf on TV. It’s like watching paint dry. Not for me.
Last week’s Wise Elders service focused on chaos. That’s what life looks like to me right now. But still, as the apostle, Paul encourages us (PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9), in all things, rejoice . . .
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Set to music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) organist of both Westminster Abbey and the Chapels Royal — Ken factoid: My organ teacher at the RCM was Richard Popplewell, also organist at Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal from 1979 until his retirement. — the Verse Anthem, “Rejoice in the Lord alway” sometimes known as the “Bell Anthem” was originally scored for SATB choir, countertenor, tenor and bass soloists, and strings has always been one of Purcell’s better-known works. And rightly so. It’s lovely.
[I cannot play it for you now as we lack the technology here, but if you visit my blog site at “Take Note Ken Gray” I will include a link to a seven-minute performance. I cannot think of a better way to start or wind down your day.]
Despite the chaos which surrounds me, and I suspect you as well, Paul proposes a response, even an antidote to chaos, a solution that does not resolve the chaos or mitigate its affects. Rejoicing in God, according to the evangelist — who was no stranger to anxiety, suffering, and danger — will not only allow us to carry on, but to thrive over and against all adversity, all circumstances, all oppression. Against the principalities and powers which currently draw us from the love of God, perhaps we should read, again, Victor Frankl:
“We who lived in concentration camps [in his case, Auschwitz] can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” (Man’s Search for Meaning – Exclusive language retained)
Centuries earlier, writing from prison, Paul reminds his readers, and us with them, that we all make choices, if not regarding our circumstances but in shaping our attitude in responding to these situations. His suggestion takes us beyond our survival, our satisfaction, our condition. It poses for us the question of vocation and our response to inheritance, occupation, vision, and imagination:
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
A later writer, the French philosopher, mystic, political activist, and labourer Simone Weil (1909-1943) wrote: “We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will.” Similarly, the Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton (1915-1968) wrote: “Attention is the currency of a peaceful life; spend it wisely on what truly matters.”
As we continue our own thanksgiving, individually and together, in this church building or elsewhere, maybe even on the golf course, allow me to repeat Paul’s words with one small variation:
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, [pay attention to] these things.”
Lest we forget to Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
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