And other short stories about leaders who lie Graphic assembled in Canva. Photos L-R: Karoline Leavitt (Bruce Chaff CC 4.0), Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Stephen Miller (all public domain) Story by Bri-anne Swan on Substack and the Wilderness Times - Jan 11, 2026 [Bri-anne Swan] Itโs difficult to escape the fatigue that sets... Continue Reading →
Liturgical renewal
Another in the series: Stories from Somewhere by me, Ken GrayAn index to other stories is here โGod be with you.โ โOh Lord, not again. โGodโ is so archaic. Surely โsource of all beingโ is better, more relevant, inclusive, and pleasing to the Divine.โ โBut you just said โLord.โ Thereโs a problem there pal. Pate-ree-ark-al.โ... Continue Reading →
Consent
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 11, 2026 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray Letโs start with three questions. Last week we had the Three Kings; this week, Three Questions: 1) Since the new year, how many times have you written... Continue Reading →
Falling Apart, Coming Together: Advice for a new year
Center for Action and Contemplation faculty member Brian McLaren introduces the 2026 Daily Meditations theme: โGood News for a Fractured Worldโ โ Sunday, January 4, 2026 [Brian McLaren] Our world is deeply fractured. We see the symptoms all around us. We see it in politics. We see it in social media. We see it in... Continue Reading →
How to Follow the Right Star โ Directions for Epiphany
Photo credit: Michael Shapcott A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland, Epiphany 2025 โ The Very Rev. Ken Gray Before one sets off on an Epiphany journey itโs important to know which star to follow. There must have been dozens of bright lights in the Middle Eastern sky, many visible to the ancient... Continue Reading →
Truth amongst the tinsel – Making sense of it all
Originally published by the New York Times as The Kingdom of God Is Ruled by the Humblest of Men, an essay by Peter Wehner While long for a blog post, I commend to readers Peter Wehner's exploration of the significance of Jesus' incarnation as a babe at the biblical Bethlehem. We typically hear such explanations... Continue Reading →
The Little Towns of Bethlehem
My favourite poetic Christmas tradition it to read this very Canadian piece written by John Terpstra, the Little Towns of Bethlehem. If God arrived in Christ in Bethlehem Christ arrives in the places and spaces of our nation, places familiar and unknown to us, though I am privileged to have lived in, or passed through... Continue Reading →
Noel
โNOELโ by J.R.R. Tolkien was written in 1936, amidst the gathering gloom of national socialism in Germany. At the time, it provided an antidote to social and political anxiety. May it provide some relief for us now. Grim was the world and grey last night:The moon and stars were fled,The hall was dark without song... Continue Reading →
โI say YESโ โ a Song for the Fourth Sunday in Advent
Itโs Carol Service at church this morning. Typically the 4th Sunday of Advent focuses specially on Mary, the โMary of the Annunciation.โ Church today will pay homage mostly to โMary of the Nativity,โ including her pondering of what happened on Christmas Day and afterward. In this space today, I return to Mary of the Annunciation,... Continue Reading →
Christmas politics
From SALT, an Emmy Award winning, not-for-profit production company dedicated to the craft of visual storytelling. The article below was first published here. There can be a gauzy, candlelit coziness to Christmas Eve and Day โ and thatโs all well and good, as far as it goes. Coziness in the midst of December is a fine... Continue Reading →