So here it is; the final installment of our survey of 2024 US presidential election memes a day before election day, Nov 5, 2024. We offer here a small selection of final reflective thoughts prior to what is likely the most important election anywhere in the world at the present moment. Polls remain nail bitingly... Continue Reading →
US voters — The decision is yours
US senator Bernie Sanders is chair of the health education labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress. The following opinion piece from is The Guardian, Wed 30 Oct 2024. I strongly recommend that you read the full article here complete with links... Continue Reading →
Everyone is grumpy right now, except me
More from Juno, your favourite dog-blogger Folks are testy right now, really tense, short-tempered, on edge, anxious at least, frantic at worst. Everywhere I look, strain creases almost every human face in conversations about people, places, and of course, politics. There are so many events and challenges before us as Canadians, Americans, and global citizens... Continue Reading →
There are some good people left – Some very good people
Author Wendell Berry, a Kentucky native who turned 90 years old on 8/5/24, studied at Stanford University, visited Tuscany for a year as a Guggenheim fellow, and then taught at New York University for two years. An invitation to teach at the University of Kentucky, however, carried him back home. He bought a farm near... Continue Reading →
We’ve only just begun — On Blindness
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 30] (Sunday, October 27th, 2024)A SERMON for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland BCThe Very Rev. Ken Gray ON (MY) BLINDNESS When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodged with... Continue Reading →
It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship
With thanks to photographers Linda Curle, Linda Carnegie, Lorne Hoover, and Nancy Montgomery Still my favourite movie, Casablanca, contains some brilliant cinematic lines: “Play it again Sam”; “We’ll always have Paris”; and “Round up the usual suspects.” Filmed in 1942 during the depths of the Second World War, the plot centres around Victor Laslo, a... Continue Reading →
We’ve already been wiped out — Don’t bet against the Holy Spirit
Thoughts on “church” from Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost (Dean) of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, in the Scottish Episcopal Church [Anglicans in Scotland and Canada face remarkably similar circumstances and challenges, through which the Holy Spirit now leads us.] I heard of another church that is due to close this week. It is in a place some... Continue Reading →
Nothing is impossible, I hope
A Sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton BCSunday, October 13th, 2024 (Canadian Thanksgiving)The Very Rev. Ken Gray JOB 23:1-9, 16-17; PSALM 22:1-15; HEBREWS 4:12-16; MARK 10:17-31 I can say with confidence that I have never been accused or convicted of a crime. I have been in court a number of times to watch... Continue Reading →
NDP and ME
BC’s average real GDP per capita was 2.4 per cent higher in 2023 than five years earlier, compared with a 0.6 per cent decline in Canada overall. Photo via Wikimedia, Creative Commons licensed (THE TYEE) It will not surprise readers of this blog to discover that I have begun to comment on the BC Election... Continue Reading →
Peace Train – Get on board
On this the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, the effects of which remain deadly and destructive on all sides today, I want to promote peace, but how? There have been many peace walks, peace protests, peace initiatives in recent decades; there have also been peace trains: Cue Jusuf Islam (Cat Stevens). Why... Continue Reading →