A Memory from Jim Palmer on Facebook About eighteen years ago a young woman named Rachel Held Evans contacted me because she was beginning to see Christianity differently and wanted to write about it. She sent me her manuscript, and we worked on her book together. She published four books in total. I got to... Continue Reading →
Leadership
A reflection by the Revโd Jon Swales [Extracts] Every church has leaders.Every church has a culture.Even if nobody names it,something is shapingthe life of that community. Culture is the feel of a place. Itโs how people are treated when nobody is watching. Itโs what gets celebrated, what gets ignored, who gets heard, and who slowly... Continue Reading →
Another well deserved prize for Maggie Helwig and her homeless community โ Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community
A video of her acceptance speech at the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is here A transcript is below. (Check against delivery.) [Maggie Helwig] This is not my book. This book belongs to a community. I am cognizant that I am in the kind of room which I am not in very often, and... Continue Reading →
Seeds of peaceful possibility
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Sunday, May 3rd, 2026, by the Very Rev. Ken Gray JOHN 14:1-14 A few weeks ago, on the 5th Sunday in Lent, I preached on the text from Johnโs Gospel: โI am the resurrection and the life.โ At the time I... Continue Reading →
Closing Churches: A response to Mattheew Larkin
Following from my posting of a sermon by Sam Rose, the Anglican Bishop of Central Newfoundland, the very distinguished, brilliant, and thoughtful music Matthew Larkin left a good comment. My response is below: Thanks for your thoughts, Matthew. Allow me to broaden the context somewhat. I am not sure that church leaders celebrate the loss... Continue Reading →
Letโs Save this Organ somehow, somewhere
From Anna Lapwood / Marnie Giesbracht, and others Sadly, plans have been made at the highest levels of the University of Alberta, Canada to remove the 1978 Casavant Memorial Organ from Convocation Hall in the Old Arts Building. These plans were confirmed when Joachim and I (Marnie Giesbrecht) met with Dean of Arts, Robert Wood... Continue Reading →
How to close a church well — A sermon
Sermon Notes at the Closing of St.Andrews Trinity East from the Right Rev. John Watton, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland My friends, Iโll be honest. Throughout the three dioceses in Newfoundland and across the country, we will face increased Church closings. Itโs hard to talk about, let alone live through it. When... Continue Reading →
On the Road again
A SERMON for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland, Sunday, April 19th, 2026, the Third Sunday of Easter by the Very Rev. Ken Gray Willie Nelson said it, and sang it, best: On the road againGoin' places that I've never beenSeein' things that I may never see againI can't wait to get on the road... Continue Reading →
Keeping wisdom alive
CAC faculty member Brian McLaren reflects on the person of Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480โ547) whose world closely resembles ours today. History, it seems, repeats itself. Hopefully Benedict's solution helps us on our way. Long live wisdom. Itโs not hard to imagine a world that seems to be falling apart with political division and corruption,... Continue Reading →
Claims about Easter, Beauty, and the Institutional Church
Ikonostasis, Orthodox Monastery, Birchdale on Kootenay Lake BC - David Burrows photo Extract from an interview in Sundayโs New York Times between David Bentley Hart and Peter Wehner - The complete interview is worth a careful read David Bentley Hart is one of the worldโs most formidable and provocative theological minds. He is an Eastern... Continue Reading →