[Assis Naim Ateek, Sabeel Community] Dear Friends, What should our new year's message be when so many of our sisters and brothers in occupied Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and throughout the Middle East are experiencing fear, despair, anxiety, and the prospect of an uncertain future? I believe that an appropriate message should be of hope... Continue Reading →
Standing in a Penticton pulpit yesterday I thought aloud about suitable music for the Epiphany season. Today, on the Feast of Epiphany itself I have a suggestion which came to mind during yesterday’s sermon, a text by the English clergyman and theologian John Hanry Newman (1801-1890) who in 1833 wrote Lead Kindly Light enroute to... Continue Reading →
Allow me to introduce you to my dunking duck. Amongst other gifts I received this Christmas—a Tushie bidet, a bar of still unopened 70% chocolate, a pair of comfy maroon socks, a writer’s style guide, and the ubiquitous bottom-of-the-stocking orange, I received something I have wanted for a very long time, a youthful memento, a... Continue Reading →
Condolences to the Rev. Martin Elfert whose mother recently died. He has written beautifully of her later years and of his experience in losing a parent. I hope readers enjoy the delightful story he shared today on Facebook. Some of you will have met Martin while he worked at the Sorrento Centre for many years.... Continue Reading →
Once again Kathie and I have returned home, at last. We have had other grueling travel adventures throughout 2024; and many more will likely occur. For now, however, we are home! Pardon the cliché, but there really is no place like home. Dorothy said it best, with other poets and prophets before her; there’s nothing... Continue Reading →
Reprint from Mitchell Atencio at SOJO.NET [Mitchell Atencio to end] "Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President, died on Sunday at the age of 100. Carter was a prominent advocate of faith and justice, regularly acting from his Baptist faith throughout his career as a politician and a humanitarian. “Jimmy Carter’s importance to faith and public life was... Continue Reading →
Tis the season for books, for my comments and recommendations for you, loyal readers of books I have read in the past year, and my own suggestion of titles for the year to come. Now half way through Who We Are: Four Questions For a Life and a Nation by Murray Sinclair I want to... Continue Reading →
At last Kathie and I have reached our Christmas destination, thankfully only two days late given a succession of fierce windstorms that disrupted ferry service between the BC lower mainland and Vancouver Island. We are glad to have arrived safely in Langford on Victoria’s west shore joining son Cameron and partner Emm for their first... Continue Reading →
Timely and prescient thoughts from American writer Parker Palmer By accident of birth, the Christmas story has been a staple of my life for 85 years. As a kid, it was all about the glitter and gifts, of course. Today, the story compels me to question my courage and my resolve… It asks me to... Continue Reading →
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC on Christmas Eve 2024 -- The Very Rev. Ken Gray We all have our Christmas traditions. My own include hauling out Raymond Briggs books and videos including Father Christmas and The Snowman. I often watch the Alistair Sim version of Charles Dickens’ A... Continue Reading →
