Growing up as a boy chorister at St. John the Divine in Victoria I remember well the hymns of Advent. “Come thou redeemer of the earth,” “Lo, He comes with clouds, descending,” “On Jordan’s bank the Baptist cry,” with many others. These well populate my musical memory in a wonderful way, though I must say... Continue Reading →
Excerpts from Climate Politics by Lisa Friedman at the NYT The expression "first do no harm" is a popular term used to express the underlying ethical rules of modern medicine. Although this is generally thought to have been taken from the ancient Greek Hippocratic oath, no translations of the oath contain this language. It is... Continue Reading →
Jesse Zink is Principal of Montreal Diocesan Theological College and canon theologian in the Diocese of Montreal. His recent book Faithful, Hopeful, Creative: Fifteen Theses for Christians in a Crisis-Shaped World is now widely available. The following post by Jesse Zink was first published on Substack.com [Jesse Zink] A high-profile international gathering in Assisi earlier this... Continue Reading →
Blue skies smiling at meNothing but blue skies do I seeBlue birds singing a songNothing but blue skies from now on The invitation came right out of the blue. It was totally unexpected, even shocking. It was frankly, unwanted, and eventually refused. Who would have expected a request from such a person, on BlueSky Social... Continue Reading →
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BCSunday, November 24th, 2024Festival of the Reign of Christ First off, happy patronal festival to St. Saviour’s congregants gathered online or here in the room today. I had hoped to say something about your name, prompted in part by a question from a catholic... Continue Reading →
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby visits Nazareth, Israel Joint Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop Hosam Naoum Dear Friends, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Over five days, 15-19 November 2024, we travelled together, as fellow brothers in Christ, on a long-planned pilgrimage to pray... Continue Reading →
This prayer by the Rt. Rev. Susan Goff, retired Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, has been shared widely on Facebook. I share it here as an example of genuine prayer and as encouragement to all who find it difficult to pray in this current political climate: My ConfessionGod, I can’t for the... Continue Reading →
A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland Anglican ChurchSunday, November 17th 2024The Very Rev. Ken Gray During the 1970s while a student at the University of Calgary my friend, Rod, was a men’s residence supervisor. In those days, bomb threats were common on Canadian university campuses. One day Rod received a call advising... Continue Reading →
Another episode in our “Little Town of Summerland” series Watching from a distance, it was hard to hear what was happening at the Remembrance Day Ceremony 2024 in our little town of Summerland, for two reasons. As often happens the amplification system could not project sound to the southern-most area of the jam packed Memorial... Continue Reading →
In small towns like ours here in Summerland, throughout most of Canada Remembrance Day observance is a major event. Shortly before 11:00 tomorrow downtown at the Memorial Park cenotaph literally hundreds of folks of all ages will brave rain, wind, or occasionally snow, all bundled up to join the parade or watch from the sidelines—veterans,... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 