Naming what is important

A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen, SummerlandSunday, October 18th, 2026 | The Twenty-First Sunday after PentecostThe Very Rev. Ken Gray Names are important. I like to be called by my name and I expect you do also. I have no idea why I am named Kenneth John. Kenneth Reid lived across the street... Continue Reading →

Preaching, preachers, and privilege

I have always loved preaching, both as a listener and a presenter. As a young adult I read books by British preachers Martyn Lloyd Jones and John Stott, both in the evangelical tradition, with great interest. As a music student in London I attended All Souls, Langham place, the flagship of British Evangelicalism in the... Continue Reading →

“White supremacist organizing is on the rise, and we must do more to fight it”

[CBC News] โ€œB.C. politicians and leaders are denouncing an apparent gathering of white nationalists on the Tk'emlรบps te Secwรฉpemc reserve, just east of Kamloops. Tk'emlรบps te Secwรฉpemc Kรบkpi7 Rosanne Casimir says the nation received reports Sunday morning of a gathering of roughly 30 men, donning white face masks and black caps, standing together around the... Continue Reading →

“Discipline and constant work are the whetstones upon which the dull knife of talent is honed” โ€” Stephen King, on writing

[KJG - I have never read a Stephen King novel. Volunteering at a church book sale however, I see that many, many readers have enjoyed his suspenseful, narrative horror. I did enjoy the movie โ€œStand by Me,โ€ that was based on his novella, โ€œThe Body.โ€ Very much. And for the record, the adjurement towards hard... Continue Reading →

What are you doing in your parish for the Season of Creation this year? A Canadian collection

All Saints Cathedral, Halifax NS [This is a living document. Additional images and stories will be included as they are received.] Anglican activist and ecological animator extraordinaire, The Rev. Marian Lucas Jeffries (Team Leader of the Environment Network of the Diocese of Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island) sent a note to her clergy colleagues asking: โ€œWhat... Continue Reading →

RIP Wendell Berry

A Poem on Hope It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old, for hope must not depend on feeling good and thereโ€™s the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight. You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality of the future, which surely will surprise us, and hope is harder... Continue Reading →

Pay attention! That’s all!

Original art on the Gray Family living room wall by Victoria artist Lisa Hebden 10 Quotes From Mary Oliver, the Patron Saint of Paying AttentionBy Jenna Barnett in Sojourners, Apr 14, 2025 I like to think of the late poet Mary Oliver as the patron saint of paying attention. She taught us to not take... Continue Reading →

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