From SALT, an Emmy Award winning, not-for-profit production company dedicated to the craft of visual storytelling. The article below was first published here. There can be a gauzy, candlelit coziness to Christmas Eve and Day โ and thatโs all well and good, as far as it goes. Coziness in the midst of December is a fine... Continue Reading →
Come and get it
Christmas Day lunch at Colwood's Anglican Church of the Advent Reprinted from Victoria News It all started in 2023 when Reverend Sr. Ingrid Andersen was โfeeling a bit sadโ because her son and daughter-in-law were unable to join her at Christmas. โI was thinking nobody should be alone at Christmas,โ she said. โAnd I went... Continue Reading →
Do Re Mi and Ho Ho Ho
More original fiction from your humble scribe โI know weโre not all here yet, but letโs start anyway,โ Gladys announced. โThe others will arrive soon, I hope.โ Awkwardly spaced between uncomfortable pews, we gathered upstairs in the church sanctuary, an uncomfortable though convenient rehearsal space, huddled around the one-manual, four-stop pipe organ donated by someone,... Continue Reading →
Oh Christmas Tree
A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen Anglican Church, Summerland BC, on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 14th 2025 She would not get out of my way. Maddening, and frustrating to me, there she was; and so she remained, right in front of me. Admittedly, I am not the most patient of persons;... Continue Reading →
“With the grace of moving air” – Wisdom from Anne Lamott
Originally published on Facebook A great friend was visiting from the East Coast last week and we took a walk in rain jackets under a pitiless blue sky. There was not a cloud in sight, although the weather app said there would be soon be rain. You really didnโt know whom to trust these days,... Continue Reading →
A new text for an old Advent tradition โ A Doxology for Humanity
From Following Jesus: A life of faith in a postmodern world - on Facebook from where these images also appear. With thanks to Imelda Kedge for the link From Kurt at followingJesus.org I wrote this for US Thanksgiving in 2013 when our table included those born in the USA, Iraq, Korea, and Ethiopia. With Christians,... Continue Reading →
Ashes to ashes
A short story by Ken Gray From a distance, the amber box on the shelf before me tells no story whatsoever. A beautifully crafted box of coloured strips is no mere bookend. Someone had taken a lot of time to assemble something beautiful for . . . God? Possibly hollow, I have no idea what... Continue Reading →
Advent Blues and A Blessing
From author and artist Jan Richardson It grows only deeper, this sense of how closely light and dark live together, and how grace imbues the places that are most laden with shadows and unfathomable mystery. The season of Advent impresses this upon us with such intention, with its exquisite weave of stories and images that... Continue Reading →
A sense of humour comes in handy after 40 years of ordained Anglican ministry
Two South Okanagan churches, St. Saviour in Penticton, and St. Stephen in Summerland recently helped the Rev. Canon Roger Cooper celebrate 40 years of ordained Anglican ministry. Asked if he had any wisdom to impart to younger ordinands, Roger suggested that โafter 40 yrs of ordained ministry, you need a sense of humor, and a... Continue Reading →
On the building of organs, and of those who build them
A number of student organists in Victoria during the mid-1970s worked for local organ builder, Hugo Spilker. We loved playing the organ โ I speak here of large instruments placed in downtown churches, many comprising four manuals and a pedal division โ These were not small electronic substitutes which proliferate where I live today in... Continue Reading →