Philip Oltermann writing in The Guardian, Mon 17 Nov 2025 -- Click the original article to hear a partial performance and to see other images. Two long-lost organ pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach have been performed in Germany, roughly 320 years after the composer wrote them as a teenage music teacher. Entitled Chaconne in D... Continue Reading →
And now, for something completely different
Just for fun, and for a break from the savage political and ecological non-fiction swirling around me right now, I have turned my hand to fiction, and to short stories in particular. Here is my first story. See what you think. Truth disguised Truth be told, sometimes distractions are the main thing. Recently graduated from... Continue Reading →
Meet my friend Norma
It seems that most people meet online these days, not just in bars or through family connections or through friends. Norma Hill and I met online, not on a dating site as we are both happily married, though not to each other. One early email exchange is dated November 8, 2023 though our relationship feels... Continue Reading →
Sam McGee, Robert Service, and a Summerland Story
I am often asked to share a song or a poem at variety nights or campfire gatherings. Typically I call up memories of British comedy classics from Flanders and Swan. Over the years I have offered my own version of Hoffnungโs The Bricklayerโs Lament. I really need to broaden my scope to include some Canadian... Continue Reading →
First Nations Version of the bible misses the mark
[Ken Gray] As an ordained Canadian settler-descended Anglican who initially welcomed the First Nations version of the New Testament. The language seemed fresh, dynamic, and, well, different than other translations I have always used for preaching and proclamation. In using it sparingly in public worship I thought I was helping the process of healing and... Continue Reading →
Kathy Galloway, fondly remembered
I have long lasting ties with Scotlandโs Iona Community. During the 1990s while ministering at Sooke on Vancouver Island I discovered their music and liturgies. Initially created by John Bell, Graham Maule, and the Wild Goose Worship Group the liturgies were scripturally based, socially relevant, and justice-centred. The music was very well crafted, easy to... Continue Reading →
Celtic spirituality, science, and climate disruption
Diana Beresford-Kroegerโs new book says nature holds the key to a healthy planetby Christopher White in Broadview Magazine -- Originally published Feb. 21, 2025 Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist, biochemist, writer and mystic. Raised in Ireland, she spent her youth immersed in Celtic spirituality and the medieval Irish Brehon laws, which are communal ways of... Continue Reading →
Let us be fearless โ Church as an imagination-shaping force
A Sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC - Sunday, July 13 2025 โ The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost โ The Very Rev. Ken Gray Mainstream media has not focused on a very special event that occurred a few days ago in New York City; church media certainly has however. the... Continue Reading →
The Frightening Lesson from Texas โ Political failure in the face of the climate disasters
Reposted from Charlie Angus / The Resistance Jul 11, 2025 "By almost any measure, anyone born after 1990 is finding themselves in a new geological era, navigating a world fundamentally different from the one Baby Boomers and Gen Xers inherited. The chances of anyone alive today experiencing a year as relatively cool as 1996 are... Continue Reading →
Hopeful words from Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver
[Ken Gray] I have long admired the writing of Barbara Kingsolver. From her debut novels The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven, her early non-fiction essay collection High Tide in Tucson, her novel The Poisonwood Bible, and most recently the epic Pulitzer and Womenโs prize winning Demon Copperhead I have enjoyed her intelligent and insightful... Continue Reading →