A Sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton, Sunday, August 2nd, 2026 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray I donโt know if youโve heard the news, but thereโs trouble brewing at BC Ferries; and I donโt mean long lineups, service interruptions, or adverse weather cancellations. As former residents of Vancouver Island, Kathie and I... Continue Reading →
So hereโs the good news. Kathie and I are off to Ontario for some holiday and a Blue Jays game. Go Jays, sigh . . . We are leaving Juno at home with some trusted friends who are also house and dog sitters. And burglars take note, if you decide to break in I guarantee... Continue Reading →
by Galumalemana Bolivia Smith As the golden rays of the sun streamed through the stained-glass windows, casting vibrant colors across the altar, and the choir sang, โAll Heaven Declares the Beauty of the Risen Lord,โ I felt a deep sense of connection between heaven and earth. I was reminded why, as the Choir Master of... Continue Reading →
From 940 CFCW, London, ONT Tommy Hunter, one of the most beloved figures in Canadian television and country music, has died. Born Thomas James Hunter on March 20, 1937, in London, Ontario, Hunter passed away on July 2, 2026, of natural causes. He was 89. Known to generations of viewers as "Canada's Country Gentleman," Hunter... Continue Reading →
Benjamin Britten conducting a rehearsal for the opening of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in June 1967, with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch the second cellist on the right. Photograph: Hans Wild/Britten Pears Arts Three months after Bergen-Belsen was liberated, Britten and Yehudi Menuhin performed there. Survivor and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was โtransfixedโ โ as she told the... Continue Reading →
[Ken Gray] As I continue my own healing and reconciliation journey both in church and in community I was so pleased to stumble across a Facebook post from critically acclaimed and award-winning mezzo-soprano Marian Newman. As I preside today at an Anglican service here in Summerland honouring Indigenous Peoples Day I will share some of... Continue Reading →
Author, composer and professor Fr. Michael Joncas holding a June 2024 letter from former U.S. president Joe Biden by the bookcase where he framed and displayed the original 1976 score of "On Eagle's Wings," in his apartment in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 2026. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone) by Camillo Barone, NCR staff reporter By the mid-1970s, Fr.... Continue Reading →
Organist Mark McDonald stands below Christ Church Cathedralโs organ, Canadaโs largest pipe organ west of the Rockies. (Olivier Laurin/Victoria News) Published 9:00 am Wednesday, May 27, 2026 by Olivier Laurin Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once called the pipe organ โthe king of instruments.โ Considered by many to be a marvel of music and engineering, the pipe... Continue Reading →
Notes by Ken Gray: I am Looking forward to Sundayโs Pentecost service shared between St. Stephenโs Anglican Church and Summerland United Church. We share costs and facilities between us at our historic 1910 location in downtown Summerland. Now a few years into a very special relationship between our congregations, we occasionally gather together for shared... Continue Reading →
I have a long relationship with the Requiem by French composer Gabriel Faure. Unlike the bombastic operatic showpiece by Verdi, the intensely dramatic rendering by Mozart, or the massive work by Benjamin Britten, Faureโs Requiem is intimate, melodic, of small scale, and sublime. It whispers, though never shouts. Surely we all want to drift off... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 