John Longhurst is likely the only journalist covering matters of faith in a Canadian Daily, the Winnipeg Free Press. In 2006, John received the Distinguished Contribution to Religious Communications from the Association of Roman Catholic Communicators of Canada. In 2021 he received the Manitoba Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding. In 2024,... Continue Reading →
Creator, from the depth and breadth of creation, we thank you. The message below is from Tomás Insua, Laudato Si' Research Institute (Oxford University) on behalf of Bishop Bedford-Strohm (chair of Feast of Creation process) and fellow conveners. Additional context added by KJG. For months now many global ecumenical partners including Anglicans have participated in... Continue Reading →
I have long lasting ties with Scotland’s 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 →
A few days ago I published a blog describing Pope Leo’s citation of the faithful witness of the Algerian Martyrs during the Algerian civil war between 1994-1996. Mission, the pope insisted, is never “a form of self-display, in opposition of identities, but the gift of self, even to the point of martyrdom, by those who... Continue Reading →
I first learned of the Algerian martyrs through the movie: Of Gods and Men, a film centered on a true story that happened in the monastery of Tibhirine, Algeria, where nine Cistercian monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were kidnapped and assassinated in 1996 during the... Continue Reading →
A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen Anglican Church, Summerland BC - Sunday, August 17th, 2025 — The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - The Very Rev. Ken Gray A woman approached me after a sermon I recently preached in Penticton, quite upset, as I intentionally contrasted the love of the Good Samaritan with the... Continue Reading →
Anas al-Sharif with his daughter, Sham, and son, Salah. Photograph: Facebook ‘If these words reach you … Israel has succeeded in killing me’: the last words of a journalist killed in Gaza Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter, was killed along with four other journalists by an Israeli airstrike last Sunday night. This is the... Continue Reading →
No sermon from me today but a beautiful reflection from our friends at the Center of Action and Contemplation. I have read it several times, each time finding something jarring, beautiful, and different. Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan describes how Jesus’ parables invited listeners to find wisdom in their daily agricultural circumstances . . . Nabhan... Continue Reading →
I share three things in common with the newly elected Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev. Cherry Vann. We were both born in 1958, she in Leicester, England, and me in Victoria BC, Canada. We were also students at the Royal College of Music in London in the late 1970s where, as a colleague reminds... Continue Reading →
I often wonder how I can assist the victims of the Gaza genocide. Sure, I make information available to my blog followers. What more can I, and you actually do? Well we can pray, in particular with Palestinian residents throughout the Middle East. We can join the Sabeel Wave of Prayer. Sabeel is an ecumenical... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 