From the Sabeel online newsletter Confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah continue despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement, with Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon killing so far 3,613 people, including UNIFIL peacekeepers, and injuring 11,072 others. The violence has expanded regionally, with Iran and Yemen launching missiles toward Israel and Israel responding with strikes on Iran. God... Continue Reading →
Not my usual Sunday Sermon
I am away from church today, a rare space of rest from preaching and presiding. On such days I have more time to read and write. I am currently reading "East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"" by Philippe Sands. It is a memoir and history of the origins of... Continue Reading →
I haven’t done my own work on this yet – I am curious, and very hopeful
Christopher Lamb on CNN Pope Leo XIV says control of artificial intelligence must not remain in the hands “of a few” while warning that technology is fueling world conflicts, setting out his proposals in the first major theological document of his pontificate. These include protecting the distinctive “grandeur of humanity” amid rapidly changing technology and... Continue Reading →
“If we stay silent, no one will hear us” Palestinian creative non-violent resistance
Reposted from Aljazeera [Introduction by Sylvia Keesmaat] “This is what creative non-violent resistance looks like: Holding a Freedom school in the face of barbed wire and the hovering threat of violence. One thing that the increasingly tyranny and violence around the world has demonstrated is that those without power know how to band together and... Continue Reading →
Violence begets violence — Some leaders have not learned this yet
Ed Cyzewski Apr 17, 2026 on Substack - With thanks to Norma Hill for the nudge There are a lot of different ways to live your life as a person and to exist as a society. For better or worse, in America, we tend to “live” by the economy and market. There are a lot... Continue Reading →
“God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” Pope Leo XIV
How the first American pope is reclaiming Christian values from the Trump administration By Christopher Lamb at CNN Flying to Algeria at the start of his landmark tour of Africa on Monday, Pope Leo had a choice. He could ignore Donald Trump’s extraordinary overnight social media tirade against him, or he could tackle it head... Continue Reading →
Jesus is risen — So what?
Photo Credit: ScottProject Photography/Kamloops Tourism, Kamloops BC A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton on the Second Sunday of Easter Sunday, April 12th, 2026 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray I know it’s not the traditional, formal Easter greeting many of you prefer: “The Lord is risen / He is risen indeed; Hallelujah.”... Continue Reading →
Such excellent sermon feedback
From Andrew DeCourt on Facebook who writes: I usually script my sermons. I do this to be precise, respect time, and keep a record of what I’ve said. But yesterday morning, I felt nudged to call an audible. I switched my sermon text an hour before church and preached directly from my heart without any... Continue Reading →
Iran — What it’s like on the ground
s Photo supplied by anonymous author who remains anonymous for obvious reasons [Anonymous opinion first published in The Guardian] I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed... Continue Reading →
Theology in a time of war
Schoolgirls in Iran (Photo by Paul Keller via Creative Commons license, edits by the Century) Article Mac Loftin in The Christian Century, March 9, 2026 The brief biblical account of Herod’s slaughter of the innocents raises the question of what faith demands when politics fails to stop the killing. The massacre of the innocents is... Continue Reading →