Guest blog -- THE REVEREND LAUREL DYKSTRAPriest, Salal + Cedar; Vicar, St. Georgeโs, Fort Langleyย This article first appeared in TOPIC, the Newspaper of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, Canada. โThe geographical pilgrimage is the symbolic acting out of an inner journey.โ Thomas Merton From the 17th Century allegory Pilgrimโs Progress, to Annie Dillardโs 1970s... Continue Reading →
Famous 3-word phrases
A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen Anglican Church, Summerland โ The 5th Sunday of Easter, May 18, 2025 While rector of St. Stephenโs some years ago I created a sermon series focused on four- or five-letter words. A four letter word sermon talked about LOVE. Five-letter editions unpacked FAITH and GRACE. Today, I... Continue Reading →
HABEMUS PAPAM Four votes to elect new pope
By Claire Giangravรฉ - Religion News Service (via Episcopal News Service) In a shocking vote that caught the Catholic world by surprise, the College of Cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost, 69, the 267th pope on May 8. He is the first United States citizen to become the bishop of Rome. The Chicago-born Prevost has chosen... Continue Reading →
Easter, ongoing resurrection in Christ
No sermon from me today โ A rare weekend off. Enjoy instead a blog from the Centre for Action and Contemplation. Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren encourages us to make Easter an expansive celebration of resurrection. What might happen if every Easter we celebrated the resurrection not merely as the resuscitation of a single corpse... Continue Reading →
The Servant
A homily for Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2025St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BCThe Very Rev. Ken Gray So what do Gosford Park, The Remains of the Day, Upstairs Downstairs, and Downton Abbey have in common? Apart from each showโs unique historical meta-narratives, each of these very English period dramas describe โlife downstairs,โ the loves, duties,... Continue Reading →
Stop, and smell the roses
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC on the fifth Sunday in Lent, April 6th, 2025 โ The Very Rev. Ken Gray It is said by those who teach writing that every paragraph should start with a strong opening sentence. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens opens with... Continue Reading →
Dunking Duck and a favourite evening hymn
Now several years into blog creation here at takenote.ca I love to receive feedback from followers and subscribers. One curious reader enjoyed my Dunking Duck blog so much that she has requested a longer video, something akin to the popular and widely available Christmas fireplace, something she could watch when she is frustrated with her... Continue Reading →
A prayer for those called to be our Anglican leaders
[Ken Gray] As a priest I have always enjoyed close relationships with Anglican bishops with whom I have served in various dioceses since 1982. Our shared leadership was not without fault or challenge on both ends. At times bishops have been wonderfully supportive and inspiring to me. I hope the reverse is also true. I... Continue Reading →
Room at the table — A Sermon
A sermon for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland Anglican ChurchThe 3rd Sunday of Lent โ March 23, 2025The Very Rev. Ken Gray Let me tell you about my recent trip to the hairdresser. We used to call these persons โbarbersโ; we still have some of these in our little town of Summerland. Over the... Continue Reading →
Pay attention, and fall in love โ Honouring Phil McIntyre-Paul
By Michael Shapcott Phil McIntyre-Paul is practically royalty in the beautiful Shuswap in the central interior of British Columbia. He helped create the Shuswap Trail Alliance more than two decades ago. Over that time, he has helped nurture more than 350 greenway trail projects โ drawing in fifteen Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, three levels of... Continue Reading →