Homily for Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 – The Rev. Stephanie Shepard
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170416h.mp3 Matthew 28:1-10 See, and Go” I had been called to the hospital bed of an elderly woman whom I had visited before. She was frail and forgetful but now there were major health problems, and her family was concerned that she might not have too much longer. Upon arrival, I went up to the nursing station and asked for her room number. When I got to the ward and looked in, my heart sank a little. The bed she had been assigned was empty and stripped of sheets. I knew she had not been scheduled for any tests. It looked like I had gotten to the hospital too late, and she had died in the night. I was just about to turn around and head back home when I heard a sound of a toilet flushing. The door to the washroom opened, and out she came on her own two feet. Rumours of her demise were overstated.
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Homily for the 24th Sunday of Pentecost – October 23, 2016
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161023ho.mp3 I am very conscious today that for many of you, this may be the last time we ever connect in person; I am also conscious that this is most likely the last time I will ever speak from this pulpit. Over the last eight years, I have preached to you something like 350 times on Sunday’s alone, so, if you have been listening, you have already heard what God sent me here to say. But keep the ears of your hearts open today too, just in case. I want to say to you that in all those 350 or so times, every time out, I was trying to proclaim to you, in the best way that I could, something significant, something worth thinking about, something of the truth and life of the awesome God we serve through Jesus Christ. We have studied and reflected together. At least 60 (and probably more like 70 or even 80) of you have taken part in adult formation classes we have offered in the Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening studies and in sermon\discussion series. We have explored Benedictine and Franciscan spirituality, reflected on Jesus in the movies; we have considered “contemporary faith and spiritual practice,” and we have tried to imagine where the church might be going in the 21st Century. We have re-visited the painful legacy of the Residential Schools and made an effort to empathize with contemporary First Nations people; we have looked at inter-faith issues and we have visited mosques together; with the help of Dr Nancy Reeves, we promised to say Yes to God; with the help of people like Matthew Fox, Marcus Borg, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Harold Kushner, Brian McLaren, Lillian Daniel, Thomas Green sj, Stephanie Spellers and Michael Ingham, we met Jesus again for the first time, we...
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HOMILY – THE REV. GRANT RODGERS – REFLECTIONS ON MY IMMINENT DEPARTURE – AUGUST 21, 2016
THE 15TH SUNDAY OF PENTECOST-AUGUST 21, 2016 http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160821h.mp3 A year ago I accepted an appointment to Vancouver School of Theology (VST) as Director of Anglican Formation, a position which seems to suit me and which I love. Initially, it looked like the arrangement – of working 1/3 time there and 2/3 time here — had the potential to be a new lease on life for me and for St John’s as well, with creative interaction between the two realms. It was ideal for me, as it allowed me to remain in this parish which I have loved leading and serving. It also carried the exciting possibility of bringing another person into the ministry picture at St John’s. After nearly a year, though, we had some supply help, but no one emerged to fill that 1/3 space that my being at VST created. I began to be aware that you can say you’re 2/3 all you like, but 100% of the work and expectations of the Rector were still present, despite my efforts to delegate and draw back. Those expectations and assumptions are only natural when people have been so accustomed to one pattern. The problem is that I have at least 1/3 less time to do all that, and to meet all the expectations. I spoke to people at the Synod office several weeks ago about whether there was someone out there who might provide ministry on a 1/3 basis but there seemed to be no one at all on the horizon. Despite all that, until very recently I saw myself continuing indefinitely as St John’s – to retirement age and beyond. It has been a place that I have enjoyed, I have had good support, we have a great clergy team, we have dedicated leaders, and there is a...
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Homily – Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 8, 2016 – The Rev. Trudi Shaw
Manifesto http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501h.mp3 I am tired I am tired of living I am tired of living in a world like this one: In this world the Name of God no longer evokes the Holy the awesome mystery of the One who gave birth to the Cosmos and all the wonders of Creation the Source of Love…the Source of Life. at best it has become a casual punctuation to the most inane of comments O my God! at worst a blasphemy on the lips of those who would evoke it to justify their heinous acts of death: terrorism… extortion… subjugation… destruction This is the world we humans have conceived: In this world Millions gather behind the barricades of refugee camps fleeing the mayhem that has erupted in their homelands they exist in limbo the vulnerable among them preyed upon again by the ever present vultures seeking an opportunity to profit from their misery they are willing to face more danger even death in the hope of finding a home land and a future; In this world Children are indoctrinated into the ways of war playing in the streets that have become a battleground or isolated from their families they are fed drugs and hatred their childish dreams becoming waking nightmare as they trade the playground for the killing fields their toys become the weapons tearing into tender flesh; In this world A family waits for the return of a loved one their hope stretched thin between the hands of a ticking clock they get their wish he comes home to them in a body bag they have failed to meet the impossible demands of strangers who have seen no value in this human life beyond the dollar signs; In this world A whole generation stands on a...
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Homily – Easter Sunday – The Ven. Grant Rodgers
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20160327h.mp3 St Paul, in his first letter to the church at Corinth, wrote: “All will be made alive in Christ” or as the old King James Version puts it: “In Christ shall all be made alive.” Either way, what we are talking about is life. We gather today to celebrate this promise, this hope, this reality; to embrace the life we share in Christ and to re-enter it through the sacrament of the Eucharist; to worship the God “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not even exist” (Romans 4). We are not just expressing a belief or remembering an historical event; in some real way, we are celebrating the life that is in us. And Jesus is the first expression of this life, this new creation; Jesus is life. As theologian N.T. Wright puts it: “Easter was the moment when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.” My theme at Christmas was a bit of ancient wisdom: “Christ became what we are in order that we might become what he is.” Today, let us celebrate the fact that “All will be made alive in Christ” – another phrase worth remembering. The bulb in the ground, the child in the womb, the bear hibernating deep in its cave; the husband who has languished on the couch all winter – all feel this inexorable pull toward life – and amazingly, spring to life. It is in all of us to know that we are constantly being summoned toward transformation and renewal and evolution, as compellingly as Jesus summoned Lazarus out of his tomb. Anais Nin: And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it...
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Homily for Lent One – February 14, 2016 – The Ven. Grant Rodgers
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160214h.mp3 We could ask: What we could we possibly learn from a humble little man who lived in another part of the world 800 years ago, who walked away from his home and family to wander about the countryside barefoot, in a rough brown robe, preaching to birds and begging his bread and sharing his love of God in complete simplicity?
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Homily for Epiphany 5/Transfiguration Sunday February 7, 2016 – The Ven. Grant Rodgers
p://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160207h.mp3 We celebrate today the Festival of the Transfiguration, and also Chinese New Year, which introduces the Year of the Monkey – the monkey symbolizing cleverness, rising to greatness and importance.
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Homily for Epiphany 3
Homily for Epiphany 3/January 24, 2016 The Venerable Grant Rodgers http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20160124h.mp3 A month ago we were singing Christmas carols! It seems hard to believe, but it’s an indication of how quickly time moves on, and a reminder that life itself moves along very quickly, which in turn raises a question of what we’re doing with our lives. The poet Mary Oliver, reflecting this sense of how quickly it all passes by, asked: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Good question!
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HOMILY FOR THE REIGN OF CHRIST – THE VEN. GRANT RODGERS
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/20151122h.mp3 NOVEMBER 22 2015 A little boy and his “papa” are being interviewed by CNN in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. The little boy is trying to make his father aware of the danger: “Bad guys are not very nice … They have guns and they can shoot us because they’re really, really mean, papa. We have to be really careful or we have to change houses.”
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Homily for November 1st, All Saints Day – The Rev. Trudi Shaw
http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/20151101h.mp3 Help Wanted: Saints Inspirational organization seeks key personnel to expand global operations. Successful candidates must have faith to move mountains, courage to face hungry lions, willingness to follow obscure instructions or die trying. No experience necessary; training provided on the job. Should have independent source of income; some support may be offered by those who like what you have to say. Work environment can be hazardous especially when confronted by hostile clients. Good death benefits.
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