HOMILY – NATIONAL ABORIGINAL/INDIGENOUS DAY – Pentecost 5 – June 21, 2015
“ … now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” 2 Corinthians 6:2 Guest homily from Rev Donald Grayston http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/June212015a.mp3 Today is National Aboriginal Day, something of which our Premier seemed to be unaware when she designated the use of the Burrard Bridge for a yoga celebration. I have nothing against yoga; but it cannot begin to compare in importance with what we are reflecting on today, the relation between the First Peoples of this land and the rest of us—the settlers as we were once called, and before that, the colonists.
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Homily for Pentecost 3 – June 14, 2015
“ … if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” 2 Cor 5:17 Guest homily from Rev Donald Grayston http://www.stja.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/June142015.mp3 Let’s start with a little singing: in your hymnbooks, #7, “New every morning is the love” – first and second verses only. New every morning is the love / our waking and uprising prove; Through sleep and darkness safely brought, / restored to life and power and thought. New mercies, each returning day, / hover around us while we pray; New perils past, new sins forgiven, / new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
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Homily – Spirit of the Land: Called to a Radically Ordinary Life
Guest Message – September 21, 2014 – Carmelle Mohr Spirit of the Land: Called to a Radically Ordinary Life Good morning. My name is Carmelle. Thank you for welcoming me so kindly this morning. I’ve had the pleasure of being at St. John’s Anglican Church a few times. As such, Grant has been savvy to some of the paths I’ve walked down in recent years. So, he’s asked me to share a bit about what I learn from these experiences. Throughout the last few years, I’ve been fortunate with opportunity to study Globalization, Development and Ecology at the University of Alberta, and in Cuba at La Universided de Oriente. Recently, I lived and worked among indigenous communities in Peru, advocating against Canadian mining operations on their lands. The other major experience throughout these years, is my work in Alberta and BC throughout these years that strives to gather First Nation voices, landowners and farmers, oil and gas industry workers, and governmental representatives into compassionate dialogue with each other. Voices which are so alienated from each other. It is from these places and peoples that my message this morning is shaped. A poem by Agrarian philosopher and farmer, Wendell Berry, entitled “The Peace of Wild Things.” When despair for the world grows in me And I wake in the night at the least sound In fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake Rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things Who do not tax their lives with forethought Of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars Waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in...
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Homily for Candlemas, February 2, 2014
Malachi 3.1-4 Candlemas, February 2, 2014 St. John, Port Moody May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Today, we turn a corner. When you are walking down a path that suddenly twists, you do not know what is ahead. The next landmark is hidden from your sight, around the bend. You can only trust the way and go forward knowing that your viewpoint will change.
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Homily – Around the Corner?
Homily by Rev. Stephanie Shepard (the merger was unanimously approved by both parishes)
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