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Geste of the Great King

"Geste of the Great King" is a reference to a prayer book that St. Francis of Assisi composed. In this prayer book, Francis contemplated the journey of Christ's paschal mystery. Christ is the hero, and St. Francis is the geste who through these prayers becomes a witness and closely connected to Christ mysterious death on the cross. Inspired by Christ and St. Francis, this blog is affectionately named after St. Francis' prayer book.

Br. Billy's Two Cents Worth: Learning to slow down during times of crisis

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March 27, 2020

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Welcome

February 17, 2017

Well this is my first blog in years. To catch everyone up, I used to write a blog called God's Geste . I have disbanded that blog quite some time ago. Recently, I have been inspired again to share meditations, reflections, and sermons about my personal faith journey of working and living in the inner city of Edmonton. As a pastoral associate in the inner city, I hear of people's struggles, pains, sufferings, successes, joy and beauty. These themes are the inspiration for my reflections. Thank you for taking the time read this. Peace and God's Joy, Billy

Safe Injection Sites and the Gospel of Harm Reduction

February 27, 2017

I guess it is not surprising that I would weigh in on the controversial project of the proposed safe injection sites in Edmonton. The response from people is a mixed bag of apples of course. Health care workers and even the Edmonton Police Service know and believe this could work and be successful. Then there are the living room critics who have shared some of the most inhumane comments I have read in various news articles. Clearly, as a people and a nation we are losing compassion for our brothers and sisters in God. Therefore, I suggest the Gospel of Harm Reduction as a means to understanding the issue. The Gospel of Harm Reduction is similar to that of the four Gospels in that forgiveness, reconciliation and love are at the centre of helping people who are hopeless (Matt. 18:21-22). The light in Gospel of Harm Reduction is not just about a safe place to inject and enabling, rather, it is about medical professionals, social workers and addiction counsellors who make themselv

My Father's House: Jesus and Purifying the Temple

March 05, 2018

My sisters and brothers in Christ, today’s gospel paints an unfriendly picture of Jesus. It is disturbing, and quite frankly contrasts the hippy folk hero that we often attribute to Christ. It is a gospel that is found in all four books of the New Testament and it signals the seriousness of Jesus’ mission. Jesus’ consuming zeal was a statement about the faith and about the religion. This a story about how Jesus begins his mission to reform a religion that was exploiting the common people who were seeking to find God. John makes a clever connection with Jesus coming to the temple for Passover. Jesus becomes the new Moses, who will lead the people to a new Passover, from death to life, to be truly redeemed. He must first purify the temple which was selling goods that were plundered and resold for sacrifice. It was stolen goods and clearly unworthy for an offering to God because it broke the Mosaic law, put the consumers into sin and, thus, these shady money changers did not bel