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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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Great to be sick at home, when you have a home

March 13, 2017

This week I have nothing exciting to blog about as I was down for the count. Knocked out by a flu and allergies, I had met my match and waved the white flag. As I was throwing back the Neo-citron chasers, and watching Netflix on my laptop, I realized that I was very blessed and lucky to have four walls around me, a roof over my head, and heat and electricity to keep me warm and in the lap of luxury until my temporary illness faded off into the sunset. It is nice to have a home to be sick in and the technology to have pizza delivered to my door while I type these thoughts out to you. For many who I serve at Inner City Pastoral Ministries, the same can not be said. I have many people who suffer way worse illnesses in places unfit to live in or they are homeless. Struggling to find warmth on the street outside in -20 to -30 weather is absurd when healthy, but to hide away in the tunnels of the LRT while sleeping on cold concrete while the body aches for c...

End Poverty: It will take effort and self awareness

February 24, 2017

On Wednesday I went to the End Poverty meeting at the Mustard Seed. Since I minister to the impoverished, homeless and addicted, I felt it necessary to be more informed about the city's strategy and the barriers that may inhibit success of this plan. First, there are some staggering facts that people in Edmonton and the rest Canada are going to have to face. One is that poverty is on the rise. One out of eight people in Edmonton live in poverty (that is below the poverty line)! There is less affordable housing options available with property values increasing 11 percent in one year! This market, obviously, is bringing in investors into poorer neighbourhoods to build new housing with the intent of making the highest profit possible. The cost of living is going up rapidly, wages stay stagnant, and new people are starting to enter the poverty world that I work in. The demographic is changing and End Poverty Edmonton is doing its part to get secure funding ...

Theological Musings on Palm Sunday and Holy Week

March 26, 2018

Palm Sunday sets the stage for the most magnificent Theo-drama found in the liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Great Easter Vigil. In the Palm Sunday Service, we are struck with Jesus riding the colt and people honoring the king of kings. The image depicts God is with us, among us and in solidarity with us. This passage certainly gives us enough to reflect on, but it does not stop there. The transition in the Palm Sunday liturgy goes from a celebrations into the Passion--a deep sense of remorse, of emptiness. Only after the Son of God gets wrongly convicted as a criminal and crucified, we begin to understand how God is not only with us, but God is for us. God is the only one who can truly bring life and our true purpose through the frightening and exposing reality of death. God by taking on the form of our frail humanness banishes our sins so that we can continue our love relationship with God now and within God's Kindgom....