Geste of the Great King

Out of the many things that had happened at the General Synod in Vancouver, one of the most meaningful for me was when our Primate Fred Hiltz offered an apology for the spiritual harm caused to the indigenous peoples of Canada.  It was historical and it is only the beginning for the much needed reconciliation to occur. If there is one thing I tend to keep close to my chest is that I am Metis.  I do so for many reasons.  It took me decades to gather enough information for my genealogy and to properly apply for my Metis citizenship.  Beyond the practical frustrations of having to "prove" I am Metis in a colonial way (your documents get submitted to the government to ensure that your not claiming Indian status as well as citizenship), I grew up with the mystery of knowing that I was a "half breed" or "half Indian" but was strongly encouraged by my mother to suppress this knowledge for fear for me (she was unsure if we were Metis or Cree).  There are some ...

Fear and honour, praise and bless, give thanks and adore the Lord God Almighty in Trinity and in Unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator of all. (From the Rnb XXI, 2) St. Francis of Assisi Our Church’s patron, St. Augustine, once said: “Hope has two beautiful daughters.   Their names are Anger and Courage.” Truly it seems like an odd thing to say about the Christian concept of hope.   Odd that that anger can be an important element of faith.   The reason why I mention this quote is you may have noticed that St. Paul begins his letter by affirming anger and I quote: “ Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger …” Paul allows for anger within the community with the condition to lay it to rest before you sleep.   However, later in his letter he states: “ Put away from you… anger …” in order to allow for the way of forgiveness, and God’s love.   You might have noticed that S. Paul seems to be talking about two diff...

Led Zeppelins track called "Dazed and Confused" is the perfect title to describe the mentality of the disciples who were struggling to make sense of the resurrection of Jesus. Today we hear about how John highlights the early struggles of the disciples of Jesus.   We hear that they are full of doubt.   For John, the theme of doubt is closely related to maturing in faith—they are, in fact, interrelated and necessary as we discover in the next act. So before we get to doubting Thomas, let us get to the unnamed disciples who locked themselves in an upper room out fear.   These disciples were naturally seized with fear because they were fugitives of faith from the Jewish authorities.    Despite, Mary’s proclamation about experiencing the risen Christ, these disciples kept themselves hidden as they knew shame, insult and even death were knocking at their door.   These disciples were full of confusion and, yes, serious doubt about the stories bei...

My brothers and sisters in our risen Christ, today we finally get to start celebrating.   We get to celebrate for fifty days!   Did you know that?   Easter Sunday is the first day of 50 days of celebration of our risen Lord!   It is a season, not just a day.   There is good reason for this.   Just like the apparent confusion about Jesus’ empty tomb by Mary, Peter and the beloved disciple, we need time to digest the gravity of the events that have just taken place from Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.   Thus, let us feast on today’s gospel. First we have Mary who discovers an empty tomb and to her terror she believes that the body of Jesus was taken away or stolen.   So she rushes off, in her confusion, to tell Peter and the beloved disciple the atrocity that has been committed.   Now you must understand, Peter and this other disciple were not sprinting to the tomb of Jesus because they believed something good was happ...

 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....

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...