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Four men playing cricket.

It’s more than a game

I write this from my home country of Sri Lanka, having watched a remarkable 50-over match between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo yesterday, where ...
A pair of young child's hands grasp the hand of an elderly person.

We can be worthy ancestors

In our last reflection, we began sketching a theology that could live beyond the human horizon; a faith spacious enough to welcome other forms of ...
Ashes, palm frond and a cross on a purple background.

Embrace simplicity this Lent

At one of the fall meetings of the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care, we discussed how we might connect our Lenten disciplines with our concern ...
A shepherd with a flock of sheep in a misty morning field.

Slowing down to save the world and ourselves

I’m attempting to follow a different kind of diet these days, one far more demanding than anything involving food: a diet of slowing down. After ...
A person holds a sign that says "homeless please help."

Ontario needs to address the crises

Today, Ontario faces a deepening crisis. Food bank use and homelessness are at record highs. Unsheltered homelessness is growing everywhere in the province. Too many ...
Headshots of Bishop Riscylla Shaw, Bishop Andrew Asbil and Bishop Kevin Robertson.

We all make up a strong net

This is the College of Bishops’ pastoral letter to vestries, to be read or circulated on the Sunday of the parish’s annual vestry meeting. Beloved ...
Red farm soil in the foreground with Israeli settler caravans just beyond a fence and settler homes in the distance.

Farm survives amid occupation

Daoud Nassar and his family live on a hill-top farm near Bethlehem called Tent of Nations. Their terraced land produces abundant harvests of olives, grapes ...
People sit around a table with food.

Families bear heaviest cost

What does it look like to live with constant fear and never have a peaceful night’s sleep? How do you play outside with your small ...
Jerusalem skyline with the words "Happening Now in Palestine"

Faith thrives despite hardship

On day seven of our pilgrimage – Sunday – our trustworthy driver Zuzu picked us up after breakfast to drive us to Ramallah, where we ...
Jerusalem skyline with the words "Happening Now in Palestine"

Hope shines in the darkness

What’s happening in Israel/Palestine? Admittedly, if I was asked this question before our pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my answer would have probably been vague ...
Jerusalem skyline with the words "Happening Now in Palestine"

Art exposes harsh realities

At Dar Al Kaima University in Bethlehem, resistance to the Occupation is played out in visual arts, film, performing arts and other creative fields of ...
A large wall topped with barbed wire next to a roadway.

Walls witness daily survival

The first time I saw a bullet wound was when I was a chaplain in a children’s hospital in Atlanta. It was on the arm ...
Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem with golden dome.

Power displaces prayer

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children ...
Jerusalem skyline with the words "Happening Now in Palestine"

Hope appears in perilous places

The first full day of the diocesan delegation’s visit to the Holy Land began, fittingly, on the Mount of Olives, where we visited the Princess ...
A hand holds a dry bean with seeds.

Finding hope in the deep dark of winter

With cold nights that fall fast and weeks of little sun, winter challenges us with her relentlessness. By February, many of us sigh a breath ...
Pilgrims walk on a winding, hilly trail with mountains ahead.

The caregiver pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is both a holy journey and a powerful metaphor. Whether metaphorical or physical, it takes the pilgrim away from their normal context, and ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

We can aspire to everyday holiness

The new year has begun, but 2026 is nonetheless young. There’s still time to make resolutions for the year ahead. How about this one: resolving ...
Progressively bigger stacks of coins grow plant shoots.

Beatitudes reveal our vision

The word “stewardship” often makes us think immediately about money, budgets and commitments. Those things matter, but if we begin there, we miss the heart ...
Group of people inside a cave.

Pilgrimage begins with a checkpoint

Bishop Asbil and a group of clergy and laity from the diocese travelled to the Holy Land in early December. Their reflections can all be ...
Bishop Andrew Asbil speaks at Synod.

May God give us the courage to meet the future with hope, dignity and love

Bishop Asbil delivered his Charge to Synod during the opening worship service.  O God, take our lips and speak through them. Take our minds and ...
A collection plate sits on an altar rail.

Stewardship and the posture of the heart

There’s a story about a wealthy businessperson who attended church one Sunday and heard a sermon about humility and generosity. Moved by the message, he ...
A frozen river or lake with frosty reeds and trees.

Vestry motion considers climate action

For many of us in the Diocese of Toronto, 2025 was the year the climate crisis came to our doorsteps. In late March, the ice ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

What might theology look like beyond us?

In the first article of this series, we explored what I called the anthropoterminal impulse: our habit of imagining that the story of the universe ...

On the incarnation

Imagine the scene, some nine months prior. A messenger comes to Mary, a strange greeting: hail, favoured one, the Lord is with you. And then ...

Allow God to love you

“Love came down at Christmas” by Christina Rosetti calls to mind childhood memories of our little country church, singing this anthem with the choir, Mom ...
Sanctuary Ring with the face of a lion hangs in a museum display case.

Safeguarding the sanctuary of our Church

This past May I visited Durham Cathedral as a pilgrim. I had just finished walking St. Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose Abbey to the Holy Island ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

‘Love your neighbour’ stretches our souls

Love your neighbour. It’s such an ingrained element of our faith, of our Christian DNA, that it’s all too easy to let it slide over ...