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When joy and hope are in short supply

It’s easy to become distracted by the conventional elements that mark the Christmas season, such as family gatherings, preparing meals and buying and receiving presents. ...
Group of children and young people gather around an Advent wreath. One holds a candle lighter to light a candle.

Jesus, the Perfect Gift

It’s always hard for me to find just the right Christmas card. As I search, sometimes I like a particular image on the cover, but ...

God’s unconditional love at Sherbourne and Dundas

This past summer, I had the opportunity of joining members of the FaithWorks allocations committee to tour the facilities at All Saints Church-Community Centre at ...
People gathered around a wheelbarrow at Common Table Farm.

Flourishing in the midst of crop failure

I’ve just wrapped up my fifth season farming at Common Table Farm. Each growing season has been entirely different, with its particular mix of joys ...
Bishop Andrew Asbil speaks from a lectern, with other faith leaders around him.

Without these sites, thousands of people will die

The following letter was signed by more than 30 faith leaders in Ontario, including Bishop Andrew Asbil of the Diocese of Toronto and Bishop Susan ...
hands hold a candle next to a flyr that reads "talking about social justice"

Overdose prevention sites save lives

For the past six years, the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site has operated just around the corner from St. Stephen in-the-Fields church in Toronto. It ...
A dog being caressed

Anglican priest helped creatures great and small

As I approached St. Peter’s Anglican Church, I automatically looked down so that I wouldn’t miss the step up into the vestibule. To my surprise, ...
A group of teens sits in a group holding bibles.

‘Bring the little children unto me’

I have been blessed in my ministry to have many opportunities to share Jesus’ faith with children and youth. This is only thanks to the ...
A monarch butterfly perched on a flower.

To hope and act with creation

The Season of Creation is an annual global ecumenical event in which Christians of different denominations around the world come together to pray and respond ...
A pair of hands holds a mound of soil with a green sprout.

Caring for creation is mission

Eloheme saw all creation and, behold! It was of exceeding goodness! (Genesis 1:31a) During the Season of Creation, Christians around the world celebrate and pray ...
People admire the cherry trees blossoming in High Park.

Holding the Earth in prayer

One week after Easter, I watched the total solar eclipse in Kingston, Ont. Perfect timing for Eastertide: chill darkness, indescribable light, death and resurrection embodied ...
Progressively bigger stacks of coins grow plant shoots.

Online worship is transforming ministry

Each year, Synod Council invites me to make a presentation on trends in giving and attendance in the diocese. (Synod Council is the representative body ...
Sign that says "Cucumber" in English and Farsi.

Farming for the cultivation of human beings

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” This intriguing statement comes to us ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

Becoming a Pentecost people

It may have passed us recently in terms of the church calendar, but it’s still worth recalling and dwelling on the incredible power and potential ...
The Rev. Michael Van Dusen is escorted by police out of the RBC branch.

Every investment is a moral decision

On the morning of April 9, nine people from Faith and Climate Action sat in a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in ...
Nadia Faida Ibocwa sorts seeds for planting and for sale at the Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania.

Why Refugee Sunday?

Earlier this year, Archbishop Linda Nicholls issued an invitation to dioceses and parishes across the country to mark a Refugee Sunday at some point in ...
A container ship

Not glamourous but always fulfilling

Over 90 per cent of the world’s trade is carried by sea, thanks to the nearly two million seafarers working globally to ensure that we ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

Hatred is not a Christian value

“I’m not used to this level of hatred.” The newspaper headline still haunts me, months after the fact. It referred to an episode early this ...
A fence installed outside St. Stephen in-the-Fields.

Parishes urge governments to advance human right to housing

Last summer, at an event held outside St. James Cathedral to raise awareness of homelessness in Toronto, passersby were invited to participate in an interactive ...
A person hiking on a trail in a forest.

Growing deeper in our love for God

In January our diocese began a journey that Bishop Andrew Asbil believes could be life-changing for us all. This journey will formally last from Epiphany ...
A group of priests lays hands on a person being ordained a priest.

Is there a future priest in your parish?

The Church needs priests. This statement is not only an historic truth, but also describes our current situation. One of the great privileges of my ...
Progressively bigger stacks of coins grow plant shoots.

Five financial stewardship quick fixes

With vestry meetings in the rear-view mirror now in most parishes across the diocese, it’s time to make good on your parish’s stewardship objectives. If ...
Several people holding hands in a circle in prayer.

Daily prayers for spiritual renewal

(1) Grant to me, O Lord, to know what is worth knowing, To love what is worth loving, To praise what delights you most, To ...
Several people holding hands in a circle in prayer.

Is spiritual renewal for everyone?

The bible is chock-full of stories of people whose lives were profoundly changed when they were encountered by God. A young boy asleep in the ...
A pair of hands holds a mound of soil with a green sprout.

Finding Easter hope for creation

When I lived in New York City, one of the churches I worked with had a music director from Australia. One Easter season, he shared ...
Sunrise looking out of a round opening in the rock.

Practicing resurrection

One of my favourite biblical stories is the account of the raising of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel. According to John, Jesus ...
The feet of someone walking on a forested path.

Place, creation and Holy Week

Holy Week is approaching. It is the time in our church year when we remember the final days of Jesus’ life. We immerse ourselves in ...
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