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Ashes, palm frond and a cross on a purple background.

Two dinners make mark in Lent

The scripture passages of Ash Wednesday get us pondering various aspects of our faith, as does the liturgical invitation to observe a holy Lent. I ...
Two potted plants with gardening gloves and trowel.

Considering the lilies

I was asked recently if I had been on another pilgrimage, having done one a few years ago. My answer was no in terms of ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

Moving beyond fear to community

It had been an inspiring morning, pitching in with other volunteers to do odd jobs completing a community centre at a new housing project for ...
A snowy bench in a garden.

In winter, creation teaches us to rest

All the complicated details of the attiring and the disattiring are completed! A liquid moon moves gently among the long branches. Thus having prepared their ...
Bishop Andrew Asbil speaks.

It is the Lord who has brought us to this moment in time

O God, take our lips and speak through them. Take our minds and think through them. Take our hearts and fill them with love for ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

Opening ourselves to an interfaith world

We live in a world fractured by deep divisions involving wealth, race, political views, cultural values and, all too often, religious divisions. What can we ...
A line of folded paper houses

This year’s vestry motion and the human right to housing

The fact that Canada is in a housing crisis is indisputable. Across our diocese, rents are rising higher than inflation, with the average monthly rent ...
Judith Alltree standing in front of a ship in the Toronto harbour.

Hello? Can anyone hear me?

Look around you the next time you’re riding a bus or subway, or sitting in a waiting room at the dentist, doctor or your hairdresser. ...
A group of kids and youth practice lighting an Advent wreath.

Reconnect with the holy

“Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.” As a member of the central committee of the World Council of Churches, and our Canadian ...
Progressively bigger stacks of coins grow plant shoots.

What does it mean to be stewards of creation?

In the second chapter of Genesis, we read about how God fashions human beings from dust, places them in the Garden of Eden and gives ...
A green park.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude

“Now is the winter of our discontent,” wrote William Shakespeare in the famous opening line of his play, Richard III. He could just as well ...
A pair of hands holds a mound of soil with a green sprout.

Comfort, O comfort my people

What words or images come to mind when you think of the Incarnation? Holding a classical view, the following words might come to mind: infant, ...
A notepad its on a desk near a pen, laptop and phone

For all the saints

The arrival of November signals the beginning of a season of remembrance in our Church. On Nov. 1 – All Saints Day – we remember ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

A summer under strange skies

As Jerusalem fell in flame and death, or just after, as the population was scattered in a diaspora which has never really ended, and it ...
Shady trail through the woods.

Hiking church connects us to creation

On a blustery day in Lent, 17 Anglicans took a silent walk in the Duffins Creek watershed. It was the first hiking church event hosted ...
Waterfall in a forest.

I am an advocate for God’s creation

My climate advocacy began quite by accident in 2015. The Lord works in mysterious ways! At a meet-and-greet of Toastmasters in Richmond Hill, an attendee ...
A plastic bottle on a beach.

Lament starts grief journey

Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

Humour enriches our spiritual life

As soon as I see a new issue of Sojourners in my mailbox, my heart leaps. It’s an award-winning Christian magazine from the U.S., full ...
A notepad its on a desk near a pen, laptop and phone

Putting our faith into action

God is good! In the context of being faithful, courageous, wise and generous, how can we be influenced by the holy call for transformation, evolution ...
A table with items used in Indigenous ceremony.

Indigenous languages a sacred gift

The Right Relations Collaborative, the newest bishop’s committee, was birthed in 2022 when the Rev. Maria Ling began to wonder about the possibility of translating ...
Progressively bigger stacks of coins grow plant shoots.

Let’s bring back the offertory plate

Churches have experienced a noticeable and protracted change in giving patterns since the earliest days of the pandemic and beyond. Not only has there been ...
hands hold a candle next to a flyr that reads "talking about social justice"

Unhoused people must not be swept away

“But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor ...
A pair of hands hoving over the keyboard of a laptop

What do we truly treasure?

The silvery sheen is long gone, replaced by innumerable scratches and a dull finish, bearing the marks of decades of use. No matter. My late ...
A bin with containers of oatmeal sits on a metal cart.

Deepening poverty calls for advocacy

Over the past few months, 123 parishes in our diocese have passed this year’s social justice vestry motion, calling on the provincial government to double ...
Cartoon of two overlapping speech bubbles

We want to care for what we love

Roberto Chiotti is a member of the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care and is an advisor to Net Zero Churches, an Anglican-led organization in Canada ...
Two people walking up ahead on a foggy trail with trees on either side.

Why I went on a pilgrimage

I am not any great expert on pilgrimage. I don’t have any authoritative advice to give others on how to find the “best” pilgrimage. What ...
A notepad its on a desk near a pen, laptop and phone

Dare to be a priest

One of the joys of being a bishop is presiding at the ordinations of deacons and priests. Ordinations are full of joy and promise, and ...
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