Then Jesus speaks one word: “Mary.” And there is instantaneous recognition. “Rabbouni,” Mary says. “Teacher.” How she must have wanted to embrace him. How she must have longed to draw close one more time. But Jesus says to Mary, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell my friends, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Two powerful lines stand out for me in this brief encounter. The first is the word “Mary.” For Mary, the hearing of her own name unlocks the identity of Jesus. She cannot recognize his physical form after he has risen from the dead, but as soon as he calls her by name, she knows him. Calling someone by name conveys knowledge, intimacy, relationship.

In the biblical narrative, when important things happen between God and God’s people, God gives a name. Abram was named Abraham, and Sarai became Sarah, when God made a covenant with them and their ancestors (Genesis 17). Jacob was named Israel after wrestling with the Lord (Genesis 32). Simon became Peter when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:17-18). Being known and called by name matters.

God calls each one of us by name too. “The Lord says, I have called you by name and you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) This is more than mere knowledge. It is an intimacy so deep that the hairs of our heads are all counted (Luke 12:7).

Like Mary Magdalene, we are invited into a living relationship with the Risen Jesus. In his new life, we have life, and we are called to rise into resurrection-living every day. When you hear John’s gospel again this Easter, imagine Jesus calling you by name.

The second set of words that stands out for me is the command of Jesus to Mary: “Go and tell.” Mary Magdalene is sometimes called the “Apostle to the Apostles” because she carried the news of the risen Lord to the others. We wonder how the resurrection would have ever become known without Mary’s witness. When she gets to the other disciples, she exclaims, “I have seen the Lord!” And from that moment, the planting of the gospel in the garden of the world had begun.

Just as we have imagined Jesus calling us by name, so too we hear the call to “go and tell” as directed to us. Like Mary, we are also apostles, those who are sent out to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. Easter propels out of the empty tomb and into the world, because those who have experienced and been changed by the Risen Jesus cannot help but tell others. We can never go back to the old ways of being. We strive to live, albeit imperfectly, into the fullness of light and life which Jesus has given through his life, death and resurrection, and all because of God’s perfect love for the world.

As we pack away our Lenten resolutions for another year, here is an Easter resolution: “Go and tell.” Be an evangelist, be an apostle, be a fellow gardener. The fourth century bishop and theologian, St. Augustine of Hippo, wrote: “A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to toe,” which is a reminder of how we ought to go and tell: full of joyous praise and enlivened by the greatest news we could share. Christ is Risen. Alleluia! I conclude with this prayer by Rosalind Brown, reminding us that we are called by name and then sent. I wish you a Happy Easter in the garden of the new creation.

Lord Jesus,
sometimes, like Mary,
we mistake you for the gardener of an old way of life:
this Eastertime, invite us to walk with you
in the garden of your new creation.
O gardener of the world,
may the leaves of the tree of life bring healing to the nations.
Like Mary, call us by name
and send us out to be instruments of your peace. Amen.

(Rosalind Brown, Prayers for Living, Durham: Sacristy Press, 2021).

The post The Risen Jesus calls us to go and tell! appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Beloved siblings in Christ,

“So they cast [the net], and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.” (John 21:6)

God’s goodness to the Diocese of Toronto amazes us every day. As your bishops, it is our joy and privilege to bear witness to the rich blessings, the varied gifts, the talents and skills, the sacrificial generosity, and the deep faithfulness of the Body of Christ in this diocese. Every parish and community, and the many devoted Anglicans who make them up, inspire us. It has been a natural response for us to “Lift Up Our Hearts” in a spirit of gratitude and encouragement in 2025.

The very first Call of our Cast the Net visioning process was a Season of Spiritual Renewal. We heard over and over again that our diocese is hungry to know and love God more deeply. During the season, over 40 workshops were offered, geared to priests, deacons, lay leaders and people desiring to deepen their spiritual lives, hone their leadership skills and discern God’s call. We held five “Lift Up Our Hearts” worship services: at St. James Cathedral; All Saints, Whitby; Trinity, Streetsville; St. James, Orillia; and St. Paul, Bloor Street. Large crowds gathered to worship, sing and pray for the renewal of the Church. Each one was a moment of grace and joy. The Season of Spiritual Renewal officially draws to a close with the end of the season of Epiphany 2026. Now a small group gathers to discern how we continue to grow disciples, enhance ministry and form servants of the Gospel, building on the foundation of what has been offered. Stay tuned!

The Netminders is a group of clergy, lay leaders and staff who continue to help parishes engage with the Cast the Net Calls, and to bring them to life in each community. Every parish was invited to choose three or four Calls from the 20 – those that reflect the ministry that they are a part of now or hope to be in the future – and to bring them to Synod for discussion and mutual encouragement. With each part of the Body engaging our common Calls in different ways, we move as one.

At the annual clergy conference last May at Trent University, our speaker, the Very Rev. David Monteith, Dean of Canterbury, offered reflections based on Jesus the Good Shepherd, an image that resonated with our clergy, particularly in this time of disruption and uncertainty. Our clergy work so hard at hauling in the nets, and we say to them now, to all our priests and deacons: we see you, and we are grateful to God for the ministry that you do. The annual clergy conference is always a wonderful opportunity to renew friendships and make new ones, and this year was no exception. It was also our joy to host smaller clergy retreat days in the spring and fall. These were opportunities for clergy to gather in deanery groups for Bible study, to hear from their bishop and archdeacons, to deepen fellowship with one another, and to share a meal. We want to respond to Call #12 to “continue and enhance support for all ordained people” as they engage in vital ministry.

Regarding shared ministry, our partnership with the Diocese of Brasilia, now entering our third year of seven, continues to flourish. Our motto, “Partners in Christ, united in mission” (Parceiros em Cristo, unidos na missão), is grounded in Calls #4 and #13 regarding our participation in God’s healing work and ministries of service in the world. Dr. Paulo Ueti from Brasilia and the Rev. Canon Dr. Christopher Brittain from Toronto offered an online bilingual study day on liberation theology for clergy and lay leaders of both dioceses last March. The Rev. Dr. Rodrigo Espiuca from Brasilia invited us to seek signs of resurrection in his keynote address at the Outreach Conference in October. Bishop Mauricio Andrade participated in our bishops’ Advent series in December. Looking ahead, we will welcome Dr. Paulo Ueti as our guest speaker at this year’s clergy conference, and we can’t wait to receive a delegation of Brazilian youth for the ReCharge Youth Retreat. We also hope a small group of Toronto Anglicans can visit Brasilia this year.

We are pleased to be moving ahead with our work on equity, decolonization, diversity and inclusion with the hiring of our new EDDI Advisor, Dilesha Stelmach. Dilesha brings a strong experiential and educational background in this ministry, centered around Ephesians 4: 4-6: “there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, Creator of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” With support from our HR department and the Bishop’s Committee on Intercultural Ministries, Dilesha is mindfully engaging, both practically and theologically, with our people – volunteers, staff, clergy – and with our infrastructure – policies, practices and the constitution and canons of the diocese. She will be helping us to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways as we build up the ministry of every single beloved child of God in our diocese.

To all our faithful people in so many vital ministries in our Church: thank you. To our hard-working churchwardens and treasurers, children and youth ministry workers, parish musicians, office administrators and envelope secretaries, altar guilds and custodians, ACW and outreach volunteers, and countless committee members: thank you. To our diocesan volunteers, members of Synod Council and participants on bishop’s committees: thank you. To the staff team at the Synod Office: thank you. Together we all make up the strong net of the Diocese of Toronto, and together, by following the ways of Jesus, we receive “more than we can ask or imagine” – so many blessings collected in our net that we are barely able to haul it in.

When the nightly news seems especially dire, when anxiety is pervasive and the future seems uncertain, God’s reign can feel far away. Yet our commitment to our baptismal covenant, our tenacious acts of faith, our persistent resistance to the powers of evil, our small but powerful acts of kindness towards our neighbours, and a deep, unshakable, unwavering belief that “the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Psalm 24) will carry us through troubled times.

Please pray for us, as we pray daily for you.

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In our Christmas story, love arrives directly in the kind hospitality of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, who embraces her with grace. Hope comes in the baby in the manger. Streams of blessings arrive with the whole company of the animals, visiting shepherds, singing angels, kneeling kings and gift-bearing Magi. The story quickly changes, however, as the young family must flee to a foreign land to protect the life of their son, leaving behind all family, friends, community networks and supports. We learn that having hope is an act of resistance. In this busy time, when it can be most inconvenient, how do you offer hospitality? How can you make space for unexpected visitors? If you are the unexpected visitor, how can you be a blessing to your hosts?

The times haven’t changed so much for many in our home communities who are suffering. We have newcomers, asylum seekers, those fleeing war, persecution or violence from other countries. We are also experiencing an increasing crisis in affordability for food and housing, access to medical care and steady employment opportunities. The months leading to Christmas can induce a lot of stress and anxiety as we wrestle with the commercial, religious and family expectations of peace, joy and goodwill layered upon us. Here is a different perspective: in many Indigenous cultures, there is the teaching that the legacy of our deeds is left to the seven generations to follow us. It makes a big difference to consider the long view, that the gifts we exchange this year can have a generational impact.

With small acts of courage, I invite you to experiment. Create a counterculture of care by helping someone new to have an opportunity. Listening with the ears of your heart, ask them what they really need this season. If you have the financial capacity to be generous, you might help with a utility bill, a car payment or money towards rent. If you wish to make a tangible gesture towards building relationships, give a night of free babysitting for overwhelmed parents or share a meal with someone who is lonely or visit a fellow parishioner or your neighbour who is in the hospital or nursing home, or meet new people while serving at the food bank. Go further and be bold to ask: why do we need food banks? In my sphere of influence, who can I work with to change current policies that lead to this need?

Consider the babies and young people in your neighbourhood – their futures and the influence they will have in the shape of the world to come. How can you participate in that?

When we choose to be self-emptying in response to the call to be generous, we will find the Christmas miracle: that our own hearts are expanding.

This past summer, while on my way to an Indigenous Network gathering, I visited a new congregation in Albuquerque, where I received the warmest welcome when I was feeling vulnerable. Their values of following and growing in Christ are joyfully practiced in receiving newcomers and giving regular learning workshops. The next day, while guiding me around the community, ministry team member Deacon Judith shared this teaching: Deja que Dios te ame / Allow God to love you.

When love came down at Christmas, it came for all of us. Yet some of us feel unlovable, unworthy, unforgiven. In our shared human brokenness, when grief gets in the way, allow God to love you. Our grief is, in some ways, a sign of our deep capacity to love. When isolation and loneliness loom large, we are not alone. Love is with us. The ancient Greek philosopher Seneca taught, “You should invite some to your table because they are deserving, others because they may come to deserve it.” There is a place for you at the table of our Lord. Will you make an extra place at your dinner table?

The reign of God is growing each time we act as the blessing hands of Christ. New disciples are made one at a time, through connection and shared purpose with those who are already followers of Christ. Somebody did that for you, so your gift of accompanying a person in their faith journey, their healing journey, in the long process of getting clean from addictions or learning to love again, yields an infinite return on investment.

When we allow God to really love us, something new happens, and we have the chance to release some of our rigid expectations of ourselves and of one another and see the Christ in each other.

This Christmas season, be humble or vulnerable enough to open your heart, your wallet, your dreams, as it is right and good to respond in love and generosity, in the name of Jesus.

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Some of the profound joys of my episcopal ministry are meeting, greeting (and eating!), listening and learning my way around the diocese and beyond. Now in my ninth year, I have been refreshed and energized by the blessing of taking a three-month sabbath leave last year.

Being on sabbath leave was about listening with the ears of my heart. Coming out of relationships built during our Sacred Circles in Canada and the Lambeth Conference, the first of three key chapters in my journey began in June 2024 with a pilgrimage of visiting and study to Aotearoa/New Zealand, where I was welcomed with such a generous hospitality that it changed my understanding of the word.

This important friendship and solidarity with the Māori peoples has been developed and strengthened over many years, with delegations of Māori coming to be honoured guests and speakers at our Sacred Circles, and numbers of Canadian Indigenous siblings traveling on pilgrimages of learning and sharing to Aotearoa/New Zealand.

In our road to self-determination in the Canadian Indigenous Anglican Church, our Māori siblings have encouraged us that though the shared settler-colonial/Indigenous way is hard, in the long run, it is more fruitful to walk together on this good road than to divide off and go separate ways, recognizing that collectively we form the Anglican Church of Canada.

In our connections together we begin to see the face of God. As we think about it, cross-cultural relationships are all around us. I traveled across the world to visit with, learn from and strengthen our bonds of friendship with our Māori siblings. It was a blessing beyond measure. It reminded me that listening is deeper than hearing. As part of the local reconciliation work that is taking place, there is a reclaiming of the Māori language as the spoken and written word. We know that language communicates culture, and that the worldview of a person is communicated through their words, phrases, dress, facial expressions and more, so when I was immersed in an environment where I didn’t speak the language, I found myself considering the art, craft and science of listening and learning.

This experience resonated for me. It was not the first time I found myself in an environment where I didn’t speak the language or know the culture. It called to mind my profound experience of engagement at the World Council of Churches gathering in Karlsruhe in 2022, where there were so many Christians gathered to worship, celebrate solidarity and work together for justice and peace, as our expression of faith in our triune God: Father, Son Jesus and Holy Spirit.

There was something important about not understanding the words yet being a participant in the sacred teaching: I knew when I was welcome, I could feel that I was included, and even without the obvious competencies, I was invited to be a part of the community. And that feeling makes the difference.

As the first witnesses in our Easter story, we hear about the women in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24: “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women, in returning from the empty tomb, told the eleven and all the rest, but they did not understand.” Over and over again, we hear about the blocked ears of the disciples and the crowds; how Jesus taught them, told them what to expect, healed them and worked miracles in front of their very eyes, yet they did not understand. Though it was surely a source of frustration, it was not an impediment to relationship. Jesus did not give up on them, even though they did not always believe or understand. They were included anyway, like we are, in the priesthood of all believers. To quote John Lewis, “If not us, then who?”

In our human experience, there is a long tradition of having the truth in plain sight and not being able to see it… yet we continue to play a role in the unfolding of the divine reality as agents in God’s creative process.

As I became more skilled at listening in ways that aligned with my other senses – with my eyes, the ears of my heart, my understanding – I came to a different place of peace: watching the learning take place before my eyes, knowing that not all of it was for me or about me, and observing the constraints of listening in a familiar language, which often leads me to make assumptions that limit possibility. That was liberating, actually.

This Eastertide and always, I am giving thanks to God for you, for your faithful witness, for your strength, courage and wisdom as we work together, building relationships of hope, trust and unity. We are in changing and challenging times, in our world and in our Church. We are the hands of the risen Christ: let us always look for hope, stepping into our call to love like Jesus, to be generous, creative and kind.

Peace and love!

The post This Eastertide, I give thanks to God for you appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Beloved siblings in Christ,

In this Season of Spiritual Renewal, the Diocese of Toronto is exhibiting a burgeoning health and vitality that inspires us daily. To God be the glory! As your bishops, as we travel around to visit our parishes, we have witnessed the Holy Spirit engaging in marvelous ways with people, groups and ministries right across this diocese – from Mississauga to Minden, from Cobourg to Collingwood. The Season of Spiritual Renewal, this invitation to spiritual growth, has been enthusiastically received in so many ways, including the sharing of prayer resources, participation in online workshops and our bishops’ Advent study online. We are also looking forward to #LiveLent: God’s Story, Our Story, a daily Lenten resource with a helpful guide for small group use.

We are excited that the next phase in this Season of Spiritual Renewal is called “Lift Up Our Hearts.” Over the coming year, large worship services will take place across the diocese on five Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. Each celebration of the Eucharist will feature excellent music, moving testimony and preachers from within our own diocese, each with their own unique approach to spiritual renewal. We hope you will plan to join us for one or more of these marvelous gatherings. Come on your own, bring a friend or hire a bus! We will see you there:

• March 22 – St. James Cathedral (preacher: the Rev. Molly Finlay)
• March 29 – Trinity Church, Streetsville (preacher: the Rev. Canon Stephanie Douglas)
• May 31 – All Saints, Whitby (preacher: the Rev. Gerlyn Henry)
• September 27 – St. James, Orillia (preacher: the Rev. Dr. Rob Hurkmans)
• October 25 – St. Paul’s, Bloor Street (preacher: the Rev. Dr. Alvardo Adderley)

The call to spiritual renewal, however, was just the first of 20 Calls articulated in the Cast the Net strategic vision adopted by Synod and the diocese in 2023. Over the coming year, you will hear us repeatedly emphasising the need for each congregation to review and consider all of the 20 Calls and then choose which two or three your parish will focus on. As you gather today for Vestry, this could be the perfect opportunity to start considering the question. A small group – the Netminders – has prepared resources to help you, which you can find on the Cast the Net web page on the diocese’s website, www.toronto.anglican.ca. While it’s important to remember that no congregation could possibly answer all 20 Calls, we strongly believe that each congregation can consider two or three. Leading up to our diocesan Synod in November, we hope that every parish will be able to identify which of the Calls they are living into.

We are pleased to welcome our new Executive Director, Varun Balendra, ODT. A familiar face around the diocese, Varun has served in many volunteer capacities over the years, and we look forward to working together in this new capacity. By the time of our diocesan Synod on Friday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 8, we expect that we will be introducing a new Secretary of Synod and a new full-time Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor, whose primary focus areas will be supporting the work of the Anti-Bias, Anti-Racism (ABAR) and other DEI training, and supporting individuals and parishes to grow, build community, educate and engage.

Some other new faces at Synod may include guests from the Diocese of Brasilia. This past June, at the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection in the city of Brasilia, the two diocesan bishops of Brasilia and Toronto signed the covenant that brings our two dioceses into a companion relationship. Since the signing of our agreement, a small representative group from each diocese has been meeting monthly – in both Portuguese and English – to pray together and to plan events. For example, clergy from both dioceses will gather online for a joint study day on liberation theology on March 25. In the fall, a youth delegation from Brasilia will join our own youth at the Re-Charge youth retreat at Muskoka Woods camp. And we anticipate sending a delegation from Toronto to Brasilia in 2026. We have even developed a shared logo for our relationship that combines elements of each of our own logos: our Diocese of Toronto dove springing from their Ipe Tree. You can expect to hear more about this companion partnership as we enter into the second year of it.

Closer to home, the partnerships within our own diocese continue to flourish. When we speak of casting the net, we are referring to the supportive, creative and collaborative ministry that occurs in each deanery and regionalization, between parishes and congregations, amongst church neighbours and colleagues. We are grateful to our hardworking and devout clergy and our dedicated lay leaders, especially churchwardens, treasurers, administrators, musicians and the countless church staff and parish volunteers who are Christ’s hands and feet of ministry in our communities. We are so grateful for all of your faithful work in our parishes and beyond.

We have embarked on a feasibility study to discern if this is the right time for the diocese to conduct a major financial campaign. Over the next six months, M&M International, a Toronto-based fundraising firm, will listen to parishes large and small, soliciting feedback on a case for support. It is proposed that if a campaign does go forward, the majority of funds raised will remain in the parishes, with a smaller portion supporting the 20 Calls at the diocesan level. Your feedback and commitment will make the difference as we look into this additional way of working together.

Lastly, we want to encourage each Vestry meeting to consider this year’s social justice motion: “Protecting and Expanding Harm Reduction in Ontario.” The Church has a role to play in calling on government for responsible actions in caring for our most vulnerable neighbours, to ensure life-saving protections for those experiencing addictions and other challenges. Please consider how your parish can speak up, and out, for those who require advocacy. As we anticipate going to the polls in the coming year – federally and provincially – let us remember our baptismal promises as we cast our ballots, choosing candidates who align with our values. And let us pray for them.

For it is in praying that we are drawn ever deeper into relationship with the Triune God and become more attentive to the will of our Heavenly Creator. In this Season of Spiritual Renewal, we ask every reader of this letter to commit more deeply to a life of prayer, that it may infuse your every day with Grace as you witness to the Love of Christ in your life and to the world.

In your prayers, please pray for all three of us, your College of Bishops, both in your personal daily devotions as well as your parish’s weekly intercessions. Know that we are praying for you too, giving thanks for our common life together across our wonderful diocesan family.

Yours faithfully in Christ Jesus,

Bishop Andrew Asbil
Bishop Riscylla Shaw
Bishop Kevin Robertson

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At other times, I really like the message inside the card, but the image on the front isn’t quite right. It’s either too secular (Santa Claus and reindeer) or it depicts the image of the Magi presenting their gifts at the manger, which would make it more of an Epiphany card than a Christmas card. The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (which has recently been renamed Alongside Hope) produces beautiful Christmas cards every year. They are a great option, as the sale of them supports vital international work by our Church, but lots of other people use them too.

For me, the elusive search for just the right Christmas card points to a greater reality about Christmas. That is, many of us try to get Christmas just right, and that can be stressful! We go searching for a tree that is not too short and stubby, but also not too tall to fit through the door; we scour the stores and internet for the perfect gift for a loved one; we try to strike the right balance of time with various family members; we keep a watchful eye on the oven to get the ideal tenderness of the turkey on Christmas Day. There is somehow this expectation each year that Christmas is going to be just right.

In the many pressures of this season, it helps me to remember that the first Christmas wasn’t perfect either – far from it. So many elements of this story are unplanned. Luke, in his gospel, tells us that Mary and Joseph were far away from their home in Nazareth. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was over 100 km – a walk of several days for a very pregnant Mary! After arriving in Bethlehem for the required census, the couple searched for an inn that could house them. But there was no room in the inn, so their baby was born in a stable instead. Those first on the scene after the birth were not family members and friends, but shepherds, who had been keeping watch over their flocks out in the fields.

None of this was ideal for Mary and Joseph, I am sure. And yet, Jesus came. Into the messiness of the world, and in timing that was far from ideal, Jesus came. For me, this is the reassurance of Christmas. Our celebrations are never perfect, but the gift of Jesus is always perfect. For “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17) and we rejoice that this perfect gift becomes for us the “pioneer and perfecter of our own faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The abundant life we receive in Christ is the very best gift we could be given and is the source of our joy this and every Christmas. Even if nothing else turns out quite right, we take hold of this truth that Jesus is God’s amazing gift of salvation for the whole world.

Many authors over the centuries have tried to capture this sense that the birth of Jesus cuts through the mundaneness and disorder of our world and our lives. Whether we are ready for it or not, Christ comes. One of my favourite expressions of this is from Madeline L’Engle in her poem “First Coming”:

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.

He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, and touch our pain,
He came with love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

As we prepare to celebrate once again the birth in time of the timeless Son of God, may we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. And in our striving to make everything perfect, may we instead rest in the joy of God’s perfect gift. Merry Christmas!

The post Jesus, the Perfect Gift appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

When Jesus comes to the tomb, he weeps the tears of a friend, deeply grieving. And then he declares that Lazarus will live again because, as Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”

Next, Jesus stands before the tomb and commands, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man emerges from the tomb very much alive but still bound by his burial clothes.

One of the reasons this story of the raising of Lazarus is so important is because it points to the resurrection of Jesus himself. Some details in the two stories are strikingly similar: a tomb sealed with a stone just outside Jerusalem, several days between death and the raising from death, grave clothes, astonished witnesses, a new life where there had been only death. The raising of Lazarus foreshadows the resurrection of Jesus.

One of the other key similarities is that those standing by are invited to participate in the new reality. In the case of Lazarus, Jesus orders the bystanders, “Unbind him and let him go.” Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, but he wants others to help set the man free for his new life.

After the resurrection of Jesus in John’s gospel, those who encounter the risen Jesus are also invited in. To Mary Magdalene, Jesus tells her to go and tell the others. To the other disciples, Jesus tells them to receive the Holy Spirit and to forgive. To Thomas, Jesus invites him to reach out, touch and believe. To Simon Peter, the risen Jesus shares breakfast and commands him to feed his lambs and tend his sheep. The response to the resurrection is to be invited into it – to practice resurrection as we seek to be more and more like Jesus.

How do we do that? How do we practice resurrection? Well, first of all, by trying to take in the enormity of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. All the broken promises, lost opportunities, destructive ways and old animosities are washed away as we are baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Exsultet, that ancient hymn proclaimed at the Easter Vigil, describes the effect of Jesus’ resurrection: “The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy. Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth, and we are reconciled with God!” The resurrection of Jesus turns the world upside down and sets it aright.

But secondly, and as a result of this realization that the world has changed forever through Jesus’ resurrection, we recommit ourselves to live as his followers. That means doing as he did: bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour. (Luke 4:18) To practice resurrection means to clothe ourselves in the risen Jesus, and that means seeking to change ourselves and the world through this power.

Thirdly, we practice resurrection by practicing joy. We cannot receive this amazing gift of new life in Christ without it changing the way we see ourselves, one another and our world. Christ has won the victory over sin and death. In this, we rejoice!

Many theologians and hymn-writers have expressed this joy of resurrection through the centuries. One of my favourites is St. John of Damascus (translated by John Mason Neale). It is the final verse of one of the most beloved Easter hymns:

“Now let the heavens be joyful; let earth her song begin!
The round world keep high triumph, and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes of gladness blend.
For Christ the Lord is risen, our joy that hath no end!”

This Easter, may our practice of resurrection draw us closer to the risen Jesus and one another. Christ is risen, so we are risen. Alleluia!

The post Practicing resurrection appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Dear friends,

Followers of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, serve the world God loves.

Simple and elegant. These few words capture the essence of a vision that we have been pursuing and discerning throughout the Cast the Net process, a visioning exercise that began while we were still in pandemic mode. Over the course of several consultations, we listened to one another, and for the leading of the Holy Spirit. With time, sifting and testing, 20 Calls were revealed at Synod, which were supported with enthusiasm. A final version of the Calls will be received by Synod Council in February. We continue to be grateful to the steering committee and consultants, who have led our work together over the past 18 months. And now the work begins to incorporate these Calls into the life and ministry of the whole diocese. This is the time for parishes large and small, missions, ministries, committees and Synod Council to animate the Calls in our own contexts. It is almost impossible for one community to embrace all 20, but by serving together from Mississauga to Brighton, Midland to Minden, and all points in between, we can!

We begin this journey with a Season of Spiritual Renewal. We embrace the Call to deepen our walk together as communities by immersing ourselves in prayer, reading and reflection on scripture, worship and sharing our stories of faith with one another. As we promised in our baptism: we will “continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” The season will be supported by the Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen, members of a steering committee and the College of Bishops. We hope that you will be able to join us for diocesan worship events, learning opportunities, programs and fellowship that entice us all to walk more closely in the footsteps of Jesus.

We are delighted to reach across our borders to deepen our friendship with the Diocese of Brasilia. Brasilia is a relatively new diocese, birthed in 1985, with a small number of parishes, missions and ministries. We were delighted to welcome their Bishop Mauricio Andrade and his wife Sandra to our diocesan Synod in November. We will learn from, grow with and support one another as we strive to serve Christ in our unique circumstances. And we look forward to opportunities for delegations of our clergy and laity to visit back and forth, both in-person and online, as we deepen our affection for one another.

We are proud of and amazed at the ministry taking place across our diocese, especially in the areas of youth, ecumenism, creation care, diversity and faith formation. We encourage you to consider this year’s diocesan social justice motion on housing, and to prayerfully support our Church’s advocacy for every person’s right to adequate shelter. We are convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us and challenging us to bravely find new ways to work and worship together, to increase in courage, to share our passion for the Good News of Jesus, and to seek and find new meaning as followers of Christ in the 21st century, where we are confronted with emerging economic and social challenges. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to all who make up our dynamic community of faith – lay people, deacons, priests – all helping to give a glimpse of the Reign of God as it unfolds in our midst.

As your bishops, we know the joy and privilege of serving the Church in this diocese. We thank all those who have joined us in giving leadership over the past year. We have recently celebrated one year of our new diocesan leadership model, and we are immensely grateful to our new territorial archdeacons and canon administrator for stepping into their roles so effectively and with such faithfulness. The five of them have helped to ease the bishops’ administrative load, allowing us to focus on some of the other work to which we have been called and ordained.

Whether your work is changing this year, whether you are stepping out of your role at this vestry meeting, or stepping into a new ministry, or continuing on in your good work, please know that we are here to support you in every way we can. We want to encourage you in gospel ministry, in the initiatives and relationships that you are building as you cast your nets ever wider in a world that is hungry for Christ – for meaning, connection and belonging.

Our mission statement is simple and elegant. And it invites us, like the dismissal at the close of the Eucharist, to action. We invite you to incorporate these words in your liturgies on Sunday morning: Followers of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, serve the world God loves. Thanks be to God!

Yours faithfully in Christ Jesus,

Bishop Andrew Asbil
Bishop Riscylla Shaw
Bishop Kevin Robertson

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Stands on the Rock (Peter) and the other followers of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) were all gathered there. (First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament) And so we are gathered here. It is so, so, so good to finally be gathered together in one place. It is so good to be in a familiar space that we have not occupied since 2019. It is so good to hear the buzz and chatter of Anglicans gathering in the crush court and gathering around tables and meeting new friends and seeing old friends. It is wonderful to hear Anglicans singing again in harmony and in unison, and not in muffled, semi-muted tones online.

It is wonderful to be able to gather. Chaplains from independent schools, from hospitals, lay readers, lay leaders, deacons, priests, leaders in parishes large and small, from the four corners of this diocese, from the Kawarthas to Mississauga, from Penetanguishene to Brighton. To be able to be in this space. We have longed to be in each other’s presence. And in the name of Jesus Christ, welcome.

Bienvenue, bienvenida, bienvenido, ben vindos, Tawow, huānyíng. All of the languages of the planet of the Earth are also gathered in this place. We may be confined by the borders of a diocese, but we actually come from all over the planet. And we bring our unique gifts, our unique customs, our unique languages and perspectives, and we gather on this traditional land with deep humility, always conscious, as we heard in the land acknowledgement just a few minutes ago, of how our colonial ways of the past – and our colonial ways that persist in the present – continue to bring harm and alienation and hurt to so many. And that we are summoned as collections of communities, together in this diocese, to sow harmony and reconciliation in the name of Jesus Christ.

We come as parishes, some with very long memories – 1797, St. James Cathedral – and some that are just getting started – Church of the Holy Wisdom, 2021. And all the dates in between. One of the great joys of being a bishop is visiting different communities every Sunday and to mark important anniversaries in the life of the community. It’s wonderful to go into a community celebrating an anniversary and to hear the stories of the past and the present. To hear from members of the community who will tell you that they were there for the first service in a portable or in somebody’s home. Or that they are linked to a family that traces its roots all the way back to the beginning of a parish that streams into the past many, many generations. Or those who are just starting to belong to a community, who speak glowingly about how their lives are being transformed, and how their lives are being literally saved by their faith.

When I go to celebrate anniversaries, an image that I like to place in the midst of a community is to have them imagine if the walls of your church could speak. The stories that they might tell. Imagine if the pews and the kneelers could speak of the prayers that had been uttered heavenward. Or collecting all of the clergy who in time, in their own way, have broken open the Word, have joined hands in matrimony, buried the dead, poured water on baptism and broken bread and poured out wine and invited a community to step into a sacramental way of living. Imagine the deacons, who have, in their own ways, pointed and proclaimed the gospel and uttered in God’s name the invitation to serve the most vulnerable among us. And lay leaders and lay members who in their everyday life say yes to the Kingdom and the realm of God by living out their baptismal covenant. We bring them with us in this space. The communities of which you are a part are here at this Synod with you and with us.

Standing on the beach

In his book Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works, James Smith says, “We live into the stories that absorb us. We become the characters that captivate us. Then our actions become kind of a script. Unconsciously we are drawn in through our imagination.” One of the scripts that has captured our imagination over the last 15 months or so is chapter 21 of the Gospel of John. A perfect reading that invites us through a time of COVID to stand on a new threshold on the beach, looking to the future. Of a community that is drawn by God in Jesus, resurrected to new life, that summons us into a future. And so I base this charge back in this same text and using the First Nations version.

In its telling, it brings the story to life with new imagery. Creator Sets Free revealed himself by the Lake of the Circle of Nations, and by the lake also known as the Rolling Waters, this way. In the text, we are told that not all of the disciples were present; only seven, in fact, are named. Some are missing. In the same way, when we gather, we are conscious that there are some members of this Synod who have been longtime members of Synod who are missing, who are not with us. Some who have died, some who have moved on, some who have let go. And we are conscious of the contribution that they have brought to the wider community of Anglicans in this diocese.

In the same way, congregations that have made choices since our last gathering in person, some to close and some to amalgamate to create something new. And we remember that their presence is missed in this room. St. James, Lisle. St. John, Harwood. St. Mark, Warsaw. St. Luke, Dixie South. St. Ninian, St. John the Divine, St. Peter, Scarborough to become Church of the Holy Wisdom. Christ Church, Norwood. Christ Church, Omemee. St. Stephen, Maple. St. Leonard. We remember the faithful witness of gathered communities over a stretch of time that have contributed to the life in their context and to our wider lives, too.

Stands on the Rock (Peter) says, “I’m going fishing.” And the others said, “We’ll go with you.” And they pushed their canoe onto the lake. And they worked all night long under the light of the moon and the stars. And they threw their nets, and they gathered them in. Empty.

We know something of the experience of feeling empty over the last three years of COVID, of emptying out our buildings, of emptying out the streets in our communities, of emptying out our places of employment, of emptying out our schools, of emptying out our stores. We have lived the length of time on empty.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the joy of celebrating a new ministry, the beginning of a new ministry at St. Matthew, Oriole. It was a wonderful event for the whole community and for Sherri Goliski. At the end of the service, a few of us were standing in the worship space, and I looked down on the ground and there on the carpet was an arrow. And there was another one over here and another one over there, a reminder of what it took to take direction to get to the table in the three-year period. Sherri said, “You know, we lifted the tape from that arrow. But the sun faded the rest of the carpet.” And it has left an indelible stamp in the carpet itself, in the same way that the experience has left an indelible mark on us, the likes of which we haven’t yet fully comprehended.

Casting our net

Cast your net on the other side, the right side. We cast our net in COVID in new and creative ways. When the churches emptied out, we went online and we tried new skills, as awkward as we could, used our best audio-visual skills, tried to sound like CBC – that didn’t work. Tried other narrators – that didn’t work, either. We learned to visit in a parking lot or in a park or in somebody’s front yard. We learned to deal with the horrors and the hurt of losing so many people, especially in long-term care homes. And we deal with the long-term legacy that has affected our mental health, especially amongst our young and our elderly, and the effects of long-term COVID. We still have not wrestled with all that has happened to us, and yet we also cast the net, I would say, by being more honest with each other. More vulnerable with each other. Of having different kinds of conversations at clericus. Different kinds of conversations at parish council. Different kinds of conversations amongst friends and family and around the table of the College of Bishops.

Suddenly you can imagine that net being filled with 153 fish. And it is John who says, “It is the Lord.”

There have been moments in the last three years when we, as communities large and small, wondered if COVID would ever end. And there have been moments when, if you’re anything like me, running on empty, still having the sense that somehow it is God’s voice that whispers to us again and again: “Peace. Be still and know. It is the Lord.”

It is the Lord who has brought us to this moment in time. We have not done this all on our own. It is Jesus who has summoned us and the Holy Spirit who has bound us together. As the disciples were hauling in 153 fish, the Diocese of Toronto has been hauling in 202 congregations up back onto the beach to dry out. Like Peter, many of us have felt sodden. Burned out, tired, crackly. We have felt so tired as members of the laity, as wardens, as treasurers, as clergy, who have held the thing together seemingly forever. And now as we come back onto the beach, we sort through our congregations, and some of them are smaller and some of them are the same size and some of at them are bigger, praise God. And some people are missing, but new people are coming. And it is specifically in this moment that we have asked ourselves to enter into a visioning process.

Casting visions

The other bishops will tell you, as I tell you, that over the last number of months as we go through and we visit parishes, there is a lightness and a gladness that is slowly but surely beginning to return. I don’t think we’ve quite figured out the Peace yet. Never really sure what we do now with the Peace. Do we shake hands? Do we keep bowing? Do we hug? It’s a little like adolescents at the school dance. Haven’t quite figured it out. It takes a while to get your land legs back.

But it’s the perfect time, as a whole community, to cast visions and seek how God is calling us. And we are so grateful to all of our consultants. To Canon Ian Alexander, to Dean Peter Elliott, to Dr. Anita Gittens, ODT. To Dr. Kathleen Johnson and to our steering committee, so wonderfully led by the Rev. Dr. Alison Falby and Dave Toycen, ODT.

Listening takes discipline. It’s not easy to listen. In August of 1993, our then-primate, Archbishop Michael Peers, was invited to the National Native Convocation in Minaki. And he was given really strict instructions to listen to the stories and the legacy of hurt and abuse at Residential Schools. He would be given an opportunity to speak at the end. And Archbishop Michael once said that was one of the most helpful instructions to be given. Because when we think we’re listening, we’re actually formulating our response. But when we allow ourselves to listen, we are absorbed into the telling. And the absorption in the telling would lead to an apology that would set a course for all of us as we move into the future, knowing that we are agents of change and reconciliation.

In the same way as you have participated in this listening process with us, on this journey of casting the net, we bring now images and a report of what it is that has been heard, in the same way that Peter in our reading was invited into a listening process with Jesus after breakfast. I find it wonderful, the way they tell the story. The Creator Sets Free used the family name that was given to him, One Who Hears (Simon). One Who Hears. Those who have ears, hear. Seven times it appears in the gospels, eight times in the Book of Revelation. When we have ears, hear. Sometimes you have to be asked not once, not twice, but three times. Tend. Feed. Feed.

Some of us in this room are parts of communities who have heard the hunger pangs in our communities. Like St. Paul on-the-Hill in Pickering that started a food bank in 1990 and watch the use of that food bank go up exponentially – 7,800 members in 2012, 14,000 in 2021, over 20,000 in 2022. One hundred families, 150 seniors in Flemington Park enjoy free fresh produce that is grown at the Common Table Farm at Our Saviour in Don Mills. Just two examples of communities in the diocese who hear the hunger pangs in their communities and respond with love. Love equals food, food equals love. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?

It takes a while for One Who Hears, Peter, Stands on the Rock, to read and to listen between the lines. Some would say, as theologians, that we go back to that moment before the crucifixion, when Peter would deny Jesus three times. It is a sewing and amending of an old relationship and a moment of forgiveness. Yup. But I like the interpretation of Dr. Caroline Lewis, who says it’s a waking-up moment for Peter to understand who he really is, what his identity is in the resurrected Lord, as a follower and as a disciple. It’s Jesus saying, “Peter, it’s your turn to stand on the rock.”

Spiritual renewal

The same is asked of us. It’s one thing for us to say to our circle of family and friends, “I go to church.” It’s another to say to a circle of family and friends, “I’m really involved at a church. I go to this thing called Synod. How do you spell that?” It’s quite another thing to say, “I am a follower of Jesus. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.”

We heard that again and again and again in this listening process: a deep desire that we deepen our spiritual renewal and our call to discipleship. And so as we stand on the beach in the Diocese of Toronto, an invitation to step into a season of renewal. A season when we come together in parishes and regional groups, in small groups and large groups, to pray, to be reconciled, to learn, to teach, to worship, to sing, in small groups and large groups. To be taught, to hear teachers from outside the diocese, within the diocese. To be tended and fed in our souls. And we have asked the Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Paulsen to be the coordinator of this Season of Renewal, and we will be forming a steering committee to get us started so that we begin after this Synod that takes us through to 2025.

We walked the road with Jesus. What you will hear in the presentation, I hope, from those who have been doing the listening process, a simplified little format that you can put in your hand, a handheld device almost like a compass, that reminds us of how we find our way home. In simple terms that remind us we are disciples of Jesus Christ, whose good news is the joy and the challenge at the heart of our common life. And we want to be able to hear from you your feedback and also to embrace this as we go.

Children & youth

We heard through our listening, or at least I did, a need and a deep desire to bolster our ministry amongst children and youth. As we change and orient ourselves again with areas and territories to make sure that the budget that we have for youth ministry in each of the areas is embedded in our budget for the diocese. To be able to encourage the creative use of resources like the Ignite program in Scarborough Deanery, where 13 parishes come to work together to pray and to bolster and to support our youth ministry. There are youth members in the room with us. Can I hear an Amen?

Creation care

What a wonderful telling in this gospel version. Piercing through the reading, you can hear creation, under the light of the moon and the stars. The sounds of the water lapping in the background, the sounds of water birds heard in the distance, the feeling of the warmth of the sun as it rises. A reminder to us that all that we do needs to bring creation not in the background, but into the foreground of everything that we do as servants of Christ. To take a page from the Gospel of Mark that says, “Proclaim good news to the whole of creation.” Not just to two-legged mammals, but the whole of creation, every creature, land, sea, water. To proclaim good news to watershed, to creeks, to lakes, to rivers, to valleys, to forests. For the sake of life, and for the seventh generation to come.

Anti-racism and addressing bias

I am grateful to Bishop Kevin, who has served as our Diversity Officer these last two years, and for the Bishop’s Committee on Intercultural Communities. And for those who have worked with Co: Culture Collective in designing a way and strategy forward in how we address issues of racism and bias in our community. And we will be working alongside Bishop Riscylla, who takes over as Diversity Officer, and also to hire a part-time staff person with the skills to help us enflesh this new strategy. It’s a small step, but it will grow as we strengthen together.

Planting new seeds and dreams

For 10 years, Dave Krause served as a consultant in Congregational Development, and now he becomes our Diocesan Missioner, working alongside the College of Bishops as well as Congregational Development in helping us to imagine new communities, new ways of gathering in worship, new ways of working in regions, new ways that God is calling us to plant seedlings of new communities that brings laughter, joy and possibility. Just ask Sarah.

Property and ministry

We’re delighted that Mac Moreau has come on as our director of Property Resources, and working with our executive director, Canon Rob Saffrey and the members of the Property Committee, putting into flesh the desires of Synod in being able to develop and redevelop our church properties for ministry on the frontline, whether that is housing or other developments that we need to address the issues that face us and challenge us as communities.

Brasilia

Later today you will be introduced to the bishop of the Diocese of Brasilia, Bishop Mauricio. He and I have been having conversations online about deepening our relationship and forming a companionship between our two dioceses. His flight was delayed because of the storm in Sao Paulo. He arrived at 5:35 this morning, didn’t sleep a wink on the plane. But he will be offering a workshop later today, and our guest speaker tonight. I’m looking very much forward to a deepening relationship together. We have one of the largest Lusophone communities in the world. And an opportunity for us to plant new community here in the Diocese of Toronto.

Letting go

“When you get older, someone else is going to dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Now I don’t know about you, but I understand that Jesus was telling Peter the death by which he would die. But I hear it a different way. It’s very difficult to give away and to let go. But to be a Good Shepherd and a good leader, you need to learn the art of giving it away in order to include and invite different perspectives, different points of view. To expand our episcopal leadership by having fewer bishops and engaging archdeacons and a canon administrator and to invite our regional deans to participate at a deeper level and to invite the whole community of every Anglican church in this diocese to learn the art of what it means to let go, to give permission and to invite others to take on. That’s not just for bishops to do, or archdeacons or regional deans. That’s for clergy, and it’s for matriarchs and for patriarchs, too. To make room. And there are going to be things that will happen in your parish that you probably won’t like very much. And it might make you feel a little uncomfortable, and you may learn a thing or two. And that’s OK.

As I’ve said many times before, Meister Eckhart, the long-ago mystic, said the soul grows by subtraction, not by addition. It is in letting go and encouraging others to become part of that the realm of God is made known in our midst.

Capital campaign

And one more thing that almost sends chills, or helps us break into hives as Anglicans, is this notion. When I imagine standing on this beach looking into the future, in helping to sustain ministry and to make the kinds of turns and changes that we need to, to help the most vulnerable communities among us and to strengthen the strongest, we need to engage in a capital campaign. That landed well. I know that’s hard, and I know asking for money is not an easy thing for Anglicans. But I also know that we continue to benefit from Our Faith-Our Hope. We are still able to seed vital ministry because of the last campaign. And this one is to be designed so that most of the funding remains in parishes to help at the frontline. I would invite you to engage in a feasibility study near the end of 2024 to imagine how God is calling us to build resources for ministry into the future.

Deep gratitude

But I must say, more than anything, I feel deep, deep, deep gratitude for being here in this space with you. And I am grateful for all those who have worked with me over these last number of years, especially the College of Bishops. To my colleagues Riscylla and Kevin, for your deep gifts and hard work at a time of transition, taking on way more than you could ever ask or imagine. To our archdeacons and our canon administrator taking on a whole new role. To our executive director, Rob Saffrey. To all of the staff at 135 Adelaide. To Mary Conliffe and Jenn Bolender King, who organize and keep me organized and remind me of my purpose. It’s good to be reminded. For every cleric in this room, for every lay leader in our parishes, deep and profound gratitude for the sacrifices you have made to help us get to this point in time. And finally, just a word of deep gratitude to my wife, Mary. For standing with me through the good and the hard, and always bringing such deep joy and reminding me of the call that we are all summoned to.

So, as they would say in the First Nations Version, let’s hit the road with Jesus. Amen.

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Nov. 2 – All Souls Day – has a slightly different focus. On this day, we remember and give thanks for those closest to us who have “fought the good fight, finished their course and kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Perhaps these are family members, friends or members of our church communities who have passed from this life and now stand on another shore and in a greater light. Some parishes invite people to write the names of loved ones in a book of prayers leading up to Nov. 2 so that they may be remembered by name during the Prayers of the People.

The end of this season of remembrance is Nov. 11 – Remembrance Day – when we recall those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of peace and justice. We also pray to the Prince of Peace for an end to all conflict between nations and peoples.

All Saints, All Souls and Remembrance Day are important days for remembering the past. But they are not only about memory. This season calls us to be transformed by the ways that others have inhabited the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their own lives. It invites us to see how the fruits of the Spirit were shown in others so that they might be manifest in our lives as well. Indeed, the stories of the great saints are of little value if they are simply memorialized in stained-glass windows. They come to life when their lives point us to Jesus.

I recently picked up a wonderful little book called Stick with Love by Bishop Arun Arora. The author reflects on the lives of various “saints” drawn from every corner of the world: India, Nigeria, Eritrea, China, to name but a few. Some of the saints in the book were well known to me, and others I had never heard of. Yet each story, each life, is an expression of a living faith in the God of love. In the foreword, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell writes, “In the daily stories of the saints, we encounter women and men whose lives are resonant with the love of God. Their music is part of our own story and song: with joy and lament they enable us to encounter afresh the surprising, all-surpassing love of God.” I encourage you to order this book for the season of Advent and use its daily reflections to live more deeply into our faith through the example of God’s saints.

For me, it is comforting to be reminded of our deep connection with all the saints and souls who have gone before us. In Christ, we are forever bound to them and they to us. They go on living not only in our memories, but in the nearer presence of God who has welcomed them home. Though gone from our sight and touch, our loved ones and the great saints of the Church are with us so closely in ways we cannot fully comprehend. It is perhaps only in the “thin spaces” of our lives – standing at the edge of the ocean, watching a sunrise across the lake, catching a glimpse of an old photo – that we sense how near they still are.

As we step into this season of remembrance once again this year, I invite you to be inspired by the examples of the great ones who have gone before us, transformed by their unwavering commitment to “stick with love” and comforted that they now dwell in the fullness of God’s presence.

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