How is this possible? How is it possible to live in this world and not be overcome with worry? How is it possible to rejoice even in the face of great suffering and sorrow? He tells us, did you catch it? “The Lord is near.” Paul was convinced and convicted about the presence of Jesus and that transformed his life so that even from a prison cell worry had to give way to rejoicing.

When Christ comes to your soul this day, how will he find it? It is meant to be a house of prayer, has it become a den of robbers instead? What tables does he need to turn over, what needs to be cast out so that you can become more fully who he has created you to be, one who is burning with love for God?

Dear friends in Christ, Grammar matters! A period here, a comma there, and the entire meaning of a sentence can change. Let me give you an example. Last month we commemorated the feast of St Francis. It’s usually around that time of year that a quote attributed to St Francis makes the rounds again. Maybe … Continue reading Good God Grammar

The first sign of this renewal is faith, trust, in Jesus Christ that is evidenced in the sacrament of holy baptism. Then flowing out from the grace of baptism comes a whole life whereby we begin to learn what it means to live by the Spirit and to produce the fruit of the Spirit not by our own effort but by the grace of God that is at work in us. That is to say, through baptism we become a member of that small, ragtag group that is learning to follow Jesus in the midst of other, darker, forces at work in the world.

Beloved in Christ,In our Epistle lesson this Sunday St. Paul exhorts the Galatian Christians to "live by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh," (Galatians 5:16). For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh."The flesh" we might say is … Continue reading From the Rector’s Desk: Remembering Elizabeth, Queen of Canada.