Sermons

Hope and her two beautiful offspring

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St Augustine of Hippo, the fourth century Bishop of the city of that name is an early church father that I usually love to hate. Augustine has been responsible for much of the fear of women and sexuality that has dogged church teachings throughout the centuries.

BUT Augustine also wrote this memorable phrase about Hope, which is the theme of today’s celebration: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; “ he wrote ( I’ve changed the noun to be more inclusive!) “ and their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” This time he had it dead right. Anger and courage – two of the components of Hope and also two themes running through today’s readings.

Continue reading Hope and her two beautiful offspring →
Reflections, Sermons

The Rest Is Silence

Sermon, Church of the Holy Trinity, Toronto, November 11, 2018

Readings: 1 Kings 17:8–16; Hebrews 9:24–28; Mark 12:38–44

Hear this sermon as it was delivered:

On November 11, 1918, at 11 AM, the Great War officially ended and the guns fell silent.

That’s not just a figure of speech. It’s not just lofty poetry. Guns kept firing right until 11 o’clock. Artillery kept blasting away. More than 10,000 people died that morning.

Nobody was tape recording the sound; they didn’t have tape recorders. No one was at the front with a wax cylinder to record the sound phonographically. But oil drums in several locations were rigged up to transmit the vibrations for visual recording on a strip of film. They were used for triangulating the positions of enemy guns. They were still in use on the morning of November 11th, and a filmstrip has survived. It looks like a multi-line seismograph. The Imperial War Museum commissioned a reconstruction of the sound. You can hear different kinds of artillery blasting holes in the air more than once a second for a half a minute. And then they stop like a battalion of troops ordered to halt.

The war to end all wars was over.

It didn’t end all wars. We keep shooting at each other. Continue reading The Rest Is Silence →

Reflections, Sermons

A Cloud of Witnesses (Homily for All Saints)

Wisdom 3:1-9     Psalm 24     Revelation 21:1-6a     John 11:32-44

A Cloud of Witnesses

Sherman Hesselgrave

All Saints is when the universal Church remembers the Christian faithful throughout history who make up the great cloud of witnesses, the communion of saints who surround us and inhabit our memory across time. If I asked you to think of a person you consider to be a saint—someone who has inspired you by their courage or their convictions, someone you aspire to be like, someone who left their fingerprints on your life, I’m sure you could name them or see them with your mind’s eye. Even though they were touched by death, they live on in our hearts and in our memories.

Continue reading A Cloud of Witnesses (Homily for All Saints) →

Activities & Events, Fundraising, Justice Issues

Over $11 000 raised for the Refugee Committee!

On Sunday Oct 21, 2018, members of the Refugee Committee, with some relatives and friends, formed a team and raised over $11,000 to support our work with Refugees.

With the amount already raised on the June book sale and what we hope to realize from the Marion Singers concert on November 10, we should come close to meeting our goal of $20,000 for 2019, when we expect to welcome three more families.

Coral Petzoldt, Jim and Merylie Houston, and their three granddaughters, Lucy, Charlotte and Penelope, accounted for $5,455, almost half the total. And a large part of that came from generous members of the congregation.

News

SAVE THE DATE – Sunday November 18th

Sunday, Nov. 18, we will have a congregational meeting or Special Vestry to take our next steps in the Strategic Planning/Transition process.

Members of the Transition Team (Jo Connelly, Keith Nunn, Jennifer Henry, Rena Post and Vivian Harrower) have been working on draft job descriptions for  Team Leader (one of the staff positions identified in our parish consultation process) and Animators, as well as looking at budgeting for the transition phase.

Bishop Kevin Robertson will also be paying us a visit on November 18th, and the San Esteban and Holy Trinity Communities will worship together at 1 pm. 

loving justice in the heart of our city