A Purification At start of spring I open a trenchIn the ground. I put into it The winter’s accumulation of paper, Pages I do not want...
An opportunity to read and talk over soup during Lent. For more details, please contact the Rector or the Office.
FOR LENT, 1966 It is my Lent to break my Lent. To eat when I would fast, To know when slender strength is spent, Take...
Our Journey for Lent begins - with a new round of art to share with you, connecting faith and feeling, spirituality and art - an...
Please join us in worship. The service will be livestreamed on the St. John the Divine Facebook page and will also be available here...
Our Daily Prayer today, on the theme of Lent and Reconciliation, will take place live at midday on Facebook and will be posted here...
Join us for a service of Word and Prayer via Zoom as we mark the beginning of this Holy Season of Lent. Lent is usually marked, as are...
It has taken a few days, but here at last is the recording from Tuesday's Compline. If you would like to participate via Zoom (you...
Monet Refuses the Operation Doctor, you say there are no haloesaround the streetlights in Parisand what I see is an aberrationcaused...
A reminder that today's Daily Prayers are part of our Lenten Wilderness Prayers series, led by Bill Tarter and Colleen Lissamer. They...
Lenten Poem Lent is a time to take time to let the powerof our faith story take hold of us,a time to let the events get upand walk...
Church Going Once i am sure there's nothing going onI step inside letting the door thud shut. Another church: matting seats and stone...
I Go Among Trees And Sit Still I go among trees and sit still.All my stirring becomes quietaround me like circles on water.My tasks...
If I Could Tell You Time will say nothing but I told you so,Time only knows the price we have to pay;If I could tell you I would let...
Song Of A Dream Once in the dream of a night I stood Lone in the light of a magical wood, Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang;...
Do It Anyway People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you...
The Celestial Fire Now an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire -- a fire that devours fire;a fire that burns in...
The Lake Isle of Innisfree I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;Nine...
This is what was bequeathed us ListenThis is what was bequeathed us:This earth the beloved leftAnd, leaving,Left to us. No other...
Alone Lying, thinkingLast nightHow to find my soul a homeWhere water is not thirstyAnd bread loaf is not stoneI came up with one...
What to Remember When Waking In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake,coming back to this life from the other,more...
Messenger My work is loving the world.Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird –equal seekers of sweetness.Here the quickening...
For Lent, 1966 It is my Lent to break my Lent,To eat when I would fast,To know when slender strength is spent,Take shelter from the...
Kindness Before you know what kindness really isyou must lose things,feel the future dissolve in a momentlike salt in a weakened...
Pray For Peace Pray to whomever you kneel down to:Jesus nailed to his wooden or marble or plastic cross,his suffering face bent to...
Clear heart Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. —Psalm 51.10 Beloved,amid the clutter within...
Come and Journey Come and journey with a Saviour who has called us from our birth, who has washed us in the waters, and who loved us...
Impossibility The salt water in the swimming holesurrounded me last night saying,Trust yourself. They need you. Bring only love, the...
Today's Poem was submitted by Parishioner and Parish Councillor Susan Bansgrove: Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward Let mans Soule...
When sorrow comes When sorrow comes, let us accept it simply, as a part of life.Let the heart be open to pain; let it be stretched by...
Gethsemane The grass never sleeps.Or the roses.Nor does the lily have a secret eye that shuts until morning. Jesus said, wait with...
The Way of Pain 1.For parents, the only wayis hard. We who give lifegive pain. There is no help.Yet we who give paingive love; by pain...
Silent God This is my prayer—That, though I may not see,I be awareOf the Silent GodWho stands by me.That, though I may not feel,I be...
"And yet ..." each piece carefully and thoughtfully removedlayers peeled awayharsh, barren surfacesand yet ... The light dimmedThe...
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on 2nd March, 2022 - it's the start of the season of preparation for the Church's great feast of Easter....
Scripture If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I...
Scripture Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does...
A service of Night Prayer, weekly through Lent, led by members of the Worship Team. An order of service is downloadable below. It is...
For our Lent book this year we are reading Isabelle Hamley's Embracing Justice It's a substantial but accessible book referring to...
For our Lent book this year we are reading Isabelle Hamley's Embracing Justice It's a substantial but accessible book referring to the...
Scripture As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and...
Scripture But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear, for I have redeemed...
Scripture You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words...
Scripture ‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?Shall I come before him with...
Scripture Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay...
Scripture Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one...
Scripture By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and...
Scripture I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with...
Scripture What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but...
Scripture Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another,...
Scripture But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,‘When he ascended on high...
Scripture The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all,...
Scripture How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we...
Scripture Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments,...
Scripture Jesus said, ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their...
Scripture I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I...
Scripture One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and...
Scripture ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have...
Scripture Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have...
Scripture Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.Your righteousness is like the...
Scripture Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace;...
Scripture On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called...
Scripture I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with...
Scripture I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands.I stretch out my hands...
Scripture The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.He will not always accuse, nor will...
Scripture See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the...
Scripture As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,...
Scripture But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; for they said to you, ‘In the...
Scripture At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.Thus says...
Scripture I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I...
Scripture Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one...
Scripture O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where...
Scripture Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father....
Scripture Jesus said, "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have...
Glimpses of God Glimpses of God in gold autumnal trees,Now rustling in cool equinoctial breeze;In the friendly face of...
Join us via Facebook or Zoom for a simple service of Night Prayer through Lent, led by members of our Worship Team at St John's. The...
A Soup Lunch and Discussion Group around Bradley Jersak's book Out Of The Embers - Faith after the great deconstruction. To book a...
An online Discussion Group around Bradley Jersak's book Out Of The Embers - Faith after the great deconstruction. It will take place on...
The first time I heard Gregori Allegri's Misere Mei Deus was on Ash Wednesday Morning in the College Chapel at my Theological School,...
Alastair's Latest Update
I get glimpses of the Divine in a lot, and wide variety, of music - sometimes because of the beauty of a composition, or the depth of...
It was 11:20am on September 27th, 2021, and I’d just arrived at St. John’s from Victoria General Hospital. My beloved Nana, Iris, six...
My golden years of nursing was spent at the Jubilee Hospital on 3-West, the Orthopaedic Unit. We were a team of nurses and allied...
Please join us for special prayers on this most holy day - Alastair leads us in a form of prayer adapted from the Liturgical Group of...
In the services for Ash Wednesday there are usually opportunities to recieve the traditional 'Imposition of Ashes' - a smudge of ash...
“Absolute freedom is absolute nonsense! We gain freedom in anything through commitment, discipline, and fixed habit.” ...
What is Fasting? Well the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "to eat no food for a period of time" whilst the Oxford Learners...
Join us for a Soul Space Lenten Retreat Day! Contact the Office to register and for more information. admin@stjohnthedivine.bc.ca or...
“Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.We come from the Creator with creativity.” – Maya Angelou Join us...
Freedom is a sweet word Freedom is a sweet wordA taste to savour, say it loudExercise your freedomFreedom means you are allowed to...
Dr Martin Luther King Jnr spoke often of freedom, of the dream of justice, and the hope of equity. Though his words come from and...
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings A free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his...
A reflection by community member, Kate Newman Slow the Snail “I have to be at work in 10 minutes!” What respectable working person...
The temptations that Jesus experienced during his time in the wilderness was not to work out if Jesus was the Son of God, but what...
For those of us who grew up in the UK in the 1980s Wham were a phenomenon. Their perfect pop was the kind of music that people seemed...
I am a word person, I kind of trade in words. Words on the page, words in sermons, words in liturgy, words in reports, blog posts, the...
There are some things that just don’t make much sense. Water doesn’t become wine, bread and fish don’t suddenly multiply, the lame...
Our Scriptures, which we call 'The Bible', are filled with metaphor, poetic expression, myths, fables, and stories. These writings...
At the start of the book of Genesis, the first of the Creation myths (there are two, Chapter 1.1-2.3 and Chapter 2.4-3.24) has God...
During this special season of Lent, we are encouraged to seek a deeper relationship with God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving....
There is a myth around, both inside and outside the Church (by which I am particularly thinking of the Anglican tradition in the West,...
One of the encouragements in our Christian journey is to learn to let go of worry. Worry is that unproductive concern about what might...
I wonder how many folk do not look forward to Lent. Words like ‘sacrifice,’ ‘discipline,’ and ‘self-denial’ are often used in ways that...
We are called as followers of Jesus to a place of deep care for the world and its people. We are not called to be detached from the...
“God doesn’t give in order to acquire. God loves without self-seeking; that’s at the heart of who God is. God gives for the benefit...
Lamenting is expressing the deep pain we feel at the injustice of the world, of life, of death, of loss. It's a profound and painful...
THE FOURTH SIGN OF THE ZODIAC (PART 3) I know, you never intended to be in this world.But you’re in it all the same. So why not get...
