"All you need is love" sang the Beatles. They also sang, however, "I am the walrus," so I'd be wary of taking my philosophy from pop...
Love is often held up as an ideal emotional state. But love is not only an emotion - it is something we learn, something that we must...
St John's has for many years prided itself on being an 'Inclusive Church' - welcoming, involving, engaging with those of the...
As we travel through the Sundays of Advent we hear the stories of our roots of faith - stretching back to the founders of the Hebrew...
Words, even in this world of image and sound, continue to be important. Words are the way in which we make sense of the world, in...
The essence of the Divine is love, but that love begets something else - creativity. In the myth of Creation found in the Biblical...
Reconciliation is a big, important, deal in Canada - it's a word used to describe the hope for rebuilding relationships between...
We often talk about reconciliation with a capital 'R" - the attempts to build a more positive relationship between indigenous and...
There's a meme that does the rounds on Social Media regularly with the caption 'I found Jesus, he was behind the sofa all the time."...
So we made it Advent 4. If by now you haven't spent anytime looking for a parking spot downtown or at one of the shopping centers, well...
In his book "Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a World Stripped of Grace" Theologian Miroslav Volf reflects on the transactional...
Blessings to all this Christmastime! This festival of Grace, this celebration of Incarnation, reminds us of a God who is not remote,...
As we reach the end of our Advent reflections we move towards the great re-telling of the story of the Nativity. Yet many struggle to...
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Nobody right, nobody wrong
"I hate rollercoasters" With these words our newly elected and installed Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Revd...
The Winter Is Cold, Is Cold The winter is cold, is cold.All’s spent in keeping warm.Has joy been frozen, too?I blow upon my handsStiff...
Dear Friends Thank you for all your kind messages of support and well wishes for Sabina and I on our honeymoon in India - I know that...
Today's Prayers will be live on our St John's Facebook page (click the coloured letters to go straight there) at noon. We will be...
Join Grant and Colleen for today's daily prayers on the theme of love. The video will be available to watch below at noon. If you'd...
Today's Daily Prayer will be live at noon with Alastair on the St John the Divine Facebook Page. The order is taken from the late Jim...
Today's Daily prayers will revisit the prayers offered from Prayer in the Day by the late Jim Cotter, Tuesday sees an opportunity for...
Today's reflection is a very personal one, based on a napkin. This is from a wedding that I was privileged to offer a blessing at in...
A piece of poetry for today's glimpse of the Divine in the ordinary, though one could argue that metaphysical poetry relates to...
Today's another very personal reflection. This song, by Singer-Songwrite Ari Hest and Folk icon Judy Collins, came at exactly the right...
Yes, it's a super cute picture of my children when they were very young (they are 19 and nearly 16 years old now) - I love these two...
Whilst watching The Voice a few days ago (there's a confession for you) there was a performance from Lauren Daigle of her hit song 'You...
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”– Mother Teresa One of the things having to...
As we get to the very end of our Advent journey we might feel we've been on this for a while now. And waiting can be very...
For those of you who know me at all, you will know that no Christmas can go by without the Muppet Christmas Carol being watched! So...
Do It Anyway People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you...
Kindness Before you know what kindness really isyou must lose things,feel the future dissolve in a momentlike salt in a weakened...
Impossibility The salt water in the swimming holesurrounded me last night saying,Trust yourself. They need you. Bring only love, the...
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 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 Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay...
Scripture Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.Its...
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 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 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never...
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 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to any strange god, Will not God search it...
Scripture For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for...
Scripture Jesus said, "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,...
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 Psalm 31 To the leader. A Psalm of David.In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your...
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 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 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 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 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother...
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 Jesus said, "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have...
Scripture And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel...
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...
The statistics are in! We live, on Vancouver Island, in the least Spiritual/Religious place on Turtle Island (North America). The...
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...
Our modern world seems to thrive on polarities, in separating us from one another, in creating a culture of 'us and them' - where we...
Many of us live our lives trying to meet the expectations of other people, of the society around us, and even of our selves. We are...
In her book Bright Evening Star: Mystery of the Incarnation, Madeleine L’Engle remarked that “all God ever wanted from us is to allow...
In a dog-eat-dog world where the much misunderstood idea of an 'Alpha' (see this Ted Talk for a beautiful breakdown of the true Alpha...
Long before I became a Christian, the account of Jesus lovingly washing his disciples’ feet stood as a guiding inspiration for me, in...
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