A Lenten Pilgrimage 2022

  2 Corinthians 4:1-12 The Light of Christ’s Gospel 4  Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.  2  But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor  [ a ] handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.  3  But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  4  whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.  5  For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.  6  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to  give  the lig...

Exodus 8 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” 5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my p...

  “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord” (Psalm 130:1)   The first verse of Psalm 130 brings to mind Thoreau’s famous line about people who “live lives of quiet desperation” – this verse gives voice to a soul who has been depleted of self, and is left simply with a weary plea for Divine intervention.   I suspect that there are many amongst us who find themselves in a similar place of weariness – emerging from the extended confines of Covid and its social and spiritual deprivations, only to be faced on the horizon with the threat of yet another variant, the intolerance of a fractured social fabric, a frayed supply chain, the return of a once forgotten price inflation, and the spectre of a dangerous, destructive war.   “Out of the depths” indeed.   And yet, the simple response of God to our cry of quiet desperation is found in verse 7 – “For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.”   The ess...

  This last Sunday, April 3 in church as I was in a pew at the far back of the church and as everyone began to process to the altar for communion, I began to reflect on journeys. The church year sees many different journeys, both in liturgy, and in its people, so it felt very fitting that my readings for reflection included 3 of the psalms of songs of ascent; Psalms 121, 122, and 123.          Throughout the entire service I found myself reflecting on how St. Augustine’s has grown, changed, and adapted over the 8 years I have attended. This came in thinking of the journeys of others in the parish over the years, wondering how Alex is in grade 12 already, hoping that David is enjoying his time on the island, gratitude for everything that Muriel has done during her years, amazement in the wonderful clergy of past and present. As these thoughts came and went, I began to reflect that everyone else has also seen my journey ove...

  One of today’s readings is from Exodus, or, in my mind the book of Moses. It has many much-loved stories from Moses in the basket, to the burning bush, the original Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the 10 commandments, manna in the desert and the 40 years tramping around the desert before the Israelites arrive at the promised land. In our reading, we are entering the tail end of God’s conversation with Moses from the burning bush.   He has asked Moses to return to Egypt from Midian where he is in exile to talk with the elders of the Israelites and to go with them to Pharoah (the king of Egypt) to persuade him to let the Israelites go.   Moses (in my mind quite naturally) is reluctant to go.   “Moses however, says “O Lord I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”    (Ex. 4:10) He asks God to send someone else, not him. Rather like Jonah who tries to hide when God...

      It is sometimes difficult to see clear areas of overlap between lectionary readings for any given day. That is not the case today, the fifth Sunday of Lent. Beginning with Exodus 3, we see Moses wondering how the people of Israel will know that his message is truly from God. In Jeremiah 23, God reproaches his people for attending to false prophets who do not actually express the divine will. In Romans 12, St. Paul encourages the people of God to “be transformed by the renewing of your minds” in order to know God’s will, and then sets out what the translators of the NRSV call “the marks of a true Christian.” Jesus himself explains how people can know that he is the embodiment of God’s will in John 8. Throughout, both knowing God’s will and testing those who claim to represent God’s will involves practice: in order to know, it is we who have to be transformed by what we do, by how we orient ourselves toward God. It is in this light that inclusion of Psalm 118 and 145,...

  A few weeks ago a friend of mine suddenly lost their younger sister Beth in a car accident. At the memorial, there was much to be said about Bethany, but the main thing most people brought up about her life was the overwhelming love she carried for all those around her and her love for God. During the service, a portion of 1 Corinthians 13 was read, so when I saw this verse amongst the morning prayers I just knew it was truly a sign from God. In this passage, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, the apostle Paul speaks on the eternal power of love. The main take away is that you can have everything in this world — the gift of prophecy, the ability to move mountains and even faith, but without love you have nothing. Love is everything. During the memorial we replaced the word love with Beth in through the verses 4-7. “Love su ff ers long and is kind, love does not envy.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4) I hope that when each of our times comes, we too can truly say we’ve lived lives centred around love a...

  1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 I found it interesting that this passage was mainly talking about the people in the Christian church being symbolized as parts of the body and then the passage morphs slightly into the beginning of "The Love Chapter". I believe God wants us, as the Body of Christ, to work together as each person is gifted differently. He wants us to be unified, not divided. "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" v. 26. To be able to live in unity and community, we need to have love, verse 2 of chapter 13 says "if I (we) have the gift of prophecy ... but have not love, I am (we are) NOTHING." It actually talks about people having gifts of many kinds but says that if we do not have love then nothing is gained. If we work together to bring unity within our church community, and love one another,  we will be able to not only have a supportive and loving chu...