Whether you’re travelling or taking vacation time in place, here are two specific ways to open up to the refreshment a seasonal sabbath offers. (1) Consider prayerfully detaching from continuous electronic notifications. Decide how often you’ll check your mail and phone messages. Every hour? Three times a day? Every other day? Here’s...
In last week’s sermon, “Do You Not Care That We Are Perishing?” [Mark 4:38] Jean-Daniel Williams described Jesus’ shift from a so-necessary nap to loving action. The examples he chose… the storms that are shaking our little boat right now… include the killings in Charleston SC, and our churches’ promise to...
Beth Adams gave this talk on 9 June 2015 at Christ Church Cathedral We’ve been talking for several months about masters of contemplation and their teachings, which has been fairly intellectual. Today I want to go back to the physical, to our bodies, and talk about the posture we try...
This week’s spiritual practice is a suggestion from Lee Greyfeather’s sermon last Sunday (June 7, 2015). Lee, who is Mi’kmaq, is both a traditional shaman and an Anglican. “Before I go to bed, I look in the mirror and I think of all the things I’ve done that day. I ask myself, ‘is...
This week, your prayers can make an enormous difference. Please pray for the Electoral Synod being held Saturday, June 6, 2015. Take time to pray for the candidates and their families, for the synod delegates, for our diocese as a whole. One way to do this can be found here. Here...
…there is a challenge from Christ to the goodness of humankind. It is not enough to be good. It is not enough to not do evil. My Christianity is something more positive; it is not a negative. There are many who say, “But I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I...
It’s no coincidence that as we celebrate Trinity Sunday May 31, we also prepare to receive the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and to move forward in a new relationship with the First Peoples of Canada. That’s why the bells of the Cathedral and of other churches throughout our...
If you were in the Cathedral on Good Friday in 2013, you may have seen the Cathedral Dancers depicting how Oscar A. Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, was mourned and venerated after he was assassinated while celebrating Mass. Romero had been selected as Archbishop because he was thought to be suitably conservative and “safe” at...
[A talk by Beth Adams given on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, to introduce Contemplative Prayer at Christ Church Cathedral] This spring, the cathedral community is grappling with questions about war and peace during a special series of presentations and discussions. War and violence are present throughout the Bible and our liturgy:...
In Louisville, Kentucky, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, a tall tourist information plaque… exactly the kind you see in cities and by roadsides describing famous battles and birthplaces… marks the spot where the monk and author Thomas Merton was swept up into a fresh experience of God’s own life...
Here’s a meditation offered by Sally Harrington Philippo during last weekend’s retreat, LIVING THE LIFE OF PRAYER. A teacher gave this homework: “Find an unnoticed flower somewhere outdoors and study it. Look carefully at its petals. Its leaves. Its colours. Turn it over and observe the underside of it. As...
[Remarks by Beth Adams shared during Contemplative Prayer at Christ Church Cathedral April 28, 2015] Lately, Fr. Richard Rohr’s daily meditations have been concentrating on Saint Paul, and I feel like they’ve been addressed to me. I’m one of those Christians who’s often uncomfortable with Paul, mainly because of his writings...