Ascension Sunday Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal In the very early days of the church, the earliest days, Easter … the celebration of the Resurrection… lasted for 50 days. During this whole season, there was no fasting and no kneeling at the corporate prayers, according to Dom Gregory Dix (note 1).  […]

Continue reading

Jesus expands the call to choose life

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal The Gospel reading for today is a pretty hard one, isn’t it?  And we have already had a hard week, whether or not we watched the news much. The earthquake in Turkey and Syria continues to take a toll of lost lives.  […]

Continue reading

All my soul desires

“All my soul desires”/ The Naming of Jesus Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal Each one of our four readings this morning spins around the name of God—God’s power and identity.  God’s name in this case means God’s own self.  So that when Jesus is born, comes in human flesh as Bertrand […]

Continue reading

The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost  Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal This week, some of us met for our monthly “meditation class” on Tuesday morning, in this Cathedral in the chapel of the Reserved Sacrament.  It’s a chance to share an experience of meditation, not a lecture.  I look forward to it.  […]

Continue reading

Baptism: A tool kit for life

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal This morning we gather to welcome Étienne as a member of Christ, in Holy Baptism. It’s the start of joyful and lifelong instruction and growth, rooted in Christ and supported not just by us here in this place, but by all […]

Continue reading

Your life is being demanded of you

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Lections for today: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23; Psalm 49:1-12; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21 Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal “I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” May I speak in the name of the […]

Continue reading

Temptation (and Pickles)

SERMON for First Sunday in Lent (March 6, 2022) Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal YouTube recording of the service The sermon begins here Temptation (and Pickles) How do we keep our balance in a world that threatens to swamp us completely?  Of course we must pay attention to the needs around […]

Continue reading

Epiphany 3 Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal YouTube recording of the service: https://youtu.be/u1lykscnqic The sermon begins here: https://youtu.be/u1lykscnqic?t=1508 As I first read today’s scriptures and also mulled over the fact that this is the Week of Christian Unity, the one thing that kept pushing itself to the front of my mind was a […]

Continue reading

Time for Revelation

Advent 1 Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal YouTube recording of the service – Vivian’s sermon starts at 23:40 Happy New Year, my friends. Perhaps you were downtown yesterday. If you were, you would have seen a lot of people shopping. A handful of us were in this building for a Quiet Day, […]

Continue reading

Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal YouTube recording of the service. The sermon begins at  18:30… I need to tell you, my friends, before I get into the nitty gritty of this sermon, that I’m a member of the Cathedral’s Stewardship Committee. This is not, strictly speaking, […]

Continue reading

Pondering Crankiness

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Vivian Lewin, Spiritual Director in the Diocese of Montreal One of the things I wrestle with in church life is the astounding number of different jobs that clamour to be done.  Just Friday… fresh in memory… is needing to choose between the funeral of a former churchwarden with whom for […]

Continue reading