New Kid on the Blog

I struggled with this one...

As my dulcet tones (ahem) have been absent from this blog for a while, here's the podcast of this last Sunday's sermon....

There has been a LOT going on lately, trip to Vancouver with family, Synod, meetings  - plus everything has had a feeling of being 'up in the air' as we consider and reconsider vision - for the Parish, for our Diocese, and in our everyday life. But the everyday rituals and events of Church life continue, including our Midweek Eucharists.  So here is a sermon what I wrote for today.  Taster here, full text at New Kid Deep Stuff (click [more] for link) James Hannington Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and His Companions Martyrs, 1885 — Commemoration Matthew 10.16–22 16  ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues;  18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.  19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you...

It has been quite a couple of days - just one of those 'meeting to service to meeting to visit to meeting to service to service' kind of thing.  But three things have all coalesced and my thinkings have all come together in a way that seemed to me complementary. Firstly I had the privilege of presiding and speaking again at the 12-step Eucharist which is offered by Christ Church Cathedra l, Victoria.  The Gospel reading for the day and the structure of the service seemed to me (strangely in the case of the lectionary, as you will see if you follow the link) to speak to Grace, even in Jesus' Critique of the religious leaders of the day.  Then we had a wonderful celebration of New Ministry at the Induction of Bruce Bryant-Scott here in Victoria which had a sense of joy and liberation about it which made the whole evening (despite being at the end of a long day) feel very positive.  Then I was preaching and presiding again at our early Eucharist, which remembered ...

Amongst all the things I have discovered since I arrived in Victoria, I didn't expect to discover, or rediscover, Country Music.  I grew up listening to Slim Whitman, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins and others (Many of the Irish families I know love Country and Western Music).  Following a Clergy Day last week I was reminded by the Bishop of a somewhat 'guilty pleasure' I have of enjoying Country Music, though I must admit on the whole my tastes to veer to New Country! There are two things I have discovered here - one of them is Country Music in French - a genre I should've realised existed as I have seen such wonders as French Country Music albums in French stores, but the fact of French Country as a genre somehow never quite clicked. The other discovery is that Canada has a thriving Country scene of its own.  Not a great leap of imagination to realise that is the case, the 'Western Spirit' is strong in this pioneer nation.  I always think of Country as '...

I have been at St John the Divine, Victoria - serving as their Priest and Rector - for just over a year now. Some recent conversations I have had on Social Media, plus a blog posting which I found very moving on the dearpopefrancis.ca blog ( here ), plus some time spent with friends from my MRC (Motorcycle Riding Club) as both 'pastor' and friend have all caused me to reflect on the experience of the past year or so.  And just why I find this particular place, spiritual community and time in my life so personally and spiritually nurturing. Community That's the key.  I believe that the key to our Spiritual journey is the need to be in community.  That doesn't mean that time alone, in prayer, reading, meditation, playing guitar or riding motorcycles (my own influence may have slipped in there) is not important - but to have a sanctuary, a place to share ideas, hopes, doubts, dreams, concerns and above all, love, is crucial.  The Orthodox Church has a saying 'w...

It's incomplete, and I made the deliberate choice not to stuff it with references and quotes. This one comes from the heart: To Marriage Commission of the General Synod Anglican Church of Canada From: The Rev’d Alastair McCollum Rector, St John the Divine Anglican Church 1611 Quadra Street, Victoria BC V8W 2L5 My response to the questions posited by the Marriage Commission are below. How do you interpret what scripture says about marriage? What Scripture says about marriage is much more fluid and less easily pinned down than those who advocate for ‘Biblical Marriage’ often proclaim.  We see throughout the Biblical texts multiple models for relationships: monogamous and multiple partner marriage, concubinage, co-habitation, and much more are all endorsed, or simply understood as present as the scriptural texts reflect the cultural norms from which they arise. What I understand from Scripture is that there is a significantly nuanced understand...

No, this never made it to our TV screens, it's a first edit 'grab tape' which was possibly going to turn into a reality TV series, but I left the UK before it went anywhere... It may resurrect in another form... No copyright infringement intended. I will remove if I am not meant to share this!

After my wonderings about preaching ( What are we doing when we preach ?) Karma decided to bite me a la derriere and I found myself having to prepare three sermons for today - Two Eucharists and a funeral address.  Rather than post the two Eucharistic Sermons here I will put them up on New Kid Deep Stuff and you can peruse/read/comment/respond as you wish. The funeral address was for the funeral, won't be putting that one up! Same set of readings ... different groups of people, though some overlap (so I couldn't cheat by using the same sermon twice!} So here's what I ended up with: One, thinking on the Gospel reading for today, is concerned with ' Shaking the Dust from our feet' The other, using the Psalm and Proverbs reading for today is talking around ideas of ' The word, the law and The Word' . And the common (sometimes) artificial contrast betweee 'Law and Grace' in the church - one which isn't a Jewish understanding of 'Law' ...

At our late Spring Church Retreat which took place in Camp Pringle on the beautiful shores of Shawnigan Lake in May I took a workshop/lecture/seminar thing for which I wrote my notes out longhand in a notebook - very oldschool - and it meant that I didn’t have them available to share. At the request of a number of members of the Church and the Quo Vadis group I have transcribed them and offer them here and at St John The Divine Staff Blog for comment and consideration! Religious but not Spiritual The trend to call oneself “spiritual but not religious” has reached epic proportions,  and so has the response within the community of faith which is the Church.  One book, by  Lillian Daniel , is entitled When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Good Enough  and expresses her frustration at what is, in her understanding, an epidemic of ‘self-made, self-centred, self-absorbed religion, passed off as an innovative spiritual approach’.  As she writes she t...

Back in the mists of time, sometime around May, I was at the exceptional Festival of Homiletics in Minneapolis . A five day feast of speakers, worship and making new friends that I enjoyed and felt very refreshed by.  The purpose, to talk about preaching, and to have great examples of preachers and to consider how our preaching can be improved and be stimulating and engaging. A full Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis (from Festival Flickr Stream https://www.flickr.com/photos/lutherseminary/sets/72157644910650154/) We did a lot of how, I didn't pick up a lot of 'why?'.  It seemed to taken as a given that we accepted the importance of and the reasons for preaching.  It wasn't the nature of the conference.  But as I consider the possibility of taking on a course of Study - a Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching - the question of the nature and purpose of preaching is at the forefront of my thinking at the moment, Let's start with me, though, as it is kind o...

To keep things moving on the blog, here's the sermon from Sunday.  I have been thinking about the purpose and nature of preaching lately - but such lofty thoughts will need to wait....

Of course, having made reference to my Sunday Sermon in the previous blog post, I really should post that too... God is nowhere?

Am going through a rediscovery of various things - including some of the music I haven't listened to for a while, and a reconnection with the heartfelt part of faith.  It's easy to get lost in the practicalities of Church, or the intellectual aspects of talking of faith.  This last year has been a journey into a deeper emotional engagement with my own faith and a desire to share and foster that in the community I am privileged to be leading , St John The Divine, Victoria . Anyway, this song works well as part of a theme. J ars of Clay , Silence.  The video is fan made...

I wondered about putting this on New Kid Deep Stuff, but decided that things have been too quiet here lately - so here's my thoughts for the commemoration of St Monnica, mother of St Augustine, which is marked tomorrow (August 27th) in the Anglican Calendar. First of all I need to share what the Anglican Church of Canada writes in the way of biographical information for this day: Today we remember Monnica, a woman of fourth-century North Africa and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. She was a devout Christian, regular in her prayers and careful in raising her children to be Christians as well. However, her eldest son Augustine wandered away from the Church in his youth and came under the spell of an outlaw sect  known as the Manichees. Monnica refused to give up on her son and tried to get others to argue him out of his infatuation with Manichean teachings. She once approached a bishop who told her that, given time, her son would certainly outgrow his false opinions. But...