Christ Church - (Anglican) Windsor, Nova Scotia

29 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

The Fourth Sunday After The Epiphany

The collect for today, the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 13:1-7
The Gospel: St. Mark 4:35-41

Artwork: Jules Joseph Meynier, Christ Asleep in His Boat on the Sea of Galilee, 1870. Oil on canvas, Musée Municipal, Cambrai, France.

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27 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

Holocaust Memorial Day

From the Prayer Book Society of Canada, the collect “For Reconciliation with the Jews”:

O GOD, who didst choose Israel to be thine inheritance: have mercy upon us and forgive us for violence and wickedness against our brother Jacob; the arrogance of our hearts and minds hath deceived us, and shame hath covered our face. Take away all pride and prejudice in us, and grant that we, together with the people whom thou didst first make thine own, may attain to the fulness of redemption which thou hast promised; to the honour and glory of thy most holy Name. Amen.

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27 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

John Chrysostom, Doctor and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Preacher, Doctor of the Church, Archbishop of Constantinople (source):

O God of truth and love,
who gavest to thy servant John Chrysostom
eloquence to declare thy righteousness in the great congregation
and courage to bear reproach for the honour of thy name:
mercifully grant to the ministers of thy word
such excellence in preaching
that all people may share with them
in the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Gospel: St Luke 21:12-15

Artwork: Oleg Supereco, San Giovanni Crisostomo, Oil on canvas, 21st century (source).

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26 January 202330 March 2026KES Chapel Weekly Reflections

KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 26 January

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

There is the greatest difference between wanting to control the world and seeking to understand it. The love of learning which we talked about last week is about seeking to understand rather than presuming to control. Epiphany is the making known of things but that can only happen in part because of the desire to learn on our part. It has very much to do with a respect for learning and for the quest to know. Only so is it transformative.

This week the readings were the story of the “beginning of signs” at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and the “conversion” of Paul on the proverbial road to Damascus. Both are Epiphanies, as it were, and both challenge us about what we claim to know and seek to know. We might like the idea of having a kind of control over nature that allows us to change water into wine. Such is one of the illusions and fantasies of our technocratic world. But the point of the story is not about human manipulation of nature for so-called human ends but about what God seeks for our humanity in all of the ‘miracles’. He seeks the ultimate good for our humanity which is, perhaps not surprisingly, found in social joys. Most of the miracle stories are about healings but what are we healed for? For what end? Our good as found in God, in our delight in the goodness, the beauty and the truth of God which does not negate our humanity by turning us into machines, into automatons and bots, but perfects our humanity.

The story reveals at once the human predicament as named by Mary, “they have no wine.” We lack the means of our own sufficiency and joy. Jesus’ response is intriguing. “What is that to thee and to me? Mine hour has not yet come.” This may puzzle us but Mary gets it. “Whatever he tells you to do, do it,” she says, an echo of her own fiat mihi, “be it unto me according to thy word.” God seeks what is good for us according to his word and will, not according to human dictates and desires in all of their confusion and incompleteness. His hour refers to his passion, death and resurrection; in short, to the purpose of his Incarnation, his coming in the flesh of our humanity to recall us to our truth in God. There is perhaps no greater lesson than learning how to take delight in one another rather than using and manipulating one another in the illusions of control.

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26 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

Polycarp, Bishop, Apostolic Man, Martyr

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Apostolic Man, Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who gavest to thy servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to suffer death for his faith:
grant that we too may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Revelation 2:8-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:20-23

Church tradition holds that Polycarp was born c. AD 69 of Christian parents and was a disciple of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, who ordained him Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was arrested during a pagan festival in Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and brought before the Roman pro-consul.

[W]hen the magistrate pressed him hard and said, “Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile the Christ,” Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

But on his persisting again and saying, “Swear by the genius of Caesar,” he answered, “If you suppose vainly that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and feign that you are ignorant of who I am, hear you plainly: I am a Christian. But if you would learn the doctrine of Christianity, assign a day and give me a hearing.”

He was burned at the stake for refusing to renounce Christ.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp was written down by the church of Smyrna and sent as a letter to the church at Philomelium. It is the first Christian martyrology. Several translations of the text can be accessed via this page.

Artwork: Niccolò Circignani, Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, c. 1583. Fresco, Basilica of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, Rome.

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25 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

The Conversion of Saint Paul

The collect for today, the Feast of The Conversion of Saint Paul, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 21:40-22:16
The Gospel: St. Luke 21:10-19

Artwork: Guido Reni, Conversion of St Paul, c. 1615-20. Oil on canvas, Monasterio El Escorial, San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain.

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24 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

St. Timothy and St. Titus, Apostolic Men

The collect for today, The Feast of St. Timothy and St. Titus, Apostolic men, Companions of St. Paul (source):

Heavenly Father,
who didst send thine apostle Paul to preach the gospel,
and gavest him Timothy and Titus to be his companions in the faith:
grant that our fellowship in the Holy Spirit
may bear witness to the name of Jesus,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
The Gospel: St. John 10:1-10

Artwork: Ludwig Glötzle, St. Paul Ordains Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, 1891. Fresco, Dom Sankt Rupert und Sankt Virgil (Cathedral of St. Rupert and St. Vergilius), Salzburg.

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22 January 202330 March 2026Prayers and liturgy

Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Third Sunday after Epiphany

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Third Sunday after Epiphany.

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22 January 202330 March 2026Sermons

Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany

“I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel”

Epiphany is commonly said to be the Christmas of the Gentiles. With the coming in of the Magi-Kings, not only is the Christmas scene of Bethlehem completed but it goes global, we might say; it is omni populo, for all people. And while the Feast of Epiphany celebrates the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, Epiphany as well launches us on the journey of the understanding in what we might call the break-out from Bethlehem, the journey of the soul to God. Thus, on the first two Sundays of Epiphany we find ourselves first in Jerusalem in the Temple with Jesus at the age of twelve and then at Cana of Galilee with Jesus and Mary at the wedding feast miracle of the water made wine.

The teaching of Epiphany as doctrine and not just event has to do with what is made manifest to our humanity through Jesus, at once “God of God” and “Light of Light” but also God with us. The focus is on the essential divinity of Christ albeit revealed through his humanity and in his engagement with us. In that lies the further Epiphany of God’s will and purpose for our humanity. And that is something universal, something for all. That sense of the universality of Christ’s coming is shown today in the Gospel story of a double healing; one within Israel in the healing of the leper, and one outside Israel, as it were, in the healing of the centurion’s servant. The one healing is direct and by word and touch; the other is indirect and by the power and truth of God’s Word alone in Christ.

But the real miracle lies not simply in the healings of the leper and the servant sick of the palsy – a weakness and lack of muscle control – but in the exchange between Jesus and the centurion and, especially, his words of faith that excite such great wonder in Jesus himself. Here Jesus wonders in astonishment at the centurion’s response to his simple statement that “I will come down and heal him”.

The miracle is ‘a miracle of insight’ into the mystery and truth of God who is not and cannot be subject to the constrictions and limits of our finite world but who makes himself known through the world and through us. The centurion, a Roman officer in charge of one hundred soldiers, recognizes that God is not subject to us at the same time as he alludes to the operations of God’s Word by way of an analogy to the passing of directions down the line of military command He recognizes something about the power of God’s Word that transcends the limits of human speech and human customs. “To whom will you liken me”, God says in the evening lesson from Isaiah, “and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?” … “for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning … I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it” (Isaiah 46. 5, 9b-10a, 11b). Epiphany makes known what God seeks for the whole of our humanity. The miracle lies in the faith of the centurion, a non-Israelite. “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed”.

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