A couple of weeks ago my family spent a few days in Washington, DC, and as is always the case when I travel I love to search the local record stores for unusual finds. This time, I found a conversation.

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ou have to be careful back here… this music will make you weep.”

I looked up from the rack of CD’s I’d been flipping through in the jazz section at The Melody Record Shop, a classic little independent store on Washington’s Connecticut Avenue, to be met by the eyes of a thin, graying African-American man.

“Yeh, I know,” I replied, though given the casual, almost distracted nature of my search through the discs, my reply was maybe just a little too automatic. He was on to something, this guy.

“Like this,” he said, holding up a copy of Bill Evans’ The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. “This man can play.”

“I love Bill Evans,” I responded, “particularly from that era. I don’t have the complete sessions, but I’ve got the single disc edition, which I’ve listened to a lot.” And so we talked a bit about the music we each owned, and what moved us. He seemed to like the fact that my tastes were mostly rooted in the 1950s and 60s. And then the conversation shifted.

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a sermon on Jeremiah 2:4-13 and on Luke 14:1,7-14

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ear what the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Israel, five hundred years before the birth of Jesus:

Listen, as Jeremiah asks the nation, “Why have you forgotten the story in which you were born, the way of life that is true life? How could you have forgotten our collective birth story, of being freed from bondage in Egypt and carried through the desert, sustained by manna and by living water flowing in the midst of the arid wilderness?”

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Corinne Plett with news from the 3rd annual summer camp

Who knew “extreme croquet” could be so much fun!  Yes, extreme croquet!  This was just one of the uniquely creative ideas campers came up with for the 3rd annual saint benedict’s table day camp.  The camp ran August 9-13th, and what a fantastic week it was!  Fourteen kids, aged 9-15, eagerly arrived each day and were met by our four kids.  Some of the campers were from St. Ben’s, others came as a result of a connection to our family, and five of the campers were African immigrants who came through The King’s School transitional program, their participation in the week made possible due to donations.

More news and a link to a wild slideshow comes after the jump

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Iwill lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  O God, we thank you for this beautiful summer weather, for the colorful landscapes of our gardens, restful vistas where we retreat, and for the joy of reunions with family and friends.  As we heard in tonight’s lesson, we have the joy and privilege of being your sons and daughters as well as  the awesome responsibility this carries.  Make us effective stewards to this end as we remain watchful, faithful and ready.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  Lord, In Your Mercy, Hear Our Prayer. Read the rest of this entry »

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a sermon preached on Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

In our reading from the prophet Isaiah, we have heard hard words for a hot summer night; words challenging all of the ritual, liturgical and priestly practices of the people of Judah, of the city of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem the holy city, set at the heart of what was meant to be a holy land and a holy people, now characterized as Sodom and Gomorrah; as being cut from the same cloth as the most debased and corrupt examples of a broken humanity that this people has in its collective memory. It is like calling a church a brothel, and at the same time accusing the government of being a mafia mob. Read the rest of this entry »

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A note from Jamie Howison: Sunday August 1 saw us celebrating a baptism at saint benedict’s table, which meant I preached a slightly shortened sermon with a particular focus on the meaning of baptism. That same day, however, I had been invited to preach at the parish of St Mary Magdalene, and in that setting I really couldn’t talk about the baptism! What follows here is the text from the morning’s sermon, some of which found its way into my reflections in our evening liturgy. The texts for the sermon are Colossians 3:1-11 and Luke 12:13-21.

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ver the past six months or so, a lot of my free evenings and weekend afternoons have been given over to work on a biography of my great-grandfather, Sidney Smith. Smith was one of the founders of Winnipeg’s Elim Chapel, a noted lay preacher and conference speaker, and a confidant of some of the giants of the evangelical world of the first half of the 20th century.

He was also a highly successful grain merchant, and a very wealthy man. And as I’ve unpacked his story by reading through his sermon texts and correspondence, and by searching through his heavily underlined copy of the Scofield Reference Bible, it is clear that he experienced his wealth as being both a responsibility and a burden. His life-defining scriptural verse was: “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” (Luke 12.48b) The underlining in his Bible marked any number of verses referring to the transitory nature of wealth—from Proverbs (23:4-5) “Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven”—and included the famous verse from Mark about it being “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Read the rest of this entry »

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a concert review/reflection by Rudy Regehr

saint ben’s regular Rudy Regehr has recently moved to BC, but is staying very much connected to us through this website and by e-mail. He recently had the opportunity to attend a unique house concert, and we asked him to write about the experience for our site.

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hen David Bazan released his first EP as part of the group Pedro the Lion on Tooth & Nail records in the mid 1990s, he caught a lot of people by surprise. His ability to tell stories with his music made it clear, from the beginning, that Bazan was a unique songwriter. Bazan tells a different side of the story than what some are used to, though. His lyrics have often been ironic, exploring important perspectives about a variety of subjects such as drug addiction and infidelity, but also about doing one’s best to live a good life. Bazan’s songs were never preachy, but instead took the route of making points by telling parables from the point of view of the character of the story. As Bazan explored his thoughts on life and morality, his outside-the-box thinking was refreshing for those who were tired of pat answers. Bazan was a Christian artist who always stayed true to himself. He didn’t feel it was necessary to blow his own horn by counting the number of times he said “Jesus” in his songs, but rather explored Biblical subjects. He was the most recent prophet the Christian faith had in North America.That’s why it was so surprising to his following of fans in the faith when Bazan’s most recent album came out. Read the rest of this entry »

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I invite the community into a time of prayer. We give you thanks for the world, O God, in all of its beauty and variety.  We ask your blessing on the land through which you sustain our bodies, and on the people who through their labours and love feed us.  We pray also that you would be present in the hearts of leaders everywhere, urging them always toward justice for the least among us.

Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayer. Read the rest of this entry »

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an artist profile of Jodi McLaren

From time to time we try to offer something by way of a profile of one of the artists who calls saint benedict’s table home. Last summer we did feature pieces on two recording artists – Jaylene Johnson and Alana Levandoski - so this year it seemed right to highlight the work of one of our visual artists. Not that Jodi isn’t also passionate about music… the photograph below was taken on one of the Sunday evenings that she was singing and playing a bit of percussion with one of our music ensembles.

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or as long as she can remember, colour has caught the attention of Jodi McLaren. “I have always loved colour,” she commented. “I bought a badge the other day that said ‘Life is too short for beige.’” And since the age of eight Jodi has never not had some project on the go. For years, it was beadwork and needlework of one form or another; craft projects into which she would always insert a bit of her own personal touch, along with that passion for colour.

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F ather, we come to you in prayer this mid-summer Sunday filled with the joy of your presence, the faith as confessed Christians, and the hope of your ongoing intersection of our personal and vocational lives.  Just as we witness rich growth in vegetation of both food and flowers in our gardens, tonight’s lesson speaks to the church family being rooted,  built up and established – with the tender balance of rain and  resistance;  sunshine and service.  We are also reminded that consistent, persistent daily prayer can be motivated by the assurance that even if inconvenienced, God will surely answer our petitions.  We pray to God, who when we ask, opens the door. Read the rest of this entry »

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