Holy Week: Journeying beyond pain to hope
Archbishop Linda Nicholls
March 31, 2022
At times a part captures the essence of the whole. For Christians, Holy Week is the essence of the whole life of faith.
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At times a part captures the essence of the whole. For Christians, Holy Week is the essence of the whole life of faith.
The last few months have been hard. Although I am an introvert—and introverts have had a built-in advantage during pandemic restrictions—I have had enough of uncertainty and lockdowns. I know I am not alone in that sentiment!
I left home very early that morning to prepare for the 8 a.m. Eucharist at the parish I served, driving in a dense fog. As
Seeing is a prominent theme in the stories and parables of Jesus. Although sometimes it is in the context of stories of the healing of physical blindness, it is also used as a metaphor for insight into truth.
One of the gifts of our Anglican tradition is the liturgical calendar. Every year we cycle through its seasons following the life of Jesus and his teachings. Every year we are invited again into Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary time, ending with the Reign of Christ. We walk with Jesus and all those whose lives he touched to deepen our own understanding and life in Christ.
One of the great illusions when life is stable is that we are in control. The pandemic has shattered that illusion; a tiny virus broke through all our expectations. Plans were disrupted; families separated; and many of the ways in which we manage our lives were no longer effective. We discovered our vulnerability, and that we need each other for survival and are not in control.
I have always delighted in the season of fall!
It is the task at the heart of John 15:2: “God cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
As I write this on the cusp of the spring equinox, I am so deeply grateful for the gift of light as the spring sunshine has melted the snow, is greening the grass and is offering such promise for warmth and renewal.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that defines Christian faith. It is the unique event that affirms Jesus’s identity; and confirms, with power,
At Ash Wednesday we were invited “to observe a holy Lent by self-examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and by reading and meditating on the word of God.” Yet we have, in a sense, been in an extended Lent through the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic has invited us, through radical disruption of our lives, to examine ourselves and the world around us in light of the gospel.
Although some people find February a dismal month as we long for the end of winter, it is, for me, a month of good memories and celebrations.
When I lived in the Himalayas, we had occasional earthquakes.
When life is stable and all its interlocking parts are running relatively smoothly, we simply assume it will always be that way. We make plans
Surely this Advent of waiting and longing will be more poignant than any in recent memory. We wait and long for the coming of Christ
The first months of the pandemic were filled with grief for all that we had lost.
Dear friends in Christ, On October 8th we learned of the death of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Curtis Ralph Peddle, Bishop of the Diocese
Human beings find infinite ways to establish groups within which to feel safe.
Going back is never what you thought it would be! Do you remember returning to your hometown and discovering a new building on the corner?
For many reasons, including the changes brought about by the pandemic, I have found myself reflecting on what it means to “be church”—and in particular, what it means to be the Anglican Church of Canada.
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