Whether we are a hero or a villain, a saint or a sinner, we all need to hear the prophetic word of hope that shatters our illusions with God's truth and leads us to grieve our denials of the world's continuing injustices.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
We're all 'looking for love in the wrong places' but many of us have found that love in the right place as a friend of Jesus.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
The healing of the woman with a hemorrhage and of Jairus' daughter point to a deeper aspect of Christian discipleship: being liberated from the bondage of privilege through faith in Jesus.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
The trauma of the past is real, but we have it in our power to build a better future by remembering, by taking responsibility and by respect.
Click HERE to listen to Carole's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Sowing the seeds of the gospel is not for the faint-hearted. We do not have control over the outcome nor do we know how the gospel will be perceived by those among whom it grows.
Click HERE to listen to Michael's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Today Bishop Stephens exercised an ancient right of the Bishop to issue a pastoral letter to be read in all the churches of the Diocese.
Click HERE to listen to Bishop John's words on the discovery of the graves of 215 children at the Kamloops Residential School or click on the thumbnail below.
The Trinity is not an abstract theological concept to be debated but a life-giving mystery to explore. God works to move us from selfishness to selflessness by overcoming our fear through the work of the Holy Spirit and embodying abundant and eternal life in the work of Jesus the Christ.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Just as our computer's operating systems need an upgrade now and then, so does God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, renew and deepen our understanding of what it means to be disciples and friends of Jesus.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnal below.
We can only imagine how the early apostles felt about Jesus' ascension and departure from their midst. What they knew and what we know is that we are not alone as we continue in our discipleship.
Click HERE to listen to Carole's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Jesus is both our Friend and our Mentor. We seek to imitate him, but we are also meant to do greater things (John 14.12).
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Fruitful vines don't produce without care and pruning. The God who raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us now so that we can be more productive branches of the True Vine.
Click HERE to listen to Michael's sermon or click on the thumbnail below.
Listening for the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is difficult in such a noisy world as ours. But there are some ways to learn how to listen.
Click HERE to hear Richard's sermon or click on the screen-shot below.
Faith is more than assent to a set of beliefs. It is the experience of the living God and the risen Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Click HERE to listen to Carole's sermon or click on the screen-shot below.
Much of our lives is founded upon what is not seen yet exists or is thought to exist: gravity, the wind, black holes and Planet 'X'. Not seeing yet believing in the resurrection is the stuff of human experience and faith.
Click HERE to listen to Richard's sermon or click on the screen-shot below.
After decades in captivity, the people of Israel rose again. After a week of emotional upheaval and desperate loss, Mary Magdalene rose again. After years of being on the fringe of the community of faith, Cornelius and his family rose again. We rise again because of God's faithful love. God's last word to us is never 'death' but 'life.
Click HERE to hear the Word proclaimed and the Sacrament celebrated or click on the screen-shot below.
In Christ we are given the embodiment of a human being fully alive and fully in his right mind. As disciples of Christ we find our own right-mindedness in following the way of the Cross.
Click HERE to watch today's liturgy or click on the embedded video link below.
In us the world has the opportunity to see Jesus, the one to whom we have committed our lives and our very selves. Click HERE to see and hear the Word proclaimed in Scripture, song and Carole's sermon and in the bread broken and the wine poured.
Walking in the Light is a choice we each must make. Sometimes the choice is easy; sometimes it requires confronting the powers of evil.
Where does God's glory dwell? God's glory dwells in creation, in the divine wisdom manifested in the Torah, in holy places and in holy living.
In her final sermon as Assistant Curate at Holy Trinity Cathedral Tasha delves into what it means to gain and to lose our 'lives' as Christ's disciples.
Our Lenten pilgrimage with Jesus has begun and we, like him, experience the temptations that draw us away from the path we have chosen. Today Carole shares her reflections on our choice to follow Jesus on the Way.
Christian ritual is never an end but always a means to empower the disciples of Christ to be agents of God's reign of justice and peace in the world.
If we are honest, most if not all of us are suffering from COVID fatigue. In today's sermon Carole addresses our fatigue and offers us wisdom and hope.
Today Tasha focuses on Psalm 111 and Mark 1.21-28 to explore what it means to fear God.
Zebedee was left in the boat with the hired help while his sons, James and John, went off to follow Jesus. Zebedee became one of the supporting cast of God's story of salvation, one of those without whom the kingdom lacks breadth and depth.
Three simple verbs: Come. See. Follow. These are the verbs Philip used to bring Nathanael to Jesus. These are the verbs that describe our ministry as disciples of Christ in our community.
How do we know that the Spirit is at work? When we experience God's life-giving, life-sustaining and life-enriching presence.
The magi were on a pilgrimage to discover what awaited them under the star. We too are pilgrims on a journey to discover more than a place; we are searching for ourselves.
Learning how to wait is a good thing. Simeon and Anna knew how to wait. They were observant, curious and patient. Go to 18:00 in the video to hear Richard's reflections.
On this Christmas Even in the midst of a pandemic, we treasure and commit, ponder and consider carefully, all that God has done and is doing for us through the Christ Child whose birth we celebrate this night.
Today we remember that remarkable moment when the angel Gabriel invites Mary to be the bearer of the Christ-child. Listen to Carole's reflections on this pivotal moment in human history.
The 3rd Sunday of Advent is traditionally called 'Gaudete' -- 'Rejoice'. We hear words of God's comfort to a people seeking their way in a world fraught with challenges. Richard's sermon begins at 22:30 in the video.
In the liturgical calendar of the Anglican Church of Canada, we celebrate several commemorations of people who lived and served God prior to the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. Today is one such occasion.
The words of the prophet Isaiah are words spoken not just to people in the past. They are words God speaks to us in our own here an now. Tasha's sermon begins at 21:30 in the video.
At many times in our lives and at many points in history we've experienced the end of the world as we have known it. Whether we feel fine about that or not depends upon what world we're hoping to see emerge.
Richard's sermon begins at 18:50 in the video.
Hear Carole's thoughts on this difficult Gospel passage that brings the Christian year to a close. Her sermon begins at 27.50 in the video.
Building on Matthew 25.14-30, Richard encourages us to consider what our ministry is during the meantime and the mean times.
Richard's sermon begins at 24:20 in the video.
Joshua challenges the people of Israel to be faithful to the God who has brought them out of slavery. But remaining faithful to God in a world filled with other deities that seek our allegiance is a never-ending struggle.
Tasha's sermon begins at 32:30 in the video.
Today Richard reads the sermon prepared by Archbishop Melissa for the investiture of the Order of the Diocese of New Westminster. It's an old custom for Bishops to have sermons prepared and read in their parish churches. It seems fitting since we are unlikely to have the joy of Archbishop Melissa's physical presence with us before she retires.
The Sermon begins at 25:30 in the video.
How shall we love the Lord our God and our neighbours? After three millennia of confessing this shared belief, Jews and Christians still struggle to put it into action. Richard offers some thoughts about how we might do this. The sermon starts at 23:00 into the video.
Tasha's sermon on Matthew 22.13-22 begins at 5:30 in the video.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday Carole invites us all to enter into a life of gratitude. Her sermon begins at 22.55 in the video.
This morning Richard invites to participate in the age-old Christian quest to know who Jesus is.
The Sermon begins at 22:30 in the video.
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, sometimes two rungs up and one rung down. We are striving to reach the world that is to come even as we confront the realities of the world as it is. Richard's sermon begins at 22:35 in the video.
Today Holy Trinity Cathedrl resumes in-person worship by celebrating National Indigenous Day of Prayer. Tasha offers her reflections on what it means to speak of Jesus 'moving into the neighbourhood', a phrase used by Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase of the Gospel according to John. Tasha's sermon begins at 22.30 into the video.
Today's Gospel reminds us that we have work to do, that we need more allies in that work and that the most likely allies are ordinary people. Richard's sermon begins at 19.25 into the video of the service.
Carole shares her reflections on the gift of the Holy Spirit and our call to discipleship. The sermon begins at 20:00 into the video of the service.
One of the toughest texts in the New Testament to interpret in our current context is John 14.1-14. Today Richard offers us one way of understanding the text that does not require us to ignore what God is doing outside the Church. The Sermon begins at 25.50 in the video.
On this Good Shepherd Sunday Carole Neilson, our Deacon, shares her reflections on being members of Christ's flock. Her sermon begins at 14:25 in the video.
There are moments in every disciple's when we want to escape from the demands of following Jesus. But even as we flee, Jesus draws near to us to give us the choice to choose faithfulness rather than flight.
Click here to listen to Richard's Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Easter.
All of us have doubts that test our faith. What gives us hope is the life of the community of disciples who holds us in its embrace.
Click here to listen to Tasha's Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter.
Just as Mary Magdalene proclaimed to the frightened apostles, we too 'have seen the Lord'.
As we begin our journey into Holy Week, we join with Christians throughout the world singing 'Hosanna!' Our Preacher is the Rev'd Carole Neilson, Holy Trinity Cathedral's Deacon.
Click here to participate in the Eucharist and listen to Carole's Sermon.
As we live through the COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves in the same story as Mary and Martha as they await Jesus at the time of their brother's, Lazarus, death.
Click here to read the text of Richard's sermon.
Click here to watch the video of today's eucharist and to hear Richard's sermon.
'The Raising of Lazarus' by Sadao Watanabe was obtained at https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/theintersectionatunited/artwork/81-the-raising-of-lazarus.
Is the Lord really with us or not? At times such as these we might well ask such a question. But at times such as these the answer is the same as it has been since the beginning of creation: The Lord is really with us.
Click here to read the text of the Sermon.
The image was obtained from http://stphilipsoconnor.org.au/calendars/lent_a/lent2014/lent2014_s3.php on 14 March 2020.
Lent is not for the faint-hearted. Rather than avoid struggle, the disciples of Christ face moral struggles knowing that there is blessing to be found in these challenges. Rather than fear self-examination, the disciples of Christ recognize that self-examination opens us to God's perspective and the presence of the Spirit.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon at the 10.00 a.m. eucharist on Sunday, the 1st of March.
The icon of Adam and Eve being given clothing by God was obtained at https://skete.com/product/adam-and-eve-given-clothing-by-god-cf989.
Transfiguration is never easy for any of us and can generate a whole range of emotions. What happens to Jesus is what happens to all disciples.
Click here to listen to Tasha's sermon as preached at the 10.00 a.m. Eucharist on Sunday the 23rd.
Image obtained at http://clipart-library.com/clipart/895006.htm on 24 February 2020.
In today's gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus challenges his disciples to follow him on the difficult journey of growing in integrity and courage.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.
Clip art found at http://www.mscperu.org/grafic/graficoslit/aTO/06_to_a.htm and retrieved on 16 February 2020.
We live in a world that needs the seasoning of the Spirit God gives through the salt of the Christian people. Let's be who we are!
Clip art obtained at http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosA/12OrdinarioA5.jpg on 10 February 2020.
Simeon and Anna expected to see God's promises fulfilled. They prepared through prayer and contemplation. They were patient. Contemporary Christians can do no less.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday.
Just as Jesus called the first four disciples, so does he call us to participate in his saving ministry. It is not an easy vocation to undertake and it requires a life-long commitment to discernment.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on the 26th.
Image obtained at https://summitview.thecalvary.org/follow-me on 27 January 2020.
Just because we are people of faith does not mean that we don't feel disheartened from time to time. But feeling disheartened does not mean that God has forgotten us nor that our ministry as disciples of Jesus is in vain.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached by Richard at the 10.00 a.m. Eucharist on the 19th.
Clip art found at http://www.mscperu.org/grafic/graficoslit/bTO/02_to_b.htm on 19 January 2020.
Within every child of God there rests God's divine image which responds to the magnetic pull of God's love. We who have been baptized know this and our ministry is to link others to that divine love.
Image from https://brentkuhlman.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/baptism-of-jesus-clipart-7.gif and accessed on 12 January 2020.
God touches us in the solitude of our lives. Are we listening?
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at 10.00 a.m. on Sunday, the 5th of January 2020.
Image accessed on 8 January 2020 at https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/348114246169753753.
How are you growing in wisdom and understanding? 'Showing up' is a good place to start.
Image accessed at https://21centurypilgrim.com/2015/12/28/jesus-calling-have-you-heard-jesus-today/attachment/2013060441 on 30 Dec 2019.
Tonight we celebrate hope in a world where many of our sisters and brothers live in uncertainty. In the birth of this Child we are given a vision of the world as God means it to be and invited to be bearers of that hope.
Click here to read the Sermon as published on 24 December 2019.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 5.30 Carol Eucharist.
Image of the Nativity painted by Andy Warhol and accessed at http://nottoomuch.com/all-too-much/international-art/fat-cat-gaudette-andy-warhol on 24 December 2019.
One of the ways God gets our attention is by interrupting the regularly-scheduled program of our lives to make a special announcement to us, for us and, sometimes, through us. Interruptions such as these may be, as Henri Nouwen writes, our ministry not obstacles to our role in God's saving work.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached on the 22nd of December at the 10.00 Eucharist.
Image accessed at http://www.mscperu.org/grafic/graficoslit/adviento_navidad/4_adv_a.htm on 30 December 2019.
It's not yet the kingdom of God --- yet! But there are plenty of signs that it is breaking in upon us.
The Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on 15 December 2019.
Clip art accessed at http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosA/03AdvientoA3.jpg on 16 December 2019.
In preparation for our Lord's birth, reflect on how we can be better attuned to what Jesus Christ is calling us to be and do. Do good where you are.
The Rev'd Carole Neilson
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on 8 December 2019.
Clip art accessed at http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosA/02AdvientoA2.jpg on 16 December 2019.
We are all subject to conflicting allegiances. As we come to the end of the liturgical year, however, we are reminded of our primary allegiance to the crucified and risen Servant Lord who lives, who reigns and who will come again.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 eucharist on Sunday the 24th.
Image found at http://www.hanna-artwork.com/batik/3561644.htm on 24 November 2019
No one ever said that being a disciple of Jesus was easy. But by God's grace we extend to others the loving compassion we have received and, in more ways that we can imagine, touch their lives in difficult times and seasons.
Click here to listen to Carole's sermon at the 10.00 eucharist on Sunday, the 17th of November 2019.
Remembrance is not about assembling a nostalgic jigsaw puzzle of memories. It is an act of re-presenting the past so that we join with God in shaping the future. The eternal life that Jesus promises his disciples in John's gospel is life in the here and now that is filled with God's promise.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as it was preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.
When we remember the saints, we are proclaiming how the good news of God in Christ is made present in their lives and in the lives of the many others, known and unknown, in whom Christ has lived.
Click here to listen to Carole's sermon.
Clip art accessed on 4 November 2019 from http://clipart-library.com/clipart/1707188.htm
Perhaps the judge is not 'unjust'. Perhaps he's just weary of hoping for the best and finding himself constantly confronted by the fact that his hopes are not realized. The same thing happens to many disciples of Jesus as we strive to meet what seem to be the ever-increasing demands made upon us.
Image accessed on 20 October at
https://www.kissclipart.com/lucas-18-1-8-clipart-luke-18-parable-of-the-unjust-umig8y
Family stories are important because they not only tell our history but our aspirations as well. On this Thanksgiving Sunday let us remember our stories so that we can aspire to justice, steadfast love and humility.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 eucharist on Sunday the 13th.
Although we enjoy pet videos on Youtube and Facebook, our love for our pets and their love for us is something more. It manifests God's love for the whole creation.
Click here to listen to Tasha's sermon preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.
Icon of Saint Francis accessed at
https://www.monasteryicons.com/product/Saint-Francis-and-the-Animals/did-you-know
on 7 October 2019
We sometimes think of angels and archangels as distant spiritual beings. Carole invites us to consider how we live in the company of angels and archangels.
As Jacob fled his brother, Esau, he had no idea that God was waiting for him at Bethel to change his life. Nor did Nathanael expect God to surprise him in the person of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth. God often shows up in unexpected places and in unexpected people. Our task as disciples of Jesus is to learn how to discern God's presence in such places and peoples.
Photograph of Michael and the Devil
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_St_Michael_and_the_devil_-_Coventry_Cathedral_14d06.jpg
accessed on Monday, 30 September 2019.
Every disciple of Jesus lives between two masters: the necessities of the world as it is and the vision of the world as God wishes it to be. How we use our resources of time, talent and treasure will reveal which master is drawing us closer.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 22nd.
Clip art retrieved from www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosC/49ordinarioC25.jpg on 24 September 2019.
In Luke 15.1-10 Jesus presents a view of the world that many would find upside down, but it may well be the world right side round. It's an understanding that might inform us as we listen to the platforms of our political leaders during the current federal campaign.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 15th.
Image accessed at http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosC/48ordinarioC24.jpg on 15 September 2019.
We sometimes are reluctant to let people see our cracks and chips. But they are, as Leonard Cohen says, 'how the light gets in' to us. As Christians they are also how the light goes forth from us into the shadows of the world.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached Monday evening.
In English 'tradition' and 'treason' come from the same Latin root 'trahere'. As Christians we are called to be faithful to the tradition and to avoid the treason of traditionalism.
The photograph is of the New Westminster Customs House where the first Anglican service in New Westminster was held on the 2nd of September 1859 under the leadership of the Rev'd John Sheepshanks, later Bishop of Norwich.
Both Sirach and Luke address the dilemma of human pride. When does healthy self-love or 'pride' cross the boundary and become chauvinism and 'pridefulness'? After all, we are called to love our neighbours 'as we love ourselves'. Hear what Richard's thoughts are by clicking on the link below.
Clip art from http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/dibujosC/46ordinarioC22.jpg on Monday, 2 September 2019.
It is not ritual that Isaiah and Jesus condemn. It is ritual that does not lead into acting as God's agents in the world. Worship is not play-acting; it is rehearsing our roles that God asks us to exercise when we are not gathered as a community.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 25th of August.
Image: Christ healing the crippled woman who was bent over, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=51253 [retrieved August 26, 2019]. Original source: Collection of J. Patout Burns and Robin M. Jensen.
We often hear only the softer words of Jesus. Tasha invites us to hear the harder words as well. In them we learn more about the challenges of discipleship.
‘Teach us to pray,’ an unnamed disciple asks Jesus in today’s gospel from Luke. Beneath those words I hear the desire to have the same rich spiritual life that Jesus has with God, that same sense of connectedness that enables Jesus to radiate God’s life into the hustle and bustle of the disciples’ everyday lives, that ability to meet the reality of our human condition confident in God’s purposes to bring us all into life-giving, life-sustaining relationships.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon as preached at the 10.00 a.m. Eucharist on Sunday the 28th.
Being a witness to the good news is not without cost. It often means opening oneself up to the criticisms of others, to ridicule by so-called ‘reasonable people’, to charges of being unfaithful to the ‘tradition’, to the struggle to make a go of this rag-tag bunch of folk we call Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral. It means suffering, not suffering in place of Christ, but suffering with Christ for on-going work of reconciliation and renewal begun so long ago.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached by Richard on Sunday the 21st at the 10.00 Eucharist.
Mary Magdalene discovered that clinginess to the past is not the same as faithfulness to God's future. The church in every age has to de-clutter in order to move into the glorious light of the resurrection.
Despite the failure of the General Synod to pass the revised Marriage Canon, Holy Trinity Cathedral is and will remain 'an inclusive communit of faith where all are welcome'. Since 1995 I have affirmed and have worked for the full inclusion of all people into the life of the Christian community. This has been and remains my commitment as your Vicar. We can and we will disagree about how we live our lives as disciples of Jesus, but we will not abandon our commitment to Jesus as Lord and the covenant of our baptism.
On the occasion of Parker's baptism, Tasha Carrothers, our Assistant Curate, offers some baptismal reflections in the style of Godly Play.
All believers want to know how to discern the presence of the Spirit of God in the events and experiences of their lives. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, the apostle Paul give a straightforward set of criteria to guide us in discerning the Spirit's presence --- Straightforward, yes --- Simple to discern, not always.
While it's tempting to think of faith only as set of beliefs or an attitude towards life and the world, faith is a verb. We act on our confidence in what God has achieved through Jesus of Nazareth.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon from Sunday the 23rd of June.
Emily, today you are being gathered into the loving community of Jesus’ friends. For a very long time we have brought together all sorts of people, young and old, women and men and children, so that they can know how much God loves them and how much God loves the whole world. But there’s more to being a friend of Jesus. To be a friend of Jesus we have need to be transformed, to be inspired, so that the love we have found here can be shared with others.
The ministry of Jesus is to gather people of every race and nation, people of all genders and ages, people of every social status and experience, into a beloved community, a community at one which each other just as Jesus is at one with the Holy One our God. In this beloved community diversity is not something to be feared but to be embraced. In this beloved community questions are encouraged rather than discouraged. In this beloved community love means being always prepared to say, ‘I’m sorry’, and to work towards restored life-giving relationships.
Click here to listen to Richard's sermon from the 2nd of June.
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