The Church of the Holy Trinity is a community of people who seek to express Christian faith through lives of integrity, justice and compassion. We foster lay leadership, include the doubter and the marginalized, and challenge oppression wherever it may be found.
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Sherman Hesselgrave
Church of the Holy Trinity, Toronto
17 March 2013
Isaiah 43 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8
Stop dwelling on days gone by and brooding over events long past.
I am about to do a new thing;
at this very moment it is unfurling from the bud—
can you not see it? —Isaiah 43
Thornton Wilder wrote that the “whole purport of literature…is the notation of the heart.” [The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p.16]
In seminary, I took a course entitled Evil and Recovery: A Christian Perspective on Shakespeare.
One of the most dramatic themes in literature, and well represented in the canon of this great
documentarian of the [...]
Second Sunday after Epiphany (January 20, 2013) by Jennifer Henry
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of God’s favour.’ (Luke 4:18-19)
You will likely recognize these words. And even if you didn’t grow up in a strongly biblical denomination, you might be able to place them in the scriptures. For those of us who understand the Christian mandate as saturated with the call for justice, this [...]
Ian Digby, Homilist
Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-; Luke 3:7-18
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always pleasing to you, my God.
Good morning, and I offer a warm welcome to visitors who are joining us at Holy Trinity for the first time today. My name is Ian Digby, and I am a long-term but sometimes irregular member of this congregation. It is a pleasure to work through the Bible readings with you today for the first time in many years.
We are now at the third Sunday of Advent, three quarters of the way along the path of waiting for the coming of the Christ [...]
Sherman Hesselgrave, Homilist
Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-10 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36
I went to see the documentary, Chasing Ice, by National Geographic photographer James Balog [BAY-log] this week. Chasing Ice documents the melting of the earth’s glaciers using multi-year time-lapsed images. I didn’t go because I am skeptical about the causes of global warming; I’m pretty sure the principal enemy is us. The reason I carved time out of a busy week was because a blog I follow had a YouTube video of an interview with a woman whose position had changed 180 degrees after seeing the film. She was a Fox News-watching Bill O’Reilly fan, and had literally chased anyone out of her home who didn’t believe global warming [...]
Delivered on November 18th, 2012 by Sherman Hesselgrave
Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Walter Brueggemann, “Giver of All Good Gifts: On reading 1 & 2 Kings,” from Prayers for a Privileged People.
Mark 12:38-44
Outrageous Generosity
“…but this woman, out of her poverty, put in everything— all she had to live on.” Mark 12:44
“Stir us by your spirit beyond fearful accumulation toward outrageous generosity.” Walter Brueggemann
I’d like you to think back to your childhood for a moment. What did you learn about money from your parents? Or was money something that was never discussed in your presence?
When I think back on my own experience, I remember money being an occasional source of tension between my parents. [...]
Sherman Hesselgrave, Homilist
Job 23: 1-9, 16-17 Mark 10.17-31
Doubt: an Element of Faith
Thanks to Keith Nunn for proposing ‘Doubt’ as the theme for today. Doubt permeates pretty much every aspect of our lives, yet we don’t reflect on it that often. We have doubts about the competence of our political leaders. We have doubts about our food safety. We have doubts about the future of the human race, the environment, the economy, the criminal justice system, and we can read all about these doubts on the front pages of the daily papers or listen to people talking about them on the radio or television. It is in this sacred space, though, that we’re more likely than any other [...]
Hebrew testament: Proverbs 31: 10-31.
The heading of this concluding chapter of the book of proverbs is “the sayings of Lemuel king of Massa, {taught him by his mother}.” The first few verses are of practical political advice on the national level, ending with an emphasis on the king doing justice.
Then we come to the domestic, local level and get this paean to “the truly capable partner in marriage”. It’s a highly structured song of praise, being an acrostic type of poem, each verse beginning with a letter of Hebrew alphabet….this paragon of a chatelaine clearly rates as a subject for the lead article in an issue of good housekeeping—textile artist, shrewd businesswoman, domestic manager, always usefully occupied, [...]
Music Director Becca Whitla’s Farewell Sermon
Good morning. Welcome to all of you, especially to visitors this morning. Today is my last day as the Music Director here at Holy Trinity and I asked for the chance to share some of my thoughts with you as I leave this place and begin a new and exciting phase of my life’s journey. I have been the Music Director for twenty years. Before that, I was a member of the congregation, coming to church with my parents. It has been a long time. So, in many ways I feel like I am leaving home. This spiritual home we call Holy Trinity is the building, yes, but more than that, it is you [...]
A reflection on a Three Month Study Leave in Cuba
Homily for Easter 5, 2012
by Music Director, Becca Whitla
Good morning.
I have been asked to share with you a little bit about my recent three month study leave to Cuba. There is also a blog: http://springincuba.blogspot.ca/ and I plan to organize my photos someday!
I was there for three months from January to April to study choral conducting and theology at a seminar in Matanzas with my thirteen year old daughter Emma, finishing up the final semester of a Master of Sacred music degree from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto. It was part of my larger personal, spiritual and academic journey.
This morning I’d like to [...]
Homily for Easter 4 by Sherman Hesselgrave
Readings: From the Writings of Oscar Romero Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24 John 10:11-18
“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
The Fourth Sunday of Easter has come to be known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The gospel reading is always a portion of the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, where Jesus says, “I AM the Good Shepherd” and the appointed Psalm is always the 23rd. Iconographic representations of Christ as the Good Shepherd can be found in catacombs from the earliest centuries of the Common Era. ‘Shepherd’ language has also entered the vocabulary of the church through its Latin equivalent, ‘pastor.’ Seminaries have professors [...]
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