The Main Wycliffe Blog

In my graduate studies, my professors had me read great books written by great men who had made a difference in the church and academy. They never talked about the great books that women had written and the great things that women had done. Women’s voices had long been silenced. But thanks to the hard work of many scholars, the great books of many women have been rediscovered and the great things women have done are beginning to be recognised. Their voices can now speak again. 

It’s Valentine’s Day and as the saying goes, “love is in the air,” but what is love anyway? Ask a few different people what love is, and you will quickly discover that love, like ice cream, comes in different flavors that can be enjoyed on their own or mixed together for an extraordinary treat. As delicious as the hearts and chocolate of Valentine’s Day might be, a steady diet of romance is like only having one flavor of ice cream!

During the 1960s, which were a decade of upheaval in western Christianity in general, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) registered some fundamental changes in its worship, theology, ecumenical outlook, discipline, and cultural inclusiveness.  

Here are ten of the most significant changes of those years. I'll let you decide which were good, which were bad, and which were a bit of both.

Can a woman preach? Can women lead worship? Does God ordain authority for women in the church? It is a question that matters to me, as a woman and a priest in the Anglican church, now for more than 25 years. Greek points us toward an answer!

My dad was a “there-are-no-strangers-but-only-friends-I-haven’t-met-yet” kind of guy. He was disarmingly affable and could size up a situation that was full of flaws and point out what was good about it. If my dad’s church was troubled by waning numbers, I expect he would have gone about making more friends out of strangers.

Just when we thought that we were about to survive the coronapocalypse, the Omicron variant appeared from the viral swamp and, like the tail of the Balrog, swept us from the victory podium. So, for the next few months we renew our efforts to comply with mutating guidelines and policies, weary though we be, in the hope that if we all contract the disease, we shall not all do so at the same time. And we pray that this virus will soon spend itself and join the ranks of endemic afflictions.

The first time I encountered the term eating disorder I was about twelve and read a letter addressed to Dear Abby, a syndicated advice column published in many North American newspapers. The letter was from the mother of a teenage girl who thought she was fat even though she was dangerously skinny. The woman’s daughter had stopped eating much of anything, and the mom was sick with worry. The term anorexia nervosa was, as yet, relatively new to many people.

The following comments were transcribed from opening remarks by Professor Ephraim Radner delivered at Morning Prayer in the Wycliffe College Founder’s Chapel, on Thursday, December 16, 2022. 

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I believe our alphabet reflects one of the most significant inventions of all time. Without it, it would take years for me to learn the hundreds of pictographic signs that would be necessary to write this blog and for you to be able to read it. 

How was the alphabet invented?

The atmospheric river that came was truly an inundation. Torrential rain for days caused mudslides, rivers to swell and burst their banks, roads and bridges to dissolve into nothing, and waters suddenly rising to dangerous levels and consuming homes, farms, and land. As the news steadily poured in of this terrible disaster in my province, the nearby community of Abbotsford was the hardest hit.