Water We Can Trust: A Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent

 Readings for the Third Sunday of Advent (Yr C):m. Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9 OR Canticle 18 (Luke 1:47-55); James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water (Isa 35:6-7) 

Most of us have spent our lives trusting the water that comes out of our taps.     You might have lived or travelled in parts of the world where that isn’t the case.     Just before Covid I spent three weeks in Ethiopia, in a fairly decent hotel, and still had to force myself not to hold my toothbrush under the tap, as I habitually do.   

Because we take safe water for granted at home, it came as a bolt from the blue yesterday when Collingwood got a boil water advisory.  Those of us with longer memories immediately thought of Walkerton and took the warnings seriously.    This morning we learned that the water main has been repaired, and if we’re lucky, the water advisory will be lifted early next week.   In the meantime we will keep calm and carry on, and take appropriate precautions at our coffee hour today, but it has certainly come as a shock in the run up to Christmas.

In case you doubted that God has a sense of humour, our first reading this morning has, as I quoted, much to say about clean, fresh water.     Through Advent we have heard wonderful promises from the prophet Isaiah.  On Advent One we heard of the holy city that gathers all the peoples into a new age of peace.   On Advent Two, Isaiah told of us a ideal, just ruler whose reign would bring harmony even to the lion and the lamb, to the child and to the snake.   And today we hear the prophet speak of a way home for exiles who long to see their homeland, a safe and smooth way through deserts suddenly full of clean, fresh, water.

Now it’s very tempting to think of these promises merely as the prophet’s poetic flights of fancy, as Isaiah imagines what God’s future reign might look like, and to be sure, that reign of God is part of what our waiting in Advent looks towards.   However, we listen to scripture because we believe that somehow God speaks to our present reality through scripture.   And so, when we hear the prophet promise clean water when we have none, that should get our attention.

There are parts of Canada where if you talk about clean water, you will definitely get people’s attention.   According to the Council of Canadians, there are twenty-nine indigenous reserves that currently have unsafe water restrictions.     Some of these advisories date back twenty or more years, which means that there are children and young people that have never known clean running water in their homes and schools.    The Council says that seventy three percent of First Nations water systems are at risk for water contamination.

There are also parts of Canada, specifically in Ottawa, where if you talk about clean water, you will have trouble getting people’s attention.    Water systems on indigenous reserves are the responsibility of the federal government, which has treaty obligations to provide services, including proper funding for First Nations water plants.  During the 2015 election, Justin Trudeau promised to end drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves in five years, and this promise was never kept.

Here in Collingwood, I’ve noticed on social media that people are grumbling because the lab workers won’t come into work on the weekend to do the necessary tests.  Imagine how people would feel if the water advisory lasted until Christmas.  Or Easter.  Or for a year or more.   Prosperous Collingwood would never stand for such a delay.   Governments at all levels would throw truckloads of money at the problem until it was fixed.    And yet somehow, in places far to the north of us, these same problems are tolerated.

One of the things that Isaiah points to in today’s lesson is that clean, lifegiving water is part of creation, a gift from God to the world that God loved into being.  As Christians, we believe that our neighbour’s welfare is as important as our own, and this very belief as led to a long partnership among Canadian faith communities across Canada.

What we used to call the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, now known as Alongside Hope, has been working with several indigenous communities, Pikangikum and Kingfisher Lake First Nations, to bring clean water into homes and schools.    This partnership led to a network that calls itself the Pimatisiwin Nipi (Living Waters Group), and in 2021 the Living Waters Group began partnering with twenty five communities across the North and with the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic to bring clean, safe water to homes and churches.  Imagine coming to All Saints and not having clean water for our many functions

In our recent Regional Ministry Newsletter, our Alongside Hope representative, David Penhale, challenged us to consider helping this clean water project by joining the Advent Conspiracy.   This Consipracy doesn’t require disguises and secret handshakes!  It’s simply a movement that has gained traction in recent years as a rebellion against the relentless monetization of Christmas to drive corporate profits.  Here's how the conspiracy works.

1. Ask yourself what you would normally spend on a present for someone you love.
2. Don’t buy “stuff” this year, give the gift of water!
3. Make a donation to Alongside Hope’s Indigenous Water Partnership (through your church or directly to Alongside Hope
4. You can download a Donation Card
5. Give that Donation Card to your loved one this Christmas to tell them how much you love them

Since Joy and I are frantically downsizing to get into our newer, smaller house, and don’t need any more stuff, we’ve decided that we will give one another the gift of water this year,    Perhaps the Advent Conspiracy will make sense for your Christmas as well.    Whatever you decide, may our prayer be that clean water isn’t just a wonderful prophet’s promise, but an imminent reality, for Collingwood and for everyone, and may our soul’s thirst be met in the living water that Jesus promises all his followers.

The Kingdom of God Is Coming Near: A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent

Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, 30 November, 2025.  Readings for the First Sunday of Advent (A):  Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

Advent as the church celebrates it can be an odd time, when we aren’t sure if we should be anxious or joyful about the future.  We look to the future because  Advent is a forward looking season, the word itself, Advent, coming to us via Latin as a translation of the Greek New Testament word parousia, means something like coming, presence, arrival. returning.   Our collect this morning speaks of Jesus’ second coming,”in glorious majesty”.  Jesus speaks of this coming (parousia) as being unexpected, like an unexpected disaster or a thief in the night.   Jesus warns us to be ready and expectant, which can be an exhausting posture over time, and the comparisons of his return to Noah’s flood or to a nightime robbery do not make us feel cheerful or relaxed!

But there certainly is joy in our first two readings!   Isaiah promises a day of peace and plenty, when all nations will sit together at God’s feet, and our psalm speaks of gladness, security, prosperity, and quietness, things that we will find when we seek God’s presence.  So as I said, a mix of anxiety and joyfulness.

Isn’t it all rather like that moment of quiet late on Christmas Day when we can finally relax?   Imagine the scene.  The family and guests all made it.  Everyone liked their presents.   Nobody argued over politics.   Everything came out of the oven on time and the turkey was moist and perfectly cooked.    Everyone is enjoying a food coma and watching sports in the family room.  You can finally sit back in peace and quiet and have a second glass of something nice.

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?  But think of how many challenges and anxious moments you faced?   Would all the guests make their connecting flights, or get through the snowstorm that started on Christmas Eve?   What if the turkey wasn’t big enough?  Would you forget some crucial ingredient or dish?  What if cousin Bert gets drunk and quarrelsome again?   What if the grandkids are bored and cranky?   Some of our cherished Christmas stories and films play on these anxieties, as the late Stuart McLean did in his great story, “Dave Cooks the Turkey”.

Advent points us towards a future that will be better than we can imagine, but the trip there may be a nervewracking.   And maybe that’s a fitting insight for this, the First Sunday of Advent, whose theme is traditionally Hope.     Isn’t hope simply our wanting things to be better?     Isn’t hope our desire that there is a better future out there, the belief that things will work out for the good?  Hope might be as simple as “I will get though Christmas and it will be lovely despite cousin Bert” or it can be as grand as “peace on earth, and goodwill to all”.

Hope for Christians has taken different forms and had different intensities over the centuries.   Our gospel reading, with it’s talk about Noah’s flood, people disappearing, and Christ coming like a thief in the night, probably comes from a time when the very first Christians believed that Jesus would come in their lifetimes to end their problems and overthrow the tyranny of the Roman Empire.   Well, that didn’t happen and over the centuries Christians have wondered what the second coming of Jesus would look like.

In recent times, some Christians have taken passages like today’s gospel out of context and assembled into doctrines like the Rapture, which some Christian churches use to terrorize their members into belief, or to comfort them that their fates will be better then those terrible unbelievers who won’t get taken up into heaven.   

I would say that notions such as the Rapture are wrong for several reasons.  First, we should never be afraid of the coming of God.  Yes, Jesus knows all the secrets of our hearts and Jesus will come to judge us, as our creeds remind us, but the coming of Jesus, even at the end of time,  should never be frightening because Jesus is waiting now, like the Jesus with the lantern in Holman Hunt’s famous painting, standing at the door of our hearts and waiting to be let in.

What if the coming of Jesus isn’t some far off, unlikely event, but something that is happening now, for each of us?  Paul writes in Romans that “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers” (Rom 13:12).  Do you remember when you first became a believer?  Maybe it was recently, or maybe it was long ago, in Sunday school or when you came back to faith after a lapsed time.    No matter.  If that was the first point on a line separating you and Jesus, Paul is saying that Jesus has gotten closer to you since then and is getting closer.  

 So what is this salvation that is getting closer?    I would say that if we want to imagine what salvation looks like, then think about what the Kingdom of God looks like as Jesus taught it. We know something about what the kingdom of God looks like from Jesus’ parables and teachings.  The kingdom of God is whereever justice and protectionare given to the defenceless, wherever the poor lowly are lifted up, and wherever mercy and forgiveness are shown.   Jesus did not imagine this Kingdom.

As a Jewish preacher, Jesus was drawing on a tradition such as our second lesson from Isaiah 2, which promises a time when the nations shall be friends and weapons are turned into tools for farming.   Imagine how we could hunger and poverty if all governments turned their defence budgets to useful purposes that benefitted all humanity.   

Likewise, Psalm 122 is a vision of what the presence of God looks like - like being in a city where we are safe, joyful, free to live good loves and to work for the good and welfare of one another.    Which of us wouldn’t want to live in such a place?

I said earlier that Advent is about hope, and can you think of anything better to hope for then the Kingdom of God as justive, peace, and love?   Jesus wants to being this Kingdom into our hearts. We can lock Jesus out of our hearts if we say that his kingdom is naive and unrealistic, that wars will happen, that we need to be strong, and that some will have to go by the wayside.  But if we say such things, then aren’t we denying hope itself?   Aren’t we saying that Jesus is a fool and God is naive?

The challenge of Advent is letting down our guard and letting Jesus come closer, into our very hearts.   Advent is about embracing the hope of the Kingdom of God as something that will come in its glorious entirety , while doing our small part in the present can to make the kingdom real on earth.   And Advent is an acknowledgement that even if there are things that make us afraid, the coming of God’s son is not one of them, for Jesus who is drawing near, who comes to give us all the gifts of Advent: hope, joy, peace, and love.

Report From Synod 2025, by Michael Peterson and David Penhale

 Notes from DOT Synod 2025 / David Penhale and Michael Peterson

Our Delegation  (Michael)

Diocesan Synod generally meets every other year, and this year Synod met in North York on 7-8 this November.  

  Our Synod team this year was myself and David Penhale representing All Saints.  Rev. Amy and Don Perrault represented Prince of Peace, Deacon Lorna and Sheila Koss recommended St Luke’s, and Brenda Young represented Good Shepherd, Stayner, so in total seven persons represented our Regional Ministry.  As well, the Revs Carole and Murray Bateman attended from POP, Joy Packham attended as a non-voting member but going forward will have the title and task if being the Lay Secretary of Synod, an important role.

Bishop’s Charge. (Michael)

The full  Charge (or address) to Synod by Andrew Absil, Bishop of Toronto, can be found here,  A short summary of my own follows.

 Andrew shared an account of a recent pilgrimage in the north of Britain with a small group from Church of the Redeemer in Toronto, and meeting a couple on the trail who said “Bishop, it’s Sunday morning, would you pray for us?”   They formed a circle, he said a prayer, and they continued on their way.  They met the couple at the end of the route, and one said, “That moment of prayer was when the pilgrimage began for us.”

We’ve been on a pilgrimage as a Diocese, through the hard years of Covid, during which we learned new techniques and new ways of being together, and now, with the Cast the New process and it’s leaning into John 21 and the story of Jesus telling the disciples to try fishing on the other side of the boat, we’ve learned new ways of being together and doing church.  We haven’t gone back to the old ways of doing church.  The 20 calls to action that came out of the Diocese a new sense of vision and purpose; Andrew called them “a compass in the hand”, helping us to follow the prompting of the HS.   Taken together, these twenty calls to action can be summed up as:  “Renewing our spiritual life, inspiring faith in action, reimagining ministry and transforming our diocesan culture”. 

Bishop Andrew summed up the 20 calls in four broad categories:     Not all parishes can pursue all 20 ideas, in our case, we’ve chosen to focus on (9), embracing collaboration and innovation between congregations which we’ve done with our focus on regional ministry, as well as (18), adopt a theologically informed approach to property managedment - in our case, imagining how the sale of the cemetery lands not only gives us a more sustainable future but also helps us imagine the ministries we can do.     Finally, (4), participate in God’s healing work in the world, encourages us to see our food ministries as acts of God’s grace and love for the world while challenging us to think how we might expand these ministries

Good News. (David)

- ASA in the diocese up 20% over the last two years

- parish allotment rate unchanged at 24.1%

- Bishop Andrew’s recent initiatives: Cast the Net (find new ways to evangelize and open our doors in welcome) and Season of Spiritual Renewal (prayer, scripture, worship) are meeting with success: e.g. the recent service at St. James Orillia was well attended. Worship was heartfelt.

- Reconciliation Land Tithe: “An ongoing commitment of a 10% tithe from the [sale of property in the Diocese] [is] a tangible step towards restoring the treaty relationship between the Diocese and Indigenous peoples. The program began in 2021. Qualified indigenous groups are invited to apply for funds.

- Parishes are responding to the needs of the homeless and those burdened with poverty and food insecurity. e.g. Little Trinity in Toronto provides dry packed meals that require only hot water to prepare. The Parish of Minden, Kinmount and Maple Lake operates a thrift store as an outreach. Representatives of other parishes told us about their initiatives as well

Challenges. (David)

- The people who live on the street in our diocese come from all over Ontario and beyond. Some parishes are focal points for the disadvantaged. e.g. All Saints at Sherbourne and Dundas in Toronto has a big population of street people in their neighbourhood, which has the most overdoses in the City of Toronto. All Saints has dubbed itself A Corner of Belonging and offers Meals / Case Management / Emergency Clothing / Harm Reduction Supplies / Computer, phone, and wifi /Washrooms. St. Margaret’s in Barrie operates a food bank. They spoke out and demonstrated against the City of Barrie’s deportation of street people from the city: public witness to social injustice. A parish in the Beaches area of Toronto hands out $25 grocery cards.

• Several parishes said that they are frustrated by insurance requirements such as security that make providing shelter too expensive to be implemented. Other parishes, including All Saints Witby, said that they are struggling to provide support with the resources they have.

Regionalization. (Michael)

In his charge to Synod, Bishop Andrew spoke about how congregations, three or four or five at a time, are coming together to form communities.    This trend is not a repackaging of the old multipoint parishes of decades past.   As in our own case, the Diocese has been providing funds to help these regions, or communities of churches, to hire clergy and form teams that look after a mix of larger and smaller congregations.   In next year, we will be working with our regional partners to explore ways that we can work together without burning out our volunteers.  Imagine one set of books, one set of wardens, one vestry meeting, one treasurer, wouldn’t that be something?

News from the Diocese  (David)

- a new episcopal structure has been created. Parishes will be clustered in Area Councils. This reorganization does not mean a reduction in funding. Instead, the new structure will be less top down and more collaborative.

Fund Raising Campaign (David)

- a major fund raising campaign had been planned for next year.  The idea behind this campaign would be to allow 6- to 70% of funds raised to remain within parishes.   The rest would go to the Diocese and would be put back into parishes through the congregational development process.  The Diocese hired consultants to recommend for or against this course of action. The consultants recommended against undertaking a campaign at this time and deferring the decision until the next synod in 2027. The issue was put to the synod reps present. People spoke passionately for and against the deferment. The motion to defer was passed with 53% voting to defer.

Reflections (David)

- Over the two days of the synod, I was moved by the depth of faith of all present and their commitment to put faith in action.

- the synod reminded me of one reason (among many) that I am an Anglican. In comparison with some other denominations, our polity (means of government) is equitable and democratic.

• when people asked me about All Saints Collingwood and our regional ministry, I told them that we strive to live out our baptismal vows. I talked about our outreach programs. I said that at All Saints, you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was an honour to represent our parish. Thank you.

Reflections (Michael)

In our second lesson, we heard Paul say that Jesus “is the head of the body, the church”.  Synod is the body of the church coming together to try and better follow Jesus and to try and discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches.  I was very impressed by the way that people there seemed to be genuinely listening to the Spirit and to make our church a force for good in the world around us.    Too often we think that the Diocese is some faceless bureaucracy that just wants its share of our givings.   In fact, the Diocese is made up of a handful of dedicated staff and by ordinary clergy and laypeople who want to follow Jesus.    And as my friend David said, it was an honour to be there on your behalf.