One Sacred Breath

Often when one hears the phrase “in the beginning was the Word” one thinks of the beginning of the bible, of scripture. Bishop John Stephens said when he hears the phrase, he thinks of the beginning as 14 billion years ago when life began on earth.

Preaching at St. Helen’s church in Surrey at the Peace Arch deanery celebration on the Sunday June 23, the Sunday marking National Indigenous Day of Prayer, Bishop Stephens said the beginning of life on earth “is where the Word of God was suddenly made known,” yet today we often try to limit who can know the Word, know the truth, and interpret the truth. “But we live in an expanding universe,” he said.

The Word of God, he said, is much greater than the limited definitions we sometimes place on it. At the same time we believe “the darkness did not overcome it.” He gave as an example the fact that the first peoples already knew the Creator, and already knew the light of the Word of God. Yet “we tried to remove this light from people who already knew it” long before Europeans arrived here.

Acknowledging that we now understand we cannot limit who knows the Word of God and the light of God, “we pray for right relations and right reconciliation.”

Quoting Richard Wagamese, the bishop said, “ We exist on one Sacred Breath. We are Sacred. We are all one energy. We are all one soul - and the degree to which we forget this is the precise degree of separation that divides us.”

At the start of the service the bishop spoke to the children in the congregation who were about to go to their Sunday School session. Handing out stickers featuring the diocesan logo, the bishop told the kids the diocese is a wider community to which they belong, regardless of which specific church they attend on Sundays. Picking up on the theme in the sermon of the darkness not overcoming the light, the children of the four parishes closed the service singing “Thy Word” and showing off lanterns they made during their Sunday School session.

After the outdoor service at St. Helen’s which also included parishioners from Church of the Epiphany, Christ the Redeemer, and St. Michael’s the bishop gathered with parishioners for a casual lunch.

You can watch and listen to Bishop Stephen’s sermon here.