May 13, 2026
My wife Kathy and I were in Halifax Nova Scotia recently for a national pastors’ conference. On the Sunday, we went to St. Paul’s Anglican Church just two blocks from our hotel. Founded in 1749, it is the oldest building in Halifax and the oldest place of Anglican worship in Canada. It is beautiful inside and out and has “presence”.
As we worshipped, I was struck with the timeless message of the Gospel. Liturgies and non-liturgies come and go over time, but, as the scriptures say, Jesus “is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. Indeed, the light is everywhere.
I also reflected on our seven years in Jerusalem where, at the request of the government of Israel, we planted the King of Kings church in 1983. The setting there was not “merely” 275 years old, rather we were in an historical context of millennia. But the same sense of timelessness was always near.
This present reality of the Spirit of God regardless of time or place is evidence of the eternal kingdom of heaven among us. The Lord has constantly been loving and reaching out to our world throughout time. He is our creator and Father. He loves us with an everlasting love. And we respond to his initiative. As the bible says, “no one comes [to Jesus] except the Father draws [them].”
So, whether in Halifax or Jerusalem, in an old church or a new church in an old place, we are a body of believers wholly dependent on the unfailing love of God. Our worship transcends time and space.
