The late Elie Wiesel, famed writer and holocaust survivor, 
Gottman 
religion. 
2017 G.K. Chesterton and St. Francis
By Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
The late G.K. Chesterton is one of the most significant writers in the past hundred years.[1] His ‘friendly enemy’ George Bernard Shaw called him a colossal genius.[2] Chesterton wrote many biographies, including those of Robert Louis Stevenson, William Chaucer, St Benedict and St Francis of Assisi. Chesterton’s biography on St Francis told us as much about Chesterton as about St. Francis. They had remarkable things in common. Both Chesterton and Francis had a grateful appreciation of the gift of God’s creation. Rather than exploit nature, they both cared for it as faithful stewards. Who can forget the classic 1972 movie ‘Brother Sun Sister Moon’, with its message of peace so loved by the hippies of San Francisco (Spanish for Saint Francis)?[3] As Chesterton noted, “St Francis was so fiery and even fidgety that the church officials, before he appeared quite suddenly, thought he was a 
madman.”[4] To renounce his wealthy father’s materialism did not make any initial sense to most people in his home town of Assisi. Both Francis and Chesterton were radically spontaneously generous to the poor and hurting. Everything they did for others was out of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrificial love on the cross.
There was a playful laughter with both Francis and Chesterton that won the hearts of millions. Both used humorous drama to awaken the world from its cynical slumber.[5] Chesterton was called the Angelic Jester.[6] There is in both Chesterton and Francis an endearing childlikeness and innocence that draws people to Christ. Joseph Pearce, a Chesterton biographer, noted that “…the paradox of innocent wisdom was a fertile ground for Chesterton’s imagination.”[7] The famous Oxford 
atheist CS Lewis came to faith after reading Chesterton’s book The Everlasting Man. It has been said that Chesterton, as one of the deepest thinkers who ever existed, made up for being deep by being witty.[8] Both Chesterton and Francis not only made you think but also made you laugh.[9] In a very Franciscan way, Chesterton taught that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility.[10] Only grateful people are humble enough to laugh at themselves.
Both Chesterton and Francis were romantic troubadours of hope calling people away from fashionable despair and cynicism.[11] As self-described jugglers and jesters of God, they 
passionately romanced our hearts.[12] At the heart of this romance was the key idea of taking things with gratitude and not taking things for granted.[13] Without gratitude, said Chesterton, all we are left with is the emptiness of ‘bread and circuses’.[14] Gratitude to God enables us, with Francis and Chesterton, to enjoy the gifts that are all around us. Chesterton commented about the joy of seeing a dandelion after temporary blindness, and how true pessimists can’t even notice the sunset.[15]
My prayer for those reading this article is that we like Chesterton and Francis will notice the dandelions and sunsets with new gratitude.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in Canada
-an article for the Sept 2016 Deep Cove Crier and the Light Magazine
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind 
and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. In Canada, Amazon.ca has the book available in paperback and ebook. It is also posted on Amazon UK (paperback and ebook), Amazon France (paperback and ebook), and Amazon Germany (paperback and ebook).
Restoring Health is also available online on Barnes and Noble in both paperback and Nook/ebook form. Nook gives a sample of the book to read online.
Indigo also offers the paperback and the Kobo ebook version. You can also obtain it through ITunes as an IBook.
To receive a signed copy within North America, just send a $20 cheque (USD/CAN) to ED HIRD, 1008- 555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC, V7N 2J7, Canada.
– In order to obtain a signed copy of the prequel book Battle for the Soul of Canada, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West
28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. TheBattle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of theBattle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
[1] Joseph Pearce, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of GK Chesterton“, (Hodder & Stoughton, London, UK, 1996), vii ‘…one of the giants of 20th Century literature’
[2] “Orthodoxologist”, Time, 11 October 1943, (Accessed August 4, 2016); Pearce, vii “His wit was a match for that of Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and a host of others.”
[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069824/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG5jVcYA1aM
[4] G.K. Chesterton, Thomas Aquinas (Catholic Book Club, London, UK, 1933), 14-15
[5] J. D. Douglas (24 May 1974). “G.K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox”. Christianity Today. (accessed August 4th 2016)
[6] Fr John O’Connor, Father Brown on Chesterton (Frederick Muller Ltd, London, 1937), 157.
[7] Pearce, 92.
[8] Maisie Ward, Return to Chesterton (London, 1952), 526.
[9] Dale Ahlquist, “Who is this Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?”, The American Chesterton Society, 2014, http://www.chesterton.org/who-is-this-guy (Chesteron) “doesn’t merely astonish you. He doesn’t just perform the wonder of making you think. He goes beyond that. He makes you laugh.”
[10] G.K. Chesterton, Heretics (Wilder Publication, London, UK, 1909), 131.
[11] Pearce, 161 “…cynicism pollutes and destroys wisdom as much as it pollutes and destroys innocence.”
[12] The Times Literary Supplement, October 3rd 1933, “As the nineteenth century clutched at the Franciscan romance, precisely because it had neglected romance…”; Pearce, 297; Chesterton, Francis of Assisi, 74-77. “The jongleur (of God) was properly a joculator or jester; sometimes he was what we should call a juggler.”
[13] G.K. Chesterton, Autobiography, (Hutchinson, London, UK, 1936) 330.
[14] G.K’s Weekly, December 13th 1934. “The vulgar school of panem et circenses only gives people circuses; it does not even tell them how to enjoy circuses.”
[15] Ward, 10.; Pearce, 70.
Videos of Mark Hird preaching on the Psalms
We are currently doing a St Simon’s Summer Series on the Psalm
s which can be listened to by clicking on the following link. Along with myself, Mark Hird has preached a number of sermons on the Psalms both in audio and video format. You can watch Mark’s Youtube message on Psalm 42 pt 1 and pt 2 entitled ‘Soul Hope when God seems Distant’. You can also watch Mark’ s most recent message on Psalm 107 pt 1 and pt 2 entitled ‘Crying Out to the Lord in Our Times of Trouble’.
Videos from the BC Christian Ashram retreat with Rev. Jim Wilson
Turning the Hearts of the Fathers & the Mothers Pt 1
Turning the Hearts of the Fathers & Mothers Pt 2
Mark Hird preaching on Ephesians 3:1-13 (part 1)
Mark Hird preaching on Ephesians 3:1-13 (Part 2)
Mark Hird on Ephesians 3:14-21 Pt 1
Mark Hird speaking about Ephesians 3:14-21 Pt 2
Mark Hird preaching on Ephesians 3:1-17 Part 3
There is No One Like You song
Jewish Dancing at the BC Christian Ashram talent show
BC Christian Ashram Talent Show Dancing
Celebrating Jerusalem at the BC Christian Ashram Talent Show
Steve Monks speaking about Mexico Part
Steve Monks speaking about Mexico Part 2
Turning the Hearts of Fathers & Mothers
By Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
Most of us each summer have a desire to get away and be refreshed. One of our favorite ways to do this each summer is through attending the BC Christian Ashram retreat. This summer we brought Jim Wilson from Redding California to the Christian Ashram to speak on the theme: Turning the Hearts of Fathers and Mothers. It is almost impossible to listen to Jim without waking up. Jim’s messages were so inspiring that we posted them to over 17,000 social media followers on YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You too can access these video talks through the user name EdHird.
Spiritual refreshing is often described as a form of waking up from sleep. Jim believes that we are in the early stages of a fourth Great Awakening throughout North America. Many of us will remember the third Great Awakening during the 1970s and 1980s when over three million young people, including myself, came to personal faith during the Jesus Movement. Times of awakening are usually unexpected and happen to the least likely people. I had no intention of ever becoming an Anglican priest until one day I woke up. In his recently published third book Kingdom in Pursuit, Jim said that “all that we need to do is to stop running away, turn to face Him, receive Him as our life and lifegiver”. It is easy to run from God 
and not even realize it. When I had my awakening in 1972, it was as if a light bulb went on inside. My whole life, that had been out of focus, came back into focus. Refocusing our focus is the essence of life-changing repentance. Refocusing often has to do with small, often incidental changes in our daily life: “His idea of repentance is to seek His face and voice in the still and in the seemingly small.”
At the heart of transformation is awakening to our primary relationships as fathers and mothers with our children. The Good Book says 
in Malachi 4 and Luke 1:17 that God will turn the hearts of fathers and mothers back to their children, and the hearts of the children back to their parents. Our selfishness and busyness often wounds these primary family relationships. Admitting that we are flawed is a good first step in reawakening a vision of what our families might become. It takes courage to apologize to our children when we have fallen short as parents. It takes humility to soften our hearts and forgive our parents when they have disappointed and disillusioned us. What if we created a culture of open hearts between parents and children so that apologizing and restitution became the norm rather than the exception? True repentance involves giving up our childishness so that we can embrace true childlikeness. Only the childlike can be healthy fathers and mothers to our children.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in Canada
-an article for the August 2016 Deep Cove Crier
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. In Canada, Amazon.ca has the book available in paperback and ebook. It is also posted on Amazon UK (paperback and ebook), Amazon France (paperback and ebook), and Amazon Germany (paperback and ebook).
Restoring Health is also available online on Barnes and Noble in both paperback and Nook/ebook form. Nook gives a sample of the book to read online.
Indigo also offers the paperback and the Kobo ebook version. You can also obtain it through ITunes as an IBook.
To receive a signed copy within North America, just send a $20 cheque (USD/CAN) to ED HIRD, 1008- 555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC, V7N 2J7, Canada.
– In order to obtain a signed copy of the prequel book Battle for the Soul of Canada, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.
-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada
You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide
Endorsement by Archbishop Foley Beach of ‘Restoring Health’
June 29, 2016
This Amazon.com review is from: Restoring Health: Body, Mind and Spirit 
(Paperback)
This is a great study and an important word to believers in our age. Read it. Digest it. And then apply it to your life. Ed Hird does a great job of bringing alive the timeless principles of Scripture from within their historical context to the present experience of the modern day believer.
Archbishop Foley Beach, Anglican Church in North America
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach served as the Rector and Pastor of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia from its founding in 2004. In 2010 he was consecrated as the first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the South. After election by the ACNA College of Bishops, he began serving as Archbishop of the province in 2014.
Archbishop Beach is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the School of Theology at the University of the South, and Georgia State University. He has served in ministry with Young Life, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church. His passion is to share the Word of God in such a way as to help others discover the incredible living Jesus. Married for more than 30 years, he and his wife, Allison, have two grown children and make their home in the Metro-Atlanta area.
Archbishop Beach’s A Word from the Lord can be heard each week on radio stations throughout the United States and on the Internet. A Word from Lord’s Weekly Broadcast is a 25-minute Biblical Teaching ministry, and A Word from the Lord’s One-minute Messages offers a daily challenge from the Scriptures.
He shares years of Biblical and theological study in addition to more than 35 years of ministry experience as he shepherds the Anglican Diocese of the South. Reaching out through the church, the radio, the Internet, and newspaper columns, in clear and concise ways, he brings out the principles of the Word of God so that listeners may apply them in their lives.
His personal favorite scripture is:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV)
the local movie theatre. The choices were rather sad. The most promising was a spy comedy Central Intelligence’. While it was endearing and funny at times, its relentless crudity was disappointing and unnecessary. Its antibullying message was used to justify reverse bullying. We ended up walking out, wishing that we had remembered to check it out online first with the Christian cinema website which does movie reviews. There are many Christian movie review websites that you can find by just googling ‘Christian movie reviews’ and put in your potential movie. You can spare yourself some grief.