The Size of Our Souls

Sermon by Shawn Newton.

White shadow rose and white ribbon

In 1895, after having an affair with Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde provoked the ire of Douglas’ father, the Marquess of Queensberry. The Marquess secured a warrant for Wilde’s arrest. Wilde was promptly taken into custody and, following a lengthy trial, sentenced to two years of hard labour. While imprisoned, Wilde wrote to Alfred the following: “When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?”

This Sunday, we’ll try to do some calculating of our own, giving thought during the sermon to the shape and size and orbit of our own souls. Earlier in the service, we’ll honour the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women by lifting up the names of the women who died and laying roses in their memory. The choir will sing Pablo Casals’s “O Vos Omnes.”

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