At the Redeemer, we know that asking deeper questions and exploring issues of faith in a safe environment help us grow both as individuals and as a community.
The Redeemer Explorers committee offers a rich diversity of learning opportunities, drawing from members of our own parish and the community at large, including courses led by Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh through Bible Remixed. In collaboration with other Redeemer initiatives such as our Refugee Settlement committee and Creation Matters, we offer presentations, reflections, small-group discussions, and one-time programs on specific topics.
Current Opportunities to Explore
Our informal drop-in conversations and presentations continue this fall, beginning October 4. Come downstairs to the Board Room for 45 minutes of discussion and presentations from 9:30 AM to 10:15 AM, on topics listed here week by week. There’s no advance preparation, and no commitment from one session to the next. But there is coffee, along with an opportunity to get to know others better in an environment of open mutual sharing.
While the elevator is being replaced this fall, we want to assure you that our events are as accessible as we can make them. We will have someone at the top of the inside stairs from 9:20 AM on to provide assistance for those needing help, or just a little reassurance, in making their way to the lower level. (If they’re not there when you arrive, it means they’re on the way down with someone and will be back up to meet you shortly!)
October 4: Lectio Divina (Fancy Latin for Scriptural Reflection)
Who is the foolishly self-satisfied landholder of today’s Gospel reading, Luke 12:13-21? How might our present moment allow us to see something freshly relevant in the story that we maybe haven’t seen before? David Townsend will lead a discussion.
October 11
We’re taking a break today in honour of the long Thanksgiving weekend.
October 18: Care Across the Life Span
Across a lifetime, all of us have been cared for and have cared for others. The human experience is fundamentally one of interdependence, rather than a mythical march toward increasing independence, followed by decline into an old age of dependency. Today, early childhood educator and essayist Jonathan Silin, author of My Father’s Keeper: The Story of a Gay Son and His Aging Parents, will invite us into peer reflection on our own experiences of giving and receiving care, and their meaning for a life of faith. Relevant to all ages, and all ages welcome.
Watch Previous Events on our YouTube Channel
Building More Compassionate Communities
These events are co-sponsored by Redeemer Explorers and the Common Table drop-in program based at Church of the Redeemer.
Compassionate Communities: Addiction, Recovery and Their Connection to the Poor (March 4, 2026)
Jim Willis, Case Management and Support Worker; Amanda Hintzen, Addictions Counsellor; Dr Jonathan Wong, ICHA street doctor; and Nithyen Manohar, ICHA street nurse, discussed the challenges of addiction, the paths to recovery, and how it affects the most vulnerable in our communities. You can watch this panel discussion online through YouTube.
Compassionate Communities: Encampment as Community and Toronto’s Underhousing Crisis (September 24, 2025)
The Rev’d Maggie Helwig, Incumbent at St. Stephen’s in the Fields and author of the acclaimed recent book Encampment (Coach House Press), reflected on experiences of love, solidarity, hope, mutual support, and the enlivening presence of the Holy Spirit in and around her congregation and the tent community it hosted, before its forced removal by the City of Toronto. You can watch the presentation and Q&A at the YouTube Livestream.
Other Events
Face to Face with the People of Palestine
Thanks to all who attended the panel discussion on a very snowy Sunday afternoon. The event on Sunday, January 25, 2026, was live-streamed on YouTube.
Imagining the Life of Julian of Norwich
Thank you to all who joined in Imagining the Life of Julian of Norwich on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. If you weren’t able to attend the live presentation, you can watch it online through YouTube.
Violence, Polarization, and Hope for a Better Future
On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, Jon Allen, former Canadian Ambassador to Israel and Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, delivered a talk: Violence, Polarization, and Hope for a Better Future. The live stream is available through our YouTube channel.
