Opening paragraphs...................................

There is an old Anglican hymn of which I am very ford called "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Has Ended."  I like it above all others - above, even, the Easter hymns of jubilation and the familiar carols of Christmas - because it takes me back to my childhood Sundays and Evensong in the little Anglican pro-cathedral of St. Paul's in Dawson City.  Here, after a summer's day spent picnicking in the blue Yukon hills or drifting on the tawny breast of the restless river, a child could really feel that the gracefully dying day had been a gift to him by an all-wise, all-powerful, and all-embracing deity.  Surrounded by family and neighbors, each of whom was an old and intimate friend, listening to the anthems of a choir that included my own mother, insulated by the softly comforting sermons of a man who was a frequent dinner guest, untouched by the dilemmas and perils of the real world beyond the hills, this child could feel at peace with his religion and his God.
-Pierre Berton, The Comfortable Pew:  A critical look at the Church in the New Age