Sermons

Faith. Such a common word we use it without giving it a second thought but do we really know what it means? The answer to the rhetorical question is, yes. We do know what the word faith means but that doesn’t mean we can’t revisit it now and then. The Lectionary has us in Hebrews ...

This Sunday’s sermon is courtesy of Nehemia Neuhisa, a student at the Vancouver School of Theology who is working with the Synod of Saskatchewan this summer. I hasten to add the quality of the recording does not do him any justice at all and I also apologize for not being able to improve the sound ...

Philosophy. It is one of those words we can find ourselves running away from leaving it to pedants and specialists. Of course, we can do this if we want but I’m not sure we need to. If we look at philosophy as a description of how we live our lives or wish to live our lives, ...

Psychology has taught us all sorts of interesting things and one of the ones at the top of my mind at the moment is the concept of “priming.” This is the reason after you buy a new/different car you seem to see the same make and model “everywhere” when you never saw them before. It ...

There are many stories in the Bible that church-going folks know well. There are a few that everyone either knows or has heard something about. The story of the Good Samaritan is one of those stories. By the way, the “everyone” in the statement above really means, “those in a Western or Western-influenced context.” The bare ...

Most of us have things we say often. My kids have heard me say some variation of “Nothing of value comes without work” or “Nothing that matters is easy” probably more times than they want. The idea isn’t a bad one, it is true, most things we want take some work to get. No one ...

Of course, we aren’t really trees. If nothing else we all move around too much. (If you are thinking of reminding me about Ents, go right ahead.) I decided to use the metaphor of a tree because if there is one thing a tree does, without thinking about it, it is growing. The trees we aren’t ...

No one wants to be forgotten. For that matter, no one wants to forget someone else. I know there are exceptions to this and every rule, but for the most part, I think this is true. The “not being forgotten” part is pretty self-evident. The evidence for not wanting to forget other people is the ...

There are a few Sundays repeated every liturgical year. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Transfiguration, to name a few. Today is another one, namely, Trinity Sunday. I mention, somewhat jokingly, in at least one of the sermons that if there wasn’t a Trinity Sunday no one would preach on it. Why? The simple answer? the Trinity is hard ...

The Day of Pentecost is two things. First, it is the birth of the Christian church. Admittedly, the church that began then was considerably different than the church we see now but they are connected in an unbroken chain. Second, it was a new manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It was a new manifestation, ...