Sermons
Welcome to the cloud
I was momentarily tempted to run this post with black borders but in the end, I thought that might be a bit much. Last night, October 13, 2023, was the Service of Dissolution for Knox Presbyterian in Briercrest, SK. A Service of Dissolution is the final service when a congregation has determined that they have finished the work they were called to do. There are some significant similarities with a…
Thankful for what?
It is Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend. Over the years we have had a wide range of celebratory meals around Thanksgiving. One memorable year we had sixteen (I think) at the table. Hadley and I were married but didn’t have any kids yet so the rest of the crowd was students. I close my eyes and I can see some of them around the table, about to dig into a…
But is it right?
I’ve talked about this sort of thing before. There are some stories in the Bible where I’m not sure where I fit nor what I think about the story. The story of Jonah, especially the second half, is one of these stories and the Parable of the Landowner is another one; the Lectionary gives us both of them this Sunday. It is difficult not to sympathize with Jonah in his…
Not really weak
Some weeks, the moment I read the Lectionary texts I know exactly where we need to go on Sunday. Some weeks it is a bit more of a search. This week was one of the latter. It wasn’t that I had no idea where to go but rather, I had an idea that wouldn’t come together the way I wanted it to, nor as quickly as I wanted it to….
It all comes back to love
Long ago the Beatles sang, “All you need is love.” Even longer ago, St. Paul said, “. . . for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8b NRSV). I don’t think Lennon and/or McCartney were trying to paraphrase the apostle but they came up with a pretty good phrase nonetheless. I was struck in a new way by the texts this Sunday, in particular, the connection…
A list of reminders
There are lots of lists in our lives. To-do lists. Shopping lists. Christmas lists. There are even a few lists in the Bible. Most of our lists seem to contain things we need to do or get. However, there are some lists of reminders. The picture for this week’s post is from an art assignment my daughter Haley did in university. The list isn’t so much a set of requirements…
Gifts everywhere
Who doesn’t like gifts? I don’t think there are very many people who actually dislike gifts. This Sunday we are talking about gifts but a special kind of gift, namely spiritual gifts. So what are spiritual gifts? They are the abilities the Holy Spirit gives each person to equip that person for service to God, most frequently in the context of a community of faith. They include faith, teaching, preaching,…
It’s a question we still ask
The question we still ask is, “Who’s in and who’s out?” You might think with everything going on—climate change, economic insecurity, poverty, etc.—we would have better questions to ask, but this is still common. We want to know who is “in”; who is on our side. This is a harmless enough question when you are picking sides for a game of football in the park but it becomes considerably more…
Sibling rivalry, or dysfunctional families then and now
There are many stories in the Bible about siblings and about families. However, there aren’t that many “good” stories about siblings or families in the Bible. I don’t mean the stories are fundamentally bad, but rather, the siblings and families are frequently acting in bad ways. This Sunday’s Old Testament lesson is part of the story of Joseph, the patriarch not the putative father of Jesus. It is only part…
Not that kind of wrestling
I am not a wrestling fan. I can remember watching Stampede Wrestling ‘way back in the late 60s and early 70s but since then, not much interest. Today’s Old Testament lesson has a story about wrestling in it but it isn’t the kind with fancy costumes, scripted outcomes, or people getting hit with metal folding chairs. The wrestling in the story of Jacob wrestling all night with a stranger is…