Sermons
Is this another (false) choice?
Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself (and also to my parishioners and listeners I suppose). It is well-established how much I dislike most binaries. I am instantly suspicious when I am faced with an either/or, yes/no situation. Most of what we think of as binaries turn out to be continua. So why would I pose a sermon title and deliver said sermon about a false choice? I…
Should we be frightened?
The second Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of Peace . . . so where did the “frightened” bit come from? I know the usual opposite of “peace” is “war” or “conflict” but I think those are too limiting. Yes, they are opposites of peace but so is fear. I’m not trying to steal the thunder of the peacemakers in the world, may they be blessed, rather I was thinking…
Hopeful? Yes, again.
It is the First Sunday of Advent today. It is the first Sunday in the liturgical, or church, year. As you probably know, each of the four Sundays in Advent are themed, or have an appellation. This Sunday is the Hope Sunday. Hope. It seems painfully ironic to have a Sunday about Hope these days. COVID-19 continues to infect, sicken, and kill people. The Middle East is seeing some of…
The last Sunday of this liturgical year
I was torn between referencing the end of the liturgical year and something about kings for this week’s title. This dilemma will make more sense when you listen to the sermon called, “This is the king I want.” Other than making a remark or two about geo-political kings the bulk of the sermon is me revisiting the last time I preached on Ephesians 1:15-23. One of the things I am…
Does it matter what we know?
We know a lot of things. I can say that about virtually any adult and certainly about any adult I know. We know what time we need to be at work, how much we can spend on groceries, our middle name, all sorts of things. But what don’t we know? You might not know my middle name but is that really important? Of course, it isn’t. This Sunday’s sermon arose…
Presbyterian World Service & Development (PWS&D)
Today we didn’t have a sermon but instead had an update on what PWS&D (Presbyterian World Service & Development) is doing provided by Okelo Aballa, a member of the PWS&D committee. There are two copies of the update below. The longer one includes my introduction and my remarks after Okelo Aballa’s talk and the shorter one is just the update. I don’t look at who listens to what so don’t…
Another question?
Well, yes. This week’s sermon title is another question, as so many of my sermon titles are. This week the question is “Whose is it?” The sermon is drawn from our Gospel lesson, Matthew 22:15-22, the famous “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” passage. The phrase “render unto Caesar” and its variants have moved into cultural parlance even if those using it don’t know where it came from. It comes…
We think as we do
There is a stubborn belief out there, and by “out there” I mostly mean in my own head, that the way we change is by changing our thinking. This is a half-truth, maybe not even a 50-50 split, which means if we pick up on the wrong half we can get into trouble. It is an undeniably attractive belief. If we can just change how we think then we can…
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…