Sermons
The best day of the year!
Today is the best day of the year; better than my birthday, Christmas, or the first (or last) day of school. Today is Easter Sunday. So what makes today so good? Good enough to be called “the best”? I suppose it is mostly because without this day none of the other candidates would be as good, or even possible for some of them. This is the day all our Lenten…
It’s a puzzle
There are many puzzles in our lives going from the entertaining kind, jigsaw puzzles for example to the more important ones. Important is a very flexible word and a subjective one at that. For some, an important puzzle is why does toast fall butter side down? For others, it is how Ensteinian physics can be reconciled to the multi-verse and string theory. One of my puzzles is what to do…
Death and life
We usually say “Life and death.” It is so ingrained I even titled my sermon, “Life and death” and then go on to say I got it wrong. I would have been much better off using the title of this post. I think life before death makes sense when we are looking linearly at life but for the purposes of our texts, it makes much more sense to reverse them….
What about darkness?
Darkness is an inescapable part of life. I’m sure it is obvious, but I’m talking metaphorically here just in case it isn’t. It is also literally true that each of us will be in physical darkness at least at some point in our lives. Metaphorical darkness is usually those things that are wrong; sin. Each of us has our own darkness or periods of darkness. The difficulty with darkness is…
Another thing I don’t like
This might seem odd but one of the things I don’t like is “progress.” As I am sure you know by now, if you have been following this blog for any length of time, I am fond of making provocative statements to help me, and perhaps others, look at things in a new way. How could anyone not like progress? The thing is, I very much like the result of…
“Why” isn’t always a question
Sometimes the word “why” isn’t so much a question as a reason. You will sometimes hear people being asked, not “Why are you doing this?” but rather, “What’s your why?” which is a different question. You hear the question in various circles – recovery, Mom Hugs, etc – meaning, “What’s the reason you are in recovery, or whatever it might be?” The “why” we are talking about is Jesus’ “why.”…
It comes every year
Lent. Again. It happens every year but it can still, at least sometimes for me, sneak up on us. I would think I’d be used to it by now but . . . this year is one where it snuck up on me. I was asked recently why I observed Lent and I’m afraid the first thing that came to my mind is “Because it is there.” Not in any…
Mountains
Mountain tops aren’t what they used to be. I have heard it is now possible to make and receive cell phone calls at the top of Mount Everest. Mountain-top experiences, those moments of transcendence, on the other hand, are still happening. There are many places where these experiences happen–camp, camping, nature, even mountains–we love them when they happen, even when we are well aware the experience is going to fade….
This is harder
Today is Heritage Sunday. This is not a church year Sunday but something the Presbyterian Church in Canada does. It is a Sunday to spend at least a moment or two looking at where we came from so we have a better idea of why we are where we are. The two sermons are looking at Heritage Sunday through the lens of the Law . . . at least a…
Let’s talk “influence” shall we?
We talked about influence last week and we are continuing to do so this week. I don’t mind revisiting topics, I know I frequently profit from going over things again. I might have gone a different way if I hadn’t encountered an online advertisement for an opportunity to be certified as a “professional influencer.” If we have reached this stage of “development,” or regression, I think it might be worth…