Sermons
We aren’t all that different?
King David wasn’t perfect. This isn’t particularly surprising as none of us are either, but David was rather spectacularly imperfect in some ways. The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is the story of the prophet Nathan confronting King David over his adultery with Bathseba and the cold-blooded murder of her husband, Uriah. Murder is a very strong word but there really isn’t any other word to describe David’s actions….
Synod-sponsored student-led worship 2
This is the second, and last, Sunday, where the worship at Knox and St. Mark’s was prepared and led by two summer students. Please go to http://pccweb.ca/synodsaskatchewan/sunday-worship/ to see the recorded service. I am sure you will enjoy it and get much from it. Warm blessings,
Synod-sponsored student-led worship 1
This Sunday, and next, the worship at Knox and St. Mark’s was prepared and led by two summer students. Please go to http://pccweb.ca/synodsaskatchewan/sunday-worship/ to see the recorded service. I am sure you will enjoy it and get much from it. Warm blessings,
What is dignity and what is it worth?
Dignity is easier to recognize than define. Definitions from dictionaries include words like reserve, seriousness, appearance, honoured, etc. I prefer to be dignified to undignified, I’m willing to guess I’m not alone in this, but what if my definition of “dignified” is to narrow to contain some dignified behaviour? Is it possible to wrestle around on the floor with a toddler or a puppy and still be dignified? My younger…
Oh, Canada
Our faith community celebrates Canada Day on the Sunday closest to July 1, which was today. This has been a very difficult Canada Day season for many, for everyone I know. The continuing revelations of unmarked or mass graves attached to residential schools has been a traumatic and painful reminder of the scandal of a Canadian policy of cultural genocide. What do we as citizens or residents of Canada do…
Attention! Giant Ahead!
We all have giants in our lives. Everyone has had to face a metaphorical giant at some time. Our Old Testament lesson was the story of David facing Goliath; David faced a literal giant. David was successful against Goliath and was completely confident he would be. How could he know? In the story we read how David convinced King Saul to let David go face Goliath because of his previous…
We don’t always get it right
None of us gets everything write always.* We are fallible people living in a fallen world. We make mistakes because of silliness, stupidity, carelessness, ignorance, . . . the list goes on and on. There is one part of us, an extraordinarily useful part of us, that can lead to errors. The part I’m talking about is the part of us making thousands of snap decisions about what is going…
Do we actually know what we want?
PLEASE NOTE: our house suffered a brief power failure in the middle of the sermon so you will hear a break, then a few words from me about it, and then the sermon continues. My apologies for the jolt. There is something essentially human of wanting and NOT wanting to wait for it. It is this combination, namely wanting things and wanting them this instant, that frequently misleads us about…
What’s the Trinity all about?
Needless to say I am not got to tell you what the Trinity is ALL about because that is really, very much, beyond any human person. The sermon title is “What’s it all about?” and is referencing Trinity Sunday rather than the Trinity in its entirety. The Trinity, much like “eternity,” is fundamentally beyond us and as such no one will ever be able to sum it up. It is…
Everything begins somewhere, sometime
Everything, except for God, has to begin somewhere and sometime. This includes the church. Not only did whatever church you may worship in have to begin sometime it had to have a place where it began. This is not revolutionary, it is common sense. The Day of Pentecost is when the church as we know it today began. Not a church but the church or even The Church if you…