Sermons
Still the best day of the year
Easter Sunday! The best day of the year! Better even than Christmas or my birthday or . . . well any other day. It isn’t like I get presents on Easter Sunday, well sometimes I get tasty things to eat which is very nice, but it is just as good a day if I don’t. You may be asking why, let me tell you. In a nutshell, Easter Sunday is…
The ultimate mixed up day
Of all the mixed up days we can have, and we can have a lot of them, this Sunday might be the most mixed up. The mash-up of Palm Sunday and Good Friday, now called Palm / Passion Sunday can give the more conservative church year people the willies, and I know because I was one of them at one point, but if we can get past the temptation to…
Keep going
There was another first today. I preached in a suit, and a football jersey. Today is Green Shirt Day, a day in recognition of and for organ donation. I would like to say a bright green Riders jersey, as that is the only non-t-shirt, non-sweatshirt, green, garment I have looks good but I’m not willing to lie about it 🙂 but all in a good cause and organ donation is…
Lost things
 Every three years I have the opportunity to override the Lectionary and preach on something dear to me. I realize I can override the Lectionary any Sunday I choose but this Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent for Year C, I almost feel I have to. The Gospel lesson in the Lectionary is Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, which is all well and good, except we read, “So he told them this…
Looking back but not in anger
The actual sermon title is “Looking back” so how could I come up with any other blog post title. There is nothing wrong with looking back, in the same way there is nothing wrong with looking forward. We get into trouble when we try to live in either the past or the future. This Sunday, jumping off from St. Paul’s use of the past as a source of example(s) for…
I suppose St. Patrick could be an example
Today is St. Patrick’s Day and it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or reads this blog to be told I did not preach about St. Patrick at all and, in fact, did not mention him or the day at all. I don’t have anything against St. Patrick nor his “day” nor any other day in the non-church calendar, I don’t think they are relevant to…
Lent begins
Another year, another season of Lent. There is something reassuring about the repetitive nature of the church year. Not everyone finds this to be the case, but I am one of those people for whom a routine is useful. When I was younger I don’t think I would have predicted a rhythm which is spread out over a year would have meant as much as it does but . ….
Glory to glory
 I was originally going to call this post “One out of two” but that didn’t really address the sermon but more my morning. So first the actual preaching bit and later I’ll talk about the morning. Today was Transfiguration Sunday or the Sunday where we celebrate The Transfiguration of Our Lord, depending on where you encounter it. This isn’t the easiest Sunday to preach. Oh you can take the easy…
Are we different?
 A few weeks ago it was determined that this Sunday would be PWS&D Sunday. What might that be you ask? Well let me tell you. PWS&D stands for Presbyterian World Service and Development and it is the part of the Presbyterian Church in Canada that meets physical needs, while not losing sight of the spiritual needs, of people. You might think of it as the relief arm of the Presbyterian…
Called?
This Sunday’s texts are linked together, at least somewhat, by three different stories about what it means to be called, or more properly, “called.” This is more than getting a phone call or a text to come over and hang out. The calls we looked at today are the calls God makes to people. There is a call to being a prophet, a call to being a fisher who catches…