Sermons
Not just any shepherd
One of the richest metaphors for the relationship between Jesus and us is that of shepherd and sheep (we’re the sheep in case you are wondering). In fact, it is such a rich metaphor that I’m certain there are a bunch of nuances completely lost on me because we don’t have a lot of opportunities to interact with sheep and shepherds at all, let alone in the context Jesus enjoyed….
Resurrection revisited
I almost titled this post “Resurrection revisited, now with less neo-Platonism” but decided not to, let me know in the comments if that was a good or bad idea. Much of my thinking in this area has been shaped by Richard Rohr and a remark in one of his devotionals really struck home. His history teacher sent Rohr and his classmates out into the world with this remark, “Just remember,…
We are not alone
This Sunday we are looking at two types of community. The first is one that is characterized by fear and as a consequence is hidden; locked away. The second is characterized by care and love and is out in the open; anyone can see them. It is noteworthy that both of these communities are made up of followers of Jesus. Even more interesting, both communities almost certainly contained the same…
He is risen!
The butterfly might not be most obvious symbol for today. I don’t know where you are but we had windchill values of -30 C this morning so there wasn’t much spring laying around. But, the butterfly is my favourite resurrection symbol. There is something amazing in how a butterfly begins as a caterpillar, seems to die after creating its own casket, and then emerges as a brand new kind of…
Another opportunity to be both and
This Sunday is what has become to be known as Palm/Passion Sunday. This is a liturgical reaction to the difficulty many people have with getting to a Good Friday service. It has taken me a while to come to grips with it but I have come around to see some real value in this move. One of the values it provides is an opportunity to look again at the non-dual…
More grace
I think I have preached about grace every time I preached on the fourth Sunday in Lent in Year B. I’m not prepared to go back and look into it very deeply because I don’t think it matters all that much, it speaks mostly to the power of Ephesians 2:1-10. Through the help of a commentary writer¹ I was able to see some new aspects of this (very) familiar text….
The Ten Commandments revisited
It has been a long time since I spent any real time thinking about the Ten Commandments. I’m not indifferent to them or anything like that, they just haven’t come up lately. I was doing some reading about the Lectionary texts, an act which I have noticed is becoming more common this year, and something caught my eye. This section of Exodus marks the last time God, as Yahweh, spoke…
Promises
I think it is safe to say two things about promises. First, we all like them. Second, every one of us has had a broken promise (maybe we broke it, maybe the other party did). These two things work together to make us somewhat suspicious of promises. We are set up to like the idea of promises but we have all had much experience with broken promises. Generation after generation…
It’s Lent again!
It is good to be back. I have been gone the past couple of weeks as I was traveling, a work thing that was very lovely, thanks for asking 🙂 and it is very good to be back. My first Sunday back is the first Sunday in Lent (note it is the first Sunday in Lent, not the first Sunday of Lent . . . a subtle but very significant…
Love is better than knowing stuff
For a certain kind of person knowing things is really important, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am one of these people. This is fine, most of the time, the difficulty comes when they make the leap from “knowing things” to having to be correct. One of the most important, and hardest, lessons I had to learn was: “You can be right and still be wrong.” This Sunday’s sermons…