Sermons
Memory and hope
This is the Sunday closest to Remembrance Day and as such we had some moments of remembrance in the service. As I specifically mention in at least one of the sermons, I don’t preach on secular calendar events. There is nothing wrong with those events but we are Revised Common Lectionary churches and it is the Lectionary that provides the texts. With that in mind, I was gratified to see…
All Saints Sunday
All Saints Day is one of the liturgical days that don’t get much attention in many Protestant churches. Not too surprising as it is one of the ones tied to a secular calendar date which makes difficult to get it in. There are two ways to deal with these special days, one is to ignore them, the other is to celebrate them on the Sunday closest to them. This is…
Still more questions
This section of Matthew is filled with questions. As I think I mentioned last week, these are a particular kind of question, the “gotcha” kind. In Matthew 22.15-46 Jesus deals with: a combined question about taxes from the Pharisees and Herodians, a question about marriage from the Sadducees and a question about the Law from the Pharisees. None of these questions were intended to facilitate dialogue, or answers for that…
If it belongs to the emperor then give it to emperor
This Sunday we looked at one of the more well known stories in the Gospels. Jesus is asked a leading, and potentially quite dangerous question, about taxes. There is a lot going on behind that question. The Pharisees and Herodians actually got together to try and come up with something that would neutralize or remove Jesus. We don’t really have an analogy for this kind of cooperation they disliked each…
Sometimes it is hard to rejoice
As I was reading the Lectionary texts for this week I was struck by the Old Testament lesson. Exodus 32 begins with the story of the golden calf, where the people of God give up and turn to an idol. What struck me was how demoralizing that story is. I even wrote it down, “The story of the golden calf is one of the most demoralizing in scripture.” I realize…
Giving thanks
This Sunday was Thanksgiving Sunday in Canada. As I have mentioned here, and in a sermon or two, I tend to pay little or no attention to the non-church calendar and instead focus on the church (or liturgical) calendar. This Sunday I ended up preaching about thankfulness, the sermon title was the question, “What are we thankful for?” What makes it a bit more interesting is that our texts don’t…
Not mind-reading
“Be of the same mind” is not a call for us to become mind-readers. Rather it is a call for us to begin the process of thinking like someone. When we are of the same mind as another person, we do not become that person but we think like they do. You see this often in you interactions with long-married couples. When you ask both partners the same question at…
It is grace, no matter what you might want
One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ parables is they potential they hold to shock us into thinking of things in a new way. Some of his parables do this better than others and the parable we looked at today is one of the best. There is something about this parable that is virtually guaranteed to drive any hearer or reader crazy. A landowner, hires a bunch of people throughout the…
Both weaker and stronger
The blog post title is one of the “almost paradoxes” that come up whenever we begin the process of living and thinking from a non-dual perspective. Our usual response to the notion of weaker and stronger is that we are one or the other and that’s that. Of course when we actually look at it, things are not so simple. We are well aware of the things we are good…
What do you mean I owe you?
Don’t worry, the title of this post does not mean: you owe me money I owe you money anyone owes anyone money We are still on Romans and we have reached chapter 13. Paul seems to be a little confused by verse eight, where we are told to “owe no one anything”; except this: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has…