Sermons
Fruit for everyone!
I am publicly saying I am well aware Canada Day is a couple of days from now. I am also aware this Sunday was publicized on this very website/blog as our Canada Day service. I am also saying I felt no leading to preach about Canada, and quite a lot of leading to preach about the fruit of the Spirit. I bow to no one regarding love for Canada, but…
Things don’t have to be loud
The sermon title doesn’t relate as well to the sermon as I would like it to so I’ll get it out of my system now. The things that don’t have to be loud are the acts we do that demonstrate we actually believe Paul when he writes there is no slave nor free, Jew nor gentile, etc. As sermons go this is atypical for me. As I make clear right…
It isn’t about the math
Trinity Sunday can be a difficult Sunday to plan and preach. It is impossibly difficult if the preaching person feels a responsibility to explain the Trinity, which so far has been beyond us as humans. Our Trinity Sunday was more of a challenge, not because of the Liturgical calendar but rather the presence of a large group of people having an enjoyable breakfast right outside our chapel. It was more…
Is it only about languages?
Today is Pentecost Sunday and as I type the wind is putting on a real display, even by Saskatchewan standards. It is almost too bad I didn’t preach about the “sound like the rush of a violent wind” that kicks off the Pentecost story. What I did preach about was the connection between the Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospel lessons. The connection between the first two is pretty straightforward…
He went but is he gone?
Today was my last Sunday at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Grenfell. It felt odd in a way. It’s not that I’ve been there so long; rather, it’s that the times I’ve been there have been memorable. Sometimes they’ve been memorable, because I’ve made a mistake, which isn’t too surprising,what it’s a different church with a different service setup, easy to make an error or two. So what do I do…
Where does peace come from?
Peace is like the weather, everyone talks about it but no one does anything about it. That’s a bit of an overstatement but not too much. I have met very few people who don’t want peace; in their lives, their relationships, their world. So if we all want it, or at least many of us, why is it so elusive? I think it could very well be another instance of…
How do you know that?
Another question to consider. As you know by now if you have listened to me preach, or for that matter if you have simply scrolled through sermon titles, you know I ask a lot of questions in my sermon titles. I like to think I often provide answers to questions in my sermons but that is for other people, like you, to judge. This week’s question is an interesting one…
Are there women in the Bible?
Just to reassure you I am well aware we do not have Mothering Sunday in Canada . . . but we should. Not only is it easier to spell, “Where does the apostrophe go?!” it doesn’t leave out anyone. As I mention in the sermon, I have an ambivalent relationship with non-Liturgical Sundays, e.g. Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, etc. I was talking this over with some of the people who…
Three things
Today’s Gospel lesson is familiar to many. It goes by various names but the crux of the matter is Jesus asking Peter three times, “do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15ff NRSV) The mirroring of Peter’s denial of knowing let alone loving Jesus the night before the crucifixion is unmistakable and unmissable. But as one of my homiletics professors used to ask, “So what?” So what if Jesus…
“Peace be with you.” Really?
I think it is fair to say that peace is in short supply at the moment. We have several wars going on that are anything but cold. We have an atmosphere of divisive and antagonistic politics pervading virtually everything. So how do we deal with Jesus’ words, “Peace be with you”? He says this three times in our Gospel lesson (John 20:19-31). First of all, he says it twice to…