Sermons
Does what we do matter?
BREAKING As noted in my last post, I have no idea why there are two media players showing, at least in some browsers, so if the first one you try doesn’t work try again, or even again. Sorry for this, I’ll have to check with my blog consultant and try to get this fixed. Until such time as I get this fixed, if you click here, you will be taken…
Do I dare address hypocrisy?
Well the short answer is that I do dare. Hypocrisy is one of the more fraught topics that frequently comes up. Much like my introduction to preaching on prayer, there are all the same potential problems preaching about prayer; there is such pressure to be perfect in relation to the topic. If there is pressure to have a perfect prayer life, the pressure to never practice hypocrisy is even greater!…
More thinking? Really?
You may be wondering why we are doing more thinking about faith, although quite possibly you aren’t. Faith is one of those extremely large topics that can be thought about and talked about with profit for a very, very long time. Today’s sermons are a little wide ranging but one of the points I am trying to address is the absurdity of subjecting “faith,” in particular religious faith, to all…
Let’s talk about faith . . .
Finally! Caught up, here’s hoping I won’t have to ever do that again. This week we are in Hebrews 11, the “Faith chapter” as it was often called when I was in Bible school, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that we are talking about faith. What makes this week’s sermons interesting is that the title is very much what they are, i.e. “Let’s talk about faith ….
A new mindset, or at least a new setting
This post covers the sermons for August 4 (still behind, still catching up but in the current month; yippee!). One of the more peculiar things that Paul asks us to do is to “set our minds on things above.” Perhaps “peculiar” is too strong a word but it is at least odd that we would be asked to set our minds on things above. How will it help us to…
Prayer, persistence and preaching
These are the sermons from July 28 (still catching up obviously) and it is an opportunity to think about prayer. Prayer is a tricky thing to talk about but it is always worth visiting or re-visiting. When the Lectionary includes Jesus talking about prayer in two different ways, as he does in Luke 11:1-13, the need to address it becomes pretty compelling. What makes Jesus’ words so interesting in his…
Advice for living from Paul and the Colossians and the Good Samaritan
This is more catch up so, sorry about getting extra notification and even for something that is from July 14! There is no shortage of advice giving and more general advice availability but are the internet and well-meaning friends the best or only sources of advice about how we should live? No, there is another source, namely the Bible, that is superior to both those sources . . . and…
Learning from Naaman . . . no swimming required!
I am playing catch up again, which is always frustrating, but then again, if I don’t play catch up . . . I’ll still be behind! So this post is for the first Sunday of July, i.e. a month ago [sigh]. This sermon, and there is only one sermon for this post on which more later, is drawn from the story of Naaman. Naaman, a very important military leader for…
Some thoughts on being afraid
I am occasionally afraid. I think that virtually everyone finds themselves in that state at least now and then. Frequently what makes us afraid is something that is just ridiculous but often we are made afraid by something that is frightening. A car careening toward you is something that should make you afraid; the dark, probably not so much. The challenges is drawing a proper distinction between what makes you…
Paradoxes
Paradox: A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. (google.ca) I don’t care for paradoxes for all kinds of reasons. There are some people who suggest that paradoxes are “impossible,” i.e. a paradox is a trick of language, restate it properly and the paradox disappears. Others say that a paradox is a cop out and if you…