Sermons
What a day!
Today was the last Sunday the congregation of St. Mark’s Presbyterian worshipped at the building at 80 High Street, Moose Jaw. Needless to say it wasn’t the usual Easter Sunday service. That being said it was a very good Easter Sunday, at least in my view. The sermon title was “What a day!” which is another of those ambiguous phrases where everything depends on which word is emphasized. It is…
One of those days?
The sermon today is drawn from the common phrase, it’s “one of those days.” I can’t speak for anyone but myself but I don’t find myself describing days where good thing follows good thing follows good thing as “one of those days.” The phrase seems to be saved for days where it is bad thing after bad thing. I went another step, when it hit me that a day filled…
Do we really know?
If we don’t ask; so we ever know what someone else is thinking? Do we ever know the motivation behind someone’s actions? The short answer is, of course, no. We do not know what another human being is thinking or what motivates them without asking. However, this does not seem to stop us from trying. Until we have some form of mind-reading we are stuck with asking each other about…
Lost stories
We love stories. There seems to be something essentially human about stories. Reading them, listening to them, writing them . . . all of these actions help us understand why Jesus told stories to help people understand what he was teaching. We call these stories “parables” but really, that’s just a fancy name for a story that is making a point. As you’ll hear in the sermon, I divert (sort…
Can we learn from the past?
Ah history. The bête noir of many students. I was never one of those. To the best of my recollection I have always liked history. I didn’t like it when it was taught poorly (you junior high and high school teachers know who you are . . . if you are still alive) but that only makes sense. Part of my liking or even love of history is the context…
Is being a citizen a big deal?
These days, there is a lot of talk in my country about citizenship and what it means to be a Canadian. This is not a usual topic of conversation. We frequently don’t talk about being a Canadian or patriotism on July 1, which is Canada Day. So why now? Canada feels it is facing an existential threat from our former ally and friend to the south. It is making Canadians…
Lent. Yes, it’s a good thing.
The season of Lent is upon us. It comes every year so I’m hoping no one was surprised by it. Oddly enough, I was sort of surprised. This year has been an odd one with a postponed knee replacement and a new job and just . . . stuff. When I consulted the Lectionary texts I realized it was the first Sunday in Lent coming up and today was the…
Sometimes it takes change
Ah, change. I have heard there are some people who like change. I even believe it. But I have met many, many people who are quite open and direct about how they hate change. And yet, change seems both inevitable and worthwhile. Journalist and author Gail Sheehy said, “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” I can imagine some of you reading…
Some things are hard
It is definitely true that some things are hard. I begin the sermon with a short list of things that are hard: rocks, ice, etc. We all know about hard things. If you played soccer in the 80s on the prairies, you know some pitches are hard, and so are some players. But as hard as those physical things are, sometimes it is the things we are asked to do,…
How do we do it?
I don’t often change my mind about what I am going to preach about once I have the sermon title. Sermon titles, the idea of them, bring out opinions in people. I know folks who think the title doesn’t really matter other than it shouldn’t be actively misleading. I am one of the group who think sermon titles are really important. Most preachers fall somewhere between these two poles. I…