Sermons
Three strange stories
The use of the word “strange” was intentionally provocative . . . and to let me have a couple of words of alliteration. The three stories we are talking about this Sunday aren’t exactly strange but they certainly aren’t what anyone would call ordinary. Our Old Testament lesson is the story of Isaiah being taken up to heaven, our Epistle lesson is the story of the Risen, Glorified Christ meeting…
The greatest thing
My apologies for being a day late with this week’s post. The sermon may sound a little different as it was delivered from a hotel as the weather rendered travel too untrustworthy for me to risk travelling to Grenfell. In retrospect I may have been able to make it safely but age brings a certain amount of caution. I also tender my apologies for not being able to lead worship…
Parts to play
Last Sunday we talked about spiritual gifts and what they might be and which gifts we might have and why. This Sunday we are going into more depth about the why of spiritual gifts. In one sense it is very simple, we are all given spiritual gifts to build up the community of faith. We begin exercising our gifts in the smallest community we are part of, usually a congregation,…
Gifts for everyone
I think it is safe to say most people like gifts. I know there are some people who find receiving gifts deeply uncomfortable but they are a small minority. But if I’m aware of people who find gifts uncomfortable why might I think it is okay to title and then preach a sermon called “Gifts for everyone”? There are gifts and there are gifts. The gifts I am talking about…
New clothes for a new year?
I don’t think about clothes very much. I understand clothes and I can tell the difference between good and bad, well-made and poorly-made but I don’t make much use of that knowledge, at least when it comes to my own clothes. One of the things I do pay attention to when it comes to my clothes is when they no longer fit. When they don’t fit, I get replacements. There…
Loveful? Lovely? Love?
I like a good sermon title. I like a good sermon title that works with a “series” or whatever you want to call some kind of thematically connected sermons. That being said “Hopeful?,”Peaceful?,” “Joyful?,” all work quite well but I’ll be the first to admit “Loveful?” does not work well . . . or really work at all but simply couldn’t resist. I’d say sorry but I wouldn’t mean sincerely….
Joyful?
Another Sunday, another question. I like questions. I am sure I have said it here before. I like questions because they open the possibility to answers. As I have also certainly said here, I by NO means have the answers to everything. I see value in asking questions. I also see the church as a place where there are answers. Not to every question, more’s the pity, but to at…
Peaceful?
Peace seems to be something everyone is in favour of, as long as the other party makes whatever changes need to be made. At the moment, the world is not a very peaceful place. There are more armed conflicts in more places than any of us can keep up with. Political and civil discourse is anything but civil and seems to be getting worse all the time. Violence of action…
Hopeful?
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Hope! For some reason I said it is the first Sunday of Lent when there are NO Sundays of Lent, there are only Sundays in Lent. As I mention in the sermon, I am very grateful the church year begins with the hope. I am especially grateful this year when it is very hard to be hopeful for many people….
What do we think of kings?
Let’s face it, most of us don’t think of kings (or queens) at all. Why would we? As Canadians we have a king as our head of government, whatever that even means, and while many of us were fine with Queen Elizabeth II I have yet to find anyone who is glad we have Charles III as “our” king. As someone with a high interest in general history I think…