Sermons
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…
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…