Sermon Archive

Text : Matthew 2:13-23 This time of year is inevitably a time of reflection, of looking back over the past year. We recount important events, we reflect on what this past year has held. Of course, when we think about it, New Year’s is rather arbitrary: it nothing more than a line on a calendar that marks a numerical tick. We know that in the week between Christmas and New Year’s world events continue on as they almost always do, and invariably mess up someone’s list of the most significant events of a given year. The Tsunami that roared across Indonesia and much of the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 was one of them. This past Thursday’s assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto is another. Just because we’re taking a look back doesn’t mean that stuff isn’t still happening in the moment. I think we come to expect Christmas to be a magical time, where somehow all the world around us stops being what it is, if only for a moment. We yearn for that moment of peace, that truly “silent ni...

Text: Luke 2:1-20 A warm welcome to all to worship tonight where we listen and sing of God’s wonderful light. We gather together on this night most holy, to retell the story of an infant lowly who in a very special moment in time, God our Creator into a manger did climb. Some of you are likely a little bit puzzled, and wondering if this minister should probably be muzzled. Yet I assure you, honestly, that I am quite sane, it’s just a sermon in rhyme once again. A tradition from my childhood, from me to you, a gift of the season, and I hope that it’s true, to give new insight to the same old story, and maybe, just maybe, a glimpse of God’s glory. Let’s focus tonight on those out in the fields, and how to them and us the good news revealed. Think of the shepherds out there in the night, tending their flocks and hoping they might make it ‘til morning with no lion nor beast, to snatch a ewe or a lamb for their own little feast. Ever vigilant in the night’s gathering gloom, the shepherds ke...

Text: Isaiah 2:2-5 This past week, I must admit it came as a near complete surprise to see any degree of movement towards a peace deal in the Middle East. Nothing has happened for the past seven years, and even someone as optimistic as I am, was getting rather jaded. I am a junkie when it comes to international politics, I follow the news, I try to keep on top of things, looking for trends, and comparing it to past experience. And then suddenly, surprisingly, there comes this conference in Annapolis, Maryland, where bitter opponents came together for one simple reason: to talk. Nothing more, no grand schemes, no magic wand, no sudden “poof!” and it’s all solved… Nothing like that. It’s simply a commitment to talk to each other, and to keep talking to each other for a minimum of every two weeks. Nothing big… really… and it almost seems to be too good to be true… Yes it is tantamount to lighting a single candle in what has felt to be a rather dark period in recent history. It was a glimm...

Text : 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 It has been said that religion and politics are the two major topics that one should stay away from in polite dinner conversation. Given that historical politics and religion are the subject of both of my degrees, I often find myself wondering if I should say anything at all. Part of the so-called injunction comes from the experience that those who know the least will often say the most. Religion and politics can often lead to heated discussions that may make polite discussions, well… not so polite. But there is another topic that really should be added to the list… we always seem to get a bit uncomfortable when it comes to talking about money. Sure… we can talk about how businesses spend money without too much trouble… there are financial reports every half-hour on 680 News! Yet when was the last time you had a conversation around the same dinner table about your own T4 slip? I’m thinking it probably doesn’t come up. It’s a private matter… really…...

Text: Psalm 46 In Flanders' Fields In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly, Scarce heard amidst the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Love and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders’ fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe, To you from falling hands we throw The Torch –be yours to hold it high; If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields. At risk of repeating what John read earlier in the service, there is a power to this poem that has endured far beyond those with a living memory of the conflict from which it came. We now only have one veteran from the First World War still living. At one hundred seven years old, John Babcock resides at a nursing home in Spokane, Washington… and even he never saw action on the fields of Dr. John McCrae’s poem. Yet even so, it has achieved a near-myth...

Text: Jeremiah 31:27-34 Jeremiah is a prophet of contrasts. In one moment, he proclaims doom and gloom, while in the next, he preaches hope whilst standing on the brink of disaster. His words are powerful. Jeremiah has an intimate sense of where and how God was working in the life of Israel, even in the face of the greatest disaster that nation had yet known. He preached and proclaimed, and yet it seemed as if no one would listen to him. He was discouraged that no one paid attention… sure they paid lip service to their faith, but when it came down to it, everything he said seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Jeremiah wondered if anything would ever stick with these people. Would anyone hear what he had to say? Did anything he do ever amount to anything? Only history would vindicate him, and in spite of everything that happened, Jeremiah was still able to see and proclaim hope. It’s no wonder that preachers can relate well to this guy. When I was a student, I had my first real en...

Text : Romans 8:26-39 It is by all accounts one of the single most comforting passages in the New Testament. Sure, the 23rd Psalm is more familiar, but fewer passages have both the theological depth and comfort than this chapter from Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is often read at funerals as an encouragement to those who grieve. Even so, I am not necessarily sure if Paul originally intended it that way. Unlike his other letters, Paul’s exhaustive missive to the church in Rome seemed to be less about individual crises, and more about the big picture. We get more of a sense of what Paul knew and understood about his faith, because he was addressing a church that he did not found. If anything, this largest of all the letters is both a resume and a position paper on Paul’s understanding of the fledgling Christian faith. He was introducing himself to the church in Rome, because he wanted to use it as a launching point for the next stage of his life in ministry. After having founded church...

Text: Deuteronomy/Reflecting on the Day It only happens maybe once every seven years, where the first Sunday in October happens to be the day before the second Monday. Traditionally, the first Sunday in October has become World Communion Sunday, where Christians all over the world celebrate the sacrament of communion together as a sign of unity. In Canada, the Sunday before the second Monday of the month is Thanksgiving Sunday. So in a rare convergence of dates, today is both World Communion Sunday AND Thanksgiving Sunday. One would think that I would be pulled in two different directions as to what the theme of the service should really be. Yet having the two on the same day is not a bad thing at all. In fact, when combined together, there is something about the greater whole that both shine a light on each other. Our Thanksgiving holiday as we celebrate it in Canada has no real Biblical link. It was created by the government in the 19th Century. Given how cold the Canadian Winters c...

Presbyterians Sharing Sunday Text: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 A mentor of mine once described the Presbyterian Church in Canada as a “Congregationalist church with a Presbyterian system of government.” He said it with a sense of irony, but with a hope that individual congregations would be able to overcome that tendency and look beyond their own walls. I was a student at the time, so I don’t think I fully got what he was talking about. More than thirteen years later, I’ve learned that there is a certain degree of truth to what he said. The Presbyterian Church in Canada at its ideal is an organization that collectively thinks on a regional level. When the reformers first started developing the idea of a Presbyterian-style way of doing things, the focus was very much an over-arching, big-picture kind of approach. Have a central court or council of ministers and elders from the congregation who would be able to oversee a vision for the city or the region that they were in. Think regionally wa...

Text : Luke 16:1-13 It’s wrong. It’s all wrong… a crook is complemented for his crookedness? It doesn’t make sense! When we read the Bible, we expect neat, tidy little stories. We expect short little statements, brief guidelines of how to live our lives. No loose ends, no tangled threads. But here is a story about a dishonest manager, a story riddled with irony, apparent contradictions, combined with an outcome that just doesn’t make sense. What a mess! No matter what kind of approach we take to explain this parable, we invariably get stuck somewhere. There are no good guys, no happy endings, just a frustrating and confusing conclusion. This parable reminds us of how troubling the words of Jesus can be. Jesus, through the dishonest manager reveals something about God’s grace and love in a far more troubling —yet assuring— light. When faced with financial crisis, people will often do strange things. More than fifteen years ago, I worked for a small games store in Calgary. Hired just aft...

Text: Luke 15:1-10 Today, it seems, is an exercise in contrasts. If some of the scripture lessons we’ve had lately haven’t been that well known, the one that I read this morning goes to the opposite ends of the scale. Along with the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin are amongst the most familiar and most comforting images that come out of the Gospels. They have evoked images of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, laughing, with a young lamb draped over his shoulders. It is a powerful and comforting image, tying in with so many other images from scripture, it has managed to soak into our collective consciousness. There have been many hymns written about this... stories that talk about the welcoming of the repentant sinner coming home. It would seem that I would have nothing else to say about this passage at all, because it is so well known, no additional explanation is necessary. There we go! Sermon’s done... onto the closing prayer, and we can go home for the day!...

A Reflection for Rally Sunday Jeremiah 18:1-11 The potter’s wheel is a piece of technology that literally dates back thousands of years. Sure, with modern technology, pottery wheels run smoother with electrical motors, are more comfortable to sit at, and are likely made from sturdier materials. Yet at its base, a pottery wheel has been a technological innovation that has been part of human society for thousands of years. The basic principles have not really changed. A potter uses a wheel that spins horizontally, most older mechanisms had it powered by gears and a foot pedal. With a jar of water handy, the potter then would take a lump of clay, throw it onto the center of the wheel, and then begin to work with it and shape it into some form. The same process can be used to make a plate, a cup, a jug, a bowl, a vase… just about anything is possible. The primary thing that they seem to have in common is that anything made on a pottery wheel is intended to be a vessel to hold something… mo...