Sermon Archive

Colossians 3:14-17 Did you hear that? It’s the collective sigh of relief now that Christmas has come and gone. Consumers are recovering from Boxing Day combat, and now we’re sliding on into New Year’s Eve. We’re in that “in-between” time from the end of one party and heading into the next. I have little doubt that the decorations in the malls are already coming down. After all, there’s only 48 shopping days until Valentine’s… so wreaths will soon be replaced by hearts. But it’s still Christmas. I think we have become so used to the ways that the Malls tell time that we almost entirely forget that the Christmas season started on Friday morning. Christmas is not over, not by any stretch of the imagination. Those of you who have gotten to know me know that I try to resist stampeding into the Christmas carols during Advent. It’s because Advent is its own season… with its special message of anticipating the coming of Christ. But Advent gets overshadowed in favour of getting ready for Christ...

Text: Luke 1:1-20 I bid all of you welcome on this Christmas Eve, where we come together to give and receive, to share in the wonders amidst the cold winter’s chill, and listen to ancient stories that captivate still. And yes, with it being Christmas Eve, my tradition stays, tonight is the fifth time I’ve offered this way, of preaching the message somewhat diverse, I hope you don’t mind it’s completely in verse. Through word rhythm, and pattern, and rhyme, I hope it helps us to listen this time. Rather than some distant mouldy old story, we may catch a glimpse of God’s true glory. So please, relax, listen and enjoy, and I don’t mind if children make noise. It’s part of it, the package you see, the story is about a child, a little baby. It is a rare occasion when stories are told, that the words the King James can unfold, the tale of Christmas in a very special light, of what the shepherds heard that first holy night. Now normally, I prefer versions more practical, rather than the words...

Text : Luke 3:1-6 The Gospels are more than simply telling the story of Jesus. As I mentioned last week, the expectation of a Messiah around the time that Jesus was born was so high, there were many different ideas about who the Messiah might be, and how the Messiah would appear to the people. The expectations were so high that when Jesus lived, it’s not surprising that many… perhaps even a majority of people… weren’t able to see God right in their own midst. The writers of the gospels are doing a lot more than just telling the story of Jesus. They’re making a case for Jesus as the one who fulfills the expectations of being the Messiah, the holy one of God. It’s why the gospel writers, Luke and Matthew in particular, are constantly drawing these links back into the Hebrew Bible. After all, the desire, the hope for one who would come and redeem the people had been building for centuries. When it came to Jesus, perhaps hindsight was 20/20… and perhaps reminds us that often our own experi...

Reflections on the Advent Readings As some of you may know, a group of us went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls on November 21st. Being Saturday, it was quite busy… I was fascinated by how the display was set up. For those of you who were there, or who have been to see the scrolls on your own you’ll know what I’m talking about. The entry are has this massive wall of what are made to look like bricks, each inscribed with a quote from what are often called the “Sectarian” scrolls found at Qumran. The quotes were written in Hebrew, and Greek, inscribed into the surface, and then the saying was translated into both English and French. It’s quite impressive, to be sure. The display continues, trying to set the time period into context. It shows artefacts from the period, including pottery, coinage, maps, pictures… the kinds of things that you might expect to see. As one gets closer and closer to where the scrolls actually are, the lights are getting gradually darker and darker. The grand-ness of...

John 18:31-38 It seems to be such a contrast of images. Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last day of worship before Advent begins… it is in all respects New Year’s Eve for Christians. Throughout the year we have walked through all the different seasons of the church, anticipating the coming of Christ, celebrating his arrival at Christmas… his revealing in Epiphany… his sacrifice in Lent, and the glory of Easter. During the season of Pentecost… we focus on how we respond to God’s grace… and just as we’re getting ready to start the cycle all over again, we have this powerful image of Christ as King. This is all well and good… but when we do encounter Jesus in John’s Gospel, he is anything but king-like. We find Jesus standing before Governor Pontius Pilate; a prisoner, bound and humiliated. He awaits a horrible, suffocating death upon a bare wood cross. The only crown he will wear is one of thorns, and only stripes of office he will carry are the cruel welts from a whip. It would ...

Text : Revelation 21:1-6a The first day of November is called All Saints Day… for the most part it’s not a day that we celebrate all that much. We celebrate the night before quite well… for those of you who are parents or grandparents, the real challenge is to make sure our children don’t make themselves sick from eating too much candy. Yet before Halloween, there was All Saints Day… a day that the church celebrated all those often unknown and un-named people who had so cheerfully and passionately built up the body of Christ in their lifetimes. There were those saints who had specific dates devoted to them… St. Valentines in February, St. Patrick in March, St. John the Baptist in June… but for every well-known “official” saint there are thousands of unsung faithful people. All Saints Day became a way to include all of them… and has now been celebrated for 1400 years… although these days we tend to pay more attention to the night before! Usually we try to celebrate All Saints on the Sun...

Text : John 8:31-36 I have been finding through the Bible for Dummies course that we have been doing that those who come really appreciate the work that I’ve been doing to give the historical background as to how the Bible came together… as well as where each book finds itself located in history. This is more than just a “when was it written” kind of approach, but understanding the events that were going on when a particular book or section of the Bible, and how they addressed those events… If anything the Bible makes far more sense when we really get a feel for what both the people of Israel experienced through the Hebrew Bible, as well as the genuine struggles that the early church faced. Even so, it would be a mistake for us to think that those experiences and struggles ended in the early 2nd century. After all, it may surprise you to learn that the Creeds that we say around Baptism and Communion you won’t find anywhere in the Bible. Why? Because they came later… when the church fac...

Text : John 8:31-36 I have been finding through the Bible for Dummies course that we have been doing that those who come really appreciate the work that I’ve been doing to give the historical background as to how the Bible came together… as well as where each book finds itself located in history. This is more than just a “when was it written” kind of approach, but understanding the events that were going on when a particular book or section of the Bible, and how they addressed those events… If anything the Bible makes far more sense when we really get a feel for what both the people of Israel experienced through the Hebrew Bible, as well as the genuine struggles that the early church faced. Even so, it would be a mistake for us to think that those experiences and struggles ended in the early 2nd century. After all, it may surprise you to learn that the Creeds that we say around Baptism and Communion you won’t find anywhere in the Bible. Why? Because they came later… when the church fac...

Texts: Mark 10:35-45 At some point early on in my career, I stumbled across a saying that I try to take to heart every week when preparing sermons. It is a real caution, and a reminder of the responsibility that comes with this pulpit every week. The saying is quite simple, really… but its implications are far reaching. It goes something like this: “Beware of finding a Jesus that is entirely congenial to you.” In other words, be careful because there is a human tendency to want to see Jesus in a way that is entirely friendly to us. Although it’s far more than just a nice, safe Jesus who seems agree that everything we do is okay in God’s eyes... that somehow Jesus fits our image, our ideas, our thoughts as to what should be, and not the other way around. Perhaps it’s better to say, beware of finding the Jesus you want to find. It has been a struggle for a very long time… wanting to essentially create or shape God in our image, instead of the other way around. One of the most frequent ch...

Text: Matthew 6:25-34 Thanksgiving Sunday 2009 Sometimes there are certain passages from the Bible that it seems nearly pointless to write a sermon on because on the surface they seem so self-explanatory. I look at the passage, my keyboard, and the screen and I wonder to myself as to how to make this sound any more relevant than it already is. On Thanksgiving Sunday, we shift gears away from the Gospel of Mark over to Matthew, who offers a very timely and very wise reflection on worry. It may seem a little strange to be talking about worry on Thanksgiving weekend, but at the same time I think the timing is very apt. It seems to be really out of place. After all, with all of the big family dinners going on, there’s so much to be done, so much to be put in place and so much more to do… and Jesus is telling us to not to worry about it? But then again, maybe that’s the idea. These days worry is what dominates our life… anxieties about trying to keep up with all the work that we need to do,...

Text: Mark 10:13-16 Two weeks ago I talked a bit about anticipating my daughter’s first full day at school. Megan was very excited, and consistently looks forward to the days in the week that she gets to go to school and learn. Initially I began asking her about how her day was, and she usually smiles and says “good.” –and that’s about it. I ask, “did you enjoy your day?” and she replies simply “Yeah.” –but getting her to volunteer more information is sometimes a bit of a challenge. It’s not that she hasn’t done a lot, but there’s often so much going on that she can’t really focus one thing or another. Not only that, because Sarah is the one who more often than not picks her up from school, she’s had a chance to talk about all the exciting things right then and there. It’s very immediate! Sarah also tipped me off that perhaps instead of asking her how her day was, to be more specific and ask what her favourite part of the day was. So I tried that, “What was the favourite part of your ...

The Millstone Award Text: Mark 9:38-50 There are occasionally certain texts and stories that come up in the Bible that us preacher types go to great length to avoid. Let’s be honest. They can be difficult sayings, hard stories, or accounts of ancient medical procedures that while interesting for some, might work better as a cure for insomnia for most. Among these readings are ones that are so jarring, so strange, that to simply read them without preaching on them would likely leave everyone scratching their heads. Today is one of those days where one of those hard readings has come up, and really won’t let go… I also find the timing rather interesting… Starting on Wednesday night, I’m leading a series of stand alone studies as an introduction to the Bible. Each night will be a different theme, doing what is essentially a broad overview on what the Bible is, how it has made an impact on society, who them major characters are, languages and translations… At the request of a few people, I...

Text: Mark 9:30-37 As most of you know by now my daughter started school this month for the first time. Tomorrow she actually begins attending classes all day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Alternating Fridays. Over the past week, they have been doing what they call “graduated entry.” We talked with her new teacher. We saw the classroom, while a teaching assistant asked Megan to play with a number of different things. Being the son of teachers, it was obvious that they were trying to figure out where Megan is developmentally… but to Megan, she was just having fun. Our teacher shared with us that much of the early part of the school year is simply getting the children used to the routine. Not the least of this is the whole idea of lining up… waiting one’s turn… A lot of this stuff we tend to take for granted, but in order for the class to work, these basic skills are needed from the get go. It’s amazing how quickly we forget. Maybe because as adults we look patronizingly ...