Sermon Archive

A reflection for the First Sunday in Advent As most of you probably know, Sarah and I are expecting our second child… soon. Very soon. As in so soon I had to make contingency plans for this morning just in case I couldn’t be here! If this isn’t me preaching this sermon, then you’ll know why I’m not here… Officially Sarah’s due date is December 12th, which happens to be my daughter’s fifth birthday. We have scheduled her birthday party to be early, so that if soon is sooner rather than later, we can deal with it. Granted, as I’ve indicated to many of you who have asked, soon can’t come soon enough for Sarah. But this is something that is happening soon. We don’t know precisely when, but it’s soon. I can’t think of a more appropriate welcome into Advent. Advent is the Season of “Soon” it’s not the season of Christmas, it’s not the season of “now” it’s the season of “Soon.” Something that we don’t do very well. We would rather it be “now” –we’re more comfortable with “now” we get “now” –b...

Text: Isaiah 65:17-25 After having come through Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Reformation Sunday, and Remembrance Sunday, today is a bit odd in the fall months. It seems that the majority of Sundays recently have had a major themes… and certainly looking to next week and the Sundays well into the New Year have themes of their own. Reign of Christ next week, and then the four Sundays of Advent… the twelve days of Christmas… and then Epiphany beyond… Today is somewhere in the middle of that “already and not-yet” season. It is already Christmas according to the music and decorations in the shopping malls. It is not yet Christmas… because we haven’t even got to Advent yet! It already feels like winter… and not yet… because it’s not yet December 21st… but sunset now comes before most of us get out of work on the weekdays! Already and Not Yet. Selfishly I am also in the midst of the “already and not yet” of a sort. I am already a father in that I have a high-energy five year old who has helped ...

A Reflection for Remembrance Day Text: Psalm 46; Matthew 5:1-12 I have a picture on my desk in my office, and as messy as it can be at times, this picture has always remained where I can see it. I don’t remember exactly when it was taken, but I know that it was prior to the Margaret Terry Room being renovated. In the picture are seventeen people, all of whom served in the Second World War, and all of them members of this congregation. By the time that picture came into my possession, a good number had already passed away… and with each passing year, I am looking into the eyes of fewer and fewer of them. From the seventeen faces in that picture, I can now count the people who are still with us on one hand. It is a lament, to be sure, that the generation that brought us through the most horrific conflict that the world has ever seen is steadily shrinking year after year. Over this past year, the very last Canadian veteran of the First World War died… and in four years time, we will mark ...