Sermon Archive

Text: Exodus 17:1-7 Are we there yet? I don’t know if there is a parent who has not heard this erupt out of the back seat of the car while on a long journey. I can’t help but laugh when I hear it come out of my daughter’s mouth. Even last week, when Sarah, Megan and I drove down to the shores of Lake Ontario to watch the rise of the so-called Supermoon… which is not more than a 25-30 minute drive from our house… We had barely turned onto the 407, the fastest possible route, when I heard “are we there yet?” from the back seat. This was not a long drive by any stretch… so I have a great sympathy for all of you who made the trek south and back home with your families at March break. How many of you heard that question? How did you feel when you heard it? Frustrated? I’ll bet. Did you laugh, because you remember saying that to your parents when you were the ones in the back seat? I know I do. Megan doesn’t appreciate it much, because she thinks we are laughing at her. Nope. We’re l...

Genesis 12:1-4a In terms of verse count, the reading from Genesis is almost as short as it gets… especially today… but these three-and-half verses get us started on a journey that is a foundational core of our faith. Seriously. Last week we dealt with “The Fall” –the story from Eden where the relationship between humanity and God was damaged, because of our natural human tendency to avoid responsibility for our actions. Yet the story didn’t end there… following the stories of the flood and Babel, which were almost afterthoughts to Eden, something new begins with a man and a woman… and a sense of call. “Abram, Sarai… let’s take a walk, and let me show you something.” From this begins a whole series of stories, where a childless family pull up their roots and travel beyond the Fertile Crescent on a matter of faith. From Chapter twelve until twenty-five there are a series of episodic stories that tell us how Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah, and how these two become the bearer...