Sermon Archive

Text: Matthew 21:23-32 I have to have at least some sympathy for my parents. Raising children, as I am soon to find out, is never an easy task. My parents had two sons. Two sons who are quite close in age, being little more than a year apart. My parents had two sons with overactive imaginations, very creative when it came to our playtime, and yet very poor cleaning habits when it came to cleaning up the messes that we would make. It’s a wonder my parents can still walk after spending many years accidentally stepping on wayward Lego™ pieces in our basement. It was far too easy though, having a brother nearby made a convenient scapegoat. “John, who’s mess is this?” they would ask. Without looking up, I said, “David’s.” David, on the other hand, would also return the favour. Needless to say, my parents learned not to ask who the mess belonged to… because it belonged to us. The trouble is, they still had to ask us to clean it up. I would like to think of myself as the agreeable type. I’m t...

THAT’S NOT FAIR!! Text: Matthew 20:1-16 with Reference to Jonah 3:10-4:11 “That’s not fair!” Not exactly the kind of reaction that one would expect from listening to the teachings of Jesus. The parables that Jesus taught often provoked strong reactions in order to convey how truly revolutionary the kingdom of God is. These pushed people to think in radically different ways, to shake up their basic understandings, and to turn their world upside-down. Grain that produces far beyond its yield, seeds of weeds growing into vast trees they can accept… it may be a bit outlandish, but they are a bit easier to associate with God’s love. Even so, one of the most sacred things that we as human beings have developed is that sense of fairness; everyone gets what they deserve. It is why this parable, “the labourers in the vineyard” is so upsetting. Jesus not only walks all over that sacred ground, he stomps all over it and smashes a few tables while he’s at it. He tells this story, much like the o...

Text: Exodus: 14:19-31 It is perhaps one of the best known scenes out of the Bible. It has been brought to the big screen at least three times, and has everything that you might come to expect from a big budget production: a cast of thousands, raging columns of fire, crashing waters, high winds, and most of all the high drama that naturally comes with being a chase scene. Moses leading the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt by crossing through the waters of the Red Sea is something that captures our imagination. It is such a spectacular miracle, particularly in the way it has been portrayed in film that the wind, fire, and water nearly drown out some of the more subtle layers that this story bears. It’s worth listening to, and amidst all the astonishing special effects, we might learn something new. A few weeks ago, we met Moses as the reluctant shepherd living in exile. We have come a long way since then. Now all the people of Israel are gathered at the shore, at the edge of the sea… caught b...

Text: Matthew 18:15-20 While technically we have at least three more weeks of summer, the Labour Day weekend in Canada is the traditional end. We may try to eke a few more weekends out of our respective cottages, but now our thoughts turn towards the fall. The children are going back to school, students are back at university, and similarly many of us get ready to “come back to church.” Earlier on in the summer I had a number of people who apologized to me in advance, that during the summer months attendance really drops off. I have to be honest; numbers don’t bother me, because I’ve had experiences in the past where I have had to lead worship where there have been far fewer present. In those experiences, the words from Matthew today “where two or three are gathered” had a far more literal meaning. As both a summer student and as a chaplain at a University, I have worked with some rather small groups of people. Numbers don’t concern me… but community does. The trouble is, where two or ...

Text: Exodus 3:1-15; 4:1-17 “Please, send somebody else!” Wow… what a letdown! After all this, all Moses can says is, “Please Lord, send somebody else!” We find ourselves at the end of one of the most profound stories from Hebrew Scripture. It is the tale of a wandering shepherd who comes face to face with the living God, and then sets out on a mission to free the Slaves of Egypt. It is a powerful story –so powerful in fact, that we use one of its images to give a brand logo for our denomination. The burning bush, along with the Latin phrase Nec Tamen Consumebateur , can be found at the front of most sanctuaries in the Presbyterian Church in Canada… on fire and yet not consumed. This story from Exodus is laced with so much meaning that countless sermons can be written about it. Today, I am only preaching one of them… I promise! As powerful as this story is, we often forget the bits and pieces that bring it down to earth. As much as Moses is written as a hero, he is also a human being l...

Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18 Burnout. At some point in our lives, every one of us is going to experience it. It can be either short or long-term… it could just mean that we need an extended vacation, or it could mean that we need to look at a complete change in careers. It’s that point at which we feel we are truly spinning our wheels, desperate for a break… In more serious cases, there is a genuine anxiety over even returning to work, and even genuine clinical depression. Whatever its severity, burnout comes when no matter what amount of work that we do, no matter how many hours we put into it, we either aren’t getting enough done, or more importantly we get no satisfaction out of it… we’re burnt out. I suppose now would be a good time to say that I am NOT talking about myself. I may be going on vacation on Wednesday, but I would not consider myself burnt out. Burnout is something that happens a lot in today’s workplace, we talk about it all the time… but I’m not talking about that either. B...

Text: Genesis 32:22-31 I think after three straight weeks of the parables of Jesus, it’s time we took a break and returned to the Old Testament for a little while. It’s not a story that we know particularly well, and yet it is something that can be helpful to strengthen our relationship with God. The trouble is, it’s a wrestling match… and not a nice one either. This is not the kind of WWE soap opera style “SmackDown” that we might come to expect from the sports entertainment industry… this is a real fight… a fight where lives are at stake. One of the combatants is Jacob… the other one… well it could be God. We come back to the stories of Genesis in mid-stream. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, eventually had two sons of his own: Jacob and Esau. When they were growing up, Jacob had tricked both the first-born Esau and his father to gain the blessing and birthright that was so important to their early cultures. Needless to say it created a bit of a rift, and Jacob had fled fearing the wr...