Sermon Archive

Text : Matthew 22:15-22 In the aftermath of this past week’s federal election, of what has been described by some as perhaps one of the nastiest election campaigns, we’re still picking up the pieces. Sure, the landscape has shifted a little bit, but not much. If anything Canadians have told those whom we elect to government that the most important thing is to work together… the extremely low voter turnout, I think, betrays a sense of disillusionment with the system. One needs to remember that the governing party was elected by about 35% of the 58% of people who actually voted. The upshot is that just over 20% of those who were eligible to vote public voted for, 38% voted against, and 42% abstained from the whole process. Much of the media’s attention is now focused on this low turnout, and what it means for our democratic system. So what is needed now? A reason for people to care? In the various speeches from election night, there was at least some voicing for the need to work together...

Text: Deuteronomy 8:7-18 “May you live in interesting times.” You’ve probably heard it. It is supposedly an English translation of an ancient Chinese curse. It is paired with two other similar proverbial-style curses: “May you come to the attention of those in authority.” and “May you find what you are looking for.” The saying entered into popular usage in the years leading up to the Second World War. Whether or not its origins are authentically Chinese is still a bit elusive, but we are still very familiar with it. “May you live in interesting times.” This has been a wild month for anyone who has any investments in the stock market… especially this past week. Coupled with this coming week’s federal elections here at home, and next month’s presidential election south of the border, the times are certainly interesting… and for many, not in a good way. There’s no lack of conversational material that will be around Thanksgiving tables this weekend… but it’s much more than simply stuff tha...

Text : Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 They are perhaps the ten best known rules out of the entire Bible… or at least in name they are anyway. They have two epic films named after them. They have been used inappropriately as a theological battering ram by some, dismissed as ancient and irrelevant by others. These days, any mention of them provokes a reaction in people, be it positive or negative… but when they come up people’s teeth are sure to be set on edge. But does it have to be that way? They were never intended to be the kind of bludgeon that the religious right in the States has made them to be. Contrary to what they might tell you, only three of the Ten Commandments actually carries any legal weight these days: do not murder, do not steal, and don’t lie under oath (that’s the false witness one). As the late comedian George Carlin rightly pointed out, in North American society, coveting or being envious of someone else’s stuff is the cornerstone of a market economy… so maybe we need t...

This Sunday's sermon was written and delivered by Elder Siem Vandenbroek. Johnny Cash sang with a deep, resonating voice. One of his songs was “A boy named Sue”. The man in black, as he was called, would take his guitar and give a grand solo performance that had quite a following. The song, “A boy named Sue”, deals with our topic: What is in the name? Well, the problem is that Sue is a nice name for your daughter, but not a proper name for your son. This father wanted to be on purpose nasty to his son and named him Sue, knowing full well that this would make him somewhat of a laughing stock for his classmates and boys on the street. The song goes way back to the 60’s and 70’s, to the more restricted ideas of that time, at which we would look now somewhat differently today. At that time this boy had to live with the name Sue and indeed, as the song spells out, he was made the joke of the neighbourhood. But then he learned to live with the disadvantage and started to fig...

Text: Matthew 6:1-13 What exactly is prayer anyway? It is such a central part of our spirituality as Christians, and yet I would venture to say that most of us don’t really know what it is… At it’s heart we say that prayer is talking with God… yet how many of us get very uncomfortable when someone asks us to pray to open a meeting? Chance are we tend to ask either the minister, or those who outwardly seems to be a lot more comfortable with saying the right words of a prayer than we are. Although I will say, given the stock market rollercoaster over the past week, prayer may have been a bit more on people’s mind… and flowed a bit more easily… but let’s be honest. It’s easier to get the minister to do it. This really came into sharp focus for me in the very first year that I was ordained… serving as an associate minister at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Cornwall. Within the first month of my arrival, I was invited over to a dinner at the home of one of the congregation’s matriarchs. ...

Text: Exodus 14:19-31 – The Crossing of the Red Sea Note: Earlier in the service, a film clip showing the crossing of the Red Sea scene from the film the Prince of Egypt was shown. My comments presume that people had seen the scene. I have to admit; in my opinion the scene of the crossing of the Red Sea in the Prince of Egypt blows any previous film to cover the subject out of the water. Sure, it’s an animated film… but in that way it can do and capture things that live action films can’t… like keeping that sense of wonder and mystery as part of it. Maybe that’s why I personally enjoyed it so much. I remember seeing this for the first time when it was released in 1998, and a few people said after walking out of the theatre, a few people joked “so who is Charleton Heston anyway?” 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 between certai...

Text : Matthew 18:15-20 I have a relative who infuriates me sometimes when it comes to matters of faith. She’s not terribly keen on acknowledging anybody around her in worship. Even when passing the offering plate around or the bread for community, she avoids eye contact when at all possible. God forbid if she actually has to look at the person next to her, much less acknowledge that someone else is in the sanctuary. “The service is about me and God” she says… and anything that gets in the way of that is to be avoided all cost. People coughing, children crying or talking, usually evokes a dirty look. “Me and God” –that’s it. Nobody else matters. Yet it’s not really her fault. It’s how she was raised… generations of people who have been taught that our faith is exclusively between ourselves and God. It’s entirely personal, and it’s going to stay that way. The individualism that we have been raised and take for granted has only been a dominant part of our society since the 1700s. It’s no...