Sermon Archive

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:31a If you’ll indulge me, I want to start with a couple of contrasting stories for you. I’m sure that even if you weren’t here last week, you’ve no doubt heard about my daughter’s rather loud drum solo in the midst of Kelta’s children’s story. I think I’ve recovered from the personal embarrassment, but not fully. When I spoke to Megan on the way home after the service, I was trying to get a sense as to why she did what she did. I asked her that question that I suspect I’ll be asking more and more as she grows up, “What were you thinking?” You know what she said? “I was twying to help.” She was trying to help. After all, she sees Daddy up at the front talking to everybody else, and she wants to “help.” On weekends that she’s not here, she sees her mother doing the same thing, and she wants to help. Unfortunately, her “help” can sometimes be to her mother and father’s great personal embarrassment… I’m sure I will get my payback when she is a teenager. But the key ...

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 January and February are anniversary months for me, marking important milestones of a few things in my past that are worth sharing. For my wife Sarah and I, February 23 rd is our 7 th wedding anniversary. In my relationship with you as a congregation, February 6 th will be the 5 th anniversary of me preaching for the call here… It follows come the beginning of April, it will be the first time that I have ever marked a 5 th Anniversary with a congregation. Just to head off any speculation, I hope to celebrate several more anniversaries with you. Apart from these fairly straightforward milestones… there are some others… February 9 th will mark the 13 th Anniversary of my Ordination to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament… and this coming week marks the 19 th anniversary of me realizing my call to be a minister of Word and Sacrament. With today being a service led by the Worship Committee, I wanted to take a slightly different approach… by sharing som...

Texts: Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6 If you’re wondering why the Christmas decorations are still up, it’s my fault. No, the people on the decorating team weren’t being lazy, it’s that I specifically asked them to leave all of the banners, lights, and decorations up for this Sunday. When I preached on the 27th, I remarked at how we’re all too ready to stuff our Christmas Decorations back into a box, rather than let the bells of the season continue to echo. So I’m trying to stretch it out a bit more. I think I’ve remarked before that we often try to do too much on Christmas Eve. We try to stuff the whole occasion into a single night, without trying to draw out the various themes and messages of the Season. We have Shepherds and Angels bumping into Wise Men and their entourage… it’s a wonder that Joseph, Mary and the Christ Child might have gotten any sleep whatsoever. The reality is, the stories that Luke tells and the stories that Matthew tells around the birth of Jesus were never meant...

The following is the sermon delivered by Ande MacDougall-Clumpus on Sunday, January 3rd. Text: John 1:1-14 It was in late November when Rev. John sent me an instant message over the internet: “Would you be interested in preaching the first week of January?” I immediately typed out the answer “Yes,” but waited a few seconds before sending it, to make him think I was giving it some consideration. I asked him what the readings would be- I figured that being in the second week of Christmas, it’d probably be something about the wise men bearing gifts, which would make for an easy sermon on bringing our own gifts to God. My first time preaching, and I already had the sermon written. Then John sent me a link to the lectionary, and instead of a great, metaphorically-rich passage about the magi, I got the wonderfully abstract text from John chapter 1, that Jordan just read. I hesitated. John 1 is great, but not for a first-time preacher who gets most of his theology from The Simpsons and U2 son...

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...