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 ...

A Reflection on Reformation Sunday Texts: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Luke 19:1-10 I hope you’ll excuse me for playing a little bit of dress-up today. It is Halloween, after all… or more appropriately “All Hallows’ Eve” –the night before All Saints Day. In superstitious mediaeval times, it was believed that on the evening before All Saints Day, that the dead literally walked amongst the living. So everybody got dressed up, and showed hospitality to anyone who came to their door, whether they were living or dead. Today, it has very much evolved into the big yearly candy-grab, and I can tell you that at least in our household, there is one person who would get up there and push the sun down to the horizon if it means she could get out there faster. But today, within the walls of this church, on All Hallows’ Eve, we remember the act of a solitary German monk, who on this day four hundred ninety three years ago, challenged the great monolithic church about its practices. Some accounts have him ...

Text: Jeremiah 31:27-34; Luke 18:1-8 Sitting on my shelf is a book called the “Essential Jesus” where the author takes many of the sayings of Jesus and distils them down into a format that is easy to memorize. To date, it has given me the best version of the so-called Parable of the Persistent Widow that I have yet read. In the pew Bible, the story is short… but if anything a bit wordy… but when taken down to its elements, it is rather direct. It goes something like this: A widow with no shame confronted a judge with no conscience Time and again she pleaded for vindication before him. He finally gave in, because if even ethics didn’t bother him, she did. Luke included this parable in his telling of the story of Jesus as a metaphor for encouraging early Christians to persevere in what were often very difficult times. When Luke was written, Jerusalem had been destroyed, and Christians for the first time had been persecuted in Rome under Nero. Darkness was gathering… and these fledgling c...

Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 It’s funny. We all have our thanksgiving traditions… but we often forget that Thanksgiving as a holiday is something that is almost exclusively North American. In the United States, the last Thursday of November is Thanksgiving Day… for us, well… it’s tomorrow. While they bear the same name, Canadians are far less concerned with stories of Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock, or how to grow corn. Instead, when the celebration “came north” it was moved earlier in the year because of an understandably shorter growing season, and was specifically oriented around the harvest. In Canada, thanksgiving has far less to do with the national identity as it does with simply being grateful that stuff actually grew in this harsh northern climate. My parents still valiantly try to grow Tomatoes in Calgary, and while they may claim some success… the reddish green marbles they start covering to avoid the August frosts would beg to differ… You may also notice that I’ve not mentioned anyth...

Text: Lamentations 1:1-6; Mark 13:1-6 There is a story of a radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland one dark and blustery October. It goes something like this: Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid collision. Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course. Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH--I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH--OR COUNTER-MEASURE...