Alleluia Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed Alleluia!! While we tend to make a big deal about celebrating the one day of Easter Sunday, the joy of the season of Easter is that we get to celebrate it for six weeks following Easter Sunday until Pentecost. Every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday, but for six weeks we focus specifically on the Resurrection, we focus specifically on the stories of Jesus, which speak of the Resurrection, or the stories from the Book of Acts, and the effect of the … [Read more...]
Resurrection Matters – Sermon for Easter
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:20 If you went to the mall, maybe not today, but on almost any other day, and took a survey asking people which holiday they thought was the most important day in the Christian church, what do you think they would say? … Christmas. Somehow, somewhere along the way, Christmas has become THE defining day on the Christian calendar (at least as it is seen by outsiders). There’s … [Read more...]
Cross in the Spotlight – Sermon for Good Friday
“When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” ~ John 19:30 They say hindsight is 20/20. Whether good or bad we can look back on past events and assess what went wrong, what went right, how we could have done things better, the good that came out of a bad situation and so forth. When I look back now on the hardest times of my life, the times when it felt everything was crashing down around me and falling apart at the seams I can … [Read more...]
Serve the Servants – Sermon for Maundy Thursday
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.” ~ John 13:3-4 For all that we talk about servanthood being at the centre of the Christian life, the path that we are all called to follow, we can be mighty squeamish when it comes to foot-washing. From a friend’s church in the deep south of the United States that was so uncomfortable with … [Read more...]
Pour Your Love – Sermon for Lent 5
“Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” ~ John 12:3 ‘Do you believe in Resurrection?’ You might think this an odd question with a full week left in Lent, after all, we need to get through Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, his final days and final meal with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, his betrayal and trial before Pilate and finally the … [Read more...]
Learning at the Feet of the Master – Sermon for Jan 16 2022
“Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” John 2:11 When we think about discipleship, about following Jesus, we probably begin to think about learning. After all, much of the Christian life is about learning from Jesus, learning about Jesus and learning to live the life that God is growing in our lives. We make a big deal about learning. Jesus is described in the Bible as a teacher, as a Rabbi a great religious … [Read more...]
Journey from Grief to Hope – Sermon for All Souls 2021
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will love, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” ~ John 11:25-26 Grief is one of the great paradoxes of human existence. On the one hand it is one of the common threads that weaves itself throughout all human experience in every place and every time on earth. Some time or another in life, everyone will experience grief. Whether it is the grief of losing a loved one: a parent, a partner, a … [Read more...]
O When the Saints – Sermon for All Saints 2021
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” ~ Revelation 21:3 As someone who loved both medieval and church history throughout high school and university, the lives of Saints played a significant part in my education. Even a secular study of history cannot ignore the impact that ‘saints’ and their legends had on communities, the church and the course … [Read more...]
Bread of Life – Sermon for August 15th 2021
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." John 6:51 The last two decades have seen the incredible rise of Comedy News shows – shows like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have thrived the news-entertainment complex that has arisen. Although they are strictly for entertainment during the early 2000s people under 30 reported getting their news from these shows than … [Read more...]
Say my Name – Sermon for Easter 2019
What’s in a name? We all can likely remember times when our parents or our friends have called out our name with a deep sense of affection and love bottled up – perhaps after a long period of absence, or a parent calling a child over to offer a hug or a comforting shoulder to cry on. Our names are powerful. Just ask any child the power of a name, when their parent uses it to chastise them! When I was a child I would go around saying ‘I am not an Edddin! I am not an Eddin!’ because when I was … [Read more...]