“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Luke 10:2 One of the biggest fears in the Western Church, which has grown to a fever pitch over the past few decades, is the fear of declining congregations and the corresponding decline of the seeming importance of faith and Christianity in the world. With the decline in attendance has come the grim and mournful reality of church deaths and closures, something … [Read more...]
Invited Series Week 1 – Luke 19:1-10
I have a friend who recently adopted a kitten. This was about a month ago. A normal person would have forgotten about a friend's kitten before now. Not me. I'm a sucker for baby animals, and a complete sucker for kittens. But, kittens turn into cats. Kittens claw the furniture and their litter box is never tidy. Pets of any sort can cause a real ruckus in life, because we're inviting them into our homes to become part of our families. The same is true for inviting humans into our homes. … [Read more...]
Caught Between Heaven and Earth – Sermon for Ascension Day
When I lived in Moscow, Russia during my high school years, I had the chance to go on a school trip to the Ural Mountains for a week as part of Discovery Week at my school, which was a program designed for us to explore parts of Russia we wouldn’t normally see. The Urals aren’t a particularly high set of mountains, but they are the divide between Europe and Asia which is their claim to fame and as part of the trip we took a trip up on of the peaks of the mountain range. I’ve never been a huge … [Read more...]
Do not be Afraid!
“Do not be afraid.” – Matthew 28:10 Do not be afraid. As we have walked through Holy Week we have heard a lot about fear. The fear of the elders and chief priests had concerning Jesus, the fear of Judas as he realized what he had done in betraying Jesus, the fear of Pilate’s as he tried to reason with a bloodthirsty crowd, the fear of Peter of being connected with Jesus, the fear of all the disciples who abandoned Jesus. Even after Jesus’ death it seems that fear reigned in the hearts and … [Read more...]
Mo Money Mo Problems
Recently in the news and on social media there has been a lot of attention being given to Mother Teresa. … [Read more...]
Upside Down
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! – Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No I tell you, but rather division!” – Luke 12:49, 51 Well I don’t know about you, but it seems that from last week to today we have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Last week – when we wrestled with Jesus’ teaching on how our lives our prioritized, particularly around the tough issue of money – seems like a cake walk compared to the bombshell that … [Read more...]
What is Dead May Never Die?
“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said her, ‘Do not weep’… And he said ‘Young man, I say to you rise!’” – Luke 7:12-13 Let’s talk about death. I know, I know it is not a subject that any of us are particularly comfortable with: whether it is memories of loved ones who have died, the horrific scenes of death plastered across our news screens every day or even the prospect of our own deaths – the subject of death is not one that most of us are comfortable talking … [Read more...]
Keep the Faith
“When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." ” – Luke 7:9 Faith is a tricky thing. We talk a lot about it in the church, we profess it week-in and week out in the creeds, we have faith in people, in ideas, in God. And yet as much as we talk about it, as much as faith shapes who we are as Christians and as a Church – I would argue that for most of us, our Christian ‘faith’ can be … [Read more...]
Reckless and Relentless
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a work filled with memorable and quotable lines that have permeated throughout our cultural imaginations, and perhaps one of the most famous among them is “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." So what’s in a name? I remember when Bethany and I first found out we were expecting our first child; we were quickly able to settle on names for our coming child: one for a girl and one for a boy. As the pregnancy … [Read more...]
‘Til Kingdom Come
Today we continue our four-week series, as part of the Story series, exploring the Lord's Prayer. Today we look at the clause "Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." … [Read more...]