"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” – Luke 12:32 When I was in high school I was pretty convinced I was about as smart as you could get for a kid my age – I mean I knew I wasn’t a genius savant, but the next best thing. I did exceedingly well in school without too much effort – I didn’t study much, I waited to the last minute to get my assignments done, even when I hadn’t read something I was able to offer valuable insights on … [Read more...]
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The Right Stuff – Sermon for August 4th
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. – Colossians 3:9-10 Have you ever tried to do something wearing completely the wrong clothes for the occasion? I remember when I was a kid I went to a school where we had to wear uniforms, which meant polo shirts, dress pants, dress shoes and a tie every day. One of the first … [Read more...]
The Good Samaritan, the Small Church, and Mercy
*Audio File Below* Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Pentecost - July 14, 2019 - Alice J Stewart Our lawyer today in Luke is not the kind of lawyer you might find if you go downtown to the Department of Justice. He is an expert in Jewish law, and a really important fellow in Jewish life. This lawyer is a religious authority much like the Jewish priest and Levite we meet in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Knowing this, we can see some subtleties in our reading from Luke today. The expert … [Read more...]
Will You Come and Follow Me – Sermon for June 30th
Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." – Luke 9:58 When you are about to embark on some big life change, like getting married, or having your first child, or going to university, starting a new job or retiring from one – you will often be told by someone that your life will never be the same, it will change so tremendously that you’ll barely recognize it on the other side. People have a tendency to speak in … [Read more...]
Demons – Sermon for Sunday June 23rd
Audio of this Sermon available at the bottom of the page. “The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." – Luke 8:38-39 In the modern Western world demons and demon possession is generally considered the stuff of fantasy or horror films – images like the young girl in Exorcist contorted and screaming in her bed – in ‘real life’ we would never give demons and demon … [Read more...]
An Anthropologist on Revelation – What is your Revelation?
*Audio File Available Below* Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter: June 2, 2019 Alice J Stewart Today’s reading from Revelation ends with the final words of Revelation. It ends with the final words of the entire Bible. These final words tell us who Jesus is, assure us that he’s coming, and tell us that we who desire God’s Kingdom through Christ will be showered with every blessing. Isn’t this the gospel message in a nutshell? Revelation is a long story, and a … [Read more...]
Holding on to Heaven – Sermon for Easter 4
“What is heaven like?” If you ever had children, or maybe you taught children in Sunday school, you have probably been confronted with this question: What is heaven? What does it look like? What will it smell or feel like? Who will be there? What will we do? It makes sense that children ask these questions, we say the word heaven a lot in church, we say it’s important, we might even talk about it as a goal but we don’t actually talk about it very much. If you were only to watch … [Read more...]
Rejected Stones – Sermon for the Second Sunday in Easter 2019
*Audio Available Below* “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Psalm 118:22. Jesus was the stone that the builders rejected. Jesus became the cornerstone of what God built and is still building today. Jesus reminds us elsewhere that the disciple is not above the master. So, if Jesus was a stone the builders rejected, his followers most certainly are. Before we dig deeper, let’s review some basics. What is it that God is building? God is building … [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...]
He is Risen – Sermon for the Great Vigil of Easter 2019
*Audio available below* Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia. We are not here to celebrate death. We are here to celebrate life. There are a lot of people out there who accuse Christianity of being an antiquated death-cult to a vengeful God. They only see the crucifixion and forget about the resurrection. They find it all too easy to believe that a man was murdered a long time ago. They find it really difficult to believe that a man who was also the Son of God was raised … [Read more...]