"...you hypocrites..." A lot of scripture is metaphoric, symbolic. Some of it isn't. "...their religion is worthless." "...you hypocrites..." In addition to not being terribly metaphoric, these words are about individuals, as well as collective communities. The ancient world had little concept of individuality in the way we understand it. It's hard for us to understand such a collective reality, and sometimes we misunderstand scripture because of that. Here, however, with James and … [Read more...]
Give Thanks – Sermon for Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 5:18-20 Learning to give thanks, to be grateful is a really important life skill. From an early age I remember my parents instilling in me the importance of saying thank you, the importance of being grateful for a special gift or … [Read more...]
Imitation of Christ – Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2 It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and often that’s quite true. I remember when I first started in ministry here at Grace, I was freshly ordained and my eldest daughter regularly attended. For awhile, every Sunday evening when we went to dinner at my mum’s place, my daughter would find set of … [Read more...]
What Feeds You? – Sermon for the Eleventh Week after Pentecost
“They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’" – John 6:34 What feeds you? What are you hungry for? Before I started running I never really thought about nutrition. Food was something I enjoyed, especially sweet and spicy things, but never something I really thought much about. I didn’t think about calories or macro-nutrients or anything like that, food was just something I enjoyed, something that comforted me, something that I often consumed mindlessly. This obviously led to some … [Read more...]
Invited Series Week 5 – Luke 10:1-11
“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 Preaching Series Week 2 – John 1:43-51
Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him “Come and see.” – John 1:46 How many of you like icebreaker games? You know the games that are designed to get people out of their comfort zone and introduce themselves to a group of strangers. Often ice breakers can revolve around your name, or around what you’d bring to a desert island and one of the most common ones is where you are invited to think about which person from history, dead or alive, that you … [Read more...]
The Spirit Carries On – Sermon for Easter 6
"Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" – Acts 10:47 As the father of two girls, even as young as they are, I am intimately aware of the lingering inequalities and injustices that exist in this world even as white middle class Canadians we enjoy many, many privileges. When my eldest daughter first became enthralled with the Blue Jays three years ago, she quickly decided that she wanted to play for them when she grew up, and … [Read more...]
Look, Here’s Water – Sermon for Easter 5
Look. Here's water. What's to prevent me from being baptized? When I was a teenager, I began to ask impertinent questions about religion. In this way, I was a pretty typical teenager. Once I approached a church-going relative and asked about Jesus. I was beginning to think there was more to this Jesus person than simply “Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know.” So I asked this relative of mine and he said, "Well, you just gotta love Jesus. If you don’t, you’ll go to hell!" I don’t blame my … [Read more...]
Living in the Light of Easter – Part 2
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” – 1 John 3:1 Last week we had the first part of our mini two-part series titled Living in the Light of Easter – where we looked at Easter through the analogy of a wedding between God and humankind, God making promises to us, of forgiveness of sins, of eternal and abundant life, of life in his presence and kingdom forever. Like a wedding there is a marriage that follows life after the … [Read more...]
Living in the Light of Easter (Part 1)
“With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” – Acts 4:33 When Bethany and I were first engaged, I must admit I was appalled by the whole wedding-industrial complex. Weddings these days are complex events, often requiring a wedding planner to pull off all the various elements. It seems that people look to one-up one another on how extravagant their wedding can be – the best dress, the best ring, the best cake and … [Read more...]
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