Text: Luke 17:11-19 (a grateful leper) Today is Thanksgiving, a day on which we count our blessings; and this year I find it easier to do this because of my upcoming wedding to Kim Boyes. A year ago on Thanksgiving Sunday, Kim and I flew to Toronto so that she could meet my mother and … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 17:5-6 (faith the size of a mustard seed) — a sermon preached in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the first woman to be ordained in Canada. When I was a child, ministry was almost exclusively male. My father was a minister, and all the other ministers, pastors and priests in Cornwall — … [Read more…]
Text: Proverbs 8:1-4, 21-32 (Wisdom’s role in Creation) Today is “Cosmos Sunday,” a title given to the last Sunday of a short Season of Creation. When I first heard the title, I immediately thought of the TV series Cosmos. I didn’t watch Cosmos when it aired in 1980 because back then I was a poor … [Read more…]
Text: Psalm 29 (YHWH thunders over the waters) The three-year cycle of Bible readings that we use to plan our Sunday gatherings suggests four readings each week; and one of them is always a psalm. The Psalms are a set of 150 songs from the Hebrew Bible said to have been written by King David 3,000 … [Read more…]
Text: Jeremiah 18:1-10 (at the potter’s house) For the past 15 years, the date September 11 has held significance for many of us. Fifteen years ago today, 19 hijackers killed more than 3,000 people in the United States and caused a massive amount of economic, psychic, and cultural damage. For me that fateful day has … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 12:49-56 (bringing fire on earth) The Gospel passage we just heard is one that some ministers are reluctant to discuss. In it Jesus — the Prince of Peace, the one whom the angels say at his birth will bring peace on earth, and the one who greets his friends after his resurrection with … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 12:12-34 (“Do not worry about your life”) The Summer Olympic Games dominated news reports last week, and part of me felt relieved. Summer is usually a slow time for news. So every four years during the Olympics, the headlines are filled by medal counts, feats of physical beauty, and the logistics of putting … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 11:1-13 (Jesus teaches his friends how to pray) Prayer holds a central place in the life of people the world over. And yet, it remains a puzzle to many of us. As such, we may identify with Jesus’ friends when they say to Jesus, “Rabbi, teach us to pray.” Like them, we may … [Read more…]
Texts: Amos 8:11-13 (a famine of God’s Word), Luke 10:38-42 (Jesus visits Mary and Martha) Have you ever lived through a famine like the one described by the prophet Amos — a famine not of physical hunger or thirst but of the Word of God? Have you ever “wandered from sea to sea seeking the … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 10:25-37 (“the Good Samaritan”) Do some lives matter more than others? The premise of the Black Lives Matter movement is that Black people in North America are not valued as highly as other groups. They live with more insecurity and poverty than people of European descent; and the police and courts too often … [Read more…]