Text: “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver * context: a sermon given at the 40th anniversary service of Mill Woods United Do you remember what you were doing on the evening of November 14, 1976? Everyone under the age of 45 is excused from answering, of course. Then there are the 13 of us here … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 20:27-40 (resurrection and marriage) I have been thinking a lot about marriage lately; and for good reason! Kim and I will be married on Saturday evening at Southminster-Steinhauer United Church. And we are happy that so many of you can come to the wedding ceremony. Given my preoccupation with the wedding, I am … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 6:17-31 (blessings and woes) On Halloween, many of us wear scary costumes. We dress up as one of the dead — a ghost or vampire — or as a witch, goblin or another monster. These costumes confront our fears of death and so prepare us for the difficult but gracious task of remembering … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 18:9-14 (a parable about prayer) Anne Lamott in her 1999 bestselling book “Travelling Mercies” wrote the following about prayer: “the two best prayers I know are ‘Help me, help me, help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’” In the parable from today’s Gospel reading, Jesus refers to both: a prayer of … [Read more…]
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 (Jehovah 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 … [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…]