January 26, 2025 – Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The following sermon was preached at an ecumenical service at Christ the King Roman Catholic Parish in Regina on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 2:30 pm.

Thank you for the invitation to preach this afternoon at this special service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As was mentioned, I’m the minister at First Presbyterian Church here in Regina, and I’m currently also serving as the President of the Canadian Council of Churches.

I’ve been a Presbyterian representative on the CCC for almost 10 years. But long before I was connected with our national ecumenical body, I was involved in the work of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon. And the WPCU, celebrated in January every year, has always been on my agenda. It is a special time for Churches and Christians to come together in prayer and worship, to strengthen our relationships across denominations, and to encourage us towards greater unity, cooperation, and shared witness and mission throughout the year.

This year’s theme is quite unique. As always, we have a theme text and a title: “Do you believe this?” based on Jesus’ conversation with Martha of Bethany in the Gospel of John. But we also have a theme “Creed”, … Read more »

December 24, 2024

Luke 2:1-20
Luke 4:14-22

“Fulfilled in Your Hearing”

If you’ve been with us for worship over the last month as we’ve been making our way through the Season of Advent, you know that we’ve been talking and singing a lot about the manger – the feed trough into which Jesus was placed by his mother after he was born. More than just being the only safe and warm spot that Mary could lay down her infant to sleep, we have considered the symbolic relevance of Jesus – “The Bread of Life” starting his life in a bread box in the little town of Bethlehem, which literally means “House of Bread.”

Over the past four Sundays, we have proclaimed the message in word and song that “From the manger… hope, peace, joy, and love are born in the Child Jesus.” Then they grow in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and finally they are multiplied again and again whenever Jesus’ followers throughout time and space follow his teachings and embody his love.

The reality is that we live in a world that is hungry. There are people in our community and around the world that are hungry for food, shelter, safety, … Read more »

December 22, 2024

Luke 2:21-35
Matthew 9:35-37

“Love Grows”

After I was born, my parents brought me to church for a special ceremony of infant dedication. Our family attended a Baptist Church at that time, so I wasn’t baptized until I was old enough to decide for myself, but I expect that my dedication felt quite similar for my parents who brought me there to be blessed and prayed for, and for the congregation as they welcomed the newest member of their community with joy and love.

I don’t know the date when that happened (likely some time in the Fall of 1974) and I don’t remember what it felt like either. I suppose that’s similar to Jesus’ experience of going up to the Temple when he was only eight days old. There’s a blessing in that, because Jesus was also circumcised on that day, which is probably not something you want to remember! But neither would he remember what it felt like when his parents put him into Simeon’s arms or the look of joy and love that spread across the old man’s face when he looked at the child.

But even if most people cannot recall specific memories from earlier than age 3 or 4, research … Read more »

December 15, 2024

Luke 2:8-20
Luke 19:1-10

“Joy Grows”

As I begin my sermon this morning, I want to give a shout-out to Stephen’s father in India. I don’t know what time it is where you live, or whether you are worshipping with us live or a little later on. But I know that you are enjoying the “From the Manger” theme that we are exploring during this Advent season, and I am too.

Thanks are due to “Illustrated Ministry” for the theme material that we are using this year, drawing our attention to the manger where the baby Jesus was laid. It’s meaningful and hopeful to think about the significance of the manger. It wasn’t just a young mother’s strategy for a safe and warm place to put her sleeping baby.

More than that, the manger is a powerful metaphor reminding us that Jesus came to be the Bread of Life for the world. Lying in a manger, a feeding trough, in the little town of Bethlehem, literally the “House of Bread,” Jesus came to feed our spiritual hunger, to fill us with hope, peace, joy, and love, and to transform the world into the kind of place where all people are fed – physically, emotionally, and … Read more »

December 8, 2024

Luke 2:8-16
Luke 10:1-6

“Peace Grows”

Many of you know that I spent a couple of days in Toronto this week. I was there in my role with the Canadian Council of Churches as we celebrated the CCC’s 80th Anniversary, and as we hosted a visit from the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches to Canada.

The itinerary on Thursday and Friday was packed full of special events, visits with particular denominational groups and ecumenical organizations. The topics of conversation were diverse, including ecumenical dialogue on faith and theology, as well as common concern and work for justice, reconciliation, and peace in the world.

But one topic that stood out, and to which we returned again and again was the war in Israel and Gaza. We met with representatives from a group called “Kairos Palestine” who told us about the suffering and struggle of Christians and others in Palestine, and how they felt abandoned by the world, and particularly by the churches worldwide. They called upon the churches to speak and act more clearly and strongly for peace.

Later we met with staff from Project Ploughshares, the peace and justice arm of The Canadian Council of Churches. They were very clear that the churches … Read more »

December 1, 2024

Luke 2:1-7
Matthew 14:13-21

“Hope Grows”

We are doing something a bit unusual on this First Sunday of Advent. Instead of starting the season of waiting and anticipating the birth of Jesus with prophetic texts of longing and promise, we are starting with the birth narrative. We often don’t read those lovely words from Luke’s Gospel until Christmas Eve: “While they were there (in Bethlehem), the time came for Mary to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guestroom.”

We’re used to hearing about there being no place “in the inn” – imagining the couple desperately going from one hotel to the next, looking for a room to rent. In Christmas pageants, we often add the possibility that one innkeeper is kind-hearted and finds a warm place for the young couple to stay in his stable with the animals.

More likely, Joseph and Mary went to stay with relatives in his hometown, but it was a full house. There was no room in the kataluma – that’s the Greek word best translated as “guest room.” It reminds me of visiting my … Read more »

November 24, 2024

2 Samuel 23:1-7
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37

“Hope for the Reign of God”

Today is the last day of the year – not in the Gregorian calendar that we follow along with the most of the world, running from January 1st through to December 31st. But today is the last day in the Church Year – the special calendar that many Christian Churches began to follow as part of the liturgical reform of the last 30-40 years.

The Church Year begins with Advent, four Sundays leading up to our celebration of the Birth of Jesus at Christmas. Then there is a short Christmas season, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and ordinary time which comes in between.

The Church Year is the reason that we mark different Sundays and seasons with symbolic colours like purple for Lent, red for Pentecost, and white for Easter and Christmas. And the Church Year provides the framework for the lectionary cycle of Scripture readings that we read and reflect on Sunday-by-Sunday.

The special Sunday that we mark today is called “Reign of Christ” or “Christ the King” Sunday, and it is the culmination of the Church Year before we begin a New Year with the Season of Advent next week.

It was Pope Pius … Read more »

November 17, 2024

Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-8

“The Beginning of the Birth Pangs”

This week I read through a collection of devotionals on racism. It was an ecumenical resource being put together by the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Canadian Council of Churches, and it’s currently in the final stages of editing and lay-out. The reason I got to read it early is because the folks putting it together asked me to write a foreword for it.

The authors are an amazingly diverse collection of church folk, with the vast majority being Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour from various denominations of the Christian Church in Canada, including two Presbyterian ministers.

Their reflections are personal, pointed, and deeply theological. They sometimes gently, but persistently, and often eloquently challenge the church and society to recognize, acknowledge, and seek to abolish the racism that continues to exist in our faith communities in spite of our strong desires to believe that such dynamics are things of the past.

I was aware, as I was reading through quickly, that I will need to read them again – one at a time, with time to reflect, consider, and ponder my own participation in the cultures, patterns, structures, and systems that perpetuate discrimination. … Read more »

November 10, 2024

Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Mark 12:38-44

“Two Small Coins”

When I shared with the children this morning about how I used to bring a quarter to church on Sundays for my offering, and I held that 25 cents in the palm of my hand, it felt so small. I rarely use change anymore – partly because I more often use a debit or credit card than cash, and partly because coins are worth so little. They seem almost useless.

You can’t use a quarter to make a phone call anymore, and even a grocery cart at the store requires a loonie these days. Perhaps in some places, quarters are still helpful if you need to go to a laundromat. But even there, you’d need an awful lot of quarters to get the job done.

But when Jesus was sitting across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed the people giving their money, he pointed out that the poor widow who put in two small copper coins had given a lot. She’d given more than all the rich people with their large gifts.

In practical terms for the temple budget, Jesus’ statement simply isn’t true. The widow’s two coins wouldn’t have made much difference at … Read more »

November 3, 2024

Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

“Life and Death”

We cancelled the church choir practice this week because it fell on Halloween night, and a number of singers wanted to be home to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Once again this year, there weren’t a lot of kids out on my block, but I did hand out some candy and see some interesting costumes, and now I’ve got leftovers that you can share if you come down to the gym for lunch and the mission exercise we are going to do today.

It’s interesting to think about our society’s general celebration of Halloween in our time, and the ways that it has changed and been adapted over the centuries. There’s still a connection with ghosts and ghouls and scary things, but it’s mostly about kids (and sometimes adults too) dressing up as something else. You don’t have to put a sheet over your head and become a ghost, but you can dress up as Elsa from “Frozen”, as Ironman or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, as a cute little black cat, or a big orange pumpkin.

It’s difficult to sort out the long history of Halloween customs in various countries, understanding its original connection … Read more »

October 27, 2024

Matthew 5:1-12

“Take the Blessing and Put it in Your Heart”

Over the last few months, I’ve participated in three “Preaching Refresher” sessions with the Rev. Dr. Sarah Travis from Knox College. Each one was an interesting and lively conversation about homiletics (the art of preaching) with a group of Presbyterian preachers from across the country.

The session this week focused on thinking ahead to the Season of Advent, and Sarah invited us to consider what is the one message of good news that our congregations most need to hear right now. In the context of all the conflict, division, hatred, and violence of our world; and in the context of the daily struggles and difficulties of our particular lives, what good news from God in Jesus Christ is needed?

And with that question in mind, I began to consider the Gospel text for today from Matthew 5 – which was not a text set by the lectionary for this date, but the focus text of the Saskatchewan Presbyterian Youth program this weekend.

The Preaching Refresher pointed out that it is common for preachers to default to looking in the Bible just for what God wants us to do or how Jesus teaches us to … Read more »

October 20, 2024

Mark 10:35-45

“The Privilege of Service”

In this Season after Pentecost in the Church Year, the Gospel readings on Sundays follow through the Gospel of Mark – a series of scripture texts about what it means to be a disciple or a follower of Jesus. Each text has a unique theme or focus, but the common message proclaimed over and over by the author of the Gospel is that being a disciple is challenging.

There are forms of spirituality and perhaps even some religions that promise only peace and fulfilment, success and happiness, but Christianity is not one of them. And in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus does not sugar-coat the commitment and sacrifice required of those who would follow him and his way with their lives.

My guess is that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were a couple of pretty great disciples. They were among the very first ones that Jesus called, just after Simon Peter and Andrew. James and John were fishermen too, and Jesus found them in their boat mending the nets: “Immediately he called them;” the Gospel tells us, “and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”

The brothers travelled with … Read more »

September 22, 2024

James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a;
Psalm 1
Mark 9:30-37

“Are You Drinking Enough Living Water?”

I probably don’t drink enough water every day. Different sources suggest that people should drink between 2 to 4 litres of water every day, and I rarely manage to do that. Actually, I rarely even try to reach a goal for water consumption. Instead, I usually drink when I feel thirsty or my mouth feels dry. And I’m just as likely to reach for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, rather than choosing the healthier option of water.

As a result of not drinking enough water, I probably get more headaches, have drier skin, get more tired, and possibly more irritable as well. And over a longer period of time, not drinking enough water could have other health impacts that I don’t even want to think about.

And yet, at this point, I still haven’t decided to commit to drinking more water. The health app on my phone even has a function to track how much water you drink, but I haven’t turned it on.

I wonder if there are positive things in your life that you haven’t made a decision to do either. You know you should exercise … Read more »

September 15, 2024

James 3:1-12
Psalm 19
Mark 8:27-38

“The Power of Words”

Let us pray.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Preachers and teachers need prayers like that one, taken from the final verse of Psalm 19. I remember my preaching professor in seminary telling us that the high pulpits in many churches should serve as a reminder to preachers of the magnitude of the task that we are called to. When we approach one of those pulpits, and make our way up the steps, we should do so in fear and trembling, he said, praying that God will give us the words to speak.

Our pulpit here is not so high, not like the one I saw years ago in St. Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva where John Calvin once preached. It has a full spiral staircase with about ten steps to climb… plenty of time to think about what the preacher is about to do… plenty of time to ask for God’s help. But even as I step up into this pulpit on Sunday mornings, I’m praying something similar because I know that words matter, and I know that … Read more »

September 8, 2024

James 2:1-9; 14-17
Mark 7:24-37

Children’s Message

Last Sunday, some of you will remember that we were talking about the wonderful Creation that God made. And I asked you what was your favourite animal, or plant, or place in the Creation.

This morning I want to find out what other favourite things you have:

What’s your favourite colour?
What’s your favourite food?
What’s your favourite activity?
What’s your favourite subject in school?
Do you have a favourite person? Maybe a best friend?

I wonder… Do you think that Jesus had favourite things too?
Do you think Jesus had a favourite person?
Do you think Jesus had a best friend? (Maybe Peter?)

There were people that Jesus spent more time with, for sure. His disciples who decided to leave their homes and go out on the road with Jesus spent lots of time with him, listening to his teaching and learning his ways. And I expect that Jesus loved them a whole lot!

There were other people Jesus met who maybe caused him more trouble – the Pharisees who challenged what Jesus taught, and other leaders who didn’t like how so many people were following Jesus.

And Jesus met people who were very different from him. He met people who lived in different towns, who had … Read more »

September 1, 2024

James 1:17-27
Psalm 42
Romans 8:19-25

“To Hope and Act with Creation”

The theme for the 2024 Season of Creation is “To Hope and Act with Creation” based on the passage Marianne just read from Romans 8:19-25. This biblical image pictures the Earth as a mother, groaning as in childbirth.

Thousands of years after this passage was written in a letter from the Apostle Paul to the Church at Rome, its imagery takes on new meaning for Christians grappling with the climate crisis and looking for hope for the future of our planet.

Along with our Sister, Mother Earth, creatures of all kinds today, including humans, are crying out because of the consequences of our destructive actions causing climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, and human suffering as well as Creation’s suffering.

Our national and international news is filled with stories of climate-change induced disasters affecting human communities. Out-of-control forest fires have become such a common occurrence in Canada that we probably all know at least one person or family who has been evacuated or even lost their home in the last ten years.

Other communities have been devastated by destructive floods, typhoons, and other weather events that people used to refer to as “acts of God” as if … Read more »

August 25, 2024

1 King 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
Ephesians 6:10-20

“O Lord, Hear Our Prayer”

Throughout history, human beings from every corner of the world have set apart places of prayer and developed rituals and routines for reaching out to the Creator of all things, and talking to God.

We bow our heads, we clasp our hands, we kneel, or lie prostrate, or stand with our arms raised up towards heaven. We light candles, burn incense, or make offerings. We use memorized prayers, or speak from our hearts, or simply sit in silence before the One who made us, and who we hope is still watching over us and caring for our lives.

From the time of Abram and Sarai, the Hebrew Scriptures tell us about people who set up places of prayer. Not yet temples or synagogues or churches, but wherever they travelled in their nomadic lives, they set up stone altars – places to honour God and express their prayers.

In the time of Moses, God’s presence became associated with the Ark of the Covenant – the beautiful carved box containing the stone tablets with the ten commandments – and God went along with the people as they continued their journey to find the … Read more »

August 18, 2024

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20

“What do you want from God?

What do you want from God? If you were asked that question, as King Solomon was, what would be your answer?

It reminds me a little of those stories of genies popping out of old lamps and offering three wishes to the person who rubbed the lamp and released them. In gratitude for being freed from the tiny prison of living inside an old-fashioned lamp, the genie exclaims, “Your wish is my command!” and promptly offers to fulfill three wishes for you.

What would you wish for? Better health? Longer life? A happy family? A more fulfilling job? A new car?

Most of the genies, including the one in the famous Alladin story, have a few rules around the wishes. Things like, you can’t wish for someone to come back to life or for someone to die either. You can’t wish to become immortal or change the fundamental nature of reality. And you can’t wish for unlimited wishes.

But that still leaves quite a lot of scope for wishes to be used for good or evil, to make things better in the world or to fulfill our most selfish desires.

What would you wish for … Read more »

August 4, 2024

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a
Psalm 51:1-12
Ephesians 4:1-16

“In a Good Way”

Our Scripture readings began this morning with a text from the 2nd Book of Samuel, continuing where we left off last Sunday in the story of King David. Just in case you missed last Sunday’s sermon, you should know that David used his position and power to satisfy his own cravings at the expense of others. He slept with another man’s wife, got her pregnant, tried to cover it up, and eventually resorted to having the husband killed in battle so that David could take her as his own wife, as we read this morning.

As is very often the case, a powerful man has gotten away with rape and murder. He’s used his privilege to get rid of the people who might complain, and he’s ready to go on with his life with a new wife and child as if that was normal. That is, until we get to the latter part of verse 11 where we read: “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”

There’s no mention of Uriah’s family complaining about what King David did. And Bathsheba, who was the most deeply impacted, just mourned her husband … Read more »

July 28, 2024

2 Samuel 11:1-15
Psalm 14
John 6:1-15

“There is One”

Back in early June, during an intergenerational service, I was talking about the various kings of Israel and Judah – the human leaders of God’s people. And I remember saying that King David was generally a good king, but he also made some bad choices at times.

This morning’s passage from 2nd Samuel tells the story of one of those times. And reading it today makes me think of some of the corrupt and self-serving leaders and politicians in our world at this time as well. In case you didn’t catch what King David did in this passage, let me summarize.

The story begins with David sending his armies out into battle, but he doesn’t go with them. He stays in Jerusalem instead. While his soldiers are fighting for his kingdom, David is lazing about on his couch and walking around on his rooftop. From there, he spies on a woman who is bathing, thinks she is beautiful, and sends servants to get her so he can sleep with her. Essentially, he rapes her, as I expect she wasn’t a willing partner in the affair.

When the woman (Bathsheba) gets pregnant, David schemes to make her husband … Read more »