Lection: Exodus 16

September 24, 2023

Exodus 16:2-15
Matthew 20:1-16

“Enough for All”

There’s a stand-up comedian that I’ve been following lately online. Ismo is a comedian from Finland, and I find him hilarious, especially when he’s talking about his Finnish experience of North American English language and idioms. There’s one video in which Ismo explains that he has a kind of a strange relationship with food. He says,

When I was a kid, my mom always said that ‘You have to eat everything from your plate. You have to eat all the food… because there is starvation in Africa.’
And then I ate… everything.
And then I grew a bit older, and I started to think, ‘How have I helped?’
‘How have I helped… the situation in… Africa?’
I’m now a little bit overweight…. I hope they are happy.
I have done my best… eating so much.
If I ever go to Africa and they look at my belly… I will say that ‘I did it for you!’

I can’t replicate Ismo’s comedic timing and manner in relating this little story about food and hunger and international relations. But I expect that many of you remember a parent saying something similar to you when you were young, or maybe you remember saying it to your kids … Read more »

September 20, 2020

Exodus 16:2-15
Matthew 20:1-16

“Our Daily Bread”

The summer that I was fifteen years old, I worked at Woolworth’s. It was my first real job, other than babysitting the neighbourhood kids, and I got paid $5.80 per hour, the minimum wage at that time. Before I started each shift, I had to go downstairs to the employee’s lounge where the time cards were kept, find my card and slide it into the time card machine which would stamp the time I started to work onto the card.

I worked hard at that job… folding clothes and towels, fixing displays, and trying my best to direct customers to the things they needed. At the end of my shift, with tired feet I would make my way back downstairs, slide my card back through the machine, and then go home, satisfied with what I had accomplished.

I remember that job at Woolworth’s as a good experience, and I think a big part of it was that I had a sense of working hard and earning my spending money. For each hour I worked, I would earn my $5.80. It wasn’t much, but I had earned it and that felt good.

I’m not sure how Jesus’ first listeners would … Read more »

September 21, 2008

Exodus 16:2-15
Philippians 1:21-30

I go back and forth in my feelings about the ministry that I am called to be involved in within the church. Some days I am hopeful and excited and optimistic. Some days I am discouraged and disillusioned. Some days I have the sense that my work is making a real difference in people’s lives. And other days I feel like the world is so lost and misguided that we don’t have a chance of making any significant difference to anyone. In fact, I would say that most of my days in ministry are filled with a mixture of hopefulness because I am engaged in meaningful and important work, and discouragement because the needs I see around me are so great and I can’t imagine being able to respond to them all.

Let me give you a few examples from my week.

On Sunday evening, I made sandwiches with the youth group for Saskatoon Native Circle Ministry. I thought it was a worthwhile way to spend part of our evening for a couple of reasons… our young people would be learning to give their time and effort for others, and people who were … Read more »