Matthew 23:1-23
“Weightier Matters”
As many of you know, Nick and I spent almost three weeks of holidays on Prince Edward Island this past summer. We had a lovely time, and I shared some of the pictures with the Lunch Bunch in September. It was a low-cost holiday too, because we had the opportunity to stay in a Presbyterian manse for free. All I had to do was a little light preaching at a couple of local churches.
That’s the way I described it – light preaching. I chose a few of Jesus’ parables from Matthew and adapted some sermons I’d preached before on uplifting, not-too-heavy topics.
In contrast, I gave the sermon for today the title of “Weightier Matters.” And indeed, this does feel like a time for weightier matters. We are marking Remembrance Day this morning, and remembering those who were killed, or injured, or traumatized in wars past and present.
And unless we have been avoiding the news completely, we are deeply aware of the wars raging in Ukraine and Russia, in Israel and Palestine, and in many other places. We may be feeling somewhat anxious about the latest waves of Covid infections, the concerning trends towards alt-right ideologies in the U.S. … Read more »