Lection: Micah 4

October 18, 2026

Micah 4:1-5

A Sermon for World Food Day and Presbyterian World Service & Development Sunday
(With significant content borrowed from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s “World Food Day Worship Guide: Setting the Table for Peace.)

I was 10 years old when Brian Stewart produced a CBC National segment on the famine that was taking place in Ethiopia, shocking Canadians and spurring our country to respond with action to feed the thousands of starving people we had seen on our televisions.

Perhaps some of you will remember seeing that news coverage about Ethiopia. Or if not (if you’re my age or older) you’ll certainly remember the charity single recorded by dozens of Canadian musicians in 1985. It included the voices of Gordon Lightfoot, Burton Cummings, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and many more.

We can bridge the distance
Only we can make the difference
Don’t you know that tears are not enough?
If we can pull together
We could change the world forever
Heaven knows that tears are not enough

I didn’t realize until I started looking up some of that history about the Ethiopian famine how formative that collective response was to my thinking about the global community, about generosity and care for people in need, and about the hope that … Read more »

March 17, 2024

Micah 4:1-4
Matthew 13:31-33
John 19:30

“What Is Finished?”

According to the Fourth Evangelist, the author of the Gospel of John, the very last thing that Jesus said before he died was a declaration: “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Most of us probably found that verse familiar, having come across it in the readings on Good Friday many times before. But I, for one, have never focused a whole Bible study or a sermon on that verse alone. But as we began to discuss it this week in our Lenten study groups, it quickly became clear that there was a lot to talk about.

After all, Jesus didn’t elaborate on that simple statement. After saying “It is finished,” he immediately dies. If his disciples were wondering what he meant, they didn’t get a chance to ask him as they had done after many other teaching moments that left them confused and wondering.

Likewise, we receive the words of Jesus in Scripture, but not a detailed explanation. But with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in the community of the Church, we are invited to hear, and question, and think, and ponder together what Jesus’ words meant for those … Read more »