November 6, 2016- “Being the Church: Loving with Empathy and Compassion”

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

John 11:17-36

“Being the Church: Loving with Empathy and Compassion”

The sermon I am going to share with you today was written by the Rev. Emily Bisset. It is part of a series on “Being the Church,” which we have been reflecting on in worship over the last several weeks. Today’s theme is “Loving with Empathy and Compassion” – something that we are both called and equipped to do in our church communities.

In 1964, Shel Silverstein published the book, “The Giving Tree.” While it is a classic now, it caused almost immediate controversy. Just exactly what was this story about: the tree, depicted as a female, gives everything she has to the boy, who takes it all seemingly without much gratitude. The boy keeps coming back again and again, needing something different. Each time, the tree offers what she has, until there is nothing left of her but a stump.

Some rejected the book immediately, saying it represented an unhealthy, lopsided relationship. Some loved the book, saying that it beautifully depicted selfless, self-giving love. People saw in its pages the relationship of a parent and child, and others saw the relationship between God and God’s people. In … Read more »

October 30, 2016 – “Being the Church: Creating Safe Space”

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

Matthew 5:13-14, 21-22, 43-47; 7:1-5
John 14:25-27

“Being the Church: Creating Safe Space”

On Friday evening, I attended one of the Interchurch Health Ministries education sessions. That’s the program that provides training and support for parish nurses, as well as for congregation members and clergy who are working with parish nurses, like ours, Laura Van Loon.

The particular session was on the topic of family violence – helping us to identify its various forms, realize its prevalence, and become aware of how we can assist those who are victims of physical, emotional, psychological, or economic abuse perpetrated by their own family members.

As the session neared its conclusion, we were invited to consider a question: “What is the faith community’s responsibility with regard to family violence?” What is our responsibility as parish nurses, clergy, and congregations when women, children, or men are suffering violence at the hands of their own loved ones?

I immediately thought of the responsibility to report suspected abuse. There is both a moral and a legal imperative to speak up when we think that a vulnerable person like a child, youth, or elder is being abused. But then others in the class pointed out that our … Read more »

October 23, 2016 – “Being the Church: Welcoming All Ages”

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
1 Corinthians 12:12-21

This morning we continue to reflect on some of the wonderful qualities that are present in many congregations, including ours… acknowledging the gifts of “being the church” that we need to preserve so that we can continue to serve in the communities where we live. Today’s quality is “Welcoming All Ages” – a very appropriate one for this special day on which we have baptized baby Fraser, welcoming one of our youngest members to the church family, both of this congregation and of the whole church of which we are a part.

I want to acknowledge the Rev. Emily Bisset, who wrote the study guide on the theme of “Being the Church” and whose sermon on “Welcoming All Ages” I adapted for today.

Deuteronomy is a sort of guide for the Israelites as they finish their forty-year journey in the wilderness and get ready to inhabit the Promised Land. While they journeyed from slavery in Egypt to freedom, God was with them in visible and tangible ways. God provided manna to eat every morning and quails for their supper every evening. God went before the people as a pillar of cloud by day … Read more »

October 16, 2016 – “Being the Church: Singing Together”

Introduction to the Series:

In her introduction to her study resource on “Being the Church,” the Rev. Emily Bisset begins with this reflection:

“Sometimes we, as the church, wonder what we can offer to our wider community – a community that is increasingly functioning without the church as a significant influence. As a denomination, The Presbyterian Church in Canada has been reformulating a common mission and vision statement with a strategic plan to move our congregations and ministries into the future. We have been asking questions: What is the church called to do? What is the church called to be? What will this look like in the communities where we live?”

But reflection led Emily to a different line of questioning: “What does the church offer – what can it offer – that is not available in our communities? What essential teachings of the gospel are at work in congregational life that are not present in our communities because the teachings have been lost or contradicted?

“Questions such as [these] place the emphasis on a ‘present tense’ exploration that highlights components or qualities already existing in many congregations. As a result, good news stories emerge. The church already values and tries to offer particular … Read more »

September 11, 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14:1-7
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

“Where do you place yourself in the story”

Where do you place yourself in the story? Which character can you relate to today?

Perhaps you can relate to the lost sheep… wandering alone and scared?… hoping for some help, some hope, for a strong and faithful shepherd to find you and carry you home to safety?

Do you feel like the lost coin?… obviously useful and valuable, but forgotten, hidden, over-looked, being passed by over and over?

Or do you relate most easily to the tax collectors and sinners who were coming near to listen to Jesus? You know that you’ve made some mistakes in your life. You’ve been far from perfect, and those close to you know it too… but you’ve been invited to listen to Jesus, to eat with him, and to learn from him.

You feel accepted in his presence, and your history disappears into the background. You have discovered that to Jesus your life is as precious as a lost sheep to a shepherd or a lost silver coin to a woman who needs it.

If you can place yourself in the role of the lost sheep, or the lost … Read more »

September 4, 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

The worship service on Sunday, September 4, 2016 was a family service. Rather than the usual short children’s message followed by a longer sermon, we had a three-part message with the first two sections aimed primarily at the children, and the third one aimed at the adults. The audio file of these three messages has been edited so that they flow from one to the next. During the actual service, there were hymns, reflection times, and prayers between the sections you will hear on the recording.

Part 1: “Created by God: We are God’s special children” (Psalm 139)

Part 2: “Shaped by God: We grow into the people God wants us to be” (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

Part 3: “Warned by God: We must change our ways to God’s ways” (Jeremiah 18:1-11)

… Read more »

August 28, 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
2 Peter 1:1-15
Luke 4:1-13

“The Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control”

If there is one model of self-control for us to look to for inspiration, it has to be Jesus. After all, he is the one that the Apostle Paul described as being “tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Right from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Luke’s Gospel tells us that he experienced temptation. He had just finished being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit led him in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil.

Now, another version of the story, in the Gospel according to Mark, says that the Spirit DROVE Jesus out into the wilderness, but in Luke’s Gospel the Spirit seems to play more of a supporting role, rather than being the force responsible for him being out there. Luke writes that the Spirit “led [Jesus] in the wilderness,” seemingly guiding him through the challenges and temptations that would come his way, and helping him to get through them.

Indeed, when Jesus returns from the Jordan after his baptism, Luke tells us that he was “FULL of the Holy Spirit,” and I cannot help … Read more »

August 21, 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

Luke 9:46-56
Acts 17:16-34
John 8:2-11

“The Fruit of the Spirit is GENTLENESS”

Parents and teachers well know the challenge of trying to guide children towards right behaviour, discipline, respect, and good relations with their neighbours. It has been a challenge in every generation to teach our children how to live well, instilling in them good values and self-discipline to help them through life.

As I talked about with the children this morning, our methods of discipline in school have changed over time, probably for the better, as we’ve moved away from corporal punishment towards more gentle methods. But as many of us have experienced, if we don’t use any form of discipline consistently, it usually leads to chaotic classrooms and children with very short attention spans and even less regard for others.

I’m no expert on discipline, and I would defer to some of the teachers in our congregation as to what works best today for children of various ages. But as a minister, I would like to suggest this morning that God – as our loving Parent, our heavenly Father, our nurturing Mother, our divine Teacher – God wants to teach us God’s own loving ways, and perhaps … Read more »

July 24, 2016

Ephesians 4:26-32
Luke 6:27-38
Philippians 2:1-11

“The Fruit of the Spirit is KINDNESS”

When you think of kindness, what comes to mind? An encouraging note sent by a friend? A caring shoulder to cry on? Someone assisting you with a difficult task, or allowing you to have a break from your work when you are tired? Whatever you think about, it most likely includes a warm fuzzy feeling. Kindness just does that. No wonder it’s a fruit of the Spirit. When we’re kind, others get to experience that warmth, and whether they realize it or not they’re experiencing some of God’s character.

Over the years here at St. Andrew’s, I have come to know many of you as people who demonstrate kindness on a regular basis. Of course, there are ways in which the church programs encourage us all to grow in kindness. During one of the arts and crafts sessions at Vacation Bible School last week, our children made cards to distribute to elderly homebound people in the congregation.

Our refugee sponsorship program has encouraged many of us to give extra offerings and household items to make one family’s settlement in Canada possible. And all summer you’ve been bringing in fruit offerings every Sunday … Read more »

July 17, 2016

Colossians 3:12-17
Psalm 103:1-14
Matthew 18:21-35

“The Fruit of the Spirit is PATIENCE”

Preaching on the Fruit of the Spirit this summer is turning out to be an interesting adventure. Instead of being tied to the lectionary readings, I have been set free to explore a different theme each Sunday… always beginning with some pondering about which Scripture passages to select that will speak to that theme most appropriately.

On the subject of PATIENCE, the fourth fruit of the Spirit, I began by just exploring the definitions. I found that phrase that I shared with the children this morning – “waiting without complaining,” and I found much more.

The Greek word used in Galatians 5:22 about the Fruit of the Spirit is μακροθυμία (macrothumia) which can be translated either as “patience” or “long-suffering.” Just that alternate translation highlights something about what patience is all about, doesn’t it? Long-suffering.

How about this definition? “The quality of being willing to bear adversities, calm endurance of misfortune.”

Or how about this one? “Patience requires endurance, constancy, steadfastness, and perseverance; especially as shown in bearing troubles.”

As I read more, I found that many commentators wanted to separate out different kinds of patience – patience with the circumstances of life (like the … Read more »

July 10, 2016

Genesis 13:1-12
Romans 12:9-21
Philippians 4:4-9

“The Fruit of the Spirit is PEACE”

This week in St. Catharines Ontario, over 400 young Presbyterians gathered to learn, play, and worship together at the Canada Youth 2016 conference.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, about 300 people were killed when a large car bomb exploded in a busy market. In the U.S., two black men were shot and killed by police for no good reason, and five police officers were killed and others injured by snipers in retaliation. In Bangladesh there was yet another terrorist attack, with people throwing homemade bombs at police who were standing guard outside a prayer service marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. And when I looked online at a listing of violent incidents and attacks this month alone, it went on and on and on.

You might assume that the Presbyterian youth would go on with their program, likely unaware or at least unaffected by such terrible incidents so far away. But in fact, part of the CY program included learning about and responding to the world refugee crisis – the crisis caused by unrelenting violence against civilian communities and families.

And when they gathered for worship, they prayed sincerely and intensely … Read more »

July 3, 2016

Luke 10:1-6, 16-20
Psalm 78:1-8
Ephesians 3:8-10, 16-21

“The Next Generations”

This week it really started to feel like summer had arrived. The number of meetings in my schedule dropped drastically, and I easily found time to do a little more visiting during the week. I enjoyed several free evenings, fewer emails, and things were pretty quiet in the church office.

But despite the seeming slow-down for summer, ministry and mission actually continued at an alarming pace. St. Andrew’s visitors were out in full force this week – visiting in all three hospitals and in homes and care homes too. Three prayer shawls will be gifted this week, along with prayers for healing and wholeness to people within and beyond our congregation.

On Friday, a bunch of us went up to Camp Christopher. It was mostly Camp Committee members who joined the staff team up at camp for a BBQ lunch and a beautiful afternoon, culminating in the commissioning service. The new mattresses, for which our church raised the money, will arrive soon, and over the course of the summer the staff will welcome around 250 children and youth to participate in the Christian Camping program.

My Facebook news feed was overflowing the last few days … Read more »

June 26, 2016

Isaiah 9:1-7
Galatians 5:16-25
1 Peter 1:3-9
Luke 15:1-10

“The Fruit of the Spirit is JOY”

In Paul’s letter to the Galatian Church, he tells one of the first communities of Christians not to gratify the desires of the flesh, but to “live by the Spirit” and “be guided by the Spirit.”

I think what he’s talking about is how we make decisions. I think he’s talking about little decisions and big decisions… decisions about what to do on a particular day, and decisions about what to do with our wholes lives… decisions about relationships and decisions about behaviours.

Paul explains that we can either let our flesh guide our decisions, or we can let the Spirit guide our decisions. We can go for whatever will produce immediate pleasure, or we can let God guide us to what is right and good.

Paul says that “the works of the flesh are obvious.” These are the negative things that will show up in our lives if our decisions are directed by our flesh: “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” And he warns them, as he has done before, that “those who do such things will … Read more »

June 19, 2016

1 Corinthians 13
1 John 4:7-12

“The Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE”LeapIntoLake

The photograph on the front of this morning’s bulletin shows a boy named Jake, in the midst of a great leap off the dock into Lac Castor – Beaver Lake. I know that lake well, as it’s the lake at Gracefield Camp – the Presbyterian camp that I attended as a child and worked at for many years as a young adult.

The picture was chosen to mark the beginning of the Christian camping season and the goodness of God’s creation coming alive at this time of year, but what I noticed about it was the boy’s leap! He looks so confident and free… trusting that the water won’t be too shallow for such a leap, or too cold for a little boy, or too full of strange creatures like fish, or turtles, or leaches, or lake sharks!

The boy’s confident leap makes me think about the leaps that we adults are invited to make, and about which we often show a great deal more hesitation… things like buying a first home, starting up a business, deciding to change careers, embarking on a … Read more »

June 12, 2016

Luke 7:36-50

“God is Merciful”

A woman like the one in today’s Gospel story invites us to use our imaginations. We might imagine what she has done to earn such a bad reputation. Maybe she is a prostitute. Maybe she is a thief. Maybe she is considered to be a traitor to her Jewish neighbours, cooperating with the Roman occupiers. Maybe she is the daughter or wife of a tax collector.

We might also imagine the woman’s name. Perhaps Jezebel – a Hebrew name meaning “one who is not noble.” Or maybe her name is Lilith, meaning “woman of the night.” Or it could be Mariana – “rebellious woman.”

But what if, instead of imagining the woman’s many sins, we imagined the moment when she was forgiven. I am remembering another story in which an unnamed woman is about to be stoned for adultery. Jesus tells her accusers to go ahead – “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” I wonder… was this that same woman, forgiven and set free to go and sin no more?

Or maybe she was just one of the prostitutes with whom Jesus shared a meal when he was … Read more »

May 29, 2016 – Program Presentation

This year the Session decided to include the Annual Program Meeting in Sunday worship. The convenors of the Program Committees (Christian Education, Outreach, Pastoral Care, Stewardship, and Worship) presented a skit to share about their activities over the past year and to present their program goals for 2016-2017.

The skit was inspired by 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, in which Paul encourages the Corinthian Christians not to argue over who has the best spiritual gifts, but to value all the variety of members and their spiritual gifts that make up the Body of Christ. … Read more »

May 22, 2016

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

“Joy of heaven to earth come down”

Welcome to Trinity Sunday – the first Sunday after Pentecost each year. Trinity Sunday is unusual. Most of the special Sundays in the church year are about an event in time – Jesus being born (Christmas), the arrival of the wise men from the East (Epiphany), Jesus being baptized (Baptism of the Lord Sunday), Jesus being raised from the dead (Easter), the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church (Pentecost).

But this special Sunday is not about celebrating a particular event or moment in salvation history. Instead, it’s about a doctrine. It’s about one of the foundational beliefs of the Christian Church. It’s about Trinity – the teaching that God is three, traditionally expressed as Father, Son, and Spirit, but that God is still just one God.

Now apart from the fact that it’s very difficult to work out the math, it’s a difficult topic to preach about because the contours of the argument are extremely subtle. The greatest intellects in the world have had trouble with this one, so there’s not much chance of me explaining it this morning.

I am thinking about the many conversations I’ve had over … Read more »

May 15, 2016

Acts 2:1-21
John  14:8-17, 25-27

“The Gift of Remembering”

How are you at remembering? Are you good at remembering faces and names? Do you retain the details of what you read in the newspaper or hear on the news? Can you remember what’s in your schedule for later today or next week on a specific day? Do you usually remember things like birthdays and anniversaries, or do you need someone to remind you?

More and more, these days… (Perhaps it’s something that goes along with aging or hanging around with older people…) I hear people complaining that they can’t remember the things they want to remember. The names of friends or relations just won’t come to mind. Someone’s in the middle of a story, goes off on a tangent, and can’t remember what the point of the narrative was supposed to be. And one of the most annoying things for busy people… you get up from what you’re doing, rush to another room in your house or workplace, and stop in your tracks. You can’t remember what you were going to do.

It seems to me that when we have trouble remembering, there are a few possible reactions. We can beat ourselves up about … Read more »

May 8, 2016

Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
John 17:20-26

“God’s Fire”

When I read this morning’s Psalm earlier this week, I kind of shuddered. It was the imagery of fire, and lightning, and mountains melting like wax that caused that reaction. As I thought about the terrible fire burning in Fort McMurray, the power of the flames struck me as immense. I heard a fire chief on CBC radio describing the fires that continued to rage in Fort Mac. He explained that there were some sections and neighbourhoods of the city that were untouched by the fires, but that might not last. The fire is powerful and determined, and it will find those areas, he explained. It wants to find those areas.

I don’t know what experience the psalmist had with fire, whether he had seen a blaze grow out of control, or lost his home to a terrible fire, but I think he understood the power, determination, and danger of a fire. But instead of describing tyrants or evil powers as being like fires that seek to destroy our lives and livelihoods, the psalmist instead describes the Lord our God as being like fire.

He writes: “Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. … Read more »

May 1, 2016

Acts 16:9-15
Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5

“Making Plans”

This is the time of year at St. Andrew’s when we are busy making plans. It may not seem that obvious just from attending worship here on Sundays, but behind the scenes, in the committees and groups, and among the staff of the church, plans are being hatched.

As many of you likely know, our congregation makes plans on a yearly basis. The committees of Session (like Worship, Christian Education, and Outreach), set goals in the Spring, and bring them to Session for approval at the beginning of May. They write up reports of their activities over the past year for the Program Report, and highlight their new plans in the form of goals that are presented at the Annual Program Meeting at the end of May. Things usually get a little quieter over the summer, and then we all get to work again in September to put our plans into action throughout the year.

Once in a while, we also get the congregation together to do some deeper reflection and longer-term planning for our mission and ministry. At one such gathering quite a few years ago, St. Andrew’s wrote and embraced a mission statement: “St. … Read more »