Category: Sermons

March 8, 2015

Exodus 20:1-17

“Commandments”

Cast your mind back, if you will, to your school days. And see if you can remember the strictest teacher you had. Remember a teacher who ruled his/her classroom with an iron fist, where the students behaved and got their work done because they knew that if they didn’t, there would be consequences. I can’t help but think of Madame Méchin, my grade eight French teacher. We called her Madame Méchant when she wasn’t around – the French word for “mean, nasty, or miserable.”

I remember her with her hair pulled very tightly back in a bun, and I don’t remember her smiling. Like the other students, I was pretty scared of Madame Méchin, though I’m not sure what I thought she would to us. But I worked really hard to make sure that my homework was done, and that I was ready to answer her questions (though I hoped she wouldn’t call on me). And I definitely wasn’t going to get caught speaking English in her class.

I certainly had other teachers over the years who chose different methods and styles of teaching (some of whom I liked very much), but Madame Méchin’s strict method definitely worked. And even though … Read more »

March 1, 2015

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Mark 8:31-38

“Covenant”

Every morning during this season of Lent, I am receiving an email from the United Methodist Church in the U.S. The email reminds me of the word of the day, inviting me to reflect on a word and take a photograph some time before day’s end. The email also includes a short reflection on the word, usually some scripture, and sometimes a picture as well. It’s not a very onerous Lenten discipline, but it is reminding me every day that this is not ordinary time.

On Monday the word of the day was “covenant” – perfect timing for preachers like me who were beginning to reflect on the readings for today’s worship in which “covenant” is the major theme. I spent part of Monday in the library, studying journal articles from the 1970s and 1980s on interchurch marriage – what happens when Protestants and Catholics who are both actively engaged in their faith and their churches marry one another and have to work out what that will look like.

Although there are some differences in Catholic and Protestant emphases in the theology of marriage, one of the understandings that is definitely shared is the idea of marriage as a … Read more »

February 22, 2015

Mark 1:9-15

“Alone”

I really don’t like being alone. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a family of six – There were always other people around! When I was little, I shared a room with my older sister, and then I shared a room with my little brother, and then I shared a room with my little sister.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t love having to share a room. At one point, I remember that my little sister and I rearranged the furniture in our shared bedroom so that there was a barrier of dressers and desks down the middle to separate my space from hers. And it was probably my complaining about having to share that led my parents to eventually convert the den downstairs that we used to use as a family TV room into a bedroom for me when I started high school.

But I never did get used to being alone. When I went away to school and lived in a residence, I was quite happy to have a room mate again. And when I did have a room to myself, I tended to leave the door wide open when I was studying. Then I could … Read more »

February 8, 2015

Isaiah 40:21-31
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

“Balancing our Discipleship”

I spent most of the last week in Baltimore, Maryland, at the annual conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (also known as APCE). The Presbytery of Northern Saskatchewan was able to fund the trip so that a team from Saskatoon and Prince Albert was able to attend the conference – learning and gathering resources and ideas for ministry with children and youth for our congregations.

Martha Fergusson, Logan de Bruijn, Ted Hicks, and I came home last night with pretty tired bodies from a busy week, but with our minds rushing with ideas and our hearts full of hopeful possibilities for the future of our ministries and congregations.

The conference wasn’t a holiday, and it wasn’t even a retreat (an event designed specifically for rest, renewal, and prayer). It was a busy conference packed full of key note speakers, workshops, discussion forums, and networking opportunities. There were books to consider buying, and resources to gather for current or future possibilities for our ministries.

But there was also lots of worship at APCE… gathering songs, early morning communion services, and several wonderful worships with inspiring preachers, creative liturgy, and opportunities for prayer and reflection. The hotel … Read more »

February 1, 2015

Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
Mark 1:21-28

“Power to Cast Out Demons”

Last week there was a gathering in Saskatoon of the National dialogue between the United and Anglican Churches of Canada. Although as a Presbyterian, I wasn’t involved in the meeting, Nick and I did know a few of the people involved and so we were invited to a social gathering on Wednesday evening.

Sitting around in a living room, drinking wine and sharing food with a group of mostly clergy and theologians, somehow how the topic of conversation turned towards exorcisms. I don’t remember how it happened, but suddenly we found ourselves swapping stories about times when we have been called upon to pray away evil spirits, rid homes of resident ghosts, and other unusual requests.

As a group of modern, mainline, fairly progressive Christians, there was a general discomfort with being asked to serve as exorcists. There was the worry that agreeing to such requests might legitimate the concern that evil spirits are all around us and need binding. And if there are ghosts to be busted, most of us weren’t too enthusiastic about claiming to have the power to do that sort of thing.

In contrast to our modern-day reticence to pray away the … Read more »

January 18, 2015

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Psalm 139:1-18
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51

“Vocation”

The most recent issue of the WMS magazine, “Glad Tidings” is focussed on the theme of vocation. When I asked one group earlier this week what “vocation” means, someone said, “It’s what you do.” And more specifically than that, it’s what you are called to do. The word, “vocation” comes from the Latin “vocare” meaning “to call,” and our scripture readings this morning and next week also, are filled with stories of people being called by God to various ministries.

Although people who become ministers like me, and maybe even people who become Christian educators like Martha and the others we commissioned this morning, quickly get used to the idea that we are called to a particular ministry in the church. Sometimes we can recall times when people noticed our gifts or our potential for a certain ministry, and even if we didn’t hear God’s voice calling to us directly like Samuel did… we certainly heard it through the voices of others in the Christian community.

One of the things that was very interesting about the last issue of “Glad Tidings” was that it wasn’t a bunch of stories about ministers or missionaries being … Read more »

January 11, 2015

Mark 1:4-11

“You are the Beloved”

It is wonderful to be able to conduct a baptism on this particular Sunday in the church year. Today is the day that we celebrate the “Baptism of the Lord”. The baptism of Jesus was such an important and pivotal moment in his life and ministry, and reflecting on that moment in Jesus’ life can help us to understand and to celebrate the meaning of baptism in our lives as Jesus’ followers.

In some ways, what we do when we gather to baptize an infant seems pretty far removed from what John the Baptizer was doing at the Jordan River so many years ago. The baptism this morning was marked by family, friends, and Christian community gathered in the warmth of a comfortable church, promises made, water poured, and words of blessing spoken for a child.

John’s baptism took place outside, down in the muddy waters of the Jordan. And it wasn’t so much about joining a community of faith or about receiving God’s blessing. They were adults who came to get baptized, and they did so because they wanted a fresh start, to confess their sins, and turn their lives in a new direction of obedience to … Read more »

January 4, 2015

Matthew 2:1-12

“Hope for all the World”

People today are longing to make sense out of life and to find hope for the future. In the midst of the conflict, strife, and violence of our world… In the midst of personal issues and family struggles, they are looking for meaning, for hope, and for peace.

But I don’t think that this is new. If you follow humanity back hundreds, even thousands of years, you find that people have always been longing for something more, and wondering what it’s all about. We have questioned our gurus and wise ones, speculated about the gods, and struggled to make sense of our little place in this vast universe.

The gospel reading today is about some men who must have had just such a longing. The scripture calls them, “wise men from the East.” They were foreigners, Gentiles. They probably came from somewhere East of the Jordan river, from Babylon or Syria maybe.

The main thing that always gets pointed out about these men is that they were not Jews. They were Gentiles. They were Gentiles in the extreme. Not only did they not worship the one God of Israel, and they didn’t follow the law given to Moses … Read more »

December 24, 2014

Luke 2:1-20
Psalm 96

“What Happens in Bethlehem Doesn’t Stay in Bethlehem”

You’ve heard the saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”? This morning I noticed someone post a tweet with the hashtag #Christmas and alternate version of that saying: “What happens in Bethlehem doesn’t stay in Bethlehem.”

The story of Christ’s birth reminds us in a wonderful way that when God became flesh and entered our world as an infant, God was born in a particular place, to an ordinary family, and the news was made known to regular, working-class people who were nearby. God’s entrance was not made with a lot of pomp and circumstance, but he was born in a little town, in a stable out back of someone’s house, where very few people would notice.

But we are also reminded that God’s coming into the world in this way changed the lives of those he encountered, and eventually it changed the whole world. What happened in Bethlehem didn’t stay in Bethlehem.

In many ways, this has been a pretty normal year in and around our church. But it has also been a remarkable year. And one of the ways that it has been remarkable is the number of babies that have … Read more »

December 14, 2014

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

“Testify to the Light”

Have you heard about the war on Christmas? It’s the idea that Western secular society is out to stop any religious celebration of Christmas by banning the use of the word itself in the public sphere, by calling “Christmas trees” “Holiday trees,” and making sure that the carols sung in public places are appropriately secular. Some particularly right-wing Christians are calling it a “war” on Christmas, and they’re actively engaged in the fight to keep Christ in Christmas.

All this controversy about Christmas is an interesting development in the last few years because religious celebrations of Christ’s birth have always been held side-by-side with secular or pagan customs. Even the choice of December 25th for Christmas was not because Christians knew the exact date of Jesus’ birth, but because it seemed appropriate to hold a Christian celebration while others were marking the Winter Solstice. Things like Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths, and Yule logs were incorporated into Christian celebrations from the Winter Solstice holiday called, “Yule.”

Back in the 17th century, there was another controversy about Christmas. Puritan Christians in England wanted to purify Christianity by removing elements that they viewed as pagan … Read more »

December 7, 2014

Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

“Unprepared”

Someone suggested recently that if I could come up with titles for my Sunday sermons, she would appreciate that. And so, on Friday morning, just before leaving for North Battleford for our Presbytery meeting, I added one more word to the bulletin which Karen would print later that morning.

I titled the sermon for today, “Unprepared,” and I chuckled to myself because as I wrote “Unprepared” in the bulletin I was very aware of the fact that my sermon was completely unprepared as yet. I had reflected on the scriptures, made some notes, and the idea of the sermon was beginning to form in my mind, but I was still woefully unprepared.

Although ministers get used to speaking in public, I imagine that if we share a common nightmare it’s the thought of getting a total writer’s block, or of being so overwhelmed with other aspects of ministry all week, that Sunday arrives and we have nothing to say. If we take our ministry seriously, we want to do the best we can with whatever gifts we have received, and being unprepared is a terrible possibility.

I know that many of you have experienced something similar in your work … Read more »

November 16, 2014

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30

“Taking a Risk”

The wretched slave cowers under the shadow of his master towering above him, and the master’s booming voice echoes around the slave… “You wicked and lazy slave! You ought to have invested my money with the bankers! Instead, all you did was bury it in the ground!”

“B,b,b,but, I was frightened. I was scared that I would lose it and you would punish me.”

“Well,” said the master’s authoritative voice, “That’s what’s going to happen now.

Give me my one talent back, and I’ll give it to someone with a bit more faith – someone who won’t just bury my gifts in the ground.”

As we just heard, there were three slaves in the story that Jesus told, and the master gave them all a bit of money – five talents for the 1st slave, two talents for the 2nd slave, and one talent for the 3rd slave.

Actually, he gave them a lot of money. A talent does not refer in this case to something that you’re good at or skilled at doing. A talent was a large sum of money. One talent was approximately how much money a labourer in Jesus’ day would have earned in about 15 … Read more »

November 9, 2014

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13

“Missing the Party?”

The parable of the ten bridesmaids is all about missing a party, specifically a wedding reception. In many ways, this parable goes along with another one that we are probably all familiar with, the parable of the wedding banquet.

In the parable of the wedding banquet, the guests are invited to come to the feast, but for various reasons, they all refuse. They are too busy doing other things, so they don’t have time to go to the celebration. They miss the party.

In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, the guests have shown up ready for the party, but some of them do not come prepared to wait for the bridegroom. When they run out of oil for their lamps and have to go buy more, the party begins, and they end up locked out. They miss the party too.

Traditionally, this parable has been understood as an allegory of the “close of the age” – the “end of time”. The bridegroom represents the Messiah, and his arrival is the awaited Second Coming. Our minds automatically jump to conclude that the parable is about being prepared when Jesus returns so that we will get into the party … Read more »

November 2, 2014

Revelation 7:9-17
Matthew 5:1-12

When I was growing up in a Presbyterian church, I don’t remember celebrating “All Saints’ Day.” It’s only in recent years that I have noticed it in the Church Calendar and begun to think about what it means. Even Presbyterian churches that follow the lectionary quite strictly could miss “All Saints’ Day” because it’s not really a Sunday celebration. “All Saints’ Day” is November 1st – whatever day of the week that happens to fall on, and so most of the time it passes by without any mention of it. Unless, of course, a minister decides to put aside the Sunday readings and choose to celebrate “All Saints’ Day” instead. And that is what we have done.

You probably know that many of the well-known saints have a feast day. It’s a day when Christians celebrate and remember the life and witness of a particular saint. The feast days of the saints are not held on their birthdays, but on the day they died. Often they were martyred – put to death for witnessing to their faith in Jesus Christ – so they are memorialized on that day.

St. Francis was a holy man who lived in the late 12th … Read more »

October 26, 2014

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

“Moses or Joshua?”

The words of the psalmist, and some of the songs based on them have been running through my head all week: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God… Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

It has been quite a week in our country. Two soldiers were run down by a car, and one of them killed on Monday in Quebec. Another soldier was shot as he stood guard at the War Memorial in Ottawa. A young man who was clearly mentally unstable ran into the Parliament buildings and began to shoot. MPs, journalists, and tourists barricaded themselves in rooms until he could be stopped.

And then we watched and listened to the reaction over the next few days. We saw politicians hugging each other. We heard about bystanders helping and encouraging the injured. There were certainly some words of anger and fear, and the suggestion that this occurrence might change our country in a significant way. But mostly, we heard expressions of courage and determination … Read more »

October 12, 2014

Deuteronomy 8:7-18
2 Corinthians 9:6-15

“A Thankful Response”

This morning’s scripture readings invite us to reflect and to respond. As we celebrate Thanksgiving weekend together with our Canadian neighbours, friends, and families, we are invited to remember that this holiday is about more than a big meal and pumpkin-themed decorations.

We don’t call it “Turkey Day” because it’s not just about the menu, but it can be for us, as Christians, a special time of reflecting on the goodness of God and responding to that goodness with our lives of service and generosity.

The passage from Deuteronomy that we just heard is Moses addressing the Hebrew People. They are at the point where they have just finished their long 40-year journey through the wilderness, and they are about to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land.

You will remember that they have been through a terrible time. After escaping slavery and a harsh existence in Egypt, they have wandered through the wilderness for years – living in tents, coping with scarcity and danger, complaining and arguing with each other at times, and sometimes nearly giving up hope.

But soon all that will be over. Moses tells them that God is bringing them into a good … Read more »

October 5, 2014

Matthew 21:33-46

“Rejected”

Late in the first century A.D., a group of Christians is gathered to worship God and tell the stories of their Lord Jesus. They come together regularly, especially on the first day of the week. They sing songs of praise. They recount the stories of Jesus that have been passed on for decades – the things he said, the wonders he did, and especially the way he gave his life for theirs.

Then they share a meal together – a simple meal of bread and wine, and they tell each other of the meals that Jesus once shared with his followers and the way he told them to remember him in the breaking of the bread.

Today, it is Matthew’s turn to tell the story, and he recounts a parable that Jesus once told to the chief priests and the Pharisees. It’s another parable about a vineyard. They’ve heard a lot of those recently, but Matthew assures them that this one is different.

There’s a landowner who decides to plant a vineyard. He puts a fence around it, digs a wine press in it, and builds a watchtower. Then he leases the land to some tenants who are supposed to work the … Read more »

September 28, 2014

“Friends”

We’ve been talking about friendship this weekend with the Saskatchewan Presbyterian Youth. We looked at the story of David and Jonathan to see what we could learn about friendship from them. We studied the passage from John’s Gospel where Jesus calls his disciples friends, and thought about what it means to be a friend of Jesus. And we watched and discussed the play, “The Shape of a Girl” – a play about friendship, and bullying, and things getting out of control, and having the courage to speak out.

More than any of us, the youth are probably most used to thinking about and talking about friendship. At their stage of life, making and keeping friends is a big part of life. When we are young, we learn about being friends… maybe from our parents, and maybe from our peers… we learn how to play together with others, how to share, how to care, how to listen to someone else and share our feelings with others too.

I want to invite you now… no matter how old you are… to think about the friends you have had over the years. Remember your friends at school or in the neighbourhood when you were a … Read more »

September 14, 2014

Matthew 18:21-35

“As We Forgive”

Way back in Matthew chapter six, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. He encourages them to pray honestly and sincerely, telling them not to be concerned with using many words, and not to pray just to be seen praying by others.

And then Jesus teaches them the prayer we still use every Sunday in our worship. He says, “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”

And Jesus goes on to explain, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

How often we pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask for God’s forgiveness of our sins! How often those words slip easily across our lips, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”! But how very rarely do we pause to consider the implications of … Read more »

September 7, 2014

Matthew 18:15-20

“Resolving Conflict”

This morning’s Gospel text may be one of the most practical and applicable passages in the whole Bible. It’s not a complicated parable with many layers of meaning. It’s not an apocalyptic saying with mysterious symbolic language. It’s not a poem, or a prophecy, or even a commandment from long ago that makes us work hard to figure out how to apply it to our contemporary lives.

This morning’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew is instead a very practical set of instructions from Jesus for what to do when conflict arises. You see, Jesus’ disciples and the people they met along their missionary journeys experienced conflict. There’s even a Gospel story about Jesus’ disciples arguing with one another as they went along the road – arguing with each other about which one of them was the greatest.

Jesus’ first disciples got into conflict sometimes, and even Jesus got into conflict. I imagine that most of the time Jesus probably kept his cool when conflict arose – when the Pharisees tried to trick him or test him, when his disciples didn’t understand him or even tried to oppose him. There’s even one story in which Jesus does get angry and … Read more »