Jesus’ Baptism
we are being urged NOT to hold back
Attending to the birth
Left brain or right brain?
‘Tis the Season
Thinking with the imagination of a child.
Advent Four: Joseph & Mary
to help us wrestle with what we may learn from Mary and Joseph
Advent Three – Wise Men
There are so many things that scream for our attention, that it’s almost impossible to notice which points us to Christ!
Advent Two – Shepherd & Villagers
it was to these lowly types, utterly without social or religious status, that God chose to send the Herald Angels announcing Christ’s birth!
Advent One: Hope
How are we ‘getting ready’ for the celebration of Christ’s birth?
Christ the King
there’s always God’s perspective!
Waking Us Up
Thank God for faith cycles!
Remembrance Sunday: 2019
We celebrate that freedom by remembering it / owning it & living lives that demonstrate it!
Loving The ‘Wrong’ People
Jesus’ insistence on ‘loving’ and reaching out to all the ‘wrong’ people.
Bread of Heaven
sharing of food (bread) and doing so in Christ’s name always reflects that – it is actually always profoundly sacramental.
Promise of the New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Jeremiah brings us the promise of ‘a new thing’, a fresh, new beginning – a new Covenant! I think of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ . Most of Christianity believes that the New Covenant finally came into force with the ministry of Christ, as he taught : “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”. This promise of a ‘new thing’ has to do with the sacred nature of the…
Lives Of Gratitude
At first it may seem that there is no obvious connection between our readings on this Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday… But there is! The first reading is set in Babylon – where the people of Judah were in exile – they who once had so much promise and hope in their wonderfully privileged Promised Land, but now were just devastated, their dreams shattered! Their beautiful Judah had been plundered: Their homes had been wiped out, their temple destroyed. They were now…
LIKE A MUSTARD SEED!
Summary There’s fellow who was crossing the iced river – terrified – down on all fours – when a cart laden with lumber hauled by 6 great galloping Clydesdales came bursting out of the undergrowth, and onto the ice! The point is that the thickness of the ice had nothing to do with the depth of his faith. All his faith could do is decide is how confidently he was going to be making the crossing. That, in a sense,…
A Fresh Start – Always!!!
Christ uses modern day prophets.
Praising God First & Always
Psalm 113 calls us back to living life-agendas
Lost Sheep ~ Lost Coin
Whatever we can ever say about God is always ultimately beyond us.
Costly Discipleship – Luke 14:25-32
may God continue to bless us all to keep answering that call
How Love Changes Everything
What we’re talking about is God’s economy, something quite different from what we may instinctively know!
A little prophet shall lead them
It is that restored world that God promises through the words of the prophet
Encountering the Stranger, Encountering the Divine
Hospitality shared with a stranger, with joy, is encountering God.
Source Of Life!
We may find that our faith is becoming less about having to love and believe in a God ‘out there’ so much as about wanting to become part of what God loves and is wanting us to be doing ‘right here’.
Motivation: An examination of what (or who) drives us…
What would you say in your life is NOT meaningless?
Prayer
We need to be taught WHAT to pray for, and so also WHAT NOT to pray for.
Good Things & Good People
Do good things happen to good people?
Well, Honestly!
The point is that all of us are carrying stuff that we may be quite unable to let go. Psalm 25 models how we are given to respond to it all! Beginning with the outward praising of God!
The Praise God Wants
We, the church, for better or worse, are the Body of Christ, and that means we are still the primary way the risen Christ is choosing to take up room in the world.