Sermons by Rev. Dr. John Burton
The curious incident of the calf in the desert
At their heart these stories tell us that in order for humankind to prosper we need to live together in community.
In the beginning and in the second beginning
my hope is to give you a taste of some of the thinking of scholars about how and when the Bible was written, by whom and for what reasons.
Balcony View Bible
I want to spend the next seven Sundays revisiting our founding tradition as it is handed down in the Bible …
Haida Gwaii – Sabbath Space
Haida Gwaii is an example of a sabbath place.
What We Need is Here
What is required is not that we be rescued from above when we are in need, but that we share the strength and the resources that God has given us to care for each other.
Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah and Isaac
At the heart of this story is the question of who’s in and who’s out. How does any social group decide who’s part of ‘us’ and who belongs to ‘the other’.
Reversing Our Expectations
The exuberant parade of palms that marks the beginning of Holy Week is, when you stop and think about it, a strange episode in the story of Christ’s Passion.
Nothing except Christ, and him crucified
The crucified Christ draws me into the nearer presence of God.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Leviticus 19:33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. My wife Heather and I have three children, two; Julie and Chris, were products of Heather’s first marriage and the third, Aba, is a young…
Lighten our Darkness
The Season of Epiphany, which began on the 6th of January, is closely associated with the symbol of light, which is why we are using “This little light of mine” as our opening song until the beginning of Lent. Immortal, Invisible, the classic hymn we sang just a moment ago, also uses light as a central image. In doing so, Walter Smith, the lyricist, makes several references to a paradox – the fact that we need light in order to…
Creative Destruction
That transformed understanding of how God is active in the world will transform us ….
Song of Faith, Song of Hope
This is my final Sunday with you as your Sabbatical minister and I want to say how much the last four months have meant to me, and what an honour it has been to be with you. I have been warmly welcomed by everyone and have had engaging conversations with many of you. While I was not a stranger to this congregation before May, I have certainly gotten to know you much better over this summer, and I count that…
The Dilemma of Dishonesty
At a recent gathering of the Trinity men’s breakfast group one of the fellows asked me if he would still get to heaven if he told a lie. There was a bit of a twinkle in his eye as he put the question to me in the way that a child might ask it of their parent, but the underlying issue is a complex one that I spent much of my professional career dealing with as a professor of ethics…
Lost Sheep and a Jeremiad
The two passages we heard read this morning make about as clear a contrast as one might find between the God of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the New. Jeremiah, the prophet who is so well known for preaching fire and brimstone that his name has become a synonym for warnings of gloom and doom, is at his most fiery here. Condemning the people of Judah as stupid, he warns them that a devastating wind is coming, earthquakes…