Sermons on Church

Sermons on Church

Homily for Welcome Back 2018

Being in Christian community means this: ‘if one member of the body suffers, all suffer together with it’ and ‘if one member of the body is honoured, all rejoice together with it’.  (2)

“I am the True Vine”

I want to challenge you to be open to thinking and acting in new ways, including being more attentive to your relationships with Jesus through God and how they inform your faith life and your ministries.

An Outpost of Heaven

Our opportunity today is to recover this sense of what the church is, an outpost of the kingdom of heaven, a community unlike any other, a place where God’s will is done on earth, as in heaven.

Wheat & Weeds

Here the sower calls us all together, mixed bag and all, into the ministry that is Christ-like, in the life of the church and for the sake of the world.

“We Need You”

“We need you.” We need those outside to help us remember our story, and to encourage us to live it again.

The Idea of the Holy

This morning we have heard two marvellous stories of mountain-top experiences and shining faces. It makes sense that they would go together. I am not trying to diminish the significance of either of these accounts, and there must be degrees of shining, but honestly, have you never seen a shining face? I can think of a few weddings when I could hardly bear to look at the brilliant joy of a bride and groom as they stood there. I remember…

Overflowing Gifts

I titled this sermon, Overflowing Gifts, because it seems to me that both of these texts speak of how God pours out blessing, in us and to us. How God wants us to build each other up and share abundant life. Our Trinity vision statement reads, “Trinity United Church envisions a world that lives in the wholeness of God’s shalom.” That’s a picture somewhat like the wedding feast where the wine never runs out.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

In our tradition, we value openness and questioning and the freedom to think about Jesus in a variety of different ways. And I respect the fact that we need to continue to do that. … But we also have to make room for Jesus here among us.

Practicing Church

Our job is to keep practicing our faith; to not take it for granted; to keep stretching ourselves to love one another across our differences