Most weeks, our worship leader offers a 15–20 minute sermon based on the Scripture texts for the day.
Our regular preacher is pretty versatile. She’ll tell stories, pull together different ideas, lead a meditation, give the congregation an “assignment” to talk about in twos or threes, show a slide show or video, or sometimes even sing to the congregation. The sermon functions to deepen our reflection on the Scripture themes of the day, and often leaves us with a challenge or a question.
Scripture texts are outlined in the Revised Common Lectionary.
For Such a Time as This
Dr. Bruce Harding preached and led worship on this day, using the texts for the day from the Revised Common Lectionary. The sermon focussed on Luke 12:49-56, Jesus’ words about interpreting the present time. Bruce asks, with Jesus, “Can we afford to ignore the signs any longer?”
Stump the Preacher: “A Political Gospel?”
The question this week is whether it is disobedient to God to disobey the law or resist political power given that Paul and Jesus both appear to endorse obedience to authority in both Romans 13 and Matthew 22:15-22. We look to a non traditional interpretation of Romans 13 from a Jewish scholar. We also examine…
Does God Punish and Destroy?
For the 6th Stump the Preacher sermon, Rev. Cari was given the task of addressing the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians, a text she had never preached on before. The requester’s specific problem was with the text’s suggestion that Jesus would be returning as a punishing avenger… a question of both the apocalyptic nature of…
Called to Receive
In this sermon, Gabrielle first names that we are much more comfortable with giving than receiving. But touching on Exodus 16:13-21 and Wisdom 7:26-8:1, she begins to open up the possibility of receiving as well. St. Augustine said, “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to…
Is Death the Enemy?
Guest preacher Craig Perry is a big fan of Crossroads’ Stump the Preacher series and he asked Rev. Cari for a topic for his sermon this week. Today’s sermon looks in depth at two passages from the letters of Paul: Romans 8:31-39 and 1 Corinthians 15. We search for Paul’s understanding of death and whether…
How Do We Find Joy?
Our fourth Stump the Preacher sermon for 2019 was on the topic of finding joy. Rev. Cari drew on the words of Paul to the church in Philippi (Philippians 4:1-9) but also on Ezra 3, and referenced the second chapter of Philippians as well. The paradoxical nature of our faith was much in evidence during…
Did God Forgive Judas?
The Rev. Edith Baird preached in response to the Stump the Preacher question, “Did God Forgive Judas?” today, using Luke 22:1-6, 14-23 and 47-53 as her text. At the opening of the sermon she offered two initial comments: first, that she would never presume to say who God forgives, specifically; and second that she was…
Is Jesus the Only Way?
The second Stump the Preacher sermon for the summer of 2019 was preached in response to a query about John 14:1-14, and in particular, the sentence from verse 6, “No one comes to Abba God except by me.” The requester asked, “How does this text guide our relationships with people of other faith traditions?” This…
Faith Not Fear
For the first “Stump the Preacher” sermon of 2019, Rev. Cari takes on the topic of fear, with the story of Jesus asleep in the boat when the storm comes up on the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:22-25). She invites the participation of the congregation for this sermon, so there may be pauses (when folks…
Not ‘Our Faith’ but ‘God’s Faithfulness’
Good thing God has a sense of humour! For Trinity Sunday, Rev. Cari is preaching on Romans 5:1-5. As she invokes the presence and work of her first New Testament Professor, the late Dr. Lloyd H. Gaston, she puts her foot in her mouth with our beloved retired minister, the Rev. Edith Baird. However, since…