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.
“My God and Your God”
On Easter Sunday, Rev. Cari touches on both texts for the day: Jeremiah 31:1-6 and John 20:1-18. Noting how “hungry” we all are for good news… well, for a “happy ending” really, she then proceeds to unpack how Easter is not an invitation to magical thinking, but truly reason for gratitude and joy. If you…
“Who Is This?”
For Palm Sunday, Rev. Cari preaches on the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem from Matthew’s gospel: Matthew 21:1-11. In the sermon, she reviews the “echoes” of the Hebrew Bible throughout the narrative, focussing in the end on the question of the city dwellers, “Who is this?” and the dual answers of the Christian Tradition….
From the Inside Out
Rev. Cari preached on Jeremiah 31:31-34, and also touched on John 12:20-33 for this final sermon of the “Theological Banquet” series. She was preaching on her “home” stream in the banquet, the Ecclesial stream, and invited the congregation to consider (during this time of sheltering at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic) living from the…
John 3:16
Our first “streamed” service included this sermon on one of the most beloved Scripture verses of all time. It just happened to coincide with the “Evangelical” stream of the Theological Banquet, too. This provided Rev. Cari an opportunity to take a look at the verse and the evangelical stream, as well as reflecting with the…
Turning the Tables
Today’s sermon was to be third in the series of explorations of Rev. Janet Gear’s Theological Banquet. Preaching on John 2:13-22, Rev. Cari was all set to engage with the congregation around the “ecumenical” stream of the banquet. However, the tables were turned significantly in our world this past week, as the Coronavirus was declared…
Jesus, You Say Hard Things
For the second Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cari preached in response to Mark 8:31-38. The stream of the Theological Banquet that she’s focussed on today is the “Missional” stream. So she tries to embody the missional identity as she dialogues with Jesus. She imagines herself standing right by his side, responding to his call.
The Fountain in the Wilderness
For the first Sunday in Lent, Rev. Cari preached on Matthew 4:1-11, the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. She preached in the style of the “Spiritual” stream of the Theological Banquet, because the text itself is so consonant with the “Spiritual” themes of prayer, struggle with temptation, inner sorting, and intimacy with God….
Transformed
For Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before the season of Lent begins, Rev. Cari preached on Matthew 17:1-9. She followed this story of Jesus on the mountaintop with his three disciples, Moses (the Torah) and Elijah (the Nevi’im). She marked the “opaqueness” of Jesus’ identity as “Messiah” to his followers, who certainly wouldn’t be expecting the Messiah…
Reconciliation
Guest preacher the Rev. Janice Young from Peninsula United Church takes on the timely task of addressing the issue of Reconciliation among Indigenous people and settlers in this very topical sermon. Janice shares two stories in this sermon: 1) a family story about her grandfather’s work, a combination of purchasing and taking indigenous artifacts from…
Outside the Tradition?
The fourth sermon in our “Take your faith outside!” series grows out of the text from Matthew 12:1-8. This is a controversy story: a narrative depicting Jesus in a “wrangle” with the Pharisees. Though they are apparently arguing about the disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath, as is common in conflict, the issue…