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.
On What You Want Jesus to do for You
We’re following in the Gospel of Mark, through this season of Stewardship, “Made for Giving.” Today’s text is Mark 10:46-52, the story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. How is this a stewardship story? There’s no mention of money, but currencies of relationship, truth and well-being are exchanged. Not only does one marginalized (and scolded)…
On Downward Mobility: Down is the New Up!
In Mark 10:35-45, James and John command Jesus, ““See to it that we sit next to you, one at your right and one at your left, when you come into your glory.” Jesus responds in a curious way. Can James and John drink the same cup as him? Can they be baptized in the same…
On Not Being Possessed by Possessions
Today we entered into a new “season” – and sermon series – on stewardship. “Made for Giving” is our theme, and this first sermon of the series focussed on the Gospel text of Mark 10:17-31. This story of Jesus telling someone to “Go, and sell all you have, then give the money to the poor,”…
A Story About Not Worrying
We worshipped together on Thanksgiving Sunday as an all-ages community, so there was no sermon this morning. After the Scripture reading for the day, Matthew 6:25-34 was shared by Gabrielle (with the children’s help), Rev. Cari told a story. For this story, Rev. Cari is indebted to the Rev. Otis Moss III, the minister at…
Opening to Awe
For the fourth Sunday in “Creation Time” Rev. Cari read selections from the last few chapters of the book of Job. In this text, full of irony, the Holy One invites Job to answer a few questions… In this sermon, Rev. Cari wonders with the congregation about how to find the “sweet spot” between despair…
God’s Boundaries
For Sunday 3 in “Creation Time,” Rev. Cari picked up where she left off the week before, with a look at Leviticus 25:1-12, and an approach to “What to do” about climate change. There is no evidence that Israel ever practiced the guidelines regarding the sabbatical year and the jubilee year… But this articulation of…
When Things Fall Apart
It’s “Creation Time” at Crossroads, and Rev. Cari preached on the entire chapter 3 of Genesis this morning. Sometimes called the story of “original sin” or “the fall” this story about a man, a woman, and a serpent has been hugely influential in Christian theology over the centuries. Today, she looked at it through the…
Creation Time Story
This morning, Gabrielle shared the story of Creation (as found in the first chapter of Genesis) with the children assisting. The story of the seven days of creation was accompanied by 6 children (and Rev. Cari) holding large paper circles with depictions of what was created on each day. Listen for the response of God…
Practicing
On the Sunday of Rev. Cari’s return from a three-month sabbatical, she preached on a text from the first chapter (v. 16-27) of the Epistle James. Luther called this book of the Bible “an Epistle of straw” because of its emphasis on “works,” which he perceived as not being consonant with his belief in salvation…
The Armour of God
This week, Lydia explores Ephesians 6:10-20, where Paul famously writes about how we need to “put on the armour of God:” the belt of truth, the breastplate of justice, and carry the shield of faith. This passage can often come across as violent, but is it actually? What armour do we normally wear to face…