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.
The Table of Community
Today’s sermon is based on the text from Acts 3:42-47, about the “devotion” of the earliest Christian Community. Rev. Cari also refers to the Gospel text for the day, John 10:1-10, and quotes her mentor, the Rev. Tony Robinson, in a recent sermon on that text. The link between the two texts is the kind…
The Table of Hospitality
Preaching on I Corinthians 11:14-34, Rev. Cari addresses a text that outlines Paul’s concerns with the table practice of the church in Corinth. As is often the case, he is not impressed with the Corinthian Christians, and he’s not reluctant to tell them why! Rev. Cari attempts to bridge the cultural distance between the text…
Spiritual Heart Burn
Preaching on the third Sunday after Easter, Rev. Cari invites us to take a walk with the two disciples down the road to Emmaus. Along the way, yes, a stranger joins us on the road, and we get into the “storying” process, as well as hearing some testimony (second-hand) from the late Rev. Dr. Ross…
Meeting the Risen Christ
In today’s sermon, Gabrielle focuses on the story of the Risen Christ’s appearance to the disciples after they had resumed their “old lives” as fishermen. The story can be found at John 21:1-19. Gabrielle gently guides the congregation through a personal reflection on several aspects of the story. What part of us is longing to…
“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.