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.
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…
Pentecost: Stories of our Faith
We worshipped together as all ages for Pentecost Sunday, so there was no “sermon” today. But here is the storytelling moment when Rev. Cari shared the story of Pentecost day (loosely based on Acts 2:1-20 — with some help from the congregation), followed by an account of I Corinthians 12:4-11, about the gifts the Holy…
Holy Shift: “Why are you looking up?”
“So why are you standing there looking up at an empty sky?” In Acts 1:1-11, the disciples are asked that question after Jesus has left them. Rev. Edith notes that at the time of that question, Jesus had already shown the disciples how to live; what to do. Jesus had shown them close-up the power…
Holy Shift: Changing Plans
Yet another sermon in our “Holy Shift” series, this time focussing on Acts 16:6-15. There are a lot of hard to pronounce Biblical place names in this story about the travels of Paul, Silas and Timothy! They have a hard time with the Holy Spirit “preventing” them from travelling to certain places. Eventually, they land…
Holy Shift: Innovative Community
Another sermon in the “Holy Shift: God’s Unsettling Surprises” series: this time on the story from Acts 11:1-18. Peter is responding to believers in Jerusalem who have accused him of eating with the wrong kind of people. When the dividing lines are clear between “who is in” and “who is out” the holy shift that…