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 Lion and the Bear
The Rev. Edith Baird preached today on Amos 5:18-24, a “hard word” from the prophet delivered to the people Israel in an era of great prosperity (and great injustice). She shares the clarion call of the text: to live in such a way that our words in worship line up with our actions in the…
The Story of Moses
November 5, 2017 was “Children’s Sabbath” at Crossroads, when the children of the congregation lead in worship. Part of their service was a retelling of the story of Moses, with the participation of the whole congregation. Please click on this link to hear today’s Testimony given by Jason H., father of two of today’s…
Warm Hearts, Open Hands
Rev. Cari preached on Psalm 90 and Matthew 22:34-36, for the first Sunday of the Season of Stewardship this fall. We are in God’s hands – God is “our eternal home” – and stewardship is everything we do in response to that astonishing gift! The title of the sermon is this year’s stewardship logo (attached…
The Backside of God
Preaching on Exodus 33:12-23 Rev. Cari took a good look at the world today, and asked, “What does this story about God’s presence say to our world?” After opening the text, she then identified the particular gifts of the faith community, and invited us into audacious hope and deep spiritual practice. At the very end…
Sanctuary
Responding to a challenge from Sojourners Magazine, which published the fact that one in three women experience some kind of intimate partner abuse, yet 95% of church-going women have never heard the topic addressed from the pulpit, Rev. Cari preached on the topic. Her text was Matthew 22:1-14, and she shared a lot of information…
Bandages for the World and Us!
This 10-minute clip is from the All-Ages Worship service in celebration of Thanksgiving. It includes the dramatic retelling of the story of the day, from Luke 17:11-19 (the story of the 10-ish lepers) as well as a conversation Gabrielle had with the children, and the invitation Rev. Cari issued to the youth and adults. After…
Running on Empty
Rev. Cari begins with a story from Rachel Naomi Remen’s book My Grandfather’s Blessings, and uses it as a window into the text for the day: Philippians 2:1-13. How much does our culture’s avoidance of vulnerability and emptiness contribute to our misunderstanding of the meaning of the cross? Our faith tradition offers us a beautiful gift…
More than Just Justice
In this sermon on the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (which she suggests renaming “The Parable of the Generous Landowner”) Rev. Cari explores our understandings of what is fair. The text is from Matthew 20:1-16 and its impact on us North American Christians is often confusion or even discomfort – because we tend to…
What Do You See?
Today’s sermon on the crossing of the Red (or reed) Sea from Exodus 14 and 15 was an attempt to capture the dynamics of liberation from slavery. It also meets the “favouritism” of God (as reflected in the text) head-on. If you’ve ever wondered, “What about the Egyptians?” then this sermon is for you!
Not So Random Rules For Church
Today was a service for all ages together, so while the children worked on a project in the chancel, Rev. Cari had a moment to talk with the adults about the text for the day. Romans 13:8-14 (which she paraphrased right off the top) guided the work and worship of the community, and by the…