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.
You Who…
On this 6th Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. Cari unpacked Luke’s version of The Beatitudes (found at Luke 6:17-26) which she renamed the “you who’s.” She began with the assertion (borrowed from Robert Reich) that greatness is a moral category, and that power is more than just being able to compel other people to do what…
Woe is Me!
For the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Rev. Cari continued with her focus on God’s call, and preached on Isaiah 6:1-13 and Luke 5:1-11. In this sermon, she promised to share the story of her call to the Office of Vocation of The United Church of Canada, the ministry role she will move full-time to on…
Attending to Jesus
Rev. Cari played a bit with the lectionary texts this week, combining the two gospel readings (which are actually one story) from last week and this, to focus in the sermon on Luke 4:14-30. Rarely does a Scripture passage leap off the page in real life like this one did, last week. It was irresistible….
VST Sunday
This Sunday, our guest preacher was Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan Kaplan, Director of Inter-Religious Studies, Professor of Jewish Studies and Interim Academic Dean at the Vancouver School of Theology. Rabbi Laura chanted Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 and Psalm 19 in Hebrew during the service, then read Nehemiah and preached (in English) on both those texts….
Love is Revealed
Or… What does Love look like? (part 2). For this sermon on the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, Rev. Cari took up two texts referencing weddings… Isaiah 62:1-5 and John 2:1-11. She dove right into the deep end with the temporary cease-fire called in Israel/Palestine and the fact that it was the day before the…
Epiphany
On this “Twelfth Night” Sunday, the eve of Epiphany itself, Crossroads hosted the story of the travellers from the East who visited the Christ child, found in Matthew 2:1-12. Rev. Cari set the scene as a time of intrigue and danger thanks to King Herod. She then introduced the Magi as “complex characters” — the…
The Resistance
For his annual sermon on “Five Gold Ring Day” (the Sunday after Christmas), Dr. Bruce Harding once again invites the congregation into the subversive practice of celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas – continuing to wish others a “Merry Christmas” right up until 12th Night (January 5) and resisting the urge to discard all signs…
Heavenly Guest; Heavenly Host
On Christmas Eve, Rev. Cari preached on the Luke 2:1-20 narrative of Mary & Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, the angels and the shepherds. Her sermon focussed on some of the lesser-known parts of the story, and gave us a window into God’s Christmas project. The kataluma (the Greek word translated “inn” in most versions) is her…
Love and Zwischen
For the fourth Sunday in Advent, “Love” Sunday, Rev. Cari preached on the Magnificat of Mary. Found in its context at Luke 1:39-55, the song of Mary “magnifying God” is a fierce, political and prophetic utterance which proclaims the activity of God in all times and places. Rev. Cari introduced the congregation to a German…
Justice and Joy
On the third Sunday in Advent, Rev. Cari brought preaching focus to the truths spoken by John the Baptist in Luke 3:7-18. First thing she did was to translate the Hebrew word at the root of the concept of the “wrath of God” – which is a word that means snort! God’s snorting anger at…