Sermons

Rev. Cari dives into the deep end with Luke’s version of the Beatitudes this week (Luke 6:20-26). Luke serves up a meal of blessings and woes, helping – through our discomfort – to reveal that happy is not a state of privilege. She also reads the opening of this article in the Globe & Mail,…

The first of the “Happy?” sermons centres on the story of Jesus’ baptism in the gospel of Luke (3:15-17 and 21-22). The recording is a little longer than usual because the reading of the sermon text and the anthem are included. Then, before Cari could begin preaching, Bruce launched into a small moment of “Don’t…

We worshipped with all ages together today, and so no sermon was preached. However, we did hear the story of Epiphany, from Matthew 2:1-12, complete with actions (which don’t come through too well in the recording) and sound effects (which kind of do). Enjoy this story of the wise strangers who seek the infant Christ……

For this Christmas Eve sermon, Rev. Cari unpacks a few different Greek words from Luke 2:1-20: kataluma (the word most English versions translate as “inn”), stratias (the host of the sermon title), and angelos (which means messenger). Then she plays a few short clips from Greta Thunberg’s 2018 TED talk. Greta is a young Swedish angelos whose message about climate change…

Our afternoon worship, the Blue Christmas service, is an annual service offered for those who may be grieving, struggling or sad as Christmas approaches. This short reflection offers the wisdom of our Christian tradition, and acknowledges that our feelings are not “out of synch” with those of Mary, Joseph, and the others in the stories.

Rev. Cari preached on Micah 5:2-5a and also referred to the “Benedictus” of Zechariah found in Luke 1:68-79 for the second Sunday in Advent. She spent much of the early part of the sermon comparing the contexts of both texts with our current global realities. She referenced a blog post by her mentor, the Rev….

“It’s Advent.” That’s how Rev. Cari begins this sermon for the first Sunday of the season of waiting, longing and anticipating God’s presence. The text is Philippians 1:3-11, Paul’s greeting to the church in Philippi. Rev. Cari identifies the strange work of Advent: we know the story, we know where we’re headed in Advent. And…

This morning we celebrated the Reign of Christ – the final Sunday in the Christian year – by welcoming new members of Crossroads. The sermon text was John 18:33-38, part of Jesus’ trial before Pilate in which the two of them verbally dance around the question of who is king.   It just so happens…