Rev. Cari Copeman-Haynes

Today, Rev. Cari preached the third and final sermon in the series on themes of Exile and Return. The text was Ezra 3:10-13, a narrative, a story from the moment of exiled Israel’s return to the land, when they lay the foundation for a new temple in Jerusalem. The story is complex and nuanced. There…

In the second sermon of the series on Exile and Return, Rev. Cari hosts another complex text: Isaiah 43:1-7. Both a word of assurance from a God of mercy and compassion, and (apparently) a promise of favour to a nation prized above all others, the text raises mixed feelings in us. Rev. Cari wonders if…

Rev. Cari returned to worship leadership today, launching a three-week series called ‘Exile and Return.’ Today’s topic is “lament” – which is both a Biblical genre, and also an emotional function which is feeling more and more relevant. Her text this morning is the entirety of Psalm 137… yes, even including those brutal final verses…

Today was our first hybrid worship service, with some folks in person in the sanctuary and some folks worshipping online. We celebrated our week of children’s ministry, KidVenture, and there was no sermon. However, there was a Godly Play story — the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes — which was told on Friday to the children.

The sermon for July 11, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, jumped off both 2 Samuel 7:1-14a and Ephesians 2:11-22. It’s the last week before Crossroads moves to a fully “hybrid” worship, with some folks continuing on Zoom, and others returning to in-person worship in our sanctuary. How fitting that the texts offer us a chance…

For the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, Rev. Cari preached in proximity to both the Gospel text (Mark 6:1-13) and the Epistle for the day (2 Corinthians 12:2-10). She detected a similarity of themes between those two texts, and with the events of our week, as we have endured the worst heat-wave ever experienced in these…

Today’s text, Mark 5:21-43, inspired a sermon on the theme of healing. Rev. Cari opens up all the emotional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent discoveries at sites of former Indian Residential Schools. She asks, “How can our faith help us at this time?” She begins with an extended reflection on neuroscientific learnings about…

Today was Indigenous Day of Prayer, the Sunday before National Indigenous Peoples Day. It was also the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, when the texts given were 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41. Rev. Cari chose to preach on the latter, a story of Jesus, asleep in the boat of the disciples when a huge storm…

For the second Sunday after Pentecost, Rev. Cari preached on Mark 3:20-35, an “origin story” in Mark’s Gospel, to the extent that it talks about Jesus’ home and his family. It also challenges several cherished notions we may be carrying: That the Scribes (who accuse Jesus of being “possessed” in this story) are the “bad…

It was Trinity Sunday at Crossroads, but after the announcement on Friday of the discovery of the remains of 215 children in the grounds of the Kamloops (Tk’emlups) Indian Residential School, our focus moved. Rev. Cari preached on the 6th chapter of the prophet Isaiah. This text is typically called the “call of Isaiah” but…