Rev. Cari Copeman-Haynes

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…

Today was Remembrance Day, and so as part of our worship, we observed a liturgy of remembrance. Rev. Cari opened the sermon just before 11 am, then we observed the remembrance, followed by the choir’s beautiful anthem (which Cari introduced in the sermon). Then she resumed the sermon. The text was Psalm 146, a psalm…

On this fourth Sunday of our Stewardship Season, Rev. Cari takes on Mark 12:28-34: the story of the scholar who asks Jesus what the “foremost commandment” is. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy “Love God” and Leviticus “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Rev. Cari takes the opportunity her own recent injury has afforded her, to be her…

We’re following in the Gospel of Mark, through this season of Stewardship, “Made for Giving.” Today’s text is Mark 10:46-52, the story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. How is this a stewardship story? There’s no mention of money, but currencies of relationship, truth and well-being are exchanged. Not only does one marginalized (and scolded)…

Today we entered into a new “season” – and sermon series – on stewardship. “Made for Giving” is our theme, and this first sermon of the series focussed on the Gospel text of Mark 10:17-31. This story of Jesus telling someone to “Go, and sell all you have, then give the money to the poor,”…