encrusted words

Tag: sermon

  • this table – the shape of community

    this table – the shape of community

    We cannot sit at this table and at the same time live in ways that represent a refusal or betrayal of this table.

  • “may I have a word” — confession and correction #sermon

    Has anyone every pulled you aside and said: “You know, what you are doing is really not a great idea.” Has anyone ever pulled you aside and said: “You know, you better stop and think about what you’re saying.” When someone pulls you aside it’s generally because they care about you – they want to…

  • Christian spirituality, it doesn’t start with you – Sermon 4/5

    Christian spirituality, it doesn’t start with you – Sermon 4/5

    It’s not uncommon today to hear people talking about spiritual things – or talking about spirituality. Not every uses this kind of language – and not everyone is comfortable taking about spirituality. But there are plenty of women and men in our culture who believe that spirituality, or spiritual things, are important to life –…

  • the Spirit of the future – sermon 2/5

    Let me begin with a question this morning. When you think about the future, what do you imagine? When you think about the future, what do you feel or think or imagine? We could answer this question in terms of our own immediate future – in terms of what’s going to happen in my and…

  • the Spirit in Creation – nature and spirituality (1/5)

    When we think about our spiritual lives – when we think about our relationship with God – each one of us will have special moments that stand out for us. Each of us will be able to think back to particular moments when we felt a special closeness to God. Moments when we were particularly…

  • the invitation to generosity

    We read this morning from Deuteronomy, chapter 24: “When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back and get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your…

  • pruning and abiding – learning to live together

    You’ve got to admit that in some ways the bible just wasn’t written for you and me. The prophets weren’t thinking about you and me when they were writing their sermons and denunciations. The Psalmist wasn’t thinking about us when he crafted his poetry and his songs. Even Jesus wasn’t thinking about you or me…

  • searching for home…

    When I think about my late grandfather, images of him come quickly and vividly to my mind. I see him sitting on the front porch of my grandparent’s home – surrounded by potted annuals – a cigarette between his fingers and an ashtray on the table beside him. I see him on another occasion leaning…

  • the sign of jonah – resurrection

    I begin this sermon with excerpts (including a few minor edits) from the first chapter of a novel entitled Galore. The novel is written by Michael Crummy, who is a is Newfoundlander, and this particular novel is set in a fictional Newfoundland town, a coastal town, called Paradise Deep. Galore won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize…

  • Wrestling with Jesus – on Palm Sunday

    This morning we are looking at a passage from the New Testament – from the twenty-first chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Of course it’s the familiar story of the triumphal entry – it’s the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, on the way to his death. But before we look at this text, I’d like to…