Last Easter Sunday I had the privilege of celebrating the resurrection with the Church of Pentecost in Winnipeg. Overseer Gabriel Addo-Asante has shared with me a recording of my sermon. In some ways, we find ourselves, just a year later, in a much different space. In other ways, though, it is the same world: God’s good creation marred by Sin, held in captivity to Death, redeemed in Christ’s cross, awaiting the final revelation of the children of God.
The social distancing measures that have been prescribed in the attempt to “flatten the curve” of the Coronavirus pandemic, have resulted in the unprecedented (in our lifetime) necessity of celebrating the events of Holy Week and the season of Easter in relative isolation in our homes.
In the attempt to encourage the faithful, and also recognizing that many people now have additional time on their hands, I will be aiming to make available some audio and video of previously recorded sermons and lectures.
Last summer, one of my Good Friday sermons, “The Death of an Extremist” appeared in the journal Theodidaktos published by the Evangelical Mennonite Conference. I was able to track down an audio recording of the service in which the sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough, ON in 2009.
I had the great privilege yesterday of celebrating Easter Sunday with the Church of Pentecost in Winnipeg. Thank you to Overseer Gabriel Addo-Asante for the invitation to share in the ministry of the Word on the Day of the Resurrection. Here are a few paragraphs from my sermon on Luke 24: Continue reading The Grammar of Resurrection: An Easter Sunday Sermon Excerpt
This is the seventeenth in a series of posts engaging with the sermons in Leaps of Faith: Sermons from the Edge. This post is a reflection upon a Christmas Eve sermon entitled “When a Hallmark Christmas Isn’t Good Enough” (pp. 78-84). The Scriptural text for the sermon was Luke 2:1-20. Continue reading When a Hallmark Christmas Isn’t Good Enough
With the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) appearing as a potential reading in the lectionary last Sunday and again this coming Sunday and with the Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26-38) standing as the Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday of Advent, it seems timely to share an excerpt from a sermon entitled, “Let Heav’n and Nature Sing!” from my book Leaps of Faith: Continue reading The Song of the Son
While speaking to a gathering of youth and young adults this past Sunday evening, I took the opportunity to reflect upon the fact that God’s plan to save humanity rested upon the faithfulness of an unknown teenage girl. This morning I came across a poetic passage in which Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) depicts the whole of creation on tiptoes, listening in on the conversation between Mary and the angel Gabriel, anxiously awaiting Mary’s response. Continue reading Bernard of Clairvaux on the Annunciation