Tag Archives: reformation

The Word is Near You

Last night I was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of my copy of The Word is Near You: Seeds of the ReformationThe book is a collection of sermons edited by Peter Robinson that were preached in the chapel at Wycliffe College last year to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.  I was honoured by the invitation to preach as part of the series and am now delighted to see my sermon on Matthew 28: 16-20 in print alongside other sermons from the distinguished faculty at Wycliffe.  The book is available through Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. Continue reading The Word is Near You

“On the Mountain with Jesus”: A Sermon from Wycliffe College

On November 2, I had the privilege of preaching at Morning Prayer at Wycliffe College in the faculty preaching series, entitled “The Word is Near You: Seeds of Reformation.”  It was a privilege to join the distinguished faculty of Wycliffe College in this Reformation-themed preaching series and to preach from a pulpit that has, over the years, welcomed an impressive collection of archbishops, leading preachers, and distinguished theologians.  My assigned text was Matthew 28: 16-20.  You can listen to a recording of the sermon here.  For those not familiar with Wycliffe, in the first few sentences of the sermon I am riffing on the titles of books written by members of the Wycliffe faculty.

95 at 500

The following is an extract from a sermon I preached this past Sunday at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Scarborough.  The service made use of some of the liturgical resources prepared conjointly by  the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Christian Reformed Church to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.  It is not a scholarly treatment, nor does it exhaustively treat the complex and often ambiguous legacy of the Reformation.  Rather, it simply attempts to acquaint people with the person of Martin Luther and some of the early developments associated with the beginning of the Reformation in Germany. Continue reading 95 at 500

Reformation Resources

On September 16, 2017, the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection hosted a special event at Tyndale Seminary to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.  It was a rich evening of fellowship and reflection upon the life, theology, and legacy of Martin Luther.  Video of the evening’s presentations have now been posted online.  Continue reading Reformation Resources

A Modest Proposal

I came across this quote this morning from Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536).  Erasmus, who is sometimes described as “the prince of the humanists,” was a reforming voice within the church in the 16th century, although he never formally broke from Rome.  His critical edition of the Greek New Testament was highly influential for Reformers across the continent.  Unfortunately, the Magisterial Reformers in appealing to the secular authorities for assistance in reforming the church in some ways contributed to the further entrenchment of the competing national loyalties Erasmus is attempting to combat in this quotation: Continue reading A Modest Proposal

James Davison Hunter on “the Central Ministry of the Church”

“Beyond the worship of God and the proclamation of his word, the central ministry of the church is one of formation; of making disciples.  Making disciples, however, is not just one more program—it is not Sunday School, a Wednesday night prayer meeting, or a new book one must read.  Formation is about learning to live the alternative reality of the kingdom of God within the present world order faithfully.  Formation, then, is fundamentally about changing lives. Continue reading James Davison Hunter on “the Central Ministry of the Church”