Looking Ahead to March 1, 2026 -- Lent 2, Bold Discipleship

 

A new month arrives!  As usual the first Sunday of the month is a day we celebrate the sacrament of communion. All are welcome to join us in the banquet of faith.

Also the first Sunday of the month is a day we encourage people to remember our Local Outreach fund, which we use to support our neighbours here in Grande Prairie.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• John 18:25-27 
• Acts 4:23-31

The Sermon title is Speak Boldly

Early Thoughts: Sometimes it is a challenge to be bold. Sometimes it is risky to be bold, to speak out, to take the chance that your boldness will lead to your downfall. Still, as followers of Jesus we are all challenged to be bold for the Gospel, the Good News.

The early church knew this well. Peter, given the chance to be bold as Jesus is being tried, chooses denial rather than boldness. As he sings in Jesus Christ Superstar: "I had to do it don't you see. Or else they'd go for me.". 

But then Easter happens. Then Resurrection happens. The world is changed. The followers of Jesus are changed.

In the accounts of the crucifixion the Gospel writers paint a picture of Jesus dying abandoned by most of his followers. The book of Acts paints a picture of those same followers refusing to keep quiet, of a community boldly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in a city where the people with authority would really rather they kept quiet.

What does it mean to be a Bold Disciple of Jesus? I think it intersects nicely with the third part of our call Daring Justice (which we will talk about on March 15) as both push us to take risks. I also am reminded of Martin Luther standing before the Diet of Worms, told to recant his views and responding with "Here I stand I can do no other", knowing that it would likely lead to his condemnation by the Roman Church.

The story we read from Acts this week makes it clear where those early church leaders found the strength and courage to speak boldly. It comes from God, specifically (as often in Acts) from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Our ability to be bold for the Gospel, to speak boldly about how we understand the Reign of God, comes from being rooted in God, from sinking deep into God's presence, from a Deep Spirituality.

In the middle of March we will mark P.I.E. Day. On that day we are challenged to be Public, Intentional, and Explicit about our understanding of the Gospel. Specifically P.I.E. Day may be aimed at issues arising out of Affirming Ministry but the concept stretches across many categories (as does being an Affirming Ministry for that matter). As people of faith we need to speak boldly, to be P.I.E. about where we see God in the world, about the vision for the world that God has revealed to us.

Sometimes we might find it easier to keep quiet. Sometimes we want to paly it safe and not rock the boat. I fully understand that impulse. Still the challenge is there, the calling to Speak Boldly, to be Bold Disciples of Jesus.  May God help us live into that calling.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 22, 2026 --Lent 1, Deep Spirituality.

 

The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 46.

The Sermon title is Dive Deep.

Early Thoughts: Welcome to Lent, the 40 days (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Sundown on Holy Saturday (or Sundown on Maundy Thursday in some traditions). There are many different traditions about how best to keep Lent but in most it is seen as a season of reflection as we prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the coming of Easter and Resurrection.

In keeping with this idea of using the Season as a time to reflect on how we live into the Christians life, I thought we could spend three of the Sundays on Lent this year reflecting on the logo above. A few years ago the General Council of the United Church released a new vision statement. At the same time they challenged the church to live in to the call of Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship, Daring Justice. What do those words mean to us? How do they (or how can they) shape our lives as individuals and as a community of faith?

AS it happens these three things are also going to be the themes for our congregational newsletters this year, with the first, Deep Spirituality, coming out shortly. This is some of what I had to say in that:

We start with the most foundational piece – Deep Spirituality. This is, in my mind, what we build on if we are to be bold disciples. It is what gives us the courage to dare and take risks for justice ... As people of faith we are invited and encourage to intentionally take time and sink into God’s presence. As people of faith we feed our spirits/souls to allow us to live out our faith...

 As people of faith our guidance and strength comes from God. If we don’t attend to our spiritual health, if we don’t sink deep into God’s presence and love we suffer. We might become exhausted. We might lose hope. We might start to think it all depends on us. Deep Spirituality may not always prevent such things but it can help avoid them, it can help us recover when they hit.

When I went to choose a piece of Scripture to go with Deep Spirituality I was naturally drawn to the Psalms. In this book of poetry we find many places where we are just invited to sink into God's presence. We find calls of trust that God is with the poet. We are reminded that strength, protection, guidance, and wisdom comes from God. Chanting of Psalms is an ancient meditative spiritual practice.

I settled on Psalm 46 largely because of the last verse "Be still and know that I am God". For me this one verse captures what I see in the call to dive deep, to seek deep spirituality. 

It can be easy to say that we don't have time to do the work of Deep Spirituality. There is always something else that could be done instead of sitting quietly, or walking along the lakeshore (or river valley as your geography allows), or gently singing favourite hymns. Often the work of spirituality seem unproductive (which is sometimes seen as one the worst things one can be in our modern culture). I disagree. I think that for people of faith doing the work of feeding our spirit, doing the work of building our relationship with the Divine, is what allows us to do all the rest of the work.  It builds the foundation of our lives as people of faith.

So why don't we talk about it more?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 15, 2026

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
• 1 John 3:11-19

The Sermon title is How Do You Speak Love?

Early Thoughts: The central commandment in Christian ethics and morality is to Love: Love God, Love Neighbour as you Love yourself, Love each other as you have been loved. But as Walter Farquharson reminds us in his hymn Would You Bless Our Homes and Families, "love's expressed in many ways".

Source

So how do you speak love? How do you express love? Which Love Language is your native tongue?

Humans have flaws, we all know that to be true. One of our flaws is that sometimes we assume everybody communicates things the same way we do. This allows us to claim that any breakdown in communication is the other person's/nation's/culture's fault. Of course this is not true. With time and observation we have learned (although logically it should have been obvious) that there are many different ways that people communicate. Some are culturally based, some are personality based, some are a result of being neurospicy vs neurotypical, and some are simple linguistics.

When we take the time to name how we communicate best and intentionally seek to understand how others communicate we build stronger relationships and communities.

So back in December when someone suggested to me that I could do a sermon on Love Languages I thought it was a great idea.

I have to wonder, how many relationships fall apart because people miss the ways love is being communicated? How many arguments blow up because people mis-understand an act or gesture?

We are ALL called to love each other, and I believe firmly that this is not about how we feel. The command to love neighbour, family, friend, and enemy is about how we act, love is a verb not an emotion. So how do you speak/share/communicate this love?

One of the blessings of community is that we don't all have to speak the same dialect of love. In any congregation there are a variety of ways that love is expressed (as Farquharson named). The theory of love languages lists 5 options. I think there are more, though that may well be due to some subdivisions within those 5.

Source

I think that as a community of faith, particularly a community that takes seriously the moral and ethical primacy of the commandment to Love, we need to make space for the varied ways that love can be expressed. I think that as a community of Love (as we hope we are) we need to recognize and celebrate the variety of ways that God's love is shared in our midst.

One thing that does not change is the Love, the Love that flows from God. One thing that does not change is that we are to aspire to a Love that is full-throated, that is inclusive, that mirrors and spreads the Love God has for us. There is not one 'right' way to do that. We each have our own ways. And that is a good thing.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 8, 2026 -- 5th Sunday After Epiphany

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 58:1-12
• Matthew 5:17-20

The Sermon title is Choose God's Fast!

Early Thoughts: In just a couple of weeks we will find ourselves in Lent. One of the old traditions of Lent is that it is a time of fasting, of choosing to abstain from certain things (most traditionally meat) for the season as we prepare for Easter. Nowadays this tradition is most commonly found in the question "what are you giving up for Lent?" -- with the understanding that what you give up is supposed to be something you would actually miss. [Side note: this tradition of fasting, of Lent as a somber season may well be the reason the Mardi Gras and Carnival take place just before Lent-- a final blowout before we start the Lenten fast.]

Fasting as a spiritual discipline has an ancient history. In Torah we find there are times when one is supposed or required to fast (Yom Kippur comes to mind) as part of the rituals of life. Fasting is a sacrificial act done to strengthen the spirit or as an act of penance. It is found in many different traditions.

But do we sometimes get it wrong?

Do people sometimes make a big deal, a big show of fasting as a way of showing how strong they are? Do people sometimes make it about themselves and not about the discipline? Even when it is about the discipline do we always allow the act of fasting to lead us into a deeper relationship with the Holy, to lead us to make a commitment to the Reign of God?

Do we sometimes think deciding not to eat chocolate (talk about denying oneself) makes a real difference in the world? What would it mean to participate in a Godly fast?

Many years ago this post ascribed to Pope Francis (there is some disagreement whether he was the first to say these things or if he even said them) floated through many Facebook feeds. These words challenge the reader to reconsider what to 'give up for Lent'.  The list isn't about eating and drinking or any of the other things people often claim to be giving up. Instead they challenge us to give up things that get in the way of Kingdom-living -- and replace them with healthier/more helpful alternatives Is that more what God has in mind for a fast?

Reading this week's passage from Isaiah makes me think so. Speaking through the prophet God tells the people that they have been getting fasting wrong. They have been going though the motions but not living into the spirit. They make a show of the fast but still quarrel, still oppress each other, still look out for themselves first.

The fast God chooses is one that breaks the yokes of injustice and oppression.  The fast that God chooses humbles rather than makes proud. The fast that God chooses leads to the hungry being fed and the naked being clothed. The fast that God chooses, the fast that God would have us choose, leads to renewal and rebirth, to a world rebuilt and restored.

So what fast would God have us choose in 2026?  Or maybe how would God have us fast in 2026?  Choosing not to eat, a hunger strike, can be a powerful tool of protest, has been for years. Boycotts are/can be, in my mind, a type of fasting and have been shown to be powerful tools as well.  Fasting can help change the world.

Or there are the fasts we take for our own health, the ones that allow us to be energized to take on the reality of life. Many people choose to take a break from Social Media for just this purpose.  Or some take on a "buy nothing" month to re-center themselves. Or maybe making a sincere effort to avoid sarcasm for a period of time. Fasting comes in many forms.

IS there a fast you feel called to undertake as we approach Lent this year?
--Gord