Looking Ahead to October 4, 2026 -- World Communion Sunday

As this is the first Sunday of a new month it is our regular Communion Sunday. However the first Sunday in October is also marked out as World (or Worldwide) Communion Sunday. This is an idea that grew out of a Presbyterian congregation in the US in the 1930's as a way of fostering Christian Unity.

As always, on the first Sunday of the month we also like to highlight our Local Outreach fund and the tradition of a "Second Offering" where dedicated gifts are given to that fund. This fund is used to work with our partner agencies here in Grande Prairie to support our neighbours in times of need.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Exodus 12:3-4
• 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33

The Sermon title is A Banquet for All

A Place at The Table

Early Thoughts: From the beginning one of the markers of Christian worship was to gather at the table. We are told about it in the early chapters of Acts. We are told about it by Paul in 1 Corinthians. They gathered at tables, often a full meal that included what we now call Communion/Eucharist/Lord's Supper weekly. You would think with that sort of history this would be a unifying practice for the church.

Well maybe not. In the end the history of the church consists of many many arguments about communion. Who can receive? Who can serve? What gets served? What does the liturgy look and sound like? How often is the meal celebrated? How should it be served?

Sometimes these arguments take place between different denominations. Sometimes they take place within the same denomination. Sometimes they take place within the same congregation.

Still it is the meal to which Jesus invites us. It is the table where God is the host. I firmly believe that when we gather at the table we are getting a foretaste of the "eschatological banquet", the banquet at the changing of the world when the Reign of God comes to full flower. If that is true then surely it must be a place where all can gather?

Indeed, my preferred words of welcome and invitation to the table is the "all who seek to follow the Way of Jesus Christ are welcome to eat and drink".

One of the things that many of us are proud of in the United Church is that we offer an open table. This wasn't always so. There was a time when only confirmed members in good standing were expected to partake of communion. In my last year of seminary I interviewed a man who had been a visiting elder and remembered making those pre-communion visits to the members in his district. In the early 1980's I remember being at church during communion (I think the Jr. Choir had sung earlier in the service and we had not been taken over to the school where Sunday School was meeting) and my sister and I just automatically going up to be served with the rest of the crowd. Later my father made it clear that this was not proper as we we not yet confirmed.

Times change. In the later 80's many United Church congregations had conversations about children being welcome at the table. There were objections about "they are too young to understand" and counters like "how will they ever understand if they don't take part" or "I don't fully understand but I still take part".

I believe that God is constantly calling us to broaden our understandings, to find a way to make this a banquet for all. the challenge is how do we do that? How do we balance the traditions and traditional understandings that bring people comfort with new ideas, new understandings that open the door a bit wider? How do we mix "the way we always done it"  with "this is how we did it in my last church"? 

There is no one simple way to answer those questions.

This Sunday we will sing "For everyone born, a place at the table". In song we will remind ourselves of a call to "build a longer table...feasting together stranger turns to friend".  As we gather on this World Communion Sunday I invite us all to consider how this meal can become an even better symbol of the whole Body of Christ gathered together. As it happens, in my searching this morning I found some thoughts on the United Church website on that very topic. 

I believe we need to celebrate how we welcome all and how our welcome has broadened over time. I maintain we also need to ask what limits we may have placed (intentionally or not) on who gets to participate fully. When are those limits good to maintain, when do they need to be pushed, when do they need to be dropped? Again the answers are not always clear, and not everyone will answer the same way on any of them.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 27, 2026 -- Creation 3

 This week we continue passing through Creation Time. As a reminder our theme verse for Creation Time this year comes from Romans: We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Romans 8:22
• Exodus 17:1-7 
• Matthew 6: 25-34

The Sermon title is God Will Provide

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Early Thoughts: Do we have that kind of trust? Over and over Scripture advises or encourages us to trust that God will provide. Jesus almost makes it sound like a commandment or instruction. Do you have that level of trust? I don't think I do. What might life look like if we did? What happens when we don't have it?

In my reading last week I was reminded that people who are starving tend to develop an fixation on food. They will not be sure that there will be food tomorrow. They are more apt to save or even hoard it. I strongly suspect that the same thing happens when we starve, feel the deep lack of, for other things in our lives.

Is that a side effect of a lack of trust?

What would it look like if we lived life trusting that we would get what we need? Would we indeed get it or would we be trodden under the wheel of economics?

To be honest, when I read the Matthew passage for this week is get a bit of a "don't be such a pollyanna" response in my core. Now admittedly I lean more to Murphy's Law, or pessimism or even catastrophism (by which I mean expecting the worst possible outcome) in my philosophy of life so I may not always be the best judge of such things. Still it appears that Jesus is not being altogether realistic, particularly in a 21st Century context. Lots of people are consumed by those worries for the simple reason that they do not have these things.

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The people in the desert are justified, I think, in at least some of their grumbling and complaining. They were hungry and thirsty in a setting where food and water were not easily found. I think they have valid concerns. But God answers those specific concerns. Last week we heard of the provision of quail and manna, this week we have the provision of water. The same God who heard the wailing of the people in slavery hears them in the desert and God responds.

How does God respond to our worry and complaining today?

I note that Scripture doesn't mean "sit back and do nothing" when telling us to trust in God. Jesus does not tell his friends to do nothing, he tells them not to worry. God provides for God's people as the people need and meets them where they are. God also tells the people that once they are out of the wilderness they need to build in practices to care for their neighbours. That is part of how God provides for God's people. Some years after Jesus preaches the Sermon in the Mount Paul will take up a collection for the Jerusalem church in a time of hardship. Trusting in God to provide may take many different faces.

Trusting in God allows us to not worry. I think that trusting in God's providence allows us to  be more comfortable with a smaller safety cushion. It helps us think differently about how much we need to save "just in case". I think that this might make us healthier as individuals and as a society. It might help us respond in different ways to the many different reasons all Creation is groaning.

This does not mean it is easy to have that level of trust. Some of us find it so much easier to worry.
--Gord

A Pastoral Letter as Alberta Approaches Referendum Day

September 19, 2026

Friends in Christ,

Peace and Grace to all of you in the name of the God who is made known as Creator, Christ and Spirit.

As I sit down to write today the words of Jeremiah 29:7-8 come to mind “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you...”. In chapter 29 Jeremiah is speaking to people in exile who have a faint hope that they will go home immediately. He is telling them what to do while they wait (and it will be a long wait). But it is an instruction that holds true wherever and whenever we find ourselves. We are to work for the welfare, the best possibility, of the place where we find ourselves living, we are to pray on behalf of the people and community around us.

Exactly one month from today (as I write these words) the people of Alberta will be going to the polls. We will be voting on a series of 10 referendum questions [you can read them here: https://www.elections.ab.ca/elections/referendum/]. Questions 1-5 have to do with immigration-related issues, Questions 5-10 are constitutional in in nature (10 being the question related to separation). As we prepare to vote on October 19^th (or earlier by mail, or at the advance polls as I intend to do) what does it mean to work for the welfare of the community, what prayers do we raise up in the community’s behalf?

All summer I have been pondering how I, as a leader of a faith community, should respond to this referendum. Not so much how I will vote, I decided that months ago, but believing strongly that the church needs to speak to how we live together as a society what is the appropriate response in this situation. Most certainly it is not appropriate to say “vote this way” but it is also not appropriate to say nothing. Some of these questions, the ones dealing with immigration, touch on some very theological issues in my opinion. So I think the best route is to name what I see as the theological questions and ask all of you to weigh those considerations into your decision making.

I begin with the proposition that as Christians our first loyalty lies with the Reign of God, not to Canada, not to Alberta, but to something bigger and different. That colours how I interpret what it means to follow the instructions Jeremiah gives to the exiles in Babylon. After all, as followers of Christ, followers of The Way of Jesus we are called to love our neighbours, friends, families, enemies and strangers. How do we live out that love when we answer those 5 questions about immigration?

Over and over again in Scripture, both Jewish and Christian, we are told to care for the stranger and newcomer in our midst. Over and over again we are called to ensure that the most vulnerable among us is protected, fed, housed, and clothed. Arguably our society has, at best, a mixed record when it comes to living into that calling. Sometimes we have been insular, worrying about ourselves first and ‘them’ later. If we take seriously my proposition that our first loyalty is to the Reign of God I think that changes the math, it means we worry about what is good for all of us at the same time. As I said last Sunday, we are all in this together. We need to vote as if that is true.

There are a lot of voices out there claiming to have a claim to the truth. Some of them we will agree with, some of them we will think are out of touch with reality. And that door really swings both ways. I think we need to pay attention to what they say but not stop there. God has given each and every one of us the ability to listen, to reason, and discern for ourselves where we hear God calling us to go. We listen to our neighbours but also tot he words of Scripture. We look for the path that lives out love for all of God’s Beloved Children. We seek and pray for the welfare of the community in which we find ourselves both in the present and in the future.

I know how and why I am voting on these referendum questions. I am open to talking about them, but I can’t, won’t, and shouldn’t tell you how to vote. I trust all of you to vote with your hearts and minds and hopes on all 10 questions. Every time we help shape the way our society works, both in our faith lives and in our civic lives, we have a chance to move the world toward God’ vision of God’s Reign. May God give us the wisdom to listen, to pray, and to act accordingly.

I close this letter with one more request. In the lead up to this referendum many harsh words have been said. Many people have felt attacked, injured, threatened, and dismissed by those words. That will still be a reality on the days following October 20^th, no matter what the results of the referendum is. My hope is that we can choose to be voices of healing, not doing more damage. My hope is that those of us who feel overwhelmed or scared by all this will find ways to regain our footing. My expectation is that as a community of faith we will help that to happen. After all, in the big picture, we are all in this together and there are lots of other issues we need to work on as we live into the Reign of God.

May God be with us as we head into October 19^th. May we find wisdom and hope and love as we lean into God’s presence in our midst.

Shalom/Salaam/Peace/Paix,

Looking Ahead to September 20, 2026 -- Creation 2

This week we continue passing through Creation Time. As a reminder our theme verse for Creation Time this year comes from Romans: We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Romans 8:22
• Exodus 16:4-21

The Sermon title is Take What You Need

Early Thoughts:  What do you need? What do you want? Are we always aware of the difference?

Because taking what you need is a bit different from taking what you want.  One is much healthier than the other.

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Exodus 16 tells a fairly well-known story of God's miraculous providence. The people are in the desert, there is no food. The people are getting antsy. So God tells them to wait and watch. At evening a flock of birds descend on the camp and the people have meat. Then in the morning the ground is covered with a flaky substance. They collect this stuff, (manna is related to the question "what is this stuff") and have bread. As it happens everyone gathers as much as they need for their family, no more and no less. Nobody goes without. Nobody has too much. The manna that is not collected melts away with the morning sun. The story will tell us that the people live on this bread from heaven until they cross the Jordan.

It is a great story for talking about trust in God. It is one of many in Scripture that reminds us that God will provide what we need (there are others from he wandering in the desert, Jesus counsels his followers not to worry in the Sermon on the Mount). That is a great lesson for the faithful to remember. We will talk more about it next week. But there is a bit in the story of manna that almost gets missed.

Moses tells the people to only take what they need for the day. He specifically tells them not to keep any for tomorrow. But people are people. Some decide to keep some in storage. It rots. Once a week they can take more than they need for one day. The day before Sabbath they gather two days worth of manna since they can not gather any on Sabbath. Then it does not rot, but stays fresh for the Sabbath day. But excess, hoarding, taking more than you need simply does not work with manna.

Maybe there is a message for us there as well.

Why did some try to keep manna past the best before date? were they hedging their bets, wondering "what if it doesn't come tomorrow?"? Were they hoping to sell it to their neighbour when they got hungry in the middle of the night? Did they just want to look important because they had more than anyone else? The story doesn't tell us. It is one of the gaps we can let our imagination fill in. All we are told is that the kept back food rots overnight and the Moses is not pleased.

I think that the story reminds us that taking what we need means only taking what we need.

I remember more than once as I was growing up my mother reminding me that want and need are different things. We live, I believe, in a world where we have forgotten the difference. That is not surprising since there is a multi-billion dollar industry committed to making us forget the difference. We are routinely told that we need something that we really don't -- some of it stuff we didn't even want until somebody decided to convince us it was a necessity.

What would happen if all the stuff we got because we wanted but didn't need it rotted or broke or ceased to work overnight?

Paul tells us in our theme verse for this season that all creation is groaning. I have a very strong belief that part of Creation's groaning, part of Creation's pain, comes from the fact that we have mistaken wants for needs. I believe that a large part of why we have such incredible discrepancy between the haves and the have-nots in the world is that we have forgotten the difference between wants and needs. I believe that many issues would take a big step toward resolution if we re-learned the difference between wants and needs.

Years ago a friend of mine who was a recovering alcoholic told me how lucky I was to learn the difference. They said that the first thing they were told went they went into rehab was that they were confusing wants with needs. Obviously addiction is more complicated than that one piece. Still, as I look at the world around us I have to wonder what addictions have been allowed (or even encouraged) to run amuck and thus led to the fracturing of society and the degradation of Creation?

LEt's be honest, we will always fulfill some of our wants. WE don't have to limit ourselves to only what we need. Wants are part of what gives life joy. But we have to find the right balance as we hear creation groaning.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 13, 2026 -- Creation Time 1

 AS this Sunday marks the end of my Sabbatical we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week. All are welcome to the table!

For a few years now we have been encouraged to take time in September to mark Creation Time, a season where we take seriously our call to be caretakers of creation. This year we will take the last 3 Sundays of September to do just that. The guiding verse for these Sundays is Romans 8:22 "We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labour"

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Romans 8:22
• Romans 14:1-12

The Sermon title is We’re In This Together

Early Thoughts: It has been an interesting summer, weather-wise. Edmonton and area had massive amounts of rain in June and July. Northwestern Ontario has massive fires in the boreal forest. Europe was HOT and dry, in the great rivers "famine stones" were starting to appear. A famine stone is a rock that only appears in exceptionally dry conditions when the river is really low, the name comes from the reality that for most of history a year that dry means crop failures and famine would follow. Then to end the summer Nepal was hit by massive flooding as a result of a glacier collapse.

All creation is groaning indeed.

How are we called to respond?

There are probably many ways to answer that question. We could complain about stormwater systems that are overwhelmed by 1-in-200 year storms and insist the municipal government is incompetent. We could complain that smoke from a devastated area is making our lives uncomfortable. We could look at the wider picture of climate change and either deny it is happening or insist that it the cost of 'progress' or 'economic growth and prosperity'.

I am not sure those responses are helpful, caring, or faithful.

During the 1992 US Presidential election Bill Clinton used the catchphrase (coined by political strategist James Carville) "it's the economy stupid". 34 years later I think Carville was only partially right. Politicians have to run on economic platforms, the economy hits each and every one of us. The economy often determines who lives and who dies, who eats tomorrow and who has a roof over their heads. We can not deny that.

But it is not, and never has been, only about the economy. (And even when it is about the economy I am not sure we use the right metrics to determine health -- is it about everybody's well-being or how well the stock market is doing?) As people of faith, called to listen to the groaning of creation, commanded to "in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15) we have to consider the ecology as much as the economy. We are called to ask how they interact, and how they might interact better.

We are also called, as people of faith, as people who are created as part of a giant interactive system, to worry about parts of creation that are not us. The commandment to love our neighbour kicks in again, if only because we are all in this together. Loving our neighbour means our human neighbours and also our canine and ursine and equine neighbours. As the Lorax taught a couple generations of children it includes the forests. 

Paul reminds the people in Rome about lifting up the whole community. Paul reminds them that they are God's and so are our neighbours. In that reminder is the reality the we are to hold each other up even when we disagree, even when we disagree on things that feel really important. We are, after all, in this together, part of a larger whole.

So how do we respond to the groaning of creation?

I suggest we start by focusing our attention more broadly than what benefits us. We also need to get past the language of "but it is my right!!!!" and into asking "what are my responsibilities and obligations?". Those two things will, I believe, push us to remember that we are all in this together, that what we do impacts others (those alive now and the generations yet to come).

I don't actually believe it is a question of economy vs. ecology. I think it is a both/and. Are many or most of our current Western assumptions about what makes a healthy economy problematic? Yes. The march toward unfettered capitalism is very damaging to God's creation both human and non-human. Luckily there are other ways to build the world. It may not mean as much economic growth. In a place like Canada the has historically relied so heavily on extracting resources (oil, coal, minerals, lumber) from the ground it may make for some difficult conversations. But there must be ways that we can move forward and tend to the need of all creation.

AS the summer has moved on this idea of "we're all in this together" has morphed a bit. In the Spring when I set the thigs for Creation Time I was seeing it solely in economic and ecological terms. But there is a referendum coming up in Alberta and I think the premise that we are all in this together holds in how we approach those 10 questions, particularly the 5 dealing with immigration.

AS we move into the future, as we dream about a changed economic model, as we advocate for better or different protections for the created world, as we ponder how we will vote on October 19, let us all remember that we are all in this together. Let's keep in mind that we all need to flourish. Let's lift up the idea that what lifts up neighbour is good for me too.  I close these opening thoughts with one final meme harvested from Facebook:

We are in this together, all of us, human and non-human alike. May God help us live as if that was true.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 3, 2026 -- Easter 5, Launching into a Time of Sabbatical

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 2:1-3 
• Exodus 20:8-11 
• Hebrews 4:9-10

The Sermon title is Sabbath

Early Thoughts: A time to rest, a time to recharge, a time to reset our priorities, a time to make a statement about how the world could work.  Maybe Sabbath is all of these.

From the very beginning of our faith story we are told about finding a balance. From the very beginning of the story we are told that resting, taking a break, not being productive for a time is a good thing. In fact we are told it should be one seventh (14%) of our time. God sets the model at the end of the hymn to Creation. God calls us to follow the model throughout the rest of the story.

There are LOTS of passages in Scripture that talk about this commandment to keep Sabbath. As time went by it would become one of the defining features of the people of Israel (used Biblically, not necessarily referring to the modern nation-state). The Rabbis have spent HOURS and YEARS debating what it means to keep Sabbath properly. Jesus will find himself involved in these debates. It is easy to say something is important, it is more difficult to say what exactly that means, how it gets lived out.

In a more modern sense Christians have had many debates about how best to keep the Lord's Day -- very early on Christians moved their rest day from the last day of the week (the Jewish Sabbath flows from Friday evening until Saturday evening) to the first day of the week to mark the Resurrection. There are some who say that the very earliest followers of Jesus, who were mainly Jewish, kept Sabbath and then had a celebration the next day as well but as the Christian movement became more Gentile it was easier to justify doing it all on the one day. As time went by there were understandings of what was and was not 'proper' to do on Sunday. Reading Scripture was good. Playing games not so much. I once met a person who said that when she was growing up Sunday dinner was always prepped (or at least mainly prepped) on Saturday to avoid having to do the work on Sunday. And many of us might remember the Blue Laws which gave legal and civil limits to what could be open on Sunday. Personally I remember the debate in Alberta about Sunday shopping back when I was in my early teens.

My how times have changed

How do we honor Sabbath now?  How best do we keep the idea that time of rest and non-productiveness are important?

I don't think the answer lies in creating (or recreating or trying to enforce) the old rules. I think the answer has to first start with "why is this important?". This is part of what I think Jesus is saying when he tells us that the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. Rules can help but they can also hurt when we make them more important than people.

So why is Sabbath-time important?

Sabbath-time (a phrase I have come to use to remind me that it is not just about a specific day but a concept) is important, I think, for a number of reasons. Things like:

• we are not meant to be "on" all the time, our mental and physical health is better for it
• in a culture that has bought into the myth that the economy can grow continuously Sabbath-time reminds us that maybe it shouldn't
• some studies show that having nothing to do, maybe even being bored, sparks our creative/imaginative sides
• Sabbath reminds us that energy is finite
• a forced pause helps us re-focus
• when we work all the time we start to forget that it isn't all about us
• I remember the lesson once learned by farmers about the importance of leaving a field fallow once every few years, so that it could continue to be productive in the future

So what do we do about Sabbath-time in 2026? How do we step off  of the treadmill, step out of the busy-ness of life when there is so much that needs to be done?

Good questions to ponder.  Maybe on Sunday I will have some attempts at answers.

--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 19, 2026 -- Easter 3

 This week we continue through the appearance stories we find in John's Gospel, this time back in Galilee in John 21:15-24.

The Sermon title is Do You Love Me?

Early Thoughts:  Ok, first things first.  This is not going to be a meditation on the classic duet between Tevye and Golde in Fiddler On the Roof (as much as I love that musical and what that song says about love). Neither will it be about the old Contours hit about dancing (for one thing I am routinely told that I can NOT dance). I will admit that there is a possibility both songs were referred to while we were choosing hymns...

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Instead we are listening in on a chat between Peter and Jesus. In the earlier verses of John 21 we learn that the disciples have returned to Galilee, gone back to the familiar. Peter has gone all the way back to his roots as a fisherman. There is a miraculously large catch after a fruitless night's work and they recognize Jesus on the shore where they have a shore lunch (well, breakfast) with him.

After they eat Jesus and Peter are talking. And Jesus asks Peter three times "Do you love me". Some see the threefold question as a way of counter-acting Peter's threefold renunciation of Jesus before the crucifixion. Peter seems a little bit hurt and discombobulated by the repetition. Which makes sense--how many times do I have to answer the same question????

What I find striking is that in the process of the three questions Jesus gives the same commandment three times. Back in chapter 14, during the Farewell Discourse, Jesus said to the disciples "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Here, as he asks Peter to affirm his love Jesus(the Good Shepherd, see John 10) tells him to take care of the flock. Words are not enough. Loving Jesus needs to result in action.

Loving Jesus also seems to require risk-taking. Peter, the story foretells, will find a time when he is bound and led where he does not choose to go. Loving Jesus means that you may lose control of your life. Loving Jesus means accepting that some will have a different path from yours.

Answering "you know I love you" is a far more complicated thing than it sounds.

I invite us to put ourselves in Peter's shoes as we read this story. How would we respond to that question? How many times might we need to be asked, along with the commandments about what loving Jesus means, before we fully realize what is being asked of us? 
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 12, 2026 -- Easter 2

 The Scripture Reading for this week is John 20:19-31.

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The Sermon title is Showing the Scars.

Early Thoughts: What scars do you have? How do you carry those scars forward into the next phase of life?

As the blogpost where I got the picture to the right put it "even Jesus had scars". Jesus appears to the disciples in an upper room and reveals that the wounds of crucifixion are still visible on his resurrected body. Even in the glory of new life the scars remain.

Why?  Wouldn't the promise of new life bring with it the promise that we put the hurts and wounds, including the reminders we call scars, of the old life behind us?

That is often how we want to see the world. In paradise the wounds and hurts don't apply anymore. And maybe that is partially true. Jesus offer healing of body and soul. When we are healed the wounds don't hurt so much any more. When we are healed the active bleeding has stopped. But I suggest that to be healed doesn't mean that the wound has ceased to leave a mark.

I can look over my hands and recall how most of the scars have come from. They all have a story. Some are stories of misfortune, some are stories of inattention. Over the years they have faded, some almost to the point of invisibility but if I look closely they are still there.

What stories do your scars tell? Are the stories happy, tragic, painful, traumatic or some other feeling (or mix of feelings)? How have those stories, those scars shaped who you are?

I fully believe that our lives, our selves, who we are, has been shaped by everything that we have encountered and experienced in our lives. SO our scars are a part of what makes us who we are. Why would we want to leave them behind?

Ok I know lots of reasons we might want to leave some of those scars behind. Look at what Charlie Brown  has to say about his scars (though I might use the word emotional instead of mental). Those scars have stories too, and often those are really hard stories to remember. But they too have helped to shape who we are. The hope is that they are just scars, just reminders that have been healed and no longer throb.

Easter reminds us that healing and new life are a possibility. Easter reminds us that our woundedness is never permanent. But the fact that Jesus shows up in an upper room (Diana Butler Bass suggests that it is the same upper room in which they gathered the night before Jesus was arrested, and that it is the same upper room in which they will be gathered weeks later when Pentecost comes) still bearing the marks of his woundedness reminds us that healing never takes away the fact that the woundedness was one there.

Scars may seem unsightly. We may spend time, money, and labour trying to hide our scars -- the ones on the surface and the ones we bury deep inside. We may find that scar tissue itself gets in the way of something we want to do at time. But the scars, and the stories they carry, are a part of us. The wounds may be fully healed but every once in a while the scars will remind us of them. May God help us continue to heal but also to learn from the scars as we move into new life, new hope, and the promise of resurrection.

Because I like this one (I found it when looking for the cartoon above) I close with this image from Peanuts:

Hold on (tenderly) to your scars, however healed or unhealed they may be.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 5, 2026 -- Easter Sunday

The Scripture for this morning in John 20:1-18

The Sermon title is The Impossible...Possible?

Early Thoughts: Can life really win after all? Can hope really overcome despair? Can love actually conquer fear?

It seems impossible. WE know all too well the reality of death, despair, and fear. We just have to look at the world around us to believe that they are what is actually winning. Surely it is a pipe-dream, a pollyanna attitude, to believe otherwise.

And then we read the Easter story.

Jesus was dead after all. When the Roman Empire wanted you dead then you were going to end up dead. He had been crucified, he had proclaimed "It is Finished" and bowed down his head, his side had been pierced, and his body had been laid in a tomb. The world had won. Mary was heading to his tomb to weep and mourn.

But then the impossible happened.

The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. Some new horror must have taken place. "I don't know where they have taken him!"

But this was not some new horror, this was hope beyond hope. Mary would meet the one who died, would be able to proclaim (as the first evangelist, the first to preach the Good News) "I have seen the Lord!"

What seemed impossible was indeed possible. Death did not have the final word --life and love did. Despair is not, in the end, stronger than hope. 

That is the Easter promise. That is the Easter message. The world had done its worst and it still lost. It is still true today. When it looks like fear and death and despair have won then we know it ain't over yet. It ain't over until hope and life and love have won. Anything else is just a setback.

As The Dread Pirate Roberts/Westley tells Buttercup in The Princess Bride "Death can not stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while".

It seems impossible but it is a statement of faith and trust. Live Wins.

Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to Holy Week

Shall we start with Thursday...

We will read a segment from Matthew's account of Jesus' last days: Matthew 26:17-30, 36-46

The Reflection will be Stay Awake

Early Thoughts: They have gathered for a meal. Jesus has given them the structure for what will eventually be formalized into the Christian Eucharist/Communion celebration. Since the triumphant entry into the city just a few days ago Jesus has been confronting the authorities in the Temple and has spent time talking about preparing for the end. Surely the stress level amongst the disciples must have been a little high.

Then in the garden Jesus asks them to sit in the dark and stay awake. They fail. Repeatedly.

What if they had stayed awake? What if they had overheard Jesus anguished prayer? How might that have changed them?

Sleep is, of course, a necessity for our health. Sleep keeps us renewed. Sometimes sleep can be a way to escape as well. Sometimes in stress sleep is one of those ways we can shut off the outside world, even if just for a little while.

When should we be more intentional about staying awake? 

In the last number of years some commentators have tried to make being 'woke' (even if the term is never really well-defined) as a bad thing. Interestingly others tell people to "Wake UP!!!!". As we contemplate following the path of Jesus, The Way of Jesus I think we have to be awake. I think we have to resist the temptations to allow ourselves to be numbed to reality, or to let ourselves be lulled into falling asleep. HOw might our world change if more of us stayed awake?

At the same time I know some of us are exhausted and a nap sounds really good...

Now shall we look at Friday?

This year we will hear a portion of the Passion story as told by John: John 19:1-30

That will be followed by a reflection So Many Crosses

Early Thoughts: The Passion story is a story of a sham trial, a foregone conclusion and a torturous execution. Good thing those don't happen anymore right?

OR do they?

AS we look at the world are there people who are summarily condemned? Maybe not by the state but certainly by the society around them. There are people who are cast away. There are people who are scapegoated, who are used as convenient sacrifices to keep the world acting "as normal". There are people who are told that to be their full selves makes them eligible for being cast out, makes them worth less than others.

What are the crosses we see in the world today? WHen we see them how do we react?

Later that night we will hear the end of the Good Friday story, the burial of Jesus: John 19:38-42

That marks our transition into the great time of vigil and waiting. So we will be invited to reflect with We Are Waiting.

Early Thoughts: What is is like to wait? How do we sit vigil? What are we waiting for?

In his Song "Hidden Hallelujah" Christopher Grundy reminds us of some of the people who are left out, some of the crosses in our world. He also reminds us that we are all waiting for a hidden hallelujah, waiting to hear the bells of justice, waiting for God's grace, for God's kin-dom. One of our Easter hymns (Joy Comes With the Dawn) tells us that weeping may come in the night  but then joy comes in the morning light.

AS we leave the Good Friday service night has fallen. But we await a new dawn, a new hope, life will yet win.  As Grundy sings, "it ain't over til the angels sing".
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 29, 2026 -- Palm Sunday

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Zechariah 9:9-10
• Matthew 21:1-17

The Sermon title is The King Arrives!

Early Thoughts: What if it is a loyalty test? Where would we land in such a test? Which king-ship, which brand or expression of power would we line up beside/behind?

The Palm Sunday story carries with it many images fit for a King. Matthew tells the story, it appears, with the words of Zechariah in his head (even if Matthew reads it as though the victorious king is riding in to the city on two animals at once). There the imagery is clearly victorious and yet even there we find a disconnect. The victorious king proclaimed by Zechariah is humble rather than proud, riding on an ass instead of a war horse. So it is with Jesus. And yet the crowds cheering and laying branches and cloaks on the roadway certainly give it a triumphant, even royal feeling. Are the branches and cloak the equivalent of rolling out the red carpet?

So it is a royal welcome, a victory march, perhaps a coronation processional. But one meant for a very different king. One that lifts up a very different understanding of power. One that challenges how we understand 'the way the world works' -- a challenge made evident as Jesu immediately goes to the Temple and upsets the business happening there..

In their book The Last Week Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan suggest that there are two parades happening this day. As one king enters the city to great acclaim but humbly riding on a donkey the Empire enters the city through another gate with a great show of military Imperial power. Which model of power will win?

Source and Description

To be a Christian, or at least one definition of that, is to become more Christ-like, to align our lives and priorities with Jesus. In that case how we answer the loyalty question becomes easier and, at the same time, more complicated. Obviously we would choose the power of the one on the donkey, the one who says things like "blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful, those who huger for righteousness", the one who calls us to love our enemies, the one who tells us not to hoard what we have, the one who tells us to serve all our neighbours because then we serve him. That must be the answer right? But doing that is hard. Doing that goes against the flow. Doing that seems, at times, foolhardy. Certainly it is no way to get ahead in the world.

This week the king arrives in town. As the next week progresses the full cost of his understanding of king-ship and power and the world will be put to the test. The powers around him will fail the test. His closest friends will scatter out of fear for their own survival. 2000 ears later we still parade and sing and cheer. But how will we do on the test? In a world where empire still strikes hard and fast. In a world where power is defined as 'might makes right' or 'greed works', a world where being different often leads you to the edges of society is there a place for the power of a king on a donkey?

What if it is a loyalty test? What brand/understanding of power do we choose?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 22, 2026 -- Lent 5

 The Scripture Reading this week is John 11:1-44 (the raising of Lazarus)

At Children's Time we will be hearing about Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones.

The Sermon title is Death, Grief, Life

Early Thoughts: Jesus wept. He came to the place where Lazarus had been laid and Jesus wept. As one of our Communion hymns (Eat This Bread and Never Hunger verse 3, #471 in Voices United) puts it: "Weeping for his friend at graveside, Jesus felt the pain of death".

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This is a well-known, maybe even beloved, story from John's Gospel. It is also a challenging story. Why does Jesus not respond faster to the news that Lazarus is ill? Is talking to a woman in fresh grief (who has already questioned why you did not get there in time to make a difference) really the best time to engage in theological discussions about resurrection and the end times? Sometimes reading the story I get the sense that Jesus wants to make it all about him, that Lazarus (and his death and his grieving family) are just props for Jesus to show his/God's Power and make a theological point about the Messiah.

But then we meet the raw emotion of it. Jesus weeps. Jesus who has already said he is on his way to re-awaken Lazarus, Jesus who knows what he plans to do next, Jesus who is about to call Lazarus out of the tomb, he weeps. Because Jesus knows the reality that when death visits grief is always along for the ride.

This is a story about death and grief and how we respond. At least that is part of the story. It is not the end of the story. The end of the story is life.

It is a roller coaster after all. Lazarus is sick. Lazarus is "asleep". Lazarus is well and truly dead (4 days in the tomb dead). There is great grief. Then Lazarus comes out of the tomb and, presumably sine the text does not tell us, there is great joy and relief.

Paired with this story in the lectionary is the story of Ezekiel and his vision of the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel is told by God to speak  to the bones and the become re-articulated (toe bone connected to the boot bon, foot bone connected to the leg bone...) and covered with flesh. Ezekiel speaks again and the Spirit of God blows into these bodies and they become alive again. Where there was only death and grief and loss there is once again life.

But the life never really removes the reality of death and grief. They remain as echoes, they remain to change how we see the world.

So it is, so it always has been. Death and grief are part of life but in the end, faith tells us, life will win.

An we weep with Jesus and still find the promise that life will emerge? Can we look at a valley of dry dead hopes and dreams and feel the wind of God blowing around with the promise of new life? Can we look at a world where illness and death and destruction seem to have the upper hand and still look for signs of new life?

The last line of that verse I quoted earlier is "yet he knew God's power to waken; living water, living breath". In Christ, with God, in faith, life and love will win in the end. If they haven't won yet then the story has not yet ended.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 15, 2026 -- Lent 4, Daring Justice

 

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Amos 5:21-24
• John 2:13-17

The Sermon title is Dare to Flip the Tables

Early Thoughts: One of the oldest answers to the question "what does it mean to be a Christian?" is that it is to try to be like Christ. Not just to follow his way but to be like him, to share his passion for God's Reign, to share his concern for the people out at the margins.

Jesus, in a fit of passionate outrage, flipped over tables and drove people out of the Temple.

What might lead us to be as intentionally disruptive? What would be our equivalent to flipping over the tables in the Temple?

The third word pair in the Call to the United Church put out by the General Council a few years back is Daring Justice. To be daring is to take risks. To be daring is to challenge the status quo. To be daring is to suggest a whole new way of seeing/being in the world.

How do we take risks to break the wheels of injustice? It is easier to bandage the wounds and make sincere calls for change. How do we slide a pipe into the wheels (throw a spanner in the works?) so that there aren't people waiting to be bandaged?

Years ago I heard a speaker share a different version of that idea. It was noted that the church is good at pulling bodies from the river to keep folk from being washed away. Sometimes we even build grand structure to help catch them as they float by. But what we really need to do is go upstream and stop them from being thrown in.

Scripture is fairly clear that justice is one of God's primary concerns. In Torah we find many laws/rules/regulations designed to make a more just society, one where all are allowed to thrive. In the prophets there are a couple of primary complaints made against the people and their leadership. One is that they have wandered astray, falling into idolatry and neglecting to follow the way God placed in front of them. The other (which is often related to the first) is that they have failed to act justly toward each other. Then in the Gospels Jesus fairly regularly chooses justice (maybe in his teachings, maybe in his healings, maybe in his actions) over the Law. He goes so far as to point out that Sabbath in particular is made for people not the reverse, so justice and health for the people take precedence over the law.

We live in a world that is filled with examples of injustice. Whole groups of people are pushed to the margins, are blamed for all that is wrong with the province/country/economy, are targeted for violence, are used as scapegoats. Individuals and groups are deprived of what is needed to live, to grow, to thrive. Systems seem to favour the haves over the have-nots.

What can we do? How can we break the cycles?

We are called to dare to challenge the systems of injustice, even (or perhaps especially) when we ourselves benefit from those systems. That sounds risky. 

We are called to flip over the tables and barriers that get in the way. Sometimes we have helped to build or maintain those barriers. Sometimes we put a target on our backs when start to lift the edge. It is easy to talk about it over coffee, or hear a sermon at church, or write a letter to a politician. Can we take the risk of taking to the streets, of acting out our prayers for justice?

In this post are quotes from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They are but two examples of people who chose to take that risk, who chose to let the target appear on them. They both spoke out against injustice and evil. They both paid a heavy price.

And now, because I have another picture, I see another piece of our call to daring justice. We live in a world, a culture, of personal freedom. Surely freedom (or FREEDOM!!! as some might say it) can't get in the way of justice can it?

Freedom is vital to a healthy society. But it needs to be limited, responsible freedom. 6 years ago the world shut down. 6 years ago we entered debates about mask mandates and vaccines and freedom. As the picture shows us, freedom used irresponsibly or without consideration for others does indeed get in the way for justice.

Maybe one of the ways we practice Daring Justice is to give up some of our 'freedom'. Perhaps the path to justice involves what is good for the community and not just what is good for me. Perhaps one of the tables that needs flipping is this belief that the individual is king?  In fact I am almost certain this is the case.

What other tables do you think need to be flipped? Where are we called to take risks as God creates a just world around us?
--Gord

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".

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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.

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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