Reflections from the Minister’s Study – Apr 9th, 2012
Who do You See in the Mirror?
Palm Sunday, 2012
Mark 11:1-11
Psalm 118 (VU pg. 837 parts 1, 3 and 4)
Let us pray. God of the Cross, as we enter Holy Week, may we take the time to reflect on how you have touched our lives. May we find you in the deepest corners of our lives, always offering us newness and wholeness. Help us to grow in your ways each and every day. Amen.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?”
Does anyone here know where that famous line comes from? It comes from the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As you way remember, from the story, each day the evil step mother (if you are a step-mother sorry about the evil part) peers into her beautiful magic mirror and always asks the same question, “Who is the fairest of them all?”
Everything goes well until one day, when the evil witch asks the same question, excepting the same answer but the mirror has something very different to say.
Reflections from the Minister’s Study – Mar 22nd, 2012
Finding Words for our Faith
This sermon serves as a introduction to the historic vote that each Session will be making in the next two months. Each congregation has a committee called the Session that looks after the spiritual well-being of the congregation. For more info about the belief documents of the United Church please see the website at www.united-church.ca and look under the heading “beliefs.” Under the belief heading you will also find the study document entitled Our Words of Faith: Cherished, Honoured, and Living. The Words of Faith document outlines the vote that will be taken in the coming months.
Let us pray…Ever present and eternal God, as we listen to your Word, as we listen for the calling of the Spirit in our lives, help us to draw ever closer to you. Help our understanding to know you, our hearts to love you and our hands and feet to live out the grace that you pour so freely upon us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
When you were a child, what did you use to call your parents? Mom and Dad? Mother and Father? Pop? Ma and Pa? Or maybe Meme and Pappe?
What about names for your grandparents? Grandma and grandpa? Oma and Opa? Nanny? Granny? Gramps?
Did the words you used to address them change as you grew up or maybe they stayed the same because you felt comfortable using those names?
To change gears a bit, when you pray, how do you address the Divine? Lord, Father, Spirit, God, Loving Parent, Jesus, Christ, Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, Mother? The list is almost endless!
Reflections from the Minister’s Study – Feb 26th, 2012
Earth, Ashes and Dust
From the Service of Ashes, February 26th, 2012
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51:1-17 (VU p. 876)
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
In the words and in the spaces between them; in the stories that are told and the stories we imagine, speak to us, God! For you are God, the creator of all things. The one who loves with an overwhelming love. As the days get longer and the cross gets closer, help us to read, remember, and live your love. Amen.
On Valentine’s Day on CBC radio there was a documentary put together by a young woman who when she was a teenager, was diagnosed with a heart disease that required a new heart. In the documentary she recalled the day when she got the call that a new heart was ready for her. As she prepared to make her way to the hospital for the operation that would change her life, she told her boyfriend that he didn’t need to come with her. After all they hadn’t been going out for very long and she didn’t want him to lose time from work. But he did go with her and sat beside her bed the whole time. In time she healed but she explained that it took a long time for her to get used to her new heart. It took so long because her new heart was so loud so strong she couldn’t believe it was coming from inside her. It took time to get used to the new rhythm of life that was inside her.
The young woman said that after the operation she and her boyfriend would joke by saying things like, “Don’t break my heart” or, “I had a change of heart.”
I don’t remember her name, or what her documentary was called but her change of heart journey has been with me for the past two weeks.
Service Schedule for Lent, Holy Week and Beyond
For a list of all services for Lent and beyond, please check the Activities page.
“And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves,
but for him who died and was raised for them.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;* even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,* we know him no longer in that way.
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!”
-2 Corinthians 5:15-17 NRSV
As I sit at my desk, I look out and dream about the possibility of spring. It may only be the middle of February and yet I can see puddles everywhere! The sky is a clear deep blue and the sun warms your face when you look up. Even the air has that tinge of “spring freshness” to it. You just have to make sure to concentrate on the freshness and not the smell of whatever was hidden under the snow. The days are becoming longer and longer and the sun climbs ever higher in the sky. The long wait for spring surely cannot be that far away. Amazingly spring with its promise, its expectation, its newness, its hope is a lot like the presence of God. Just when you least expect it, God pops up to shake us awake. Just when we can’t take the dark days any longer, God pours out strength and courage, the determination to get through another day. And yet as I continue to write this to you, the clouds have gathered and hail is bouncing off the church roof! Once again that is God for you: always offering hope, sometimes having to wait, living with expectation, but in time God always, always delivers.
During Lent, the time of waiting and expectation, we at St. Paul’s have many wonderful things to draw you into the beauty and mystery of the season: from exploring the work of the Holy Spirit in modern day healing to exploring the Passover through a Sedar meal, to living our Easter faith through humour on the Sunday after Easter. God is always active in a call and response dance that humanity has engaged in with the divine since the dawn of time. God is good and we are God’s people.
Promises made and promises kept. Thanks be to God.
Reflections from the Minister’s Study – Feb 21st, 2012
Sex, Love Poetry and the Bible
Genesis 1:26-31
Psalm 139 (VU p. 861) Section 3 & 4
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
Mark 12:28-34
Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon)
Let us pray…God of resurrection, incarnation and love, help us to love all parts of our selves. Help us that each part of our being: our mind, body, spirit, will become dedicated to the love that you have shown us in the message and life of Jesus the Christ. May we be open to your word of renewal and transformation. Amen.
| I will never forget that day way back in grade six. We had a class that invited different religious leaders into our class room to talk with the students. I remember the class because it was the first time that I had a Bible in hands. I have to admit I wasn’t all that interested in what was being talked about so I began to leaf through the Bible. Somewhere near the beginning some words caught my attention. |  1616 The Fall of Man by Hendrik Goltz |
Reflections from the Minister’s Study – Feb 21st, 2012
Healed and Cured: What’s the Difference?
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30 (VU pg. 757)
Mark 1:40-45
Let us pray…Healing and rejuvenating God, as we hear your words for us today. May it give us true healing. May your promise of love and commitment bring us a joy and a hope and that will mend our hearts and turn our actions in an animated prayer to you. In Christ’s holy name. Amen.
In my family we had a number of different cures for various ailments. Perhaps you still have some tried and true cures that you have handed down in your family for generations. Maybe great Aunt Ruth’s recipe for curing a cold, Uncle Bob’s sure fire way to get your hair growing on your head again or Cousin May’s concoction for guaranteeing the gender of your unborn baby.
Our Spiritual Journey
Please click the image below to download a slideshow which offers just a small glimpse into the spiritual journey we have all taken together at St. Paul’s.
