Dependent on God’s mercy
A Pharisee and a tax collector This parable of Jesus seems self-evident. It compares the attitude of two men’s prayers: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee’s seems rather arrogant, while the tax collector’s only petition is of God’s mercy. The Pharisee’s self-centred prayer is all about his supposed place in God’s favour. The…
Easter is past . . . where is Jesus now?
Excerpted and translated from a sermon preached at Niagara United Mennonite Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on April 26, 2015. It is based on chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, the well-known story of the disciples back in Galilee shortly after Easter. The entire Easter story is full of tension and contradictions. And the disciples had…
Divided for service
There are some verses in the Bible that we studiously avoid thinking about, let alone discuss publicly. They are like repressed memories or family secrets that threaten to cast us back into shame and confusion, to undo the semblance of peace, fellowship and orderliness that we have so diligently cultivated for ourselves. What a surprise…
The Work of Love Part Two: A Sermon
This is a follow up sermon in the two-part series I preached at Crosshill Mennonite Church called ‘The Work of Love’. The first part can be found here. This morning we heard the text of the third letter of John, a book which takes the cake for being the very shortest book of the New…
The Work of Love: A Sermon
With my colleague Doug being away on holidays, this past Sunday and next Sunday I’m going to try my hand at a two-part sermon series on some themes in the second and third letters of John. If you’ve read both letters you’ll know that they are probably two of the very shortest books in the…
