Booths and Baptism: Nehemiah 8 I. Here’s a home-improvement project for you to try: Every fall, as the leaves begin to turn and the chill starts to arrive, build a hut in your backyard. Not just any hut, but a hut with at least three walls and a roof covered with branches that allows more shade than sun, but still gives a view of the stars. You should plan to eat in it, and ideally to sleep in it, for…
Foundations Today is a good day, a very good day, when we, like the children of Israel, get to celebrate the beginning of something. And if our experience is like theirs, the event carries some emotion. In the midst of this, today is a day to look at and to gain new appreciation for foundations and all that gets built upon them. Until I read and contemplated this Ezra passage, I admit I had never really considered how truly significant,…
A Transcendent Shepherd October 18, 2009 Marilyn Zehr Isaiah 40 is the text for today. It has a very familiar beginning for us: In the King James version and the words of the Messiah it sounds like this…Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people… Thus says your God…. This overall theme of comfort marks such a radical departure from much that has gone before it in Isaiah that for a long time scholars called this text Deutero-Isaiah, or Second Isaiah, But…
Curled and Unfurled, the Challenge and Blessings of Gratitude October 11, 2009 Marilyn Zehr Joel 2:21-27 and Luke 12:13-21 Thanksgiving. There is much to be thankful for. We live in a land of abundance. It is the time of the year when much of the food in this province, in this country has been harvested and we know without even giving it much thought that we will likely have plenty to eat all winter. And yet, with…
The New Covenant October 4, 2009 Aldred Neufeldt Jeremiah 31:31-40 Core of the text ‘ 31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was…
Filing a Complaint September 27, 2009 Michele Rizoli Psalm 89 (Background: Psalm has been read by two readers contrasting verses: 9-21 with 38-39, 22-28 with 40-44, 29-32 with 45, 33-37 with 46-51, verse 52 together) What is going on in this Psalm? It starts with a anthem to God’s awesomeness in creation, to God’s superiority over other gods. It then recounts the psalmist’s version of God’s covenant with the Davidic dynasty, then enumerates all the ways he perceives that…
Another Look September 20, 2009 David Brubacher Jeremiah 52:31-34 Luke 5:1-11 Recently I was reading a classic piece of literature that highlights the significance of taking another look. I quote, “I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.” After much coaxing, the Cat-in-the Hat finally says to Sam-I-am, “Sam! If you will let…
Under God’s Wings September 13, 2009 David Brubacher Psalm 91 Luke 4:1-13 As a young boy, one of my jobs on my grandfather’s farm was helping to look after the chickens. I remember being afraid of the roosters. I was pecked by one, actually breaking my skin. The chickens could also be nasty as I had to dig under them to gather the eggs from the nests. This was before the modern chicken barn…
What we Do with Money September 6, 2009 Tobin Reimer Luke 12:13-21 (NIV) Good morning. The summer has come to an end and today is the last week in our summer series on All of God’s Creation. And this morning I’m going to speak about money. So how is does money tie into the summer theme? Well, there is a very easy answer for that: God created all things, so God created money too. Everything…
JUST BECAUSE…? August 30, 2009 David Brubacher Genesis 2:4b-17 Matthew 4:1-1 Just because…? Just because we are able to do something, does that mean we should do it? That whatever we do is okay? That it does not matter? These are questions that came to me one afternoon a few weeks ago as I walked through some of the downtown and waterfront areas of Toronto. I had some time between downtown appointments…