Sermon on the Mount #7: Turning the Other Cheek: The Doormat Jesus November 12th, 2006 Tim Schmucker Text: Matthew 5:38-48 “Hit ‘em in the face. Come on, you gotta hit ‘em in the face” the boys standing around us impatiently shouted at me. It was the first real fight I had ever been in, with the real use of fists. Not just a smack or a shove. My enemy at the moment was my friend Ricky, the…
Sermon on the Mount #6: Don’t Worry, Be Happy November 5th, 2006 Jonathan Slater Text: Matthew 6:19-34 Romans 4:16-25 A young woman brings home her fiancé to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. The father invites the fiancée to his study for a drink. “So what are your plans?” the father asks the young man. “I am a Torah scholar,” he replies. “A Torah scholar. Hmmm,” the…
Sermon on the Mount #5: Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth October 29th, 2006 Gary Harder Text: Matthew 6:1-16 Introduction “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name” Awed to heaven. (A prayer by Walter Brueggemann, “Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth”, p. 85) We are the ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. We flip off this series of words too readily. But they are precious words to us because they tell the whole tale of…
Sermon on the Mount #3: The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth October 22nd, 2006 Jeremy Bergen Text: Matthew 5:33-37 When I was about 18 I went to court. Now I was not bringing a lawsuit to force some company to live up to its ethical obligations, nor was I fighting the government on some unjust law. I was not a victim of a crime, nor was I accused of anything. At least not anything too…
Sermon on the Mount #3: Writing “The Law” On Our Hearts October 15th, 2006 Gary Harder Texts: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Matthew 5:17-31 Introduction We are in the third week of preaching through the Sermon on the Mount. This week I felt rather overwhelmed by the texts in front of me. I had moments of almost despair as I tried to sort out what these texts meant for me, and what I might say about them. I would write…
Sermon on the Mount #2: Count Your Blessings! October 8th, 2006 Lydia Harder I have never really liked the song, “Count your blessings, name them one by one.” As a child, when I would complain about something, my mother would say, “Count your blessings and you will feel better!” But that never seemed to work for me. What it did do was make me feel very guilty for complaining about anything. And sometimes I felt like I had…
Sermon on the Mount #1: The Good News of the Upside-Down Kingdom October 1st, 2006 Gary Harder Texts: Matthew 4:23-5:3 Matthew 7:28-8:3 Introduction I am excited about this series of sermons on The Sermon On The Mount. It felt very good to meet with our preaching team a few weeks ago to study this section of Matthew and to plan this series of sermons. The last time we preached through the entire sermon on the mount here…
Onesimus: A Runaway Slave September 24th Tim Schmucker Text: Philemon 1:10-21 Two years ago Derek became completely captivated with a book that turned out to be the first in a series of 6 books. Then came the sequel series, another 6 books. Upon arriving at the end of each book, it’s been excruciatingly agonizing for Derek to wait for the next one to be published. Part of the problem is that he reads each one in a…
Being Church by the water September 17th Michele Rizoli Texts: John 5:1-9, Psalm 103, Romans 12:1-8 The story we just heard, about the paralytic who waited for 38 years to be healed, is one of my favourites. These last couple of weeks as I reflected on the character of Marg’s service as church secretary and on (yes, I’m going to say it) the spectre of Gary’s retirement that looms not far ahead, I couldn’t stop thinking about…
Hiding and Seeking September 10th Gary Harder Texts: Psalm 139: 1-12 Isaiah 58:6-9 Luke 15:3-7 Introduction The game is universal. Hide and seek. “17, 18, 19, 20. Here I come, ready or not”. If the children are still quite small, the hider might help the seeker. “Is anyone under that desk, the seeker asks”? “Nope”, comes the answer from under that desk. But the point of the game, when you are young, is to be found – and…