Bah Humbug! Making Change

November 26, 2017 | This week begins our Advent season with the theme that compares the world’s “economy” and God’s desire for peace and justice for all people–especially those on the margins. What is the price for looking out for “our own” and what is the benefit to “making change” in the ways God invites us?

We listen to the words from the Prophet Isaiah and his foretelling of the coming of a king and then Mary’s announcement that she is to give birth to that king spoken of so long ago. The very one who would come to scatter the proud, fill the hungry, lift the lowly and offer new life to the hopeless.  

Walk The Talk

November 19, 2017 | This week’s passage from Matthew’s gospel celebrates a king; for today is the day in the church year when we celebrate the reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday. It seems appropriate then for us to ask what kind of king is Jesus? Jesus lays aside all that would normally be associated with a king, like fine robs of silk and crowns of gold and instead picks up a shepherd’s crook to seek out the lost wherever they may be. He is a king who provides for our every kind of need. Will we follow his lead and use our own talents and time to carry on the examples that Jesus gave us?

How Will You Remember

November 12, 2017 | This week we read the saga of the ten bridesmaids, five of which are ready. They come to the night in question and they discover they have no oil in their lamps and have to make a last-minute run to the corner shop to replenish their supply. We can only imagine their disappointment when finally they return to discover that they have missed the big event altogether.

Practice What You Preach

November 5, 2017 | The priests and scribes were living the high life: strutting and preening, soaking up honours, decked out in splendor. Sure they were scriptural whiz-kids. But where was the love? They were star performers of ritual. But their praise was hollow. They had the brains, but not the heart. They used their offices to coerce, not to serve. That was at least until Jesus came on the scene. He finds the priestly enjoying all of this privilege they seem to think they had earned. In a blunt straight talk he approaches them and states, whoever wants to be first, must first become a servant…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.