June 22, 2025

Confirmation Sunday is an extraordinary day in the life of our young people, and in the life of the congregation or congregations who support them. We all get to look back at the journey that has brought us all here and ask, as we look into the future, what will each of us need as we journey forward from this point. And it’s not like we invented this reflection and projection process. It is all through the scriptures, notably we heard two of those kinds of stories this morning.

The reading from 1st Samuel today arises out of disappointment and sadness over mistakes or missed opportunities with a younger generation. The hard truth for the priest Eli, is that his sons who should have been learning how to be priests in the temple, instead were acting scandalously. They were doing the very opposite of everything that would have pleased their father. But like many a loving parent, Eli felt helpless to encourage them to make better choices. So, instead of them, the boy Samuel is brought to the temple to assist Eli and to learn how to care for the temple which was the centre of their faith. This caring also includes caring for the almost blind Eli.  Something his sons should have done.

June 15, 2025

I listened to a gentleman recently talking about visiting his adult son who was gravely ill in hospital. After several days of keeping vigil, he realized that he would need to change the way he “fathered’ his son. He said, he’d have to be more mothering. I asked what he meant by that, and he responded. “You know, hold his hand, talk to him, just let him know I’m there for him”. 

It made me think of the Father in the story read to us this morning by Tisha about the Prodigal son. It could have been called the Prodigal Sons, plural. Or even the Father of the two sons because the story really does speak of all of them even though we’re used to referring to only the one son, You know the guy, the one who runs off with his inheritance and blows it all on fancy cars, fast living and gambling, and comes to the realization one day, half-starved and living off of the scraps of the plates he was washing in the fancy restaurant that he could be doing manual labour for his Father and be better off. So why not make amends and head back home.

And of course, the son who had remained responsible and steadfast with his father’s property was furious when his no-good brother shows up and Dad hands him the Ferrari keys and leather jacket. I heard a preacher on this story say, when the Father greets his lost son, he runs to him, slippers on and bathrobe flying he’s so eager to greet him, to hold him, to shower him with love because he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to do that again. The preacher said, he ran to him like a “mother”. In the Middle East in those days, patriarchs did not run in public, certainly not appear dressed so shabbily nor show PDA’s (public displays of affection). 

June 1, 2025

The Gospel of John reading is problematic because the writer of the gospel of John can get quite circular and confusing in his explanations. 

The version you heard today was the cleaned up one from the Message translation of the Bible. In my opinion the most important line goes like this, “just as God is one in me, and I am one in you, therefore we are all one in God and God is in us.” 

The Acts reading is also problematic because the slave woman with the prophetic spirit is almost immediately forgotten. Even though it is her faithful proclamation that starts the whole story in motion. Her witness leads directly to the baptism of the jailor and his family, but she remains unnamed. But on this baptism morning it is essential that we break open these two passages because I believe they speak to the very heart of why we bother with baptism at all.

Let’s start with the story from Acts. 

May 25, 2025

I don’t know about you but most of my TV viewing these days is through streaming services like Netflix or Britbox or a sports channel.  Which usually means no commercials. But if I switch to a regular news channel, particularly news or sports, I’m always struck by how many commercials there are for pharmaceuticals. These days the popular one is Ozempic. If you have an ailment, they have a pill. Even if you don’t have a condition, they have a pill for something that you might have in the future or promise that their product will protect you from some dreaded condition. 

May 18, 2025

THE BIRTH OF THE METHODIST MOVEMENT

The Methodist movement did not grow out of some general movement like the Protestant Reformation; it began as a movement within the Church of England.  It came out of the deep religious experience and heroic labours of a group of men, the most prominent being John Wesley and his younger brother, Charles.

May 11, 2025

I was watching a comedian that could easily have been a preacher. He said you know in life we only really have two problems. Are you healthy or are you sick. If you’re healthy, you have no problem but if you’re sick, you have two problems. And they are, am I gonna get better or am I gonna die. If you get better then you’ve got no problem But, if you’re gonna die, you got two problems. You’re either gonna go to heaven or you are  gonna go to hell. If you go to heaven, you got no problems. But if you go to hell, you’ve only got two problems. Are you going to be original or extra crispy?

May 4, 2025

  I invite you to consider the following unplanned encounter with nature. It’s after dinner on a warm spring evening. The sun has set and soon stars will be twinkling in the sky. On the drive back home from a wonderful day by the lake, fields pass by on either side. In the distance there is a light from an approaching car. A large deer suddenly appears, damaging your vehicle. The deer is seriously injured. Standing by the driver’s door, you are visibly distraught while also feeling grateful that no one in the car was injured. As a result of this encounter, you decide to change how you drive on that stretch of road in the future. Maybe you drive a little slower or drive a little more attentively while watching out for deer warning signs. Changes intentionally occur.

April 27, 2025

Poor Thomas gets a bad rap. He is always being called Doubting Thomas. But he isn’t alone in doubt. In fact, he is just the last and a long line of doubters. Let’s break it down. Last week on Easter Sunday we heard that Peter was the first doubter. He looks in the empty tomb, and where the grave clothes have been set and yet he does not understand. OK, not understanding isn’t really the same as doubt, but he certainly doesn’t believe that Jesus has risen.

April 02, 2025

The Easter stories in the four gospels have a lot of similarities. For example, it is always women or a woman who come to the tomb very early on the third day. There is a stone at the entrance that has either been moved or will be moved in the story. For all the similarities there are also differences. Details added to each gospel that help us see the faith and theology of each of the gospel writers. The writer of the gospel of John is the most theological and it is the last of the gospels to be written. So, we should pay careful attention to John as a window into the theology of the early church.

The Good Friday service held April 18, 2025 at Forest Hill United Church. The joint service included:

• Forest Hill United Church

• Trinity United Church

• St. James’~Rosemount United Church

• Calvary Memorial United Church

April 6, 2025

A discussion of the importance of having connection with those around us as exemplified by Jesus.

“Jesus is in the home of his closest friends and supporters, Mary, Martha & Lazarus. And Mary once again is in the spotlight. She has been anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume; an extravagant act since its’ value was probably the equivalent of a year’s wage for some. Yet she anoints him, which we are told is symbolic of burial rituals that Jesus will undertake in the near future. Judas speaks out against her saying “the money for the perfume could have gone to the poor”. But Jesus says, “the poor will always be among us whereas I will not.” This response of Jesus’ has been misused to diminish our responsibility of caring for the poor among us or as justification to ignore their needs. The quote is actually from Deuteronomy 15:11 which says: There will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” In this passage I see this interaction in terms of what it says about Jesus’ relationships and the significance of the connections Jesus made not only with the poor, with the powerful, but with family, with friend, with the world and context in which he lived.“

March 23,2025

We are into the third week of Lent and as we continue our journey to become purveyors of ‘Awe’ we are looking at curiosity. So, I’m curious… (see what I did there? LOL) I’m curious what you think of when you hear the word “curious”? 

Curiosity kills the cat?

Curious George?

In both these examples, …..

March 16, 2025

As Rev. Dr Marcia McFee says, “we are meaning mongers. We look for meaning in the chaos that is life.” Sometimes the meaning we find leads us to wonder anew at the awesome of God. The passage that we heard from today from the book of Genesis is one of the core scriptures that describes not only Abraham and Sarah’s relationship with God, but also the central promise around the birth of Israel. Keeping in mind what was said in the introduction to that reading that this passage has been used as an evil cudgel, with which to conquer and destroy indigenous peoples all over the world. Now, when

March 9, 2025

Last week Rev. Gaylyn spoke about whether we are above the line or below the line. If you are feeling below the line, then you are filled with dread because you feel that there is not enough. Not enough money, energy, space and time. That is the story we tell ourselves when we are below the line. But if you are feeling below the line, meaning a sense of dread and fear, and in action that arises from risking in a new chances or any new possibilities. Whereas when we are above the line…

March 2, 2025

In our Gospel reading from Luke today we hear two very familiar and I would say foundational sayings of our faith: vs 31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you” what we sometimes refer to as the Golden Rule, since it is shared by many faiths and vs 38 “give, and it will be given to you.”  Both of these sayings, are foundational to Eric Law’s understanding of Holy Currencies.

February 16, 2025

This morning, I’d like to begin with the gospel lesson because in it, Jesus shows a very particular kind of leadership. In the very first sentence, we hear that Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. Clearly, even though the disciples and the crowds around elevate Jesus, Jesus himself is not after that. 

February 2, 2025

While driving into work recently I was listening to an interview on the CBC with Order of Canada recipient Pinchas Gutter, an over 90 years old survivor of several Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. After living in the Polish ghetto, he and his family were sent by train to the first camp when he was separated from his parents and his twin sister who was just 8. He was the only one of 150 members of his family to survive. ….

January 26, 2025

……. So it is Forest Hill has invested in following the program called Holy Currencies. This program developed by Reverend Eric Law proposes that there are six blessings or currencies that we as a church are to be engaged in to create sustainable missional ministries. ……

Considering the hopeful news of a cease-fire in the Middle East that’s supposed to happen today, we have to acknowledge that Christianity has played a significant hand in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Certainly, it was Christian guilt on the part of western nations who were silent at the atrocities of the holocaust and then refuse to give refuge to Jews fleeing persecution, that agree to the creating of the state on Israel. ….

Theologian Rev. Dr. Mitzie J Smith, says that the Gospel of Luke, is filled anticipation. Right from the angel visitation to Zechariah and Elizabeth, then Mary and Joseph and finally the shepherds responding to the song of angelic hosts saying to each other, “come let us go and to see this thing that the of which the angel spoke.” But the anticipation doesn’t end there