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

This week we strive to learn the lessons of humility and love that are found in the birth narrative of Jesus and is found in the study book “On the Way to Bethlehem.”

Rev. Cameron Trimble tells this story:

Two friends were caught in a storm while hiking in the ……………………….

In our Advent book study, Jerusalem is called the City of Waiting, but one of its other titles is the City of Peace. Now …

We are exploring this season of Advent through the book “On the Way to Bethlehem.” Our study is Tuesday afternoons from 2-3:30 or Wednesday evenings from 7-8:30. And idea of the study is to take a new look at the old, old, story of Christmas through the lens of the places that are significant in the story. This week, as the guide and the scripture reader highlights, we focus on the learnings that arise from Rome.

Today is Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the culmination of a whole year of scripture reading, discernment, and prayer. We have walked with this Jesus from the time he was a child, to his calling of the disciples, and the teaching and healing that followed. We have been with him on trial and watched helplessly as he died on a cross. We were surprised at his rising. Now on this Sunday we are asked, …

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately

One of the worst lines to hear is, “What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?” Well, you already know that there is going to be bad news, so it doesn’t matter how good the good news is.

As I have said when I was planning this series on prayer and creation I used the book “Before Amen” that of Spirit Circle is studing and the resource of Trees in the Bible. This week at the book study on prayer we talked about why do we consider God good? And how can we trust in the goodness of God when God allows the world to be such a mess?

Max Lucado’s book on prayer Before Amen in his opening words to what he calls his “Pocket Prayer” reminds us that the one we pray to, our God, is a loving, approachable, comforting presence in whose company we can feel safe and secure. James reminds us that to live a Godly, or Good life we are called to draw near to God and God will draw near to us. We live in a world that can be challenging and difficult and we are also part of a community of faith who support us, pray for us and care for us in the name of the one we follow who taught us to do that.

As you have already heard, today we embark on a sermon series that connects our prayer life, or at least our hope for one through the Spirit Circle study on the book "Before Amen" by Max Lucado And to connect it to our celebration of the Season of Creation which we have just entered. To help me keep focused on creation, we will hear about a specific tree in a specific scripture story.  

This morning, we have a small part of a great letter or Epistle from James. There is a creative group of scholars called the Bible Project who with videos and wipe board drawings crack open the scriptures for us.

I find it helpful, as much as possible, when you are going to talk about the scriptures, to begin with the scriptures.

And today it would seem like the writer of the gospel of Luke had two very different, unrelated stories on scraps of paper that he just stuck together on the same page.

One morning, the sun got up in a bad mood. [The sun rubbed its eyes and stretched its rays before letting out an exhausted grumble:

Irish philosopher Pete Rollins took our passage from last week, and put it through a first-world translator (see if you can hear the difference)

… the crowds continued to follow [Jesus]. Evening was now approaching and the people, many of whom had traveled a great distance, were growing hungry.

Get ready to start your Christmastime shopping early!
November 9, 2024 at the Forest Hill United Church