The main story we hear today is of God and a couple of other heavenly beings visiting Abraham and Sarah incognito in the form of human travellers. As continues to be the case in many cultures, care of and hospitality toward travelling strangers was for Sarah and Abraham a deeply
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Genesis 2:4b-25 • The Garden of Eden Right from the beginning of creation God is with us, nurturing, protecting and sustaining life. Sometimes we are so focussed on our own thoughts and desires that we lose sight of all that we have been offered from God. As we prepare to
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Last week we heard Simon Peter’s breakthrough insight into who Jesus is: no less than God’s anointed and appointed one, the one who will redefine and reshape the world in the image of God. The expectations of the Messiah include both political and religious dimensions. There is the feeling that
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Simon Peter is one of the first and closest disciples of Jesus. As his travelling companion for something like three years, Simon Peter has had many first-hand experiences of Jesus, but has also observed how others have responded to him. In this passage, we witness again how Jesus uses questions
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Within the culture of Jesus’ time, there were those who insisted that the ills of society were due to certain traditional religious laws not being observed rigorously enough. More specifically, some were trying to claim moral superiority (and some measure of power) by being hyper vigilant about what, how and
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1 Kings 19:9-18 • Elijah meets God. Matthew 14:22-33 • Jesus walks across stormy waters. What risks must we take as individuals and as a community? The United Church of Canada has a vision where as communities of faith we are committed to deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice.
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Isaiah 55:1-5, 12-13 • An invitation to Abundant Life. Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 • The goodness of God. We are in a covenant with God. God says “you are my people, I am your God.” The conclusion then is that we are in this together, not only with each other but
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Romans 8:26-27 • The Spirit intercedes. Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 • Five parables. One drop of rain won’t really make a difference right? One rotten apple won’t ruin the bunch right? What about one small mustard seed? All of God’s creation is interconnected. More often then not we feel helpless and
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From the Book of Genesis, we hear the next part of the story of the people whom God has chosen and who have, in turn, chosen to follow God. Like most relationships, this relationship is complicated to say the least. On the run from a serious family rift, he has
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In the Genesis reading, we hear about how Isaac and his wife Rebekah engage with parenthood after fertility struggles. Sadly, even disappointingly, once children are born we hear how Isaac has not learned from his own family of origin about the importance of cultivating a good relationship between siblings. From
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