As we are all aware, we live in a time and in a culture in which there is a great deal of legitimate sensitivity about any verbal public references to seasonal holidays which are rooted in religious observances. We often find ourselves second-guessing ourselves, or hesitating, or even completely resisting our own internal desire to […]
Today’s suggested reading, which is often referred to as the Passion Narrative in John’s Gospel, is long. When we sat down to plan for this service, we decided to try to split it up, a bit, and to intersperse various parts of the reading with verses from hymns that have been written about the Passion, […]
To begin with a question. How would you describe the nature of your relationship with this great mystery that our human ancestors have called “God”? It is not an easy question to answer. Some might describe the nature of their relationship with God with words like trust or dependence; others might speak of […]
I do not like snakes. I do not like the way that snakes move, I do not like the way they look, I do not like the way they slither around and sneak up on you when you’re not looking, I do not like the often unacknowledged fact that snakes are secretly out […]
What an honour it is to be with you, the people of St. Andrew’s, Toronto, as you celebrate the 188th anniversary of the founding of the congregation. As I have shared with others, I was first in Toronto about 25 years ago and I came into St. Andrew’s during the week and was impressed […]
This past week, Billy Graham died. Graham was an incredibly influential preacher and evangelist throughout the many decades of his life. Many of us may have heard him, or even seen him, at one point or another in his long ministry career, and people from around the world are both mourning his death […]
I am about to get in trouble with some members of our congregation, especially if they or their ancestors come from Glasgow. So, please forgive me in advance. In 1990, when I was twenty years old, I went on a six-week backpacking trip through Europe with a friend that I had known […]
Some of you may remember a Facebook post a few weeks ago. A group of people standing in a line along a low barrier wall on a hill overlooking a town and the blue sea, with no snow to be seen anywhere. Looks like a couple of ministers of the Presbyterian brand and several others […]
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?” There are certain passages of the Bible which have the power to provoke us, and inspire us, and summon us to a greater and far more expansive perspective on existence. The final chapters of the Book of Job, for example, set such a vision before […]
Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark presents us with an almost unbelievable scenario, a situation so unusual, so improbable that it twists us our credulity, as readers, into the realms of the absurd and the impossible. The story begins simply enough. In the verses preceding this text, things had been quite extraordinary and […]
