Sun. July 22 (Rosie Perera)

Rosie Perera titled her message from 2Cor 2:14-3:11 The Aroma of Christ and All that Jazz. From a triumphal procession, not as slaves but as those set free, we smell the fragrance of Christ in our lives, and become a fragrance of life to God. This is no smell of incense to cover up the stench of burning flesh, either as an offering on the altar or immolation in the arena. Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are known to God and need no letter of introduction as was common for travellers in the ancient days. Paul makes no attempt to dismiss the Law of Moses, but instead uses its former glory to contrast with the superior and all-forgiving glory of the fragrance of Christ. Rosie then focussed on two points - (1) the aroma of Christ and (2) the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. She notes it will be up to us whether those who do not know God find the aroma of Christ malodorous as with brash “hit-&-run evangelists”. Rosie prefers to see Christians as co-labouring to bring people to the spirit of the Kingdom, and uses the metaphor of the spirit being like garlic or cilantro, which when crushed, releases its aromas. Similarly, the aroma of Christ is released when we are crushed, so in Christ, suffering is a given. Rosie attended a class at Carey on Jazz as a Metaphor for Spiritual Life which gave her new insight into the second point. At the class, spirituality was enhanced by those who were encouraged to bring their instruments ot the class and jam at the breaks. Rosie’s trumpet skills conformed to the letter of the law, but she found herself stretched when encouraged to improvise as the spirit of the music moved her. Her early inhibitions against making discordant sounds, coming in at the wrong time, paralleled life, and she found that listening to each other helped, but ultimately one needed to be willing to take a risk of coming in at the wrong time with the wrong note. Just so in life, we need to be willing to take a risk in the security Christ offers us and step beyond the rules to listen to the rhythm of the spirit, and let ‘er rip! [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday July 22nd using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. July 15 (Janice Kreider)

Janice Kreider continued our series in 2 Corinthians with passages from chapter 2:5-11, and once again drew on the example of the Amish for inspiration, as in two previous sermons in recent weeks. Janice brought to us John Ruth’s book “Forgiveness: a legacy of the West Nickel Mines School” which explored the ways in which forgiveness is intrinsic to the Amish way of life, the public demonstration of which was something few will forget. Yet the other, puzzling side of Amish practice - that of shunning - is equally unforgettable. How does one reconcile the two? Janice showed how Paul speaks exactly about both of these practices in 2 Corinthians. Paul was slandered by the church at Corinth, the church refused to rebuke the offender, forcing Paul to defend himself, and when regret or apology finally came, Paul encouraged forgiveness. Janice noted this passage speaks about Paul’s explicit instructions - rebuke those who harm the spirit of community in the church, and when apology has been received, then comfort those who have been punished. Janice pointed out that the Amish act with discipline as the highest form of love. Thus, shunning and forgiveness are seen as two endpoints on the scale of love in the church community, and we are encouraged to keep both in mind in order to keep ourselves true to Christ’s goal for us - to love God. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday July 15th using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. July 8 (Don Rempel Boschman)

Don Rempel Boschman contrasted the reactions of the Amish community to that of the Virginia Tech community when gunmen killed several members in each community. The depth and sincerity of the forgiveness found in the first community contrasted sharply with the struggle to forgive found in the second. Don asked us “Why was this so?” Why do the Amish, so set apart, bring forth forgiveness more quickly, more fully than the no-less-Bible-and God-believing Virginia Tech community? To answer, Don walked us through Daniel 1 which, as an introduction to the miraculous stories to follow later in the book, introduces us to Daniel and his friends cajoling their jailer into allowing them to eat vegetables rather than the tainted food they were commanded to eat. Don noted that obedience to God as written in Daniel begins with small things - eat vegetables - so that when obedience is commanded in the big things - trial by lion or furnace, for instance - one’s obedience to God is both ingrained and trustworthy. You do as God commands because you can do no other. As people struggle with big things - smoking, pornography, faithfulness in marriage - their success or failure is often pre-ordained by how faithful they have been to the small trials set before them. Don asked one worshipper struggling with big issues to give up coffee for a day as a training ground for faithfulness. Success in small things leads to success in big things, if only we allow God his time and our trust to make it so. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday July 8th using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. July 1 (Veronica Dyck)

On Canada Day, Veronica Dyck's talk on Right Relationship in Ministry introduced us to 2 Corinthians, Paul's fourth formal letter in 18 months to the house church(es) in one of Asia Minor's main cities. This somewhat emotional letter was written in response to severe personal differences and challenges Paul was experiencing with key house church personalities, as well as questions relating to how a small community of faith might best operate and behave, regardless of peoples' social or economic status, all the while dwelling on the theme of how the in-breaking God helps communities of faith. Since the converts in Corinth came from a variety of backgrounds (e.g., no Jewish dietary concerns or laws), Paul did not dictate firm rules but rather offered a new approach to behavior and rules, indicating that Christians should evaluate-and reevaluate-their activities and lifestyles as their situations and surrounding society change, so that their actions not mislead or needlessly offend other believers. Immediately, Paul surprises the reader, indicating that he considered himself not the house churches' leader but rather their slave (unlike other leaders who were exerting power and asking for financial support). Just as Jesus consoles others in their suffering, believers are to console one another in their sufferings (including Paul in his past sufferings). Later in this letter Paul will champion the cause of the believing yet impoverished slaves who were experiencing second-class standing in the thinking and actions of believers who were landowners (much as Paul was being set aside as an apostolic leader by those same people). Veronica then led us through the initial 14 verses of chapter 1, verses which briefly tell of God's grace when rescuing Paul from earlier dangers, and hint at rebukes and challenges he faced from strong personalities in the house church. During discussion, we gave thanks that in spite of thousands of leaders and differences among millions of Christians around the world and in every cultural setting imaginable, the core of the gospel remains. [JEK - ed. AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday July 1st using your browser's preferred media player and read Veronica Dyck's sermon notes from 7/1/2007 [12 pages, 122KB PDF].