Sun. Apr. 26, 2009 (Jesse Nickel)

Jesse Nickel dealt with Paul’s text urging Roman Christians to present their bodies as living sacrifices and not be formed by the present age; rather be transformed. (Rom. 12) These words, in a letter written to a church made up largely of Gentiles, address the platonic view with a distinct line between the spiritual and the physical; the body was viewed as a prison longing for release. The body is important; Jesus took on the form of a human body. Paul encourages the Romans not to conform to the present age but to live as members of the new kingdom that Jesus introduced. The world pushes us to want more of everything; our challenge is to be continually transformed rather than conformed. The discussion centered on how we use our bodies in worship and on the matter of not being conformed to the present age. What would a transformed life look like? (HN) Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday Apr. 26th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Apr. 19, 2009 (Rosie Perera)

What are your images of the book of Revelation? With this question Rosie Perera opened her message last Sunday. For many the book is scary, too difficult, irrelevant, is often avoided and for some it’s a ticking time bomb that needs defusing. Calvin wrote a commentary on all books of the Bible except Revelation; Luther thought it should not be in the Bible. Rosie sought to rehabilitate this book for us, pointing out that it has more allusions to the Old Testament than any other NT book, that it is the source of many hymns, and that it’s important to counter the modern day nonsense about Revelation’s time lines. In reading Revelation it’s important not to impose our perceptions on the text. While describing major cataclysmic events, Revelation reminds us that when Christians experience persecution, they are experiencing tribulation. Revelation has many heavenly anthems, and if we can’t understand the text, go to the nearest anthem. Let the symbolic language make an impression on you even if you don’t understand it. It’s a book centered on Jesus, and it’s a book instructing us to non-violently cope with evil; the symbol of the lamb, not the lion is significant. Revelation teaches us about perseverance through suffering, to be wary of the wiles of the empire, and that the end times are, and will remain, mysterious. [HN] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday Apr. 19th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Apr. 5, 2009 (Gerald Neufeld)

On Palm Sunday our speaker was Gerald Neufeld, a former missionary to Japan who is now pastor to the new Mennonite Japanese Fellowship in Surrey. Time and again, God's plan for saving humanity by sending a Messiah has seemed quite strange. John the Baptist seems to have assumed that Jesus was quite possibly such a Messiah, yet referred to him as "the lamb of God", which is hardly as attractive a title as Lion of Judah. Isaiah foresaw a Messiah being like a lamb led to the slaughter, which puzzled Jewish philosophers for centuries. When the man we believe was God's Messiah finally did come, this Jesus was born of teenage parents (according to one tradition) under circumstances that were highly suspect. Jesus then grew up, not as a member of court or even the priestly or highly educated class, but as yet another immigrant in Egypt. His career was hardly more promising, working mostly as an itinerant teacher in the general area of Judah (but usually a safe distance from Jerusalem, the expected seat for a true Messiah). Jesus seemed more at home with society's powerless outcasts than with the ruling upper class, and he was either abandoned or reviled by nearly everybody when dying most horribly and publicly. Yet it is assumed by us today that this same Jesus somehow best exemplified God's gentle love and taught that we should emphasize that aspect of God rather than God's ability crushing wrath. This Jesus introduced to us a God of love who does not force us to join his way of thinking but instead allows us to choose. This is the Jesus that Christians will celebrate this coming Passion Week and Easter Sunday, first with darkness and fasting and then with light and feasting. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday Apr. 5th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.