Sun. Sept. 26, 2010 (Laura Eriksson)

Laura Eriksson spoke on the theme, "When is enough, enough?" Even though a very wise Arab proverb says "Enough is a feast", humans seem to be wired so that they always desire more. For centuries, most people have assumed one can never have enough/too much money. In this context, 1 Tim. 6 contains Paul's advice to a young pastor on how to deal with the wealthy members of his congregation. His observation, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" really does sum up much why so many of the teachings of the prophets and Jesus were necessary. Since money only has power if there is not enough to go around, believers with money have to ask themselves continually how to cultivate godliness while living in a materialistic world driven by the power of money. How can we strive for contentment (rather than focusing solely on pursuing money), learning to live with the kind of gratitude which can give us a greater reverence for life and open us to increased sharing. Paul advises pastors to flee from the lust of money and warns about being obligated to listen to the advice of the wealthy families--not because of their wisdom but because of their wealth (power). Instead, Paul encourages people to be extravagantly generous. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 26th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sept. 19, 2010 (Connie Siedler)

Connie Siedler (graduate of Regent College) spoke on "The Praying Community". During her visits to PGIMF, she has observed how very important prayer is to our time of worship, and she encouraged us to continue this tradition. The stories in Acts tell how God's spirit was seen as working in the lives of a variety of new believers, first in Jerusalem, then in Samaria, and finally during Paul's journey toward Rome. Today's story (Acts 12.9-19) was another about Peter. Herod Agrippa I had killed James (brother of John) for various reasons, and when he saw how this pleased some key people, he imprisoned Peter in order to kill him. But some new believers met to pray "fervently". Even though their prayers concerning James were quite possibly not answered as they had hoped, they apparently believed that God either could be more powerful than the many guards surrounding Peter (all of whom later died unfairly) or that God could possibly change Herod's mind. The story mentions these prayers just before telling how an angel delivered Peter from prison, implying there may have been a connection. We can see in the story, and in our lives, that (whether answered as we anticipate or not) prayer can unite us as a community of faith. Eugene Peterson wrote that all prayer, spread over a life of prayer, eventually becomes praise. We have experienced this. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 19th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sep. 12, 2010 (J. Evan Kreider)

J. Evan Kreider offered from the lectionary, a history of early Israel as Jeremiah tried to reconcile how wealthy Jews practiced religion with their lack of care for the poor. Through a time of upheaval in Judah, Jeremiah saw King Josiah fall in battle and be succeeded by less competent or fortunate offspring Jehoiachim and Jehoiachin, ending in the plunder of the temple and the reign of the exilarch. Such terrible and important national and international events were attributed to God as His acts of justice, not the political machinations of man. So upset is Jeremiah with this ‘auto-immune’ turn of history that he asks hearers to imagine God uncreating the world, in a manner just the opposite of his Genesis-creation. With this as background, Evan then turned to Psalm 14 and 53 to give voice to this kind of despair. Both psalms are very similar, though written at different times by different writers. In #14, the Psalmist bemoans individuals who “mess up” their communities, through corruption and foolishness, concluding God doesn’t see or care enough to bring them to justice. One interpretation is that with wealth comes a rejection of God’s sovereign power, and such a message as this could be aimed at us in wealthy Point Grey, which Evan notes has fewer people that attend church than elsewhere. Evan suggested every community needs its voices that consistently call out for us to do better, to protect the poor, promote justice. Our parliamentary system may serve similar ends, where ancient Judah had no such, so prophets such as Jeremiah performed this task. Thus, clearly does Jesus’ restatement of the first two commandments “Love your God ...” and “Love your neighbour...” fulfill God’s law. Like Jeremiah, the Psalmist uses strong words such as ”fools” to get our attention “eating the people like so much bread”. But in hope, just as individuals can mess up their communities, so too can just one individual be a blessing to that community, just as a single wonderful student could make one of Evan’s classes unforgettable. Thus, we each of us can make a big difference, wherever we are. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 12th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sep. 5, 2010 (Deb Cameron Fawkes)

On Labour Day weekend, Deb Cameron Fawkes was invited to be our guest speaker. She is currently at VST studying how our political and spiritual lives intersect. Both an active member of organized labour and a ‘supply’ preacher for her denomination, her talk focused on social justice as articulated in scriptures and put into practice by Tommy Douglas. Whatever work/labour we do, whether at home, at school, in the store, etc., it has an impact on our “village life”. Even our smallest tasks somehow help society function, and hopefully as Christians we do it with joy (“Love one another”, “as you do this to the least of these”). The prophet Amos—and the main figures in the Old Testament generally—sought to work out a new and more equitable social arrangement. Jesus stood firmly in this tradition. We prefer to think of ourselves as being responsible for ourselves individually, both economically and spiritually, and we therefore tend to read all scriptures solely as guidelines for us as individuals. But the bible repeatedly makes it clear that the ethical and economic issues it discusses are to be followed by society generally, not just a handful of devoted radicals. Amos, for example (5:6-), was exasperated by the ways the wealthy class in Israel misused their land, kicking off the poor who had depended on it for generations, and instead raising cash crops which had to be sold abroad but would bring wealth to the wealthy merchants and landowners. Other landlords rented out essential but expensive farm utensils at high rates, and loaned essential money for farmers needing to buy seed for new crops, but charged interest rates of 100% and even 170%, loans which could never be repaid. The bible was also deeply concerned that the able-bodied were so often unemployed, in spite of doing all they could to find work. These biblical issues were similar to issues Tommy Douglas sought to alleviate as a minister of God, and then as a politician, ultimately bequeathing ideas to Canadian society which have put into action at least some of the principles laid out for society in scripture. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 5th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.