Sun. Sept. 28, 2014 (Thomas Bergen)

Thomas Bergen spoke on "Liturgies of the Mall" based on Matthew 6:19-21, 24; Deuteronomy 12:28-32, and Psalm 115:1-8.

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 28th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sept. 21, 2014 (Jim Neudorf)

Jim Neudorf invited us to respond interactively throughout his sermon, and since no personally identifiable information was revealed, the recording is posted online in its entirety. The pessimistic passage in Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 described a bleak reality, prompting comments about its sense of fatalism, resignation, despair, and hopelessness. Like the Greek myth of Sisyphus, our past employment or business efforts may feel futile: an echo of the curse of Eden -- sweat and toil, dust to dust (Genesis 3:19). However, Psalm 90 starts out with a sense of hope by recognizing that God is our dwelling place throughout all generations. Walter Brueggemann's The Message of the Psalms categories them into 3 types: orientation, disorientation and new orientation. Psalm 8 is an example of an orientation psalm (Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth). In a disorientation psalm, an uncensored complaint shows how honest our discourse can be with God in prayer. In the classic book, Managing Transitions, William Bridges describes how there is no shortcut from recognizing the ending, working through the neutral zone, and re-orienting to the new beginning. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown's says, "We cannot selectively numb emotions; when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions."

Psalm 90 is a prayer to bring the spiritual into our everyday activities and give them meaning. Whether we are spinning clay pots, writing scholarly papers, or constructing buildings, we can find joy in ordinary work. Even painful experiences can be made meaningful by sharing them for others to learn from. If we reflect, and focus on our relationships, we may recognize the enduring legacies that others have left to us, whether they intended to or not. The congregation responsively read aloud the concluding verse 17, praying collectively to establish the work of our hands. [KH]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 21st, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sept. 14, 2014 (Brent Siemens)

Brent Siemens recounted for us the story of Joseph from Genesis 44, but from the perspective of one of Joseph’s brothers - Judah, the fourth-born - as a testament to God’s working in the lives of scandalously-imperfect people. The story began in Genesis 37 with Joseph acknowledged as favourite of his father Jacob by his favourite wife Rachel. Judah, however, led his nine other brothers in mischief as they acted on their dislike of Joseph and sold him into slavery. Brent followed Judah through Genesis 38 as he lived a life of avarice, marrying outside clan to a Canaanite woman, who bore him two sons who soon died, and generally lived apart from God. Though the main narrative followed Joseph’s blessing at the hands of God, Brent continued with Judah through Genesis 42 and 43 when the family’s time of need brought them back together. Even when Joseph restrained Simeon in Egypt the first time the family came begging for food, one senses this is no act of revenge, but a test. So when the family returned to Joseph in Egypt once again to beg for more food, Joseph’s trump card was played - he seized Benjamin through trickery, and put the family to the test of loyalty once again. Judah, however, rose to the challenge, offering to trade places with Benjamin and remain in Egypt so as to allow Benjamin to go home to his father Jacob. Joseph had recreated the original test that led to his slavery, with Benjamin, in order to find out “Does hatred, jealousy and favouritism still rule the family? Can I trust them?” Joseph found out that the brothers have indeed changed, and that Judah has assumed the mantle of leadership with responsibility. Even the language of the passage changes from “the sons of Jacob” to “Judah and his brothers” reflecting the bond that overcame the failings of their father’s favouritism. Brent ascribed four lessons to this story, noting that:

1. God doesn’t give up on people, even when people fail him;
2. that God brings about transformation in his own time - actively with Joseph, more passively with Judah; 
3. God desires us to be our brothers’ keeper, to actively interfere in each others’ lives to good intent; and
4. God asks us to look to each other sacrificial love, as Judah did for Benjamin, and Jesus (himself a direct descendant of Judah) did for us. 

Greater love has no-one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. [AP]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 14th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.

Sun. Sept. 7, 2014 (Janice Kreider)

Janice Kreider (retired UBC librarian, charter member of the church, and an avid volunteer gardener at the MSC) traced Mennonite history from the Reformation to Menno Simons, and told a colourful story from her own genealogy. Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz were young people in Zürich who concluded that the Protestant churches hadn't gone far enough by retaining infant baptism, swearing oaths, and not separating Church from State. The radical movement of Anabaptists (re-baptizers) started in Switzerland and spread throughout Europe, eventually attracting Menno Simons, a disaffected Catholic priest in Friesland (Netherlands) by 1536.

When the movement was persecuted in Switzerland, some migrated to France, where Janice's ancestors settled in Franche-Comté. Andreas, a German-speaking Catholic a stone-mason, came to their village to work on the Lutheran church. Two unmarried daughters of the Guemann family became pregnant by Andreas: Catherine (age 29, widow & mother of 3), and Francois (age 21, single). Catherine wanted to remain an Anabaptist even though marrying a Catholic would normally cause her to be kicked out. But in the church register, an exception was made to accept her civil marriage to Andreas. If church leaders had held strictly to their doctrines, the Anabaptist lineage back to Janice's great-great-grandparents would have been lost. Francois got married later, but died soon after immigrating to Ohio and was buried next to her sister. Real people make compromises, forgiving and accepting forgiveness. Recall the imperfect examples of how God still uses people who sin: Moses (murder), Saul (jealousy), and David (adultery).

We were inspired by these stories of Mercy (on the part of the church leaders), Faithfulness (by Catherine in her loyalty to her sister and her church), and Courage (in the young Anabaptist activists who stuck by their beliefs despite persecution). As we remember our own stories, do we see the hand of God at work? What stories will your children or friends tell about you? [KH]

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 7th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.