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“The promised-yet-unexpected King”

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Texts : Is. 40.1-11; Ps. 2.1-8; Mk. 1.1-15 The stories we live in      What story are you living in?   This may, at first, appear to be a rather strange question.   It remains the case that we have all inherited stories from our family, our environment, our culture, our country of origin, etc.   The stories that we grew up in and that dictated the behaviour of the people around us were probably not spelled out very often, except perhaps on special occasions, like national holidays.   These stories provided us with a sense of identity, a sense of belonging to a certain people or place.   Personally, I grew up with an almost unconscious loyalty to England and the British commonwealth.   As a child, I always “knew” that, whatever book I was reading or whatever movie I was watching, the British were the “good guys”.   Since I grew up in a rural area of Québec, this was sometimes a problem, as my Québécois neighbours were living in a...
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“Encouragers in a dangerous time”

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Texts : Acts 4.32-37; 9.26-31; 11.19-26 The only constant is change      Isn’t it nice when things are calm, predictable, comfortable, when there is no anxiety in our hearts, no unknown factors to worry about, no changes to deal with?   Sounds nice, right?   Of course, life is rarely like that – indeed, the life of most congregations is rarely like that.   Most of the time, life is chaotic – full of often unwanted or unexpected changes and various crises, and we often feel woefully ill-equipped to deal with the unrelenting stream of complicated situations that insist on coming our way.   And yet, even though this is what “normal” life is like, we often react as if things shouldn’t be this way.   When chaos erupts, we often respond with shock, fear, hostility and resentment.   We try desperately to hang on to what is familiar and comfortable, to what makes us feel secure and confident in who we are and in what we are doing – to what ...
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“The most radical revolution”, part 3/3

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  Text: Acts 10.1-8, 34-48 People like us       You gotta love Peter.   He’s such a relatable person.   Though it is often tempting to put biblical characters on a pedestal – and thus absolve ourselves of the need to try and imitate them – it remains the case that all the heroines/heroes of the Scriptures were very much human beings just like you and I.   They were all frail, conflicted, often unstable folks.   That’s why, I believe, we’ve been given their stories – to show us, not only that there are no excuses when it comes to following Jesus, but also to let us know that we – with all of our hang-ups – are in good company. Excuses      Luke’s story of Simon Peter begins in chapter 5 of his Gospel when Jesus calls Simon to abandon his fishing boat and follow him.   Simon responds, “Go away from me Lord!   I am a sinful man” (Lk. 5.8).   We can easily imagine Jesus thinking, “No kidding, tell me som...
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“The most radical revolution”, part 2/3

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  Text: Acts 1.1-11 Chosen      Isn’t it thrilling to be chosen for something?  Perhaps it was getting picked by a sports team, maybe it was being selected to act in a play, perhaps it was getting a job after successfully navigating a competitive hiring process, maybe it was getting proposed to (or receiving a positive answer to your proposal), perhaps it was being promoted to a position of greater responsibility or leadership.  Whatever it may have been, it’s almost always a rewarding experience to be selected to use one’s abilities to contribute to the success of a group, an organization…or a couple.      Being chosen is the fun part.  But what about what happens from that point on?  A lesson that the Bible teaches again and again is that those who are chosen by God are not usually chosen for their strengths, talents or the usual reasons why we get chosen for various things in life.  In the Bible, God chooses peop...
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