Salvogesis

The previous few weeks I have been camping with Susan and Heather – and coming back here to work: some weeks I was more with them such as last week and some weeks I was more at work here such the week previous.   The themes I have been preaching on lately are what I have been reading about the past few weeks: forgiveness and the Kingdom of God. I have been reading a few books and articles by and about Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He shares some examples about the power one has when they forgive. You can even be free of awful hurts – pain from murder, torture, racism, etc. – by forgiving people who harmed you. Forgiveness can save your mental, emotional and spiritual health.   Last week was also one of my favourite recent sermons; I was reading a lot of liberation theologians so I shared some of my ideas of the Kingdom of God – where there are no more wars, no more prisons; where countries take the resources we currently spend on killing other people’s children and use th...

Many times the Gospel has been boiled down to something as simple as loving one another. The Law and the prophets are summed up by Jesus (Matthew 7:12) as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and (Matthew 22:37-40) “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… Love your neighbour as yourself.’ But what happens when we don’t? The story of Jonah.   Jonah hates. Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that rather than obey God and point them to salvation, he runs in the opposite direction (Jonah 1:1-3).   Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that when the opportunity presents itself, he decides that he would rather die than obey God by pointing them to salvation (Jonah 1:12). Jonah does not want to preach to the Ninevites because he knows they will be saved (Jonah 4:2); he hates them so much that he wants them destroyed (Jonah 4:3). He wants no part of their salvation.   Are we ever like this? Do we ever hate a pe...

I have a couple of questions for us today. Question #1: What do the following have in common: Ghost Busters 2, Blues Brothers 2, Aladdin 2, Gone With The Wind 2, Lion King 1 ½? They are all movie sequels; they are for the most part either not very good or not very popular movie sequels. Last week we spoke about  Jonah Part 1: Everything Is Under Control . This week we will look at the sequel,  Jonah Part 2: Get Rid of Your Enemies . Hopefully it will be better received than was the first  Star Wars  prequel. Question 2: I’ve got another list for us today. You have seen those ‘top ten’ lists before. This is a ‘bottom 5’ list: let’s see if you can tell me what this is a ‘bottom 5’ list of? What do these professions have in common? 5. Telemarketers 4. Lawyers 3. Mechanics 2. Politicians 1. Used car salesmen This is a list of the least trusted professions in this country. There are many different lists of these least trusted professions actually. They co...

I must admit that I am a fan of Leo Tolstoy, both his epic novels like  War and Peace  (probably my all-time favourite book) and  Anna Karenina  but also some of his religious writings like  Confession.  I have some quotes to share today from Tolstoy: q         Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. q         All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. q         It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. q         Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority shares in it. q         If you want to be happy, be [happy]. Here are a couple more quotes by Tolstoy and others as well: q         Tolstoy: To get rid of an en...