Stretching the Sermon

As we endure this prolonged crisis and watch the daily reports of how this virus escalated and spread around the world, and now into our own community, a great number of fears are seizing people. Not a single person is unaffected by this in one way or another. How is the Church of Jesus Christ supposed to respond? How are we to feel?  Well, we thought we would ask YOU, the Church. Therefore, we will reserve this spot e ach Saturday just to hear from you. If you have a story to share with your brothers and sisters in Christ about how you are seeing God in this crisis, we encourage you to share them with each other. Just send your story by e-mail to Pete Bowyer (omegaman.pb@gmail.com) and he will share it for you here. We would love it if you had so many stories that we had to free up a second spot just to hear what God is doing in your lives. This week,  Debbie Cunningham wants to share this with her HCC family... "When this pandemic started to unfold fear reared its h...

If the story of Jesus was a long play, the character named Pilate would be seen in one small scene from one act near the end of the play. If Pilate was a recording artist he would have been a one-hit wonder. Yet, despite having so little space devoted to him in the Gospels, his name has been synonymous with villainy for two thousand years. Even non-Christians know the name Pilate and his historic role. The full account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate is spread through all four Gospels. In his sermon, James referenced the accounts from both Matthew and Luke. Here are all four accounts: Matthew 27:11-26           Mark 15:1-15           Luke 23:1-24           John 18:28 – 19:16 Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Judaea and the highest Roman authority in the land, answering only to Caesar himself. He was both ruler and judge and was the only one w...

One of Isaiah’s 700+ year old prophecies about the Christ reads: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her  shearers  is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isa.53:7) James’ text from Matthew 27 began with the direct fulfilment of that prophecy: Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?"  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge --to the great amazement of the governor.   (Matt.27:11-14, NIV) So what was the testimony against him and why didn’t Jesus reply to the charges?   To know what the charges were we have to look back to the previous chapter when he was facing the Jewish H...

Yesterday I mentioned how I got hijacked by tangential thoughts during James’ sermon on Sunday. Well, I was yanked back from the rabbit hole as James described how public executions were deemed to be good social events and entertainment where families would pack a picnic and bring their children to watch, and girls would sit on the shoulders of their boyfriends to be able to see past the crowds which numbered in the tens of thousands. Disgusting! And that was England only 400 years ago! Now try to imagine that ancient Roman culture with government-sanctioned executions where their “correctional system,” had become masterful and world-renowned at inflicting the maximum physical suffering that a human being could bear … although some couldn’t bear it and just died before their formal execution. James went easy on us as he described the crown of thorns that the soldiers bashed into Jesus’ skull before even leaving Pilate’s headquarters. He let off the pedal a bit as he described ...

Have you ever heard something in a sermon that suddenly hijacked you down a mental rabbit hole because it was a new thought for you? Well, that happened to me on Sunday as James preached from Matthew 27:11–26, the famous scene of Jesus being handed over to the governor Pilate to be judged for his supposed crimes. My rabbit hole appeared at v.19: While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” (Matthew 27:19    NIV) Here were my detoured thoughts: - Judaea’s first lady “suffered?” Really? - Does she have the right to use that word in light of what Jesus is going through? Seriously? - Jesus really suffered a few days earlier when He saw Jerusalem, and cried for his lost people - Jesus had really suffered at the betrayal of a close friend and at the desertion of the others - Jesus was really suffering n...

Shouldn’t we have seen this coming? Three months ago we knew about a new virus. Two months ago we knew it was an epidemic. One month ago we knew it had become a pandemic. What will we know tomorrow? Many Nova Scotians still find it unthinkable that such a tiny thing that originated half a world away could become uncontainable and transform our lives so quickly. Yet it did. Before we knew what hit us, we escalated from small-talk about another novel corona virus in China to frenzied buying of toilet paper and office chairs in Halifax. Yesterday morning as we prepared for the live-streaming worship from HCC, we knew we needed to limit our contact with other people. Within 30 minutes of our worship ending we knew that police would enforce the number to be a maximum of five, empowered by the State of Emergency declared by our provincial Premier. What will we know tomorrow? In our current sermon series, "Cornerstone: A Faith Built on Jesus," Greg and James have already tau...