Sermons
Living The Gospel
June 18, 2017 | Rev Lorne Bostwick
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Living the Gospel is more important that doctrinal debate. People will know the content of our faith by the way that we live and not just by what we say. Jesus noted that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. What is the meaning of this for Christians in the church today. Are we faithful laborers?
Pentecost Diversity
June 4, 2017 | Rev Lorne Bostwick
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Pentecost is the birthday of the church. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of the Church. Some interpreters see Pentecost as the solution to the Tower of Babel but I'm not sold on the idea that somehow Pentecost re-unites us in language and culture. Pentecost is a celebration of the Spirit's power to enhance our hearing, no matter what language we speak. There are some deep human connections that do not depend on culture, race, gender or religious homogeneity. While in Turkey on Sabbatical my heart was touched just as deeply by the poverty in rural communities as it is in the U.S. when I see people begging on the streets. I'm just as touched by kids playing and laughing on a playground in Syria or people greeting each other with a hug as I am seeing it at home. The language of the Spirit is deep and meaningful beyond words and we can sense the Gospel in a world away just as powerfully as we can within our church family.
Waiting For Pentecost
May 28, 2017 | Rev Lorne Bostwick
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According to scripture Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after the resurrection and reminding them that when he ascended to the God they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. At the ascension the disciples are filled with anticipation but they could not imagine what the future would bring. They had to wait for Pentecost! We find ourselves waiting too. Yet as the disciples we wait with active anticipation not passive sloth. We are not at a complete loss during this waiting. We have seen how God behaves in Jesus Christ and we expect that is how God will work in the church. Part of preparing to be the church requires we adjust our attitudes. This week would have been the 100th birthday of President John F. Kennedy. He prepared America for the greatest season of service this country has ever known with the words of his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you. Ask what you can do for your country." Jesus asks us to prepare for the coming of the Spirit in the same way. Look for the power of the Spirit to find ways to serve neighbor before self.
The New Areopagus
May 21, 2017 | Lorne Bostwick, Rev Lorne Bostwick
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When the Apostle Paul reached Athens he explored the city, preached in the Synagogue, and then in the marketplace. He carefully explored the objects of their religious symbols and concluded that they were very sincere in their quest for the divine. Like Socrates, Paul was accused by some of proclaiming foreign deities. Socrates lost his life after loosing his arguments at the Areopagus. Paul left alive with some philosophers begging to "hear him again about this." We face a new Areopagus today. There are many in our world who are spiritual but not religious. They seek an unknown god and if we care deeply about what matters to them we can find ways to speak the good news in meaningful ways.