Sermons
Sermon June 16, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
We love a good story – especially when there’s a good plot, exciting characters, and an ending that satisfies our need to have things tied up neatly or that leaves us with a juicy nugget of life lessons. It’s the moral of the story that we are looking for. Our love of storytelling goes back …Read more
Sermon June 9, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
On June 10th, 1925 at the Mutual Street Arena, hundreds of our faithful ancestors gathered to worship and to mark the inauguration of the United Church of Canada. Ninety-nine years ago, this church that we are part of now, was birthed from the dreams and dedication of members of the Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian Churches, …Read more
Sermon – What is Essential for a Christian? June 2, 2024 by Raymond Cuthbert
Let us pray: O God, let something essential happen to us, something more than interesting or entertaining or thoughtful. O God, let something essential happen to us. Something awesome – something real. Amen. The Gospel lesson for today tells one of the more revolutionary accounts of the life of Jesus. “One sabbath he was going …Read more
Sermon May 26, 2024
Barbara Brown Taylor authored an incredible book called Learning to Walk in the Dark. Published in 2014, Taylor explores the dark and being in the dark as a way of reclaiming the dark as a place of hope and growth rather than being a place and time of fear and hopelessness. This idea of walking …Read more
Sermon May 12, 2024
To start this morning, I want to share a story with you that Rev Nora Vedress, a United Church minister from PA, shared with me this week as we were thinking about the service this morning. Nora writes: “Families are funny things” at least that is what my mother used to say. She’d hear about …Read more
Sermon May 5, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
Does God exist? This is a question that has been debated for centuries – scholars, scientists, and philosophers have spent their lifetimes trying to prove or disprove the existence of God, only to have their theories discredited by other scholars, scientists, and philosophers. We seem to be at an impasse – even Wikipedia agrees that …Read more
Sermon April 28, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
I like to imagine that the Holy Spirit has a mischievous sense of humor. At least that’s the feeling I get when I think about how the Spirit moves in our lives, and in the lives of our faith ancestors. Often the Holy Spirit nudges, cajoles and pushes us into situations that are life changing …Read more
Sermon April 21, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
Well friends I have to confess that when I sat down to plan this week’s service to mark Earth Day, the first thing I felt was a deep sense of despair… which is not really the place a preacher wants to be when writing a sermon. In a world that can often feel like there’s …Read more
Sermon April 14, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
Ms. Schenk, Mr.McLarty, Mrs.Marshall…do these names mean anything to you? No? How about if I said Dorothy Reid, Rhea Yates, Sharon Stanley, Marion and Alan McKay…those names maybe stir a little something in some? What if I said Shirley and Walter Watts, Judy and Peter Sim, Ruth and Dan Wiwichar, Diane Riordon, …or how about …Read more
Sermon April 7, 2024 by Tricia Gerhard
Holy Humour Sunday Jesus was walking through heaven one day, a little bored, when he passes by the Pearly Gates and sees St. Peter talking with an elderly gentleman and decides to go over to hear the man’s story. “Where are you from, sir?” Jesus asks. “Well, I lived my life on the shores of …Read more
