Moment of Clarity With Rev. Lorrie Daly-Price

November 11, 2018 | This Sunday we take time to remember all those who were called up for service. They may not have had a precise idea of what lay before them, but responded to the call to leave behind the security they knew to go and serve their country. For some there may have been a sense of anticipation of what lay before them, for others a strong sense of duty to be undertaken for their country and yet others perhaps a sense of anger. Whatever the reason they went. They gave their all.

Quite appropriate then that one of our readings for this Sunday ends with the words: “…she gave her all.”

In our reading this week from the Gospel of Mark, it's the nameless widow who's the extravagant benefactor. At the temple Jesus observed "many rich people" making large donations. In stark contrast, a poor widow's gift amounted to "only a fraction of a penny." But whereas the rich give out of the convenience of their surplus, said Jesus, "this poor widow has given more than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.”

How do we give in comparison to this?  How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope and peace to the world? Now is the time to remember.

November 4, 2018 | This week we hear a part of the letter that one of the early teachers in the church, Paul, wrote to Jesus’ people in a city called Corinth. Here’s part of what he told them:

We all know who makes the seeds for the people who plant them, yes? It’s God. So, God makes the seeds and the grains grow and from the grains we can eat. In exactly the same way God makes the beginnings of everything that grows in you, of everything that you make. In that way, God helps you to have more than enough so you can share it. When you share with generosity, when thanksgiving grows through you, you aren’t just supporting God’s people, you’re helping everyone else’s thanksgiving to grow—until it overflows!

When you share what you have, serving Christ’s ministry, you are living Christ’s call—and your generosity will invite others’ generosity. Prayers will flow for you in celebration of God’s grace and love in your life.

So we thank God for this amazing gift!

October 29, 2018 | This week we hear a part of the letter that one of the early teachers in the church, Paul, wrote to Jesus’ people in a city called Corinth. Here’s part of what he told them:

We all know who makes the seeds for the people who plant them, yes? It’s God. So, God makes the seeds and the grains grow, and from the grains we can eat. In exactly the same way, God makes the beginnings of everything that grows in you, of everything that you make. In that way, God helps you to have more than enough so you can share it. When you share with generosity, when thanksgiving grows through you, you aren’t just supporting God’s people, you’re helping everyone else’s thanksgiving to grow—until it overflows!

When you share what you have, serving Christ’s ministry, you are living Christ’s call—and your generosity will invite others’ generosity. Prayers will flow for you in celebration of God’s grace and love in your life.

So we thank God, for this amazing gift!

Oct 21, 2008 | This week our reading comes from the letter of James, written for the Christian communities that were dispersed outside Palestine. It was composed to be primarily practical and to address some specific issues going on in a particular Christian community. Perhaps it was the church that James worshiped in or perhaps it was penned for another community elsewhere.

James’ emphasis is on being “doers” in this text, particularly regarding oppressed peoples and is part of what creates a bigger message within a short book. One preacher shared this story that makes this point very clear.

“One of the sermons I remember best is a sermon I didn’t actually hear. During the expected sermon time, the preacher offered only a few introductory comments - and then sent the congregation out of the sanctuary and into the community to be “doers” of all that we proclaim in church each Sunday. One church member said afterwards, “Every week, we hear the sermon. This week, we lived it.”

October 14, 2017 | 

Jesus talks about salvation in different contexts to different audiences and in different ways throughout the Gospels.

Sometimes he’s pretty confusing. Sometimes he’s a little clearer. Sometimes he speaks in parables and stories. But, nowhere else does Jesus so explicitly tell us than in our reading from Matthew’s gospel this week. Our scripture reading draws us to a challenging story about the consequences of not expressing love in the parable of the sheep and the goats. There is nothing soft and heartwarming. It’s rather piercing! 

Here Jesus divides humanity into two teams: the sheep and the goats. The sheep go to his “right hand,” are declared “blessed” and “inherit the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world.” The “goats” on the other hand, aren’t quite as fortunate. They go to his “left hand,” are declared “accursed,” and are relegated to an eternity of “punishment.”

Stop and ask yourself, which team would you prefer to be on? I think Jesus makes this choice a pretty easy one.

Now, how do we get on the sheep team? How do we get picked for sheep duty? Well, the Good News is that Jesus tells us in detail. Being sheep of the shepherd is about following our shepherd’s lead and loving others as he has loved us.

October 7, 2018 | This week we celebrate what it means to be thankful. It is a wonderful thing to do gathered with family and friends. The question is how do we live in the spirit of thanksgiving?

Our reading this week from the Gospel of Luke is the story of the Good Samaritan. The story of a man who is beaten on the side of the road and left there to die. A priest passing by the man, avoids him by crossing to the other side. Certainly he could have named a number of things that he was thankful for even in same moment that he crossed over. So too for the Levite who also avoided the man. Maybe he was thankful for his status in life.

But their thanksgiving didn’t go anywhere beyond them. At least not in that moment when they both avoided the man injured on the side of the road. Their thanksgiving did not flow into the way they lived their lives.

Then we come to the Samaritan. What made the Samaritan compassionate, I wonder? Especially knowing that this man who was beaten on the side of the road would have been a Jewish man, a despised enemy of the Samaritans. What made him bandage this stranger’s wounds? What made him be that kind of neighbour?

September 30, 2018 | In the reading from Mark’s gospel this week, we find ourselves at the conversation where a John, one of the disciples, has questioned the authority of an outsider, one who was doing good works in Jesus’ name. The answer Jesus offers gives us needed guidance concerning our Christian relationships to other persons in the faith, and in the world.

John as a follower and student, has voiced concern over the ministry of someone who worked outside the mandate that had been given to the disciples. John told Jesus that the group stopped the man from doing such, because he was not one of them. Based on the earlier conversation recorded in this same chapter of Mark, where the disciples were warned about jealously guarding their own turf in the prospective kingdom.

Could it be that they were yet shielding their future political aspirations?

September 23, 2018 | In our reading from Mark’s gospel this week we find the disciples arguing about which one of them is the greatest. The culture that they have been apart of has moulded them to be this way. They only understand relationships in terms of hierarchy based on class, gender and age. But they’ve been hanging around Jesus long enough to know that Jesus is thoroughly countercultural. And so the disciples lapse into embarrassed silence when Jesus asks them about the content of their argument.

The disciples expect something countercultural and that’s exactly what Jesus gives them: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” To illustrate the revolutionary nature of this statement, Jesus brings a small child and places the child among the disciples – not before them or after them, but among them. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

September 16th, 2018 | Jesus and his disciples are ‘on the way’ in an area that they would have regarded as sacred because of its proximity to the source of the River Jordan and also Mount Harmon. In this episode they are in the district around Caesarea Philippi, where Herod the Great had built a temple and renamed the town after the emperor. There the Greeks had worshipped the god Pan, a god of nature.

In our reading this week Jesus’ questions directly the disciples. First, “who do people say that I am?” And then, “who do you say that I am?” (v.27), a question that Mark is addressing to the reader of his Gospel. The disciples reply that they associate Jesus with previous prophets. Jesus reiterates that a prophetic ministry, speaking truth to power, carries with it the perils of suffering and death.

September 9, 2018 | Why did Jesus go to Tyre (modern day Lebanon)?  In our reading this week from the Gospel of Mark he hints at an answer in saying “He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.” It may be that Jesus needed some peace and quiet after having to interact with those extra grace required Pharisees and teachers of the law.  Self righteous religious people are just not very appealing, are they?

Despite not wanting anyone to know where he was, Jesus was unable to keep his presence a secret.  In this case, a Syro-Phoenician woman finds Jesus.  Her daughter is possessed by a demon. It is her persistence and faith that makes things right for her once again.

What problems do we face?  Maybe it’s a family issue like the Syro-Phoenician woman had.  Maybe it’s a job challenge.  Maybe it’s a financial challenge. Are we willing to come to Jesus with this challenge and trust that he will carry us through in his love and power?   This is our call to commendable faith.