WildWords: Sermons from Wildwood Mennonite Church

Happy Solstice! Grab your yule logs and christmas lights and join us for Wildwood After Dark! (For our international followers, that's like 4:30pm these days...) Join us "On the Road to Revelation" for one more Advent Sunday journey. #nowledge

Advent 3: "On the Road to Restoration." If we can't go back to the way things were, what does it mean to be restored? When the world feels broken (still), when I feel broken (still), is it denial to hold to the prophetic call for a better way, to believe that indeed "If anyone is in Christ the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17)? Can we really be remade "good as new"?

Remember those classic Christmas carols, "Repent the Herald Angels Sing," "We Three Kings, Repenting We Are" and, of course, "Repenting Around the Christmas Tree"? Me neither. So what in the world is a theme like "On the Road...to Repentance" doing in the middle of our Advent series??

"Ready or not, here I come!" Remember the thrill of that cry in childhood games of hide and seek? That's also the cry of Advent, but somewhere amidst the familiarity and tradition the advent-ure tends to get lost... What if God is up to something totally awesome and unexpected this year?? (yeah, turns out the prophet Isaiah was an OG of clickbait!)

Did you ever want to be Hamlet? Would you rather play the part of Hamlet or of St. Paul? Let me break it to you: You are not Hamlet; you are called to live your life as YOU! Check out the sermon to find out what difference it makes and to discover how that is a good thing!

This week we explore the theme of Peace in Practice. We are thankful to have Heather and Ben share some reflections and clips from the podcast "Reconcile. Everyday Conversations" which they cohost.

Our sermon this week is a pre-recorded sermon from Rod Suderman, pastor at First Mennonite Church in Saskatoon.

From Rod: “I used the controversy around wearing face masks as my main example to my basic message:  When crucified Jesus was raised from the dead, the world shifted on its axis, says Paul. A whole new world was initiated. To be a Christian is to have had one’s eyes opened to a new reality—God’s realm breaking into our world. Christ expects us to live according to this new reality, living into the world as it is and will be rather than merely conforming to the old dying and defeated world. In Christ, it’s a whole new world; now we’re to live like it.”

"You are my Beloved, my own. On you, my favor rests." Is that what you hear when you step into the water (or find yourself up to your neck in it involuntarily...)? A celebration of baptism and membership. Come and see.

What does it mean to be "People of God's Peace" when the conflict is coming from inside the church? We'd rather be the peacemakers that go out to help the world deal with its problems... but the truth is that our house is just as messy as the rest of the world--if not more. What do we do with that complicated reality?

Inner Peace. Sure sounds nice, but how do we get there? Psalm 23 has brought a sense of calm and comfort to people of faith for generations, so that sounds like a good place to start. Picture your favourite green pastures and still waters and join us for a journey (that may or may not include a brief interlude through the valley of the shadow of death...).