WildWords: Sermons from Wildwood Mennonite Church

Our worship this week invites us to expand our horizons beyond our Living Skies to consider the all-encompassing global Body of Christ. Our sermon this week is a pre-recorded sermon from Mennonite Church Canada International Witness Director Jeannette Hanson. “The Kingdom of God is like a banyan tree,” originally recorded in May for Morden Mennonite Church, looks at Ephesians 2:17-22 and shares how each expression of church enlivens the whole, using examples from International Witness ministries around the world.

Buried (pirate?) treasure? Pearls and fishes? Storage Wars? This week's 4-pack of parables has a bit of everything... including the GOAT, Michael Jordan! Click on to find out what the Realm of God is Like This week.

Apocalypse! As much as I want to say "relax, it's not the end of the world"... well... you know... At the very least, it is the end of a version of the world we thought we knew. This is not the first time humanity has faced this type of apocalypse, however. And the word itself suggests that there is much to be learned even from these uncertain times.

Our "The Realm of God is Like This..." series this week explores the Parable of the Bridesmaids from Matthew 25:1-13. What kind of party is Jesus talking about, and what does it mean to be ready, to be faithful and wise at the end of the world?

This week we are privileged to welcome a "guest preacher" via youtube, Austin Channing Brown! Austin's 2016 sermon, "Faith, Justice and Race" invites us to imagine Jesus' vision of the Realm of God in contrast to the Kingdom of Egypt in the Exodus story. The temptation of Pharaoh to protect ourselves through domination and slavery lives on in our communities and our hearts still today. Thanks to Austin for calling us to join in the deliverance of the Spirit of Exodus here and now!

Austin is the author of I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness and producer and host of The Next Question, a video web series on race and justice.

"Faith, Justice, and Race" video podcast by Austin Channing Brown at The Grove in Chandler, Arizona on February 28, 2016.

We've all heard the phrase "The last will be first and the first will be last", but what does it really mean to be one of the "first"? Join Sean Baergen as he leads us through the parable of the labourers in the vineyard.

Often Jesus’s parables are told to represent the realm of God, they address the problem of how we can begin to understand the realm of God, when we struggle to even wrap our minds around our ideas about God. Join David as he leads us through the parable of the unmerciful servant.

You've heard The Parable of the Lost Sheep many times before. But have you heard it from the view of The Lost Sheep? Join Ben Borne as he leads our imaginations through this new perspective.

We are honoured this week to listen to Josephine Kroeker share snapshots of her journey with transgender identity. Also, the preacher (he/him) shares some helpful vocabulary and challenges what you thought you knew about primary colours... #redwhiteandwhaaaat?

Let's talk about gender identity and expression. Yes, in church. Yes, that's awkward and uncomfortable for some of us (including the straight cisgender male preacher... but nobody else volunteered to preach this one.) But relax, it's good. And there are flying fish. #AndGodSawThatItWasGood

“Deal with it!”, we hear. But how do we do that? Is it as simple as that? David came upon the worst calamity of his life and dealt with it. Others, living south of the equator today, have met hard times and difficult situations! How did they cope? And what lessons are there in their response that might be helpful to us in the calamities of our lives?