Authors /
Edwin Searcy
Edwin Searcy is a pastor with University Hill Congregation of the United Church of Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia.
A holy temple
The Christian Seasons Calendar that hangs on my wall is open in this season after Epiphany to a painting by Kirsten Malcolm Berry titled “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). Fault lines are showing in First Church Corinth over which minister is to be credited with success and which one is to be labelled a failure. Paul keeps the focus on God. Once again the little church in Corinth pre-figures so many of our congregational stories.
Sunday, February 20, 2011: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
Here are texts that say to the church: "You are holy."
Life-and-death choices
This is not a Sunday for soft-pedalling the gospel. Moses and Jesus portray the life of faith as a "yes" or a "no" to God with lives that obey or that disobey. It is little wonder that it is common to summarize Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount with one verse, the "Golden Rule" (Matthew 7:12).
Sunday, February 13, 2011: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Somewhere along the line, choosing to worship the God met in Jesus became a matter of life and death for me.
I don't need anything else
A folk-singing friend taught me that if I could link a sermon to a song, listeners would remember the song, and thus be more likely to remember the sermon....
Thirsty for life
The texts speak of thirst for life. The people thirst for water in the wilderness. The Samaritan woman at the well meets the One who gives the water of eternal life....
Struggling with temptation
Lent’s 40 days of preparation for baptism and discipleship are modeled on Jesus’ postbaptismal test in the wilderness....
On height, Torah, time and glory
Transfiguration Sunday is the highpoint between Epiphany, when the mystery is suddenly transparent, and the resurrection, when the ultimate epiphany breaks through what we had imagined was the full...
The land of deep darkness
We expect Jesus to emerge from John’s shadow in a public way, to take on the establishment and lead the charge for God’s reign. Instead, when John is arrested Jesus withdraws (Matt. 4:12)....
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