Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! A little boy was furiously riding his tricycle around the block over and over and over again, all the while tears streaming down his face. He was holding a teddy bear and his blue blanket was dragging on the ground as he went. A nearby police officer, having seen the crying boy go around and around, stopped him and asked him if he was OK. The little boy told the cop that he was running away from home! The offic

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Back in the day, when I was in Seminary, we got to go on a field trip of sorts to Calgary, AB. And who doesn’t love a school field trip, right?! I remember in Kindergarten going down south of Moose Jaw to the Bunnyview Pet farm! The Seminary field trip unfortunately didn’t involve farm animals. It was quite the opposite. It was an inner city immersion kind of experience so we bumpkins could see what it was like

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! “Hey Dan, what are you doing here?” “Oh hey! We just moved to Chaplain.” … “Chaplain? … Do you have family there?” … “No.” … “Do you like salt?!” That’s basically how it all started, right out there in the Narthex! When God brought Pastor Dan and Connie to Emmanuel it was a very exciting time indeed. Immediately, I saw an opportunity … to make life easier on myself! … If we call Dan, that means I don’t have to

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Old Beatrice Brown was known as the ‘chicken lady’. She loved chicken and made the best chicken soup this side of Parkbeg! She went down to the local butcher shop to go and buy a fresh chicken. “I’ll have a chicken please” said Beatrice. The butcher went into the back and grabbed his last remaining bird from the cooler. After weighing it he said “that will be $12.54 ma’am.” “Do you have a larger one?” Beatrice

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Today’s Gospel lesson is definitely one of my all time favourites. The Disciples on the Emmaus road. St. Luke alone records this event and he places it as the first detailed post-resurrection appearance of Jesus, immediately after the women’s report of the empty tomb and Peter’s independent fact-checking: he “rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went h

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! In this last Lenten Bible Study we did on The Chosen, Season 3, they pointed out a phrase that the Jews often said to each other. “Shalom Shalom.” If you remember episode 7 where the Roman Gaius asks Peter why he says it twice, he answers “Well, once means ‘peace.’ Twice means ‘perfect peace’ … complete wholeness.” This isn’t just The Chosen movie magic, either. It is actually a Biblical greeting that comes fr

Scripture Readings Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! No matter on which syllable you place the emphasis, it is all true! The stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty! The crucified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not there! The neon sign outside the tomb flashed “vacant!” “He is not here! He has risen,” the angel said to the bewildered women. “Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell Hi

Scripture Readings: St. John's Passion Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! The cross . You literally see it everywhere. It hangs around peoples’ necks. Athletes often make the sign of the cross before competing in events. Hospitals frequently have crosses or crucifixes in the halls. And of course, churches are adorned with crosses inside the sanctuary and on top of steeples. The cross is a very popular symbol of re

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you” (Ex 12:23). There you go, folks. That’s the whole reason we have gathered here tonight at God’s house. On this night that is not like an

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Back in the good ol’ glory days of the Roman Empire, there was no shortage of pomp and circumstance. To boast about the achievements of the Empire was ingrained into every single citizen. At times of war this concept was never more clear. The Roman Triumph was a prime example. It was one of the most prestigious customs in ancient Rome. It coupled a grand civil

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Way back in 1905, a guy named Frederick Wells conducted a routine inspection of a diamond mining operation that he was managing. The story goes that Wells spotted a flash of light reflecting from the wall of the open pit about 18 feet below the surface during the inspection. He climbed up to the location and pried it out with a pocket knife. Initially he though

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Most of the time, when people think about Religion or the church, it often drifts into morality. I need to be a ‘good person.’ Or I’ll put my kid in Catholic or Christian School so they learn some good morals. And this is because our sinful and fallen human nature instinctively wants to work with works. Maybe I’ve been bad, therefore I really need to be good. O

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)“ (JN 4:9). Ain’t that a dilly of a pickle?! A Jew, from Judea, travels north into Samaria and asks for a drink of water from a well. It has all the makings for a good joke, doesn’t it!? “A Jewish Rabbi walks into a bar in Samaria…” But this is

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! You know, without a doubt, one of the worst things in life is moving. Having to move to a new house or new apartment or new condo or whatever. A new residence. It’s not so bad when you’re young or in the kraft-dinner college stage of life and everything you have fits in the back of a 1992 Nissan Pathfinder. But the older you get, the more stuff you accumulate,

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! The Shrove Tuesday pancakes have been eaten and enjoyed as the last of the sweet treats before Easter. The ashes have adorned our foreheads to remind us of our mortality. The water used to clean them off reminds us of our Baptism which has washed our sins away. Our Lenten pilgrimage and journey has begun anew this year - our journey to the cross. This is the bl

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Some friends of ours went on a Roman Catholic pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago. It’s an 800km hike that takes you from France to Santiago de Compostela on the Spanish coast, the place where St. James’ remains are said to be buried. That is Big James, the son of Zebedee. It is said they brought his relics or bodily remains to Spain from Jerusalem afte

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Today we wind up the season of Epiphany. It is the season of light. It is the season of God revealing to the world exactly Who He is in the person of Jesus Christ. It is the season of manifestation. We could say it is a Divine game of “ peek-a-boo! ” where God lifts up the veil and we see His glory. Epiphany began with the light of a star leading the Magi to th

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! One of my fondest memories as a kid was going to pick out a puppy! I had been begging my parents for quite some time to get another dog. I said all the usual promises that every kid does: “I’ll walk it!” “I’ll clean up the landmines!” “I promise!” Every parent knows that this means that they will end up doing all this, and also paying for it! But I had my hea

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! When you read through the Scriptures, over and over again you encounter contrasting themes. Light and darkness. Justice and mercy. Law and Gospel. Life and death. You get the idea. There’s zillions of these kinds of examples in the Bible. One that hits home in today’s readings are God’s Kingdom vs. Worldly Kingdoms. In particular, the idea of worldly success. T

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Last Sunday we talked at length about the Confession of St. Peter. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (MT 16:16). We talked about how he was a rough and tumble fisherman, a regular work-a-day Pete. Impulsive, perhaps rather brash and definitely not a refined scholar with degrees and book learnin’. Completely opposite to St. Peter we have St. Paul,

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (MT 16:15). There it is! The now iconic words that formed the original confession of the Christian church, voiced by none other than the absolute legend, St. Peter, disciple and Apostle. It is precisely these words that we commemorate today as God’s people bec

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! The video sharing site YouTube is really a modern marvel of information. It hosts zillions and zillions of videos encompassing pretty much everything of interest to every person on earth. Want to fix your car? There’s a video for that. Need a recipe for supper? There’s a video for that too. Want to explore the ever practical world of equestrian vaulting ?! The

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! “ Beam me up, Scottie! ” I’ll bet at least a few of you recognize those words. They come from way back in the 1960s. On September 8, 1966 the very first episode of Star Trek was aired on TV. It followed the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise, commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, with First Officer Spock, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. And of course, it h

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Today is kind of a sombre day in the midst of our Christmas joy. Today, as has been mentioned, is the minor church festival of the Holy Innocents. It’s always commemorated on the 28th of December which this year happens to line up with a Sunday. Who are the Holy Innocents? These are the little Israelite boys, 2 years and under, who evil King Herod in his demoni

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! “That’s impossible!” How often have you heard those words or even said those words in your life? Oh, probably more than a few times I’m sure. It’s often our response when something seems too tough to understand. Like little kids watching a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat. “Wow! How’d he do that?!” There’s a moment of intense fascination and wonder. But the

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! 22 years ago, way back in 2003, my wife was serving as the Director of Parish Services at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, smack dab in the middle of inner city Edmonton, Alberta. This church had a great history of inner city outreach, starting “ The Rock ” breakfast program, which fed hundreds of homeless and needy people several days a week. Among other ways they loved and served t

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Picture it. 1979. No internet. No cell phones. If you wanted to learn stuff you had to look it up in books, you know, those things with pages in them! They were all the rage at one time, before digital screens took society hostage. But back in 1979 there were several popular “baby naming books.” And of course, at the top of the list in popularity in those bab

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! From forests and trees last Sunday to deserts and sand this Sunday, we’ve had a real botanical cornucopia during this Advent season! When we hear the world “wilderness” in our culture we tend to think about the forests of northern Saskatchewan or maybe the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps the Yukon or Alaska for some unspoiled, pristine wilderness that isn’t touched by

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Growing up over the years, we had both real and artificial Christmas trees. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Both look splendid when they are decorated. Real trees smell absolutely amazing when they warm up to room temperature. Artificial trees can be used over and over again and have no sap. And if we learned anything from National Lampoon’s Chris

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Welcome to Advent! It’s the like the first day of school when you roll out all your new school supplies from a brand new backpack. It’s a fresh start. A new beginning. The church year resets and reboots us into this beautiful season of hope and expectation! Curiously, our Scripture readings don’t seem very ‘ Christmasy. ’ Instead, we seem to be plopped into the

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Welcome to the end ! The end of the church year, that is. We now call it “Christ the King” Sunday, the last Sunday in the church’s liturgical year, with the season of Advent right on our heels. But did you know that this concept of “Christ the King” is a very new thing in the church year. In fact, it will be exactly 100 years old this year. It’s only been aro

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! At this time of year, with Remembrance Day right around the corner, I often think about our soldiers and everything they went through as young men, many still teenagers. The Great War. World War II. The trenches. Combat. Good vs. Evil. You can watch war movies to get a glimpse of what they faced, but I think Hollywood’s best efforts and all the computer graphic

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! As I mentioned last Sunday, Luther posted his 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg on October 31st precisely because the next day was November 1st, also known as All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day (hence our word ‘ Halloween ’ from ‘ All Hallows’ Eve ’). We can trace the roots of this festival in the church all the way back to the 4th century when

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Years ago when landline phones were still a thing, we had a cordless phone. Just imagine the freedom! No longer being wired to the wall in one spot, you could rove around the house, fold laundry, work on the car, go to the potty, all the while listening to cousin Mabel go on about her neighbour’s dog, still peeing on the front lawn, despite her sassy lawn sig

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Our society really has gone down hill over the last 15 years for sure. Inflation. Crime. Drugs. Homelessness. Government corruption and scandal after scandal. I think most people will agree on the sad state of affairs that has taken over our country. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of our time is that, hardly anybody makes Western Movies anymore! Westerns . T

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! I often wonder at “how stuff came to be.” You know, like traditions that we take for granted. Thanksgiving rolls around and oh look, there’s the turkey! There’s the pumpkin pie! Nary a second thought. But do you ever stop and wonder why that’s the case? Why are these things such a staple of the Thanksgiving holiday and not, I don’t know, Sharp-tailed grouse and

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Our Gospel reading...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! We’ve got a really...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! A few years ago my...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Today is September...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Today we have a...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! In my first church,...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Way back in 2008,...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Every time I get a...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! We just got back...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Way back in the day,...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! I was reflecting...

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Holy Trinity Sunday....

Scripture Readings Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen! Do you remember all...