Here is my post for our church website for Pentecost.  It will probably be the seed for my message on Sunday.                                                                                &nb

Here is my draft of my sermon for September 16 based on Mark 8:27-38.

I will be using Have you Filled a Bucket Today for the story.

Who are We?

I happened to read Luke 8:9 this morning.

"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand'

So it tells me ( correct me if I am wrong) the parables are given for us to study and find the nuggets hidden within. And each time we look at them, we will find new treasures of wisdom.

Anyone?

Everything has a purpose - some formal; some not. What is the purpose of the UCCAN? Is it written somewhere. So send me to the manual. I don't want to go there.

I s everyone on the same page on this?

What is our purpose?

Hebrew Scripture reading for Sunday, August 22 is Jeremiah 1:4-10.

My question, should you decide to try to answer, is this:  Are prophets born or made?

Have at it.

I was home in bed, sick, and I needed something to watch. Having cancelled my cable TV a few years ago, I decided to give Itune movies a try and I found One Week.. It appealed to me as it was the story of one week in Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) life. A Toronto man in his mid twenties engaged to be married, just starting out in his career as a teacher and writer. The film starts with him being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that is in stage 4.   With treatment  the Doctor gives him a 10% chance of beating it.

 Could it be? Is it a possibility? What would it mean to the followers of Christ that call themselves Christians because they believe that "Jesus died for my sins".

Three years ago, I retired. I had led a busy life - teaching, radio twice a day, TV, public talks fifty or sixty a year. I looked forward to doing things I had never had timem for - a family tree, some reading...  Instead, I find I'm always tired an spiritless. Two months ago, I spent time in hospital being checked for an irregular heart beat. I have little energy.

A past moderator, Bill Phipps, wrote a book "Cause for Hope". In it he makes the point that people (we) live by the stories we tell. He even makes the point that for us to change the future is rather easy; all we have to do is change the story! Assuming that he is right, this would be an interesting tool for us to use. We could begin by contemplating what our society is like and then make the connection with the foundational stories we tell.

They say that after a death a person reevaluates things and how their life is going.  A popular saying is that you will not have written on your tombstone "He/she spent a lot of time at work"