"I Am the Vine!" Sermon on John 15:1-17 by Michelle Ellis - May 30, 2021
I feel that I need to confess before we look at this together, that I am not a gardener. My posture with gardens is to dig a hole, put in a seed, do some watering and hope for the best. But I do want to offer a couple of things I noticed in observing from a distance. We’ve got apple trees in our yard. They grow these tall shoots that reach high into the sky. It seems like they are constantly wanting to overextend themselves and reach higher than they can handle. The tre
"Who We Are at the Lord’s Supper" - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - Sermon by Joe Ellis — May 16, 2021
This is Part 2 in our reflection on the sacraments. Two weeks ago we reflected on the sacrament of Baptism, today we will reflect on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Most often we only read parts from this chapter of 1 Corinthians in church, and we don’t hear how all the parts fit together in the context. The trouble is that the last part of this passage we heard can often be read out of context, where Paul said, "So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
"Good Normal Miracles" - Sermon on Luke 8:40-56 - by Pastor Joe Ellis - May 9, 2021
This Sunday I’d like to do a rerun of the Thanksgiving sermon I gave in July 2019. I had originally planned to do a reflection on the Lord’s Supper today, but plans changed as Michelle, Ben and I experienced a trauma last Wednesday. Ben fell about six feet and was knocked out. After we got him to the hospital he was unconscious for about an hour. The nurses and doctors were preparing Michelle for the worst — they weren’t sure if Ben would be able to walk, or be able to sp
"The Exodus of Baptism" - Romans 6:1-23 by Pastor Joe Ellis - May 2, 2021
I’m going to reflect a bit on baptism, but I’m going to take a strange way to get there. Please bear with me. God’s people were captive in Egypt. They were slaves. The way they ended up in Egypt was innocent enough — Isaac and his family followed Joseph to Egypt to escape from a famine in the land. Over time their numbers grew. The Pharaoh, who was so favourable to Joseph, died. You know the story, over years and years pharaohs came and went, until a pharaoh arrived who
