George Hermanson

A Modest Faith - A Subtle Shift In Grammar

October 28, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
22nd Sunday After Pentecost
   
Luke 18:9-14
Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson
   
Journey with the Pharisee as he comes to the temple with expectation. He is actually singing "Amazing Grace" as he enters. There are tears in his eyes as he prays. He feels this stuff. He is full of gratitude for his life. He is overflowing with religious emotion, for he does feel blessed. Talk to him at the door, and ask what about the tax collector? He will tell you, "There but for the grace of God go I."
   

Persistence

October 21, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
21st Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 18:1-8
Read the passage: The Message  or  The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

What a curious story this is!  This feisty widow. The story would have been even more puzzling to Luke’s readers.  Roles were very closely defined.  Women had to know their place.  Yet again, Jesus makes the rebel the hero of the story.  This would have been a challenging story.  Luke used it as a teaching story.  So we ask, again,  what was going on in the social system of the times?

When Yes Includes A No

October 14, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
20th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 17:11-19

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

This  story of the 10 lepers is  a story of healing. A story of thankfulness.  A story where healing is transformational and isn’t.  A story of where saying yes includes a no.   An interesting story for this Sunday of visioning.

Hungry Heart to Thankful Heart

October 7, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Thanksgiving Sunday

Deuteronomy 26:1-11   and   John 6:25-35

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

There are a lot of traditions around our thanksgiving.  It has it origins in the European festival of the harvest not the American one.  It is a reflection on the bounty of the earth.  It is about a sense of God we can get in work well done.  It is the sense of God who loves the earth and cares for all of creation.  It is the feeling that the tradition of the Sabbath created.  God said it was good and beautiful, and now to rest to reflect the mode of thanksgiving.  The Sabbath was the shutting out of secular demands, a time for the body as well as the soul.  Rabbi Heschel said it was wrong to be sad on the Sabbath.  In the moment of thanksgiving the heart moves from dissatisfaction to satisfaction - a sense of well being and fullness given by the bounty of God’s grace and love.