George Hermanson

Breaking Boundaries

February 24, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Third Sunday of Lent

Exodus 17:1-7
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

John 4:5-42
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Short, easy to use, faith-provoking insights by David Ewart, on his blog, Holy Textures, go to: John 4:5-42.

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

This encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well is one of longest discussions Jesus has with anyone in the gospels.  It gives us an understanding of the meaning of Jesus.   The story is about how religious innovators offer better answers to our existential questions - better than those we have lived in.  It also points to how a new religious culture comes into being.  And it illustrates how that new insight is transmitted down through history. It is a good way to understand how God works in every day life and how reality is changed.

This encounter gives us a template to examine what is happening in our world.  It helps us to deal with our past.  And it gives us a lens to examine our relationship with those close to us.

Inner Reality

February 17, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Second Sunday of Lent

Genesis 12:1-4
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

John 3:1-17
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

For easy to use, short, faith-provoking historical insights by David Ewart, see his post, John 3:1-17 on Holy Textures.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

At Presbytery on Tuesday, our guest was Bishop Mark MacDonald, who is the bishop for Aboriginal people.  He made the point that the overwhelming desire of First Nation peoples was for us to repent of what is called the Doctrine of Discovery.  This is the attitude of all colonizing behaviour, whether it is of a people or an individual.  This is the attitude that there is nothing there until we see it or bring it.  It is the view that our perception determines reality, that there is nothing objective that meets us.  It is to see a people without their culture, to assume there is no culture until we bring it.

Not Blaming

February 10, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
First Sunday of Lent

Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Matthew 4:1-11
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

For short, easy to use, faith-provoking insights by David Ewart, read his post, Matthew 4:1-11.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

This morning we are dealing with what is called a master story - and we have two of them.  A master story is one that is foundational to all stories about how we understand our experience.  These are stories that get reworked in many different versions over time.

Mountain Top Experiences

February 3, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Transfiguration Sunday

Exodus 24:12-18
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Matthew 17:1-9
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

Faith-provoking historical insights by David Ewart on his blog, Holy Textures, Matthew 17:1-9.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

The birth of a child is one of those mountain top experience.  It is life changing, for nothing remains the same.  And we must come down from that high to the issues that this experience brings.  We have the care and feeding of this child now.  Our family reality is changed. Birth has all sorts of practical implications and we are in it for the long haul.