George Hermanson

Signs of Hope

November 29, 2009
Richmond United Church
First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Luke 21:25-36
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.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Here we go again. Didn’t we hear a similar passage last week? It is because we have. We begin this Advent season with one more mini apocalyptic passage. It seems to be in the air for there are several end of the world stories in the movies and TV this Advent season. In unsettled times we get the theme of the times being out of joint.

Traveling With The King

November 22, 2009
Richmond United Church
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost 2009
Reign of Christ Sunday

Revelation 1:4-8
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

John 18:33-37
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.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Eric Clapton wrote a blues tune called, Riding with the King.

Riding With the King

He sings it with a king, B.B. King, about the king, Elvis. As the song moves deeper, riding with the king takes us to The King, to the source of our faith project. This Sunday is about riding with our King - Christ - the reign of Christ.

The rock group R.E.M. has a song called, "The end of the world as we know it." Every person, every church and every culture run into a point where they have to rethink all that they have held dear. The church is at that point, those things we took for granted no longer work. Familiar support systems are gone. It is like the song - we have come undone.

This experience has two sides to it. We can change the world for the better. We learn better ways to live together. We have a more healthy attitude about ourselves and others. We can revision what it means to be church. It means creating a new project based on hope. This is what the bible calls an eschatological experience. It is the ability to see the light breaking through the cracks in everything. It is a profound sense that all is well with the world.

All That We Are

November 15, 2009
Richmond United Church
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Mark 12:38-44
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.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Next week I have organized an event on Transforming Theology for Church and Society. In reading the material, clearly we must as a church develop a faith that address our world of “I am spiritual but not religious.” We are moving into is the age of Spirit where there is “no standardized theology, no single pattern of governance, no uniform liturgy, and no common accepted Scripture.” It is a time where all our faith statements are our best approximation, based on reason, a critical reading of the bible, and reconstructing our theology. This is a time of both excitement and chaos, of energy and closing down, of jumping into the future or seeking of comfort zones of the past. It is a time to take courage, to be bold in our faith, to claim new understandings of God that will guide us into the unknown future. Research indicates a healthy congregation includes study and worship life. It was found that a deep spirituality and open hospitality were the values that grounded them. This deep spirituality and hospitality was nurtured by the ministers, and lived by the people of the church.