George Hermanson

All That We Are

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

Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17
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Mark 12:38-44
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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.

Attitude of Gratitutde, Year B, Thanksgiving

October 11, 2009
St. Paul's United Church, Richmond, ON
Thanksgiving Sunday

Psalm 126
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Joel 2:21-27
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Matthew 6:25-33
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

We have dressed the church this morning to remind us of the beauty of the earth, life that is given by soil and care. We dress up to remind ourselves of what is important. When we go out for a special occasion our clothes reflect the meaning of the event.

Our texts reflect giving thanks and rejoicing. I especially like the passage from the prophet Joel. He writes after a period of difficulty and stress. His sense of well-being and thanksgiving is so great that he includes the soil and the animals as well as human beings in the rejoicing. It resonates for us, I think, living as we do where Autumn just bursts with exuberant colour and richness. We can say with Joel that in our coloured leaves and vivid blue skies all of creation gives joyful thanks to the Creator.

On Not Judging

November 23, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Reign of Christ Sunday

Matthew 25:31-46
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Have you noticed how we ritualize things.  Watch the Grey Cup today and you will see ritual writ large.  Or in hockey, how some have to put their equipment on in a certain order.  Or the commercial of the guy who does not want his lucky sock washed.

Well the ritual in the church is designed to cause us to stop and quiet ourselves, reflect, and be open to the creative adventure of God.  We move from ordinary space and time into sacred time and space. We move from the busyness of the world into reflection time - to prepare us for the aim of God to burst into our consciousness.

This Sunday is one of those experiences.

A Kingdom of Surprises

November 16, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 25:14-30
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1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
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Psalm 123
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

We all love the parable of the talents.  It is used in all sorts of ways.  The fact it is loved and well known does not mean it is easily understood or that there is an easy application of the story.

Most we have been taught that the talent is just that - some gift we have - particularly a spiritual gift.  What is done is we make it into a metaphor or an allegory which is similar to not hiding our light under a bushel basket.  The interpretative model is that talents are gifts from God, to be used for God or buried and hidden and ignored. This idea is important and does reflect the not hiding our light. But it does not catch the full impact of the parable.

Be Awake

November 9, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
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Matthew 25:1-13
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

It is one of those - "it goes without saying" things - we see events from our personal experience.  We filter the world out of what we believe and what has formed us.  Symbolic acts create moments that form us and then we must move on to how to live the moment of transformation.

A Question of Humility

November 2, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 23:1-12
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1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Show off.  One of our early learning's has been not to be a show off. Then we get the confusing advice to be the best we can - to excel - to be excellent.  It is hard to navigate between the idea of pride and hubris - that is the tension between the idea of self esteem and having an enlarged ego, an extreme sense of self.  Our identity formation is a process of creating an sense of of self that neither thinks too highly of oneself or not highly enough.

I watched my grandson practice hockey and saw how he was learning confidence in his ability.  Afterwards, I asked him about his sense of himself and he said “I am the best.”  Yet objectively I could see how he could improve. Thus, the question of how to nurture that confidence yet have a realistic sense of how he needed to improve and grow to become what he saw himself as.

Christ The King

November 25, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Reign of Christ Sunday

Luke 23:33-43
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Jeremiah 23:1-6
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Colossians 1:1-20
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Our narrative today focuses on Christ the King.  A different kind of king - a king whose function is to bring compassionate/justice.  A king  whose very way of being is one of redemption and care of the least.

Promise and Paradise

November 18, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 21:5-19
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Isaiah 65:17-25
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

When times are out joint and world seems to be in danger we have turned to two images to explain the world.  Those explanations have informed us, shaped us, and created the underlying assumptions we have about reality.  We find these images in art and music.  We find them in political philosophies.   In the crisis of the environment they have emerged again.  The images are of destruction or renewal.  They are pessimistic or optimistic.  They are fatalistic or we can overcome.

A Lunch Invitation

November 4, 2007
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 19:1-10
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

This morning we have this story of Zacchaeus.  We often use it as as a cute children’s story about having faith.  We tell how short little Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus.   However, this is not how the story goes. The thing is, Zacchaeus wasn’t a cute little Danny DeVito type character. He was a short, nasty man, who was a dirty collaborator with Rome. He was the chief tax collector, which meant he had many more dirty stealing tax collectors working for him. In a busy cosmopolitan place, he got rich by collecting tolls from all who traveled the roads.  He did this for the hated empire.  He was part of the reason why life was so miserable for the people of his time.