George Hermanson

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
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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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.