George Hermanson

Repentance

March 1, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
First Sunday of Lent

Genesis 9:8-17
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Mark 1:9-15
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

We begin our Lenten journey with this story about Noah. It is a story that offers an understanding of God’s relationship - a covenant with all living things. It speaks of the nature of God as one who is continuously in the redemptive business. God seeks to bring creative love to every creature, to create the possibility of wholeness.

The story was for its time a new understanding of God. When we listen to this mythological story with depth, we are rewarded with a way of how to respond to destruction. It is a way to live in the reality of chaos and broken reality without becoming like that which destroys.

Farewell Tour

February 22, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Transfiguration Sunday, Last Sunday After Epiphany

2 Kings 2:1-12
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

We know all about farewell tours. We make one last trip to a homestead to find some of our roots, and having done that we feel connected to our past.

In the visit we connect to some image or build a shrine. When I was in Japan each corner seemed to have a shrine. This is true of Mexico and other countries. Shrines that are important to the neighborhood or the family or a nation. These shrines tell us something important has happened in this location and we want to remember that event that was transformational. A nation may have been  created, think of the controversy around the Plains of Abraham. The shrine can be disruptive or it can be generative. And some times it is both.

Transforming Church <-> Transforming Society

Emerging Process: Theology, Mission, and Spiritual Formation

June 14 - 17, 2009
with the Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly

Madawaska Institute
Burnstown, ON
(Ottawa area)

This series will explore the resources of process and progressive Christianity for post-modern theological reflection, evangelism, worship, theology, and social transformation. The program will integrate theological reflection, personal storytelling, and spiritual practices for personal and congregational transformation.

This event will guide us in digging deeper into the resources of Faith that point beyond the individualism of the dominant culture to disclose the social (i.e., shared) quality of our lives, and especially the social quality of Christian life, theology, and spirituality.

The aim of the event is to rekindle theological imagination and support our faith so we can engage in the transformation of churches and society.

This will be a follow up on the work on the Emerging church movement, the practicing church, and Diana Butler Bass.

REV. BRUCE EPPERLY, PH.D., is a teacher, spiritual guide, writer, lecturer, retreat leader, and reiki teacher. The author of fifteen books, he is Professor of Practical Theology and Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is also co-pastor with his wife, the Rev. Kate Epperly, D.Min., of Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA

For more information on books, visit www.bruceepperly.co

As well, the United Church of Canada will be having a Worship Matters event in Ottawa on June 18-19-20, 2009. The two events could make a good week-long study time.

The cost will be $225 for the event, including lunches. If you register by April 1, 2009 with $50, the cost for the event will be $175. Send cheques made out to Madawaska Institute, 140 Fleming Drive, Burnstown, ON K0J 1G0   CANADA.

Contact:
George Hermanson
www.georgehermanson.com

Emerging Process: Theology, Mission, and Spiritual Formation

June 14 - 17, 2009
with the Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly

Madawaska Institute
Burnstown, ON
(Ottawa area)

This series will explore the resources of process and progressive Christianity for post-modern theological reflection, evangelism, worship, theology, and social transformation. The program will integrate theological reflection, personal storytelling, and spiritual practices for personal and congregational transformation.

This event will guide us in digging deeper into the resources of Faith that point beyond the individualism of the dominant culture to disclose the social (i.e., shared) quality of our lives, and especially the social quality of Christian life, theology, and spirituality.

The aim of the event is to rekindle theological imagination and support our faith so we can engage in the transformation of churches and society.

This will be a follow up on the work on the Emerging church movement, the practicing church, and Diana Butler Bass.

REV. BRUCE EPPERLY, PH.D., is a teacher, spiritual guide, writer, lecturer, retreat leader, and reiki teacher. The author of fifteen books, he is Professor of Practical Theology and Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is also co-pastor with his wife, the Rev. Kate Epperly, D.Min., of Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA

For more information on books, visit www.bruceepperly.co

As well, the United Church of Canada will be having a Worship Matters event in Ottawa on June 18-19-20, 2009. The two events could make a good week-long study time.

The cost will be $225 for the event, including lunches. If you register by April 1, 2009 with $50, the cost for the event will be $175. Send cheques made out to Madawaska Institute, 140 Fleming Drive, Burnstown, ON K0J 1G0   CANADA.

Contact:
George Hermanson
www.georgehermanson.com

Inner Work

February 15, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

2 Kings 5:1-14
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Mark 1:40-45
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Paul gives us the image of spiritual training in the metaphor of the discipline demanded of an elite athlete. There is no quick and easy way of preparation. However, in our world the demand on people is such that some do seek a faster method. We see this in the issue of enhancing drugs that hit the news and how testing for such drugs is now an ethical issue in sports.

This suggests there is a tension of how one forms habits of discipline, and how they flow over to other aspects of life. There is an inner discipline that is needed which works for performance and also in how one lives in daily life. It is the inner stuff that allows one to withstand the pressures of our commodified world, and when one fails, to begin again.

Witnessing

February 8, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany

1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Mark 1:29-39
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

What does it mean to witness? Paul lays out his mission to preach the Kingdom of God. In the passage from Mark, we read of the beginning of Jesus' mission to preach the kingdom of God. Paul speaks of an obligation to preach the Kingdom. Jesus creates a community to witness to the Kingdom.

Witnessing is an issue in our pluralistic world. We ask if there are limits to our witnessing? What does it mean to witness in a multi-religious world? Our culture asks, is there an absolute truth? These are not questions asked by the writers of the text, when they say they were obliged to witness. Yet I think we can find some hints for our time.