George Hermanson

Entrances

March 16, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Palm Sunday
Sixth Sunday of Lent

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Matthew 21:1-11
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Short, easy to use, faith-provoking insights by David Ewart, Matthew 21:1-11, on his blog, Holy Textures.

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

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

How we enter a room or a place tells us much about the event.  If we wander in, or there is no grand entrance, we know it is a more casual event.  If we stop and greet before we find our seats, then know we are some kind of community event.  If we come in and bow in prayer, we know there is a preparation for a religious experience.  If there is a great procession we know that it is formal and we expect something to happen.

Entrances have clues built in - an orchestra has an intro - a lighting of the Christ candle focuses the people to experience of God.  The clues focus us to pay attention to the meaning of the shared time.

Affirming Life

March 9, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Fifth Sunday of Lent

Exodus 37:1-4
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

John 11:1-45
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Short, easy to use, faith-provoking insights by David Ewart, John 11:1-45, on his blog, Holy Textures. 

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

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

It seems that one of our societal preoccupation is the aging of the boomers.  For every day we have some comment on their impact on jobs, health care, and pensions.  Going along with these comments are articles about how to extend our life span.  There seems to be some scientist who is promising us some form of immortality.

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.