All posts by Gary Simpson

Tealight Candle on Human Palms

Blessed Are the Excommunicated

With them he came down the hill and stood on a level spot. There was a great company of his disciples with him, and a large multitude of people from all Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the cost of Tyre and Sidon, who had come

Friends running on the beach

The Passion of April Fools

There are two tendencies that do not seem balanced to me. Some spiritual leaders have focused strongly on the torturous nature of Christ’s death at Calvary. Listening to their sermons is about as graphic as watching some crime scene investigation movie. The focus on the

Glasses resting on Bible

Shaking the Dust Off for God

Reading for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying,

Glasses resting on Bible

Seen, Heard and Have Come

Reading for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost: Exodus 3:2-14 We worship a God who is characterized by the cross — the ultimate sign of love known to humanity, not an angry storm god who needs to be appeased. I find it troubling when people of

Glasses resting on Bible

Prophet Versus Grace

Our reading comes from the one of my favorite versions of the Bible – the Black Bible Chronicles. The Black Bible Chronicles takes the stories of the Mosaic books and makes them very now and very relevant. Many people who have read from this particular

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Queer Eye for the Straight World

Lambda Christian Community Church, Edmonton, Alberta Your employer asks you to run over Staples and purchase a box of paper clips. You do things right, so you order one of everything Staples sells to be delivered to your office. What would your employer say? When

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Doers of the Word

Reading for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost: James 1:19-27 This is second of a series of sermons on the book of James. You may recall the book of James was written to the Jewish Believers living outside of Israel. Many of the Jewish Believers were

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Scattered Peace!

Rabbi Harold Kushner says the words of religion are words of encouragement, not words of condemnation.1 Through James, the Lord is encouraging us to live in such a way that our faith in Jesus is a positive force in the world. James is not intended to

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Craving Heavenly Wine

Reading for the Second Sunday after Epiphany: John 2:3-10 Ancient Jewish weddings were different than modern weddings. People did not fly to Hawaii for a honeymoon. For about a week, the couple had an “open house.”1 During the week, the couple was treated as royalty.

Glasses resting on Bible

Serving From a Prison Cell

We arrived in Rome, and Paul was allowed to live in a house by himself with a soldier to guard him. Three days after we got there, Paul called together some of the Jewish leaders and said: My friends, I have never done anything to