Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The 4th Sunday after Pentecost

There was a warm-hearted, but over-anxious secretary whose boss died suddenly one day, leaving on his desk a number of letters that he had been preparing to sign and send out. The helpful secretary put the boss’s rubber stamp signature on them, and then, after a moment’s thought, added the following postscript to each letter: “Since writing the above letter, I have died.”

A funeral happened to be passing by as an armored truck from a bank pulled up to an intersection. Since he couldn’t get through the procession, the driver joined it. An onlooker, impressed by the spectacle of the funeral cortege, remarked to a friend: “What do you know? You can take it with you.” Continue reading ‘Sermon — 28 June, 2009’ »

Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Have you ever been in a violent storm at sea? When I was in high school, a friend of mine had a small sail boat that we took out on Lake Erie one fine day. He was the boater; I was a novice. We got into the middle of the lake, and what began as a fine day began to look threatening, so we started to make our way back, but we didn’t make it back before it started to rain.

At that time in my life I knew that my plans included seminary down the road. My friend calmly suggested that if I had an appropriate prayer, now might be the time to say it. That’s when I started to be concerned about our situation! Continue reading ‘Sermon — 21 June 2009’ »

Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard Lampert
Pentecost II

Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard Lampert
Pentecost II Mk. 4.26-34 Ezek. 31.1-14

When you’re dedicated and faithful enough, the seeds will always grow!

It just isn’t true, but, we wish it were so! Pastors & businessmen alike talk about some of the major myths of growth like: (a)If you are dedicated enough your church will al-ways grow and (b) all God ever expects is faithfulness. They speak about church growth conferences where dedicated pastors finish leaving feeling more guilty, frustrated, inade-quate than when they arrived. These men and women are faithful to God’s Word! They pray feverently! They are solid preachers! Sometimes their churches just refuse to grow. Why? Maybe it’s just a poor fit? Or, maybe the pastor is running out of gas? Perhaps the leaders have the will, but not the updated skills nor right tools? Maybe the timing is bad? Maybe the church just doesn’t pray hard enough or work hard enough? Let’s change the metaphor: If you’re dedicated and pray hard enough, your life and your job and your men-tal health will all always be fine! Tell that to the thousands who have now lost their jobs, to the man/woman who’s spouse just died, to a young child cancer patient, to a person drown-ing in the giant spiderweb of depression & inactivity! Where’s my growth? Where’s God? Continue reading ‘Sermon — 14 June 2009’ »

Sermon preached by the The Rev. Orley Swartzentruber
Trinity Sunday

Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard C. Marsden
The Day of Pentecost

Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The 7th Sunday of Easter

The Pelican, Volume 13, Number 11 - June 2009 (2,164 KB)