A Noble Theme

Today I had the privilege of conducting the baptism of a six year old child. In the Presbyterian Church, there is no defined age for a baptism and I have baptized people at various ages through the years, but this was my first six year old. I found it a deeply meaningful celebration for a number of reasons but mostly because the child got to have a say to and express his faith at the level of understanding. I adapted the baptismal questions as followed: Minister: Candidate , I know that you have heard the name of Jesus, that you are learning about him, his words and his stories. Candidate , I want to ask you a very important question. Based on what you know right now about Jesus, are you willing to trust him and to serve him as best as you can? Candidate : Yes, I am. Minister: Candidate , as a sign of your trust in Jesus, are you willing to be  baptized ? Candidate : Yes. Minister: Mother and Father , in his own way, Candidate could probably teach us...

Hespeler, 27 December, 2015 © Scott McAndless – Baptism Matthew 2:1-5, 13-15, Luke 2:22-35, Psalm 148 T he people of Alexandria were all stirred up and you could understand why. After all, didn’t the city have enough of its own problems? The economy had been dismal for years. Ever since the death of Anthony and Cleopatra, Roman taxes had only gone up and up. (It seemed as if nine out of every ten bushels of wheat produced in the Nile valley was shipped overseas to feed the ever-hungry people of Rome) and the lack of a descent flood of the Nile in, like, three years, meant that there just didn’t seem to be enough to feed Egypt’s population.       And then there was the labour market. It had been, what, like a thousand years since anybody was hiring in the pyramid building industry. And really, what other work was there for good hardworking Egyptians? Mummy wrapping? Hieroglyphic drawing? Slavery? The guys who whip the slaves? Listen, the poin...

Video Version: Hespeler, 20 December, 2015 © Scott M c Andless Mark 1:40-45 E very Jew in Capernaum really mattered a lot But the leper, who lived outside Capernaum, did not! Because of psoriasis his skin was all white And the people who saw him reacted in fright. But as much as they scorned him for being impure The leper detested himself even more. He was certain that all this had happened to him Because he’d deserved it – because of some sin. So he spent all his days in a terrible mood And in dark depression he constantly stewed. For nobody loved him – no body at all And that’s why his heart was two sizes too small.      It is fair, I think, to compare Dr. Seuss’ story of the Grinch who stole Christmas with the story of the leper from Mark’s Gospel. They actually have a great deal in common. Both the Grinch and the leper live outside of town – away from the society of other people. This is not stated in the gospel story, of cours...

St. Andrew’s Stars Episode: Hespeler, 13 December, 2015 © Scott M c Andless Psalm 107:1-16, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, John 17:13-19 A lmost exactly fifty years ago today (think about that for a moment!) On Thursday, December 9, 1965, viewers who were just settling in to watch their favourite television show on CBS, the Munsters, were in for a surprise. The show had been pre-empted, replaced with a brand new television special: A Charlie Brown Christmas. For the very first time the popular comic strip was brought to life through the magic of animation.         And the executives down at CBS were huddled in fear. They were bracing for what they were sure would be an embarrassing failure. And they had some very good reasons for that fear. The special had been made on a shoestring budget and had definitely suffered for it. The animation was very poor quality. It was jerky and...

St. Andrew's Stars Video: Hespeler, 6 December, 2015 © Scott M c Andless – Communion Genesis 2:4-7 , Luke 1:46-55 , 1 Corinthians 15:12-28 I n 1969 the decision was made to take a silly little winter children’s song about a snowman who came to life and turn it into an animated Christmas special. It was not really a very radical idea. Five years previously producers had taken another popular Christmas song, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinde er , and turned it into what is probably the most popular Christmas special of all time. If they could do it for Rudolph, they could surely do it for Frosty and in fact they even hired the same man, Romeo Muller, who had written the Rudolph special to expand the song’s story to fill an entire half hour.       But didn’t Romeo Muller have quite a challenge before him? How do you take a little lightweight song about what is, I guess, just about everyone’s childhood fantasy (What do you suppose it wo...

Something finally broke over the last couple of days. And, as far as I'm concerned, it is about time. In the aftermath of the latest mass shooting, which led to the death of 14 in San Bernadino in California, people began responding, as they often do, by sending out their "thoughts and prayers." It is, I would suggest, a common and generally positive response to events that are tragic and largely outside of our control. We feel so powerless in the face of tragedy and the impulse is to want to do something about it. Often enough, prayer and positive thoughts are the only things that we feel able to do. But this time there was a strong twitter reaction against the response as people began to tweet out criticisms that sought to shame those making such statements with the hashtag #thoughtsandprayers. The criticism and shaming was not directed (at least not for the most part) towards people who were truly powerless to do anything except pray about it, but in particular at ...