By Janice Love

• Marvelous Things by Janice Love (12/20/2016)
  Christmas Day Isaiah 52: 7-10 Psalm 98 Hebrews 1: 1-12 John 1: 1-14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14 Are you ready? That’s the question I often hear around this time of year when out and about. Of course, I understand what is meant by it, but can’t help thinking to myself, how could you ever be? Last year, gravitational waves were detected from an event that happened over a billion years ago, long before humans even ...
• Declare How Much God has Done for You by Janice Love (6/20/2013)
  Fifth Sunday After Pentecost Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time I Kings 19: 1-15a Psalm 42 & 43 Galatians 3: 23-29 Luke 8: 26-39 It is, in the Northern Hemisphere, the season of summer – of fun on the water in many forms. We, ourselves, live by three lakes and spend much time in them, on them and by them at this time of year. Our impending visit to my sister’s on the Saskatchewan prairies holds the promise of a visit to their cabin with boating, tubing, skiing and skipping stones on the to do list – unlike our last visit when our son ...
• Do You Love Me? by Janice Love (4/11/2013)
  Third Sunday of Easter Acts 9: 1-20 Psalm 30 Revelation 5: 11-14 John 21: 1-19 What a gift the Great Fifty Days are for the church! Time to celebrate. Time to ponder. Celebrate and ponder the stupefying wonder that is the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. Here we are on the third Sunday of Easter and the disciples still aren’t getting it. Their continued bafflement speaks volumes to the shock of what has taken place. Thousands of years later the ripples of that decisive Act of God can continue to confound us; the church is still in need of...
• Rejoice in the Truth by Janice Love (1/31/2013)
  Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 1: 4-10 I Corinthians 13 Luke 4: 21-30 There has been a big build up to this Sunday - four weeks of waiting for the birth of Jesus, two weeks celebrating it, marking the Epiphany with the magi and the baptism of Jesus, the performance of Jesus’ first miracle of water turned to wine and finally his reading from the scroll of Isaiah in his home congregation to announce the arrival of God’s jubilee and of God’s Messiah. All eyes are on him now as he launches into his ministry. We have this Sunday only to contemplate what J...
• So It Is To Be. Amen. by Janice Love (11/21/2012)
  The Reign of Christ Revelation 1: 4b-8 John 18: 33-37 Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come… The most frequent command of the Bible is “to be not afraid!” It is the first thing Angels say when they arrive with the divine, demanding messages they have been charged to deliver. Joseph says it to his brothers in forgiving them, Moses says it to the Israelites, God says it to Joshua and numerous times to Jeremiah, Isaiah sings to God that he will not be afraid. Jesus says it the most - to his disciples and to those he heals. I remember once making this claim to a group of youth I was training ...
• Rebuked by Janice Love (9/15/2012)
  Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Proverbs 1: 20-33 Mark 8: 27-38 Ah, it has finally begun to cool off where we live. There is a hint of autumn crispness in the air. The new school supplies are bought and our son has begun grade four. In the lectionary we have been learning too – what might be new things about Jesus for us, if we have been paying attention in class. Like how even Jesus is a little surprised to find himself debating with a Gentile woman, who is seeking healing for her daughter, and opening the hearing and speaking of a Greek man. A Jesus surprised about the direction his mission is taki...
• Amazing Jesus by Janice Love (7/4/2012)
  Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10 Mark 6: 1-13 Things move quickly in the gospel of Mark. There is hardly enough time to even grab a bite to eat (3:20, 6:31). Reading from Mark now, with its piling up of events one upon the other, is perhaps counter-intuitive to our summer in the Northern Hemisphere when we try to slow our lives down to take advantage of the (hopefully) more pleasant weather. Already here in just the 6th chapter, however, Jesus, stepping onto the stage fully grown, has been baptized, called his disciples, been proclaiming the good news a...
• And So We Speak by Janice Love (6/8/2012)
  2nd Sunday After Pentecost 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20 Psalm 138 2 Corinthians 4:13 – 5:1 Mark 3: 20-35 We are in the after season now, after the great cycle of Jesus’ anticipation, life, death, resurrection and the birth of his church, after Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. In the light of our travel once again around the life of the Son that gives us life, we pick up the continuous reading through of our Scriptures. And we find Paul speak...
• "My Lord and My God" by Janice Love (4/12/2012)
  Second Sunday of Easter Acts 4: 32-35 I John 1:1 – 2:2 John 20: 19-31 Wow! The texts for this second Sunday in our most important, celebratory season are powerful and their theme is easy to detect: testimony, declaration, proclaim, witness. My colleague and friend, Ed Searcy, re-discovered in his doctoral studies that the root for the word “testify” is “testes” and comes from the practice of requiring men to cover their clothed genitals with their hand as they swore that what they were about to say was “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. The implication being...
• The Holy One of God by Janice Love (1/25/2012)
  Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Deuteronomy 18:15-20 I Corinthians 8:1-13 OR I Corinthians 7:32-35 Mark 1:21-28 Here we are, halfway through this Epiphany season. In perusing through some of the Revised Common lectionary texts I noticed for the first time that we, the church, spend nearly this entire seven week season of Epiphany in the first chapter of Mark’s gospel. For a gospel that is very much about being on the move – forty times in sixteen chapters the Greek word for immediately/at once/then occurs – thi...
• Lamb and Shepherd: The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe by Janice Love (11/17/2011)
  The Reign of Christ Christ the King Ezekiel 34: 11-16 Ephesians 1: 15-23 OR 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Matthew 25: 31-46 There is a poster on the wall in the weight room of our local recreation centre where I go twice a week for strength training, along with some amazing 70 and 80 year olds (yes, at forty-six my nickname is “the kid”). I try not to look at the poster as it gets my goat, blithely proclaiming that the destination matters not, only the journey is important. Except...
• The Reckoning by Janice Love (9/6/2011)
  13th Sunday After Pentecost Exodus 14: 19-31 Psalm 114 Romans 14: 1-12 Matthew 18: 21-35 Annie Dillard, in The Writing Life, admits to her admiration of those who understand “the risk of prayer.” She describes the tearful, sorrowful response of two faithful Jews leaving each day to engage in the always dangerous practice of prayer, not knowing if they would survive the experience to return to their families. It is this same risk we undertake when we host scripture, actually seeking to encounter a Word from the God whose fury can consume like st...
• Here I Am by Janice Love (6/20/2011)
  Pentecost 2, Year 2 (Sunday, June 26, 2011): Genesis 22: 1-14, Psalm 13, Romans 6: 12-23, Matthew 10: 40-42 Here we are.  The latest Advent to Easter cycles of the Christian seasons have now been rounded out by the great gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, the formation of the church and time to reflect on the Trinitarian God we worship.  The church, now equipped with everything it needs to proclaim to the world Christ, crucified and risen, begins the long season after Pentecost of ever deepening discipleship.  And what a story we have to start off with – Genesis 22! To be honest, this is a story I have skirted somewhat with my almost 8 year old son.  Maybe because it hits a little too close to home, he being a long awaited (13 years) child.  How do I tell him of a God who demands of Ab...
• Followers by Janice Love (5/10/2011)
  Easter 4:  Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 23, 1 Peter 2: 19-25, John 10: 1-10 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…All who believed were together and had all things in common;  they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.  Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people… So – what the hell happened?  Luke’s description of the early church, after the disciples’ baptism in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Peter’s surprisingly fearless sermon, is certainly a rosy one.  Where is this church, because I want to go there?!
• Being Born From Above by Janice Love (3/15/2011)
  Lent 2:  Genesis 12:1-4a, Psalm 121, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, John 3:1-17 Through rain, desert, wind and snow Abraham and Sarah had to go even though they nothing know. - Oskar Sundmark, 11 years Even though they nothing know.  This is what it means to trust in the God we see revealed in Jesus, what it means to be Christian - to drop our nets, pick up our cross and follow Christ.  Or as Soren Kierkegaard puts it:  “To be joyful out on 70,000 fathoms of water, many, many miles from all human help – yes, that is something great!  To swim in the shallows in the company of waders is not the religious.” It goes against our instinct though, as dying does, to blindly go as an individual or as a church where God might send us.  Especially in a culture that likes to encourage car...
• Repent: The Kingdom Is Near by Janice Love (1/20/2011)
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  Epiphany 3:  Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4-9, I Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come nea...
• The Son of Man Is Coming by Janice Love (11/28/2010)
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  First Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 2: 1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13: 11-14, Matthew 24: 36-44 And so we begin the waiting…again.  Paul writes, “For salvation is nearer to us now than w...
• Humble Pie* by Janice Love (10/20/2010)
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  Joel 2: 23-32, Psalm 65, 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18, Luke 18: 9-14 About 15 years ago my husband and I began to notice a disturbing trend in the den...
• Consecrated by Janice Love (8/18/2010)
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  Jeremiah 1: 4-10, Psalm 71: 1-6, Hebrews 12: 18-29, Luke 13: 10-17 God is on the move in the texts for this coming Sunday. In Jeremiah we find God calling, command...
• Zealous for the Lord by Janice Love (6/16/2010)
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  I Kings 19:1-15a, Psalm 42 & 43, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39

  I admit to admiration for Elijah’s zeal for the LORD, though perhaps not always for his...
• Celebrate! by Janice Love (3/9/2010)
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  Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 To see as God sees. I have had the delight this Lent to have always before me the picture of Charles McCollough’s sculpture, “The Return of the Prodigal.” (pictured*) It has led me to contemplate not only the joy of heaven over one sinner who repents but also the suffering of God over the lost, the dead, t...
• The Word Read by Janice Love (1/19/2010)
    Psalm 19; I Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14) Not acceptable to me, not acceptable to us, not acceptable to others. Acceptable to you, O LORD, our rock and our redeemer. Because the words may very well, if faithful, make us weep in remembrance of who we have been and who we really are. Because they may at first be sweet as honey, but later bitter to the point of making us want to try to pitch Christ off the nearest cliff. We have such rich texts to host this week in anticipation of S...