Reconciliation And Unity Series

Reconciliation and Unity Sermon Summary (Ephesians)

Note: this is only a summary. The full sermon given at our church is below.

1. “Sin” “Breaking the Law”

Actual sin: prejudice Virtue: Kindness

A.

-Weird things that are illegal

-Weird things people thought others should get arrested for

B. Romans 15:14. Paul defines Christian law as separate from secular law. He calls Christians to correct one another like family.

C. Ephesians 5 :14 Paul calls us to act in Unity, as a family.. He expects the people to unite and gives authority to all Christians as one body.

2. Sin: Pride Virtue: Encouragement

A. Contrast AME lay ministry with Anglican liturgical requirement. Talk about access to education. Talk about history within a church and “membership” All the ways we exclude people, even through our prayers. The truth and reconciliation prayer I attended with Shannon, us/them prayers that exclude as much as they invite.

B. Ephesians 15:5 live in complete harmony with eachother.

C. Humility of churches, the need to truly listen to the congregation, how hard it can be and how much harder we should and most work to include those who feel excluded. Talk about the work your church and others have done/are doing. Identify places for change.

3. Sin: Pride. Virtue: Humility

A. We exclude people by assuming our narrative is THE narrative.

B. Ephesians 4:24-31

C. Re-state ephesians 4:24-31 in plain language. God calls us to…

4. Prayer for unity

I Weird Illegal Acts for Slide Show|

|Scare the queen| Bring your llama to a national park | Bring cows inside the house in St. John’s, NFLD. | Excessively use nickels. | I hadn’t done most of these things. I was feeling pretty good. Until she went in for the kill. | You can’t paint a wooden ladder in Alberta | You can’t publicly fart in Florida after 6pm. Yes, I have been to Disney, thank you. I have seen the parade. I have smelled the parade. | You’re not allowed to climb a tree in Oshawa. |You can’t own a crime comic book. No more Batman. Throw it away. | You can’t toboggan in Hamilton.

|Weird Police Reports for slide show|

NS: fire=sunset | OT vet tinder date | OT bird stuck in tree | EDM overflowing toilet | bad haircut refund | OT chicken wings not breaded.

Full Sermon

1. Have you ever broken the law? I bet you have.

A. My daughter said that to me the other day and I was very offended, ma’am. Pause. . But she was right. My first though was I have never! Not I! Not me! Not little old innocent me, why I swear I have never done one single thing wrong in my entire life.I felt hurt. Accused. Then she gave me “the list”

-As it turns out, a lot of crazy things are illegal in Canada. Let’s see how far you can get down the list before breaking the law. *ascending order of frequency)

• Scare the queen

• Bring your llama to a national park

• Bring cows inside the house in St. John’s, NFLD.

• Excessively use nickels.

• I hadn’t done most of these things. I was feeling pretty good. Until she went in for the kill.

• You can’t paint a wooden ladder in Alberta

• You can’t publicly fart in Florida after 6pm. Yes, I have been to Disney, thank you. I have seen the parade. I have smelled the parade.

• You’re not allowed to climb a tree in Oshawa.

• You can’t own a crime comic book. No more Batman. Throw it away.

• You can’t toboggan in Hamilton.

-It seems like you can go to jail for anything these days. And all that is funny but…what if people started being arrested for them? What if someone came into your house and went through all of your comic books and hauled you away? (Speculate more) What if someone reported you to the police for eating ice cream, and they came in with guns?

- Police receive millions of calls each year. Most of them are emergencies. But every year, police release a list of ridiculous 9-1-1 calls in an effort to educate the public about only calling 9-1-1 in an actual emergency. I have that list, too.

-

• In Nova Scotia a person called to report a fire he couldn’t see properly because it was a distance away. Emergency services frantically searched the area. They were running out of time! A short time later the person called back to say he made a mistake. It was only the Sunset.oof.

• Someone in Ottawa called police to ask if the person they were thinking of going on a tinder date with had previous police involvement. Police checks are going to be the new vaccination record