Category: News

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Hespeler, June 28, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 28:1-9, Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18, Romans 6:12-23, Matthew 10:40-42

How many times over the last few years have you been exactly where the Prophet Jeremiah is in our reading this morning from the book that bears his name? “Amen! May the Lord do so!” Jeremiah cries out to another prophet named Hananiah.

He says this because Hananiah has just prophesied that God is about to undo all of the awful things that have happened recently. The nation has been defeated, the king and many leading citizens have been taken away into exile, and the holy temple of the Lord has been plundered of all of its sacred objects. This is disaster piled upon disaster.

Hananiah’s Promise

But it is okay, Hananiah says, because all of it is about to be undone. All of the treasures and all of the people will be returned. The terrible tyrant, Nebuchadnezzar, the cause of all this misery, will lose his power. And it will all happen within two years, which is incredibly fast for the ancient world, more like two weeks for our modern fast-paced world.

And Jeremiah hears this incredible prophecy, and he cries out, “Amen! May the Lord do so!” Because who wouldn’t want that? When it seems as if everything in our world has completely fallen apart, when everything is topsy-turvy, the one thing we long for is for everything to go back to how it used to be.

We recognize, I think, that everything wasn’t perfect before.  There were all kinds of failures, problems and injustices. But when the massive changes come upon us, they overwhelm us so completely that any promise of a return to normalcy can make us cry out, “Amen! May the Lord do so!”

I seem to have been doing that a lot lately. Especially – I don’t really know why – for the last year and a half or so. And I know that I’m not alone.

Economic Turmoil

About a year and a half ago, for some strange and inexplicable reason, our Canadian economy was thrown into turmoil. Our trade relations were suddenly in uncharted territory. And it was scary and disturbing. And what happened?

Well, it turned out that our country was heading into an election. And so, prophets showed up on the scene. They showed up in the form of politicians. And what did those prophets promise? A return to normalcy. They promised that, within a certain number of months, they would restore our trade relations to normal.

It wasn’t just one politician, mind you. They all promised to repair the relationship with our trading partner and to make everything go back to the way it was. They may have had different plans to get there, but they were all heading to the same place.

Canadian Response

And how did we Canadians respond? “Amen!” we cried, “May the Lord do so!” And I know that Canadians most certainly did not all vote the same, but they all seem to have voted with the same motivation for the candidates that each thought had the best way to get there.

And ever since, I assume, everything has been fine because I kind of stopped paying attention. No? Everything is not fine yet? Hmm, that is too bad.

Hormuz Troubles

More recently, it has happened again. All of a sudden, four months ago, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was shut down. Again, I’ve not been paying attention, but I’m sure that whoever started whatever led to that must have had good reasons which they thoroughly explained.

But it turned out that shipping traffic in that part of the world was really important. Who knew? And the shutdown caused some really big problems all over the world, so much so that everyone was very quickly longing for the Strait to just be open and for things to just go back to normal.

Two Week Prophecy

Many prophets, in our time, particularly seem to hang out on social media where they can speak to the whole people just like the ancient prophets did. And one particular prophet went on a social media platform that he owned to prophesy that everything would be fixed very quickly.

It would all be over, he promised, in a matter of two weeks, tops. Well, maybe four or certainly no more than six weeks, but that everything would very quickly go back to how it used to be. And of course, how did we all respond? “Amen!” we cried, “May the Lord do so!”

Multiple Extensions

And when those two or four or six weeks went by without everything being fixed, we were quickly reassured by updated prophecies. It would just be a couple more weeks. “Amen! May the Lord do so!” We just had to threaten total annihilation and really mean it this time. “Amen! May the Lord do so!” A little inexpensive naval blockade would quickly do the trick. “Amen! May the Lord do so!”

And, well, here we are about exactly four months later. Nothing really seems to have bounced back to the way it was before all of this began. (And it is not as if everything was great before it began but at least the Strait was open, which has become the only thing that matters). But don’t worry, the latest Memorandum of Understanding and the ongoing two months of negotiations enforced by renewed threats is going to fix everything real soon. “Amen! May the Lord do so!”

When Jeremiah cried out, “Amen! May the Lord do so!” I believe that he meant it. He was human. He was just as troubled by what had gone wrong over the last few years as anybody else. He would have been happy to see the exiles released and all the stolen items returned.

Jeremiah’s Addition

But he also added something else. “As for the prophet who prophesies peace,” he said, “when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

Now, what did he mean by that? He was truly uttering great wisdom that we need to take to heart. He was saying that, when people come along and promise that everything’s going to go back to the way it used to be, we need to receive such a promise with a great deal of skepticism.

Prophetic Agendas

We need to practice skepticism first of all because anyone who says that probably has their own agenda. They want you to feel and react in a certain way, and most often, what they want you to be is complacent so that they can continue to do whatever they want.

They understand that there will always be something soothing and comforting about the promise to take everything back to the status quo. People crave a familiar situation, especially when it seems as if everything has been thrown into chaos. So always be aware that such promises are being made to manipulate you.

God’s Agenda

But there is another, more important reason why Jeremiah counsels skepticism. Jeremiah, himself a prophet who had given more than his fair share of very negative prophecies, has a sense of how God actually works. And, while we may crave what is familiar and comfortable, God has a different priority. God craves what is right and what is just.

Remember what I said before about how, when things get chaotic, we tend to forget the very real problems that existed before the chaos began? Well, we might forget, but God never does. And God knows that the crisis that we are living through today may be a step towards the world that we need to be living in tomorrow. And so, when we are so desperate to go back to how things used to be, God wants us to go through to where we need to be.

A Reckoning

And so I am going to be a bit of a Jeremiah today. “The Strait of Hormuz is about to open wide, you say?” “Amen! May the Lord do so!” say I, but…

And all of Canada’s trade relations will soon be restored, you say? “Amen! May the Lord do so!” say I, but…

But maybe a reckoning on how everything was working before all of this began is needed. And maybe until we can build an economy in which most of the benefits don’t just flow right to the very top and we learn to prioritize sustainability over profitability and environmental concerns over spending on weapons of war, this kind of chaos will continue to appear. We can’t just go back; we have to find a way through.

I am no expert on global affairs and certainly not on economics, so you can certainly write me off as a false prophet just like Hananiah wrote off Jeremiah. But I would caution you to practice the same skepticism towards those prophets who are telling you what you want to hear as Jeremiah did.

Application to the Church

But I guess we are not going to solve the world’s problems here and now, so maybe I ought to take this wisdom of Jeremiah and also apply it a little bit closer to home.

I think that Jeremiah’s word is one that the church needs to hear these days. There is no question that the church is presently living through fast-paced and disorienting change. And what do we often hear as a result? I hear a lot of church people talking about and dwelling on how things used to be.

“Oh, if only we could go back to the days when everyone felt obligated to be in church on Sunday, and there was nothing else to do anyway. Why doesn’t God make things like that again?”

And to that I say, “Amen! May the Lord do so!” But what if God has something for us to learn from where we are now? What if how things used to be was not as perfect as we remember, and God wants us to be a better and more resilient church? What if the church needs to go through, not just to go back? If we just put all our energy into trying to get back to how things used to be, we might miss that opportunity.

Personal Application

But perhaps the hardest place to apply Jeremiah’s wisdom is in your own personal life. I have no doubt that many of you are dealing with something in your life right now that has thrown your lives into chaos. If you’re not there now, you have been there before and, chances are, you will be there again sooner or later. That is just a part of living in this world.

And because of that, I’m sure that you have uttered that prayer of the heart. You have cried out in your soul for God to put things back to how they used to be. And I join my prayer to you, and in my soul I do cry out, “Amen! May the Lord do so!”

I am not the only one who understands the cry of your heart. Your God understands it too. God never wants to subject any of God’s people to such hardships and struggles, and yet they are practically inevitable when you are living in this broken world. So, yes, God totally understands your desire for things to go back.

Going Back or Going Through?

But, at the same time, I want you to consider that there may be no going back to how things used to be and that what God is ready to do is to be with you as you go through your chaos. Consider the possibility that, as you embrace the difficulties that you face, God may meet you to offer strength and wisdom and guide you through to the place where you will be able to find not only consolation but hope.

I understand, of course, all those who long for things to go back to how they used to be. The cry of my heart is “Amen! May the Lord do so!” But I also know that we have a God who calls us to hope. And hope is about much more than just putting things back how they used to be. It is about moving forward with courage and wisdom to meet the challenge of a new day.

Amen! And may the Lord give us such an enduring hope.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

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Hespeler, June 21, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 21:8-21, Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17, Romans 6:1b-11, Matthew 10:24-39

I am sure that on this day, Father’s Day, in churches across the country, preachers are stepping into their pulpits clutching sermons to their breasts with titles like “Seven Biblical Secrets to Being a Great Father,” or “Six Steps to Being a Successful Sire.”

And I totally get that impulse. This is that one day in the year when we pause to celebrate the role of father. We recognize the wonderfully positive impact that Fathers can have. And so, we pack the fathers into our churches (or at least we pack them in as best we can for a late Sunday in June) and tell them we love them.

Supporting Fathers

But we also recognize that it is a difficult job to be a dad. Raising children only seems to be getting harder. And fathers sometimes struggle to be that hero that everyone seems to expect them to be. And so, of course, preachers are going to want to give some practical advice to their congregations – advice that many fathers are hungry for.

And I would certainly like to do the same thing and offer some real support for the wonderful and faithful fathers who are part of this congregation. But I think that there might be one little problem.

Biblical Father Examples

It turns out that there are not all that many great examples of fathers in the Bible. I mean, think of all the heroes of the Bible. How many were really great fathers?

King David messed up his family so badly that he literally ended up fighting a civil war against his own son. Moses abandoned his wife and sons in the middle of the Exodus, sending them back to Zipporah’s father (Exodus 18:1-9). Jacob’s favouritism towards one of his sons led to the others trying to kill Joseph.

And, as for the heroes of the New Testament, both Paul and Jesus famously never married and had no children. And then there is the time when Jesus described his mission like this: “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” That doesn’t sound particularly “pro-family,” does it?

The Greatest Biblical Dad

Ah, but surely there is one exception, one biblical father who breaks the mould. Abraham has got to be the most celebrated father in history. He is known as the father of many nations, not to mention the father of three major world religions. Surely, he has something to teach us about being a great dad.

In our reading this morning, we zoom in on Abraham’s family at a key moment, as they gather to celebrate a milestone in the life of Abraham’s youngest son. “The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.”

Now, I know that in our culture, weaning is not something that we tend to celebrate, but I guess it was a big deal for them. Children nursed for a very long time – it was by far the safest way to feed infants in a world with dodgy water supplies. So, it really was a big deal when a 4 or 5-year-old finally graduated to a diet made up of solids.

Celebrating Milestones

And we can certainly think of many milestones we celebrate in our children’s lives – significant birthdays, graduations and such. And so maybe right here we can find our first piece of advice for the fathers among us. Sermon point number one: take advantage of every milestone you can to communicate to your children just how special they are.

And there is absolutely a significant truth there. It is true that we really ought to make good use of every opportunity we have to let our children know just how unique and special they are. And look, we even have a lovely little scene of domestic bliss as we see Abraham’s new child together with his half-brother: “Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.”

Let’s Look Ahead

Isn’t that sweet? The family is really coming together at this celebration. But, before we jump ahead to make a second sermon point about creating opportunities for your children to play together or something like that, I’m beginning to think that maybe I ought to have read this entire passage before I started into this sermon. Because I just looked ahead and I think there might be a problem.

See, it turns out that Sarah wasn’t too happy about the two boys getting along and playing together.  And… oh no! She insists that Ishmael and his mother both get thrown out at the risk of them dying in the desert!

Does Abraham Step Up?

Oh, but look here, it says that Abraham was upset about that. “The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son,” it says. So maybe we are back on track here. Abraham is about to step in and act to get his family back on track.

So, is that what happens? Does Abraham step up and act like the hero? Does he have that really difficult conversation with Sarah and tell her that, though he understands her feelings, what she wants to do about her feelings is only going to make everything so much worse? Or does he sacrifice his oldest son and Hagar for what would be little more than the illusion of family peace?

This is the true test of a father, right? It is not about those times that are easy, when you’re cracking the dad jokes and holding celebrations. It is about having the courage to step up and say what needs to be said even if it is going to disturb things. And if that is the test, then I am afraid that Abraham fails it. He does not even offer any feedback to Sarah.

Not Always Heroes

And I know that this may not be the message you want to hear on a Father’s Day, but I do think we all need to be reminded of it. Fathers are not always heroes. And sometimes that expectation that we put on them that they have to be the hero does not help them.

The number one thing you need to know about being a father is that you are going to fall short. That is not just true for fathers. It is true for every parent or anyone who ever takes on a caring role in somebody else’s life.

Getting It Wrong

I remember the sometimes-paralyzing fear that I went through when my daughters first arrived or when they went through some of the inevitable crises that come with growing up in a broken world. Of course I was afraid that, if I reacted badly, if I said the wrong thing, if I punished too severely or not severely enough, if I was neglectful or if I was too much of a helicopter parent, I was going to mess them up completely and ruin their lives.

If you have ever felt like that, know that you are not alone. And even worse, my fears were often justified. I got it wrong. I got it wrong regularly and sometimes disastrously. And I do not think that we should be so reverential towards a biblical figure like Abraham as to not see that he too really messed up on this occasion.

God Signs Off?

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You’ve read ahead (you really ought to stop doing that!) and you have seen that none other than God signs off on Abraham’s conflict avoidance. “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.’”

So, does that mean that Abraham didn’t do anything wrong because God signed off on his conflict avoidance? I know it is often read that way, but I see it a bit differently. I do not see it as God approving of what Abraham has already decided to do. It is rather that God is acknowledging Abraham’s weakness and his failure to navigate this crisis in the best way. That leads to God making an extraordinary promise. “As for the son of the slave woman,” God continues, “I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”

God Would Love Us to Do Better

For me, that means that God understands Abraham’s weakness. He understands that Abraham doesn’t have it in him to stand up to this wicked course that Sarah has decided upon. Of course, God would love Abraham and Sarah to do better. God would love us all to do better. But God is also not going to force us to do the right thing against our will. God is that excellent kind of parent who knows that we will only learn by making our own mistakes.

To make this relate to our own roles as parents or guardians in people’s lives, God isn’t going to stop you from making your mistakes or getting things wrong. God loves you and respects your autonomy too much for that.

God Doesn’t Abandon Our Children

 But – and this is the most important part – God is not going to abandon the people that we are responsible for because we get it wrong. That is the promise that God makes to Ishmael. And that is why I am not afraid that my mistakes or shortcomings will ruin my children’s lives.

They are beloved of God. And, as I have learned to trust in that, I have been able to watch with admiration as my children have become these amazing human beings. They have not become who I thought or expected they would be. They have not become mere protégés trying to live up to my idea of what they are supposed to think, do and be. They have become their own people who are setting their own course.

And thank God for that! And I mean literally thank God. They have become the people they need to be despite the mistakes I made in parenting them. They have chosen their course despite what I thought was wise advice. Who they are becoming is a product of the grace of God and the gifts and abilities that God has placed in them. And to see that is the best Father’s Day gift that anyone could receive. I mean, that and a really good steak cooked on the barbecue.

We All Mess Up

So I guess, when I think about it, there is some really good advice for fathers to be found in our reading this morning from the Book of Genesis. But it is not there because Abraham himself was such a fantastic father. He messed up just like all of us mess up.

I am certainly not going to suggest that any of us ought to follow his example and become so fearful of disturbing the peace in our life that we will not stand up to protect someone who is being attacked or marginalized. Abraham should have done better, and we all can too, with God’s help.

But the good news is that, even if we fail, we do not need to despair. God does not abandon us in our failure. We believe in the grace of God, and that grace is powerful enough to override our failure and reverse our flubs. And there will be days when the knowledge of that truth is the only thing that will keep you going.

Practical Advice

So, I promised at the start that I would offer you “Seven Biblical Secrets to Being a Great Father,” or “Six Steps to Being a Successful Sire.” Let’s get down to the practical level.

Number 1: Let’s stick with that first one I gave you. “Take advantage of every circumstance you can in order to communicate to your children just how special they are.” It still sounds like pretty good advice.

But if I’m going to fill out the rest of a list today, I would probably do it like this:

• Love your kids even when they fail or fall short
• Love yourself even when you fail or fall short.
• Love your kids especially when you fail or fall short.
• Accept the love of your kids when you have fallen short.
• Trust in the grace of God for the rest.

So, happy Father’s Day.

You're going to want to hear this message!

It's going to be so much fun!

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/nI6l5LmE3Lc

Hespeler, June 14, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Third Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7, Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35-10:8

One day, back at the very beginning, God turned to the first man and said, “Adam, I want you to do something for me…”

Adam said, “Gladly, Lord, what do you want me to do?”

God said, “Go down into that valley.”

Adam said, “What’s a valley?”

God explained it to him. Then God said, “Cross the river.”

Adam said, “What’s a river?”

God explained that to him, and then said, “Go over to the hill…”

Adam said, “What is a hill?”

So, God explained to Adam what a hill was and said, “On the other side of the hill you will find a cave.”

Adam said, ‘What’s a cave?’

After God explained, God said, “In the cave you will find a woman.”

Adam said, “What’s a woman?’

So God explained that to him, too. Then, God said, I want you to reproduce.

“Well, how do I do that?” Adam asked.

God’s eyes rolled, and then, just like everything else, God explained that to Adam, as well.

So, Adam goes down into the valley, across the river, and over the hill, into the cave, and finds the woman. Then, in five minutes, he was back.

God’s patience was wearing thin. “What is it now?” God wanted to know.

And Adam said… “What is a headache?!”

Laughter in the Church

What is that I hear? Is that laughter in the church? And did you know that there was a time, not all that long ago, when it would have been considered quite unseemly for there to be laughter in a church? Worship was considered to be very serious business! It was all about judgement and repentance.

This was especially true for Presbyterians. They were kind of famous for it. Their ministers wore black, and they never smiled. And if you went to church and smiled or, heaven forbid, you laughed, they would definitely let you know that you were out of line.

Things have changed, and they have certainly changed for the better. I am glad to be part of a church that doesn’t merely tolerate smiles and laughter, but that celebrates them. I am sure that God loves nothing more than a church regularly filled with laughter.

Abraham and Sarah’s Struggle

In fact, God loves laughter so much that God took some extraordinary steps to bring it into the life of two people. And I think that their story has a great deal to say to us, and maybe especially to the church, today.

Abraham and Sarah were struggling, you see. They had a good life. They had found a good place to live and had even built a great deal of wealth and security for themselves, but something was missing for them.

They had no children. And, because they had no children, it was often as if everything they had built for themselves had lost meaning. What did it matter if they had wealth and prosperity if they had no one that they could pass it down to? What did it matter if they tried to do good now, if it would all be forgotten once they had passed away?

Congregations Worrying about Future?

It is kind of like the situation that many churches find themselves in these days. They know they have received a rich heritage from their ancestors. They have valuable assets, such as properties and buildings, that they have inherited from those who have gone before.

But the church, even as it enjoys all these things and may even do its best to use those resources to do a lot of good in the community and in the world, is dealing with deep anxiety about the future. We worry that we are not connecting with a younger generation as we did in the past. This is seen in a lack of children and young people.

It is not that there are no youth at all (though some congregations are certainly grappling with that issue). It is more that we don’t see the huge numbers of them in full programs as we did in previous generations. We worry that, when the generations that have so strongly supported the church are gone, there will be no one to take over.

God Sends Them Laughter

Well, we are told that God came down and addressed Abraham and Sarah directly as they dealt with their struggles. And I believe that God will do the same for us if we allow it. So, what did God offer them? Here is the funny thing: God offered them laughter.

There they were, camping out by the oaks of Mamre, wanderers still with no home and no children to pass a home down to. And God just kind of dropped in one day.

Actually, three strangers dropped by – strangers to whom Abraham and Sarah offered exceptional hospitality – but it turned out that those strangers somehow represented the presence of God.

Setup and Punchline

And then at the end of the excellent meal, God told a joke. That is what happened. Now there are various kinds of jokes and various ways to get people to laugh. But one tried-and-true method employs what is called a setup followed by a punchline. Basically, you set your audience up with a certain expectation, and then you violate that expectation.

That is the basic structure of many jokes. Take this joke for example: “My dog used to chase people on a bike all the time. It got so bad, I finally had to take his bike away.” And I know that you’re not supposed to explain how jokes work, but let me do it for that one anyway.

The first line, “My dog used to chase people on a bike all the time,” sets up a certain expectation. That’s why it is called a setup. It puts a picture in your mind of a bad dog running after people who are riding bikes. But the punchline, “It got so bad, finally I had to take his bike away,” defies that expectation. Now you are picturing a dog riding a bike and that picture is all the funnier for being utterly ridiculous.

Sarah’s Setup

So, what was the joke that God told Abraham and Sarah? “I will surely return to you in due season,” God says, “and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And yes, I know that doesn’t quite have the classic setup-and-punchline structure, but trust me, it was hilarious. It was so funny that it made Sarah laugh so hard in the tent that God could hear her.

The setup wasn’t the first line of the joke but rather the entire story up until that point. It was years upon years of disappointment as Sarah struggled with infertility and with not living up to the expectations that society put upon her. The setup was the unrelenting cycle of hope giving way to despair every single month. It was her giving into the realization her chances were finally gone and “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.”

And, with all that set up, what God was promising Sarah was ridiculous. Not only was it biologically impossible for her to have a child, but it also challenged and overturned all of her feelings of disappointment and despair. It forced her to challenge the hard reality to which she had already reconciled herself.

Given such an unexpected and ridiculous punchline, Sarah reacted in the only way she could; she laughed.

God’s Punchlines

And I am convinced that God loves to make us laugh in that way. I know that you have all lived through that setup at some point in your life. You have been discouraged. You have felt as if you lost your way. All of us have those kinds of experiences. Maybe some of you are there right now in your life.

Well, just know that you have a God who loves to deliver you a punchline so full of ridiculous hope that it will make you laugh with joy. Remember some of those times in your life when you were fearing the worst, imagining that everything was about to fall apart? How often did the worst happen? It generally doesn’t. And even when bad things do happen, when the dark clouds gather, there is almost always a silver lining somewhere nearby. So, we really ought to learn to laugh more at the worst things that we can imagine.

I wouldn’t want to leave you with the impression that terrible things never happen. Of course they do, and when they do, we also have a God who is ready to meet us in our sorrow, who weeps with us and for us. But don’t forget that God also looks forward to the next opportunity to laugh with you.

Nine Months Later

So, God told Sarah a joke. But there was also another punchline waiting for her – an even better one. It came about nine months later when her son was born. And she knew it was part of the same joke because she said, “‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’And she said, ‘Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’”

There is another dimension to this joke that we miss because we don’t speak Hebrew. She named her son Isaac and, in Hebrew, Isaac means laughter. She was essentially saying, in a really good way, that her son was the punchline.

People and Their Challenges

And I think that is exactly the kind of laughter that God loves to introduce into our lives – the laughter that comes in the form of people. Because remember this, people always come with their challenges.

Sarah, according to the chronology of Genesis, was about eighty years old at this point of the story. And I know that her great age is meant to highlight the miraculous nature of her pregnancy, but it also introduces an element of enormous challenge, doesn’t it?

I am nowhere near approaching the age of eighty. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself every time I look in the mirror. But do you think that at my “young” age I would feel ready to take on the challenge of having a new baby? I don’t think so! The time for that seems long past!

If Isaac came into Sarah’s life at that point, think of all the change, disruption and inconvenience he would have brought – not to mention the dirty diapers, sleepless nights and anxieties. It would have changed everything about her life, and it would not have been easy. In many ways, that was the biggest joke that God played on her. And she seems to have taken it with good humour.

God’s Greatest Joke on the Church

What is the greatest joke that God is playing on the church today? I think it is children. Wherever I go talking to churches these days, what do I hear? Above all I hear an impassioned plea for children and young people. Oh, if only God would give us children and young families, our congregation would be saved.

And I do believe that God is hearing that plea and that God is answering. God is sending children to our congregations. They are showing up in new and unexpected ways and from unexpected places. And those children are bringing us the gift of laughter.

God’s Punchline

But I think God also has a punchline in there. I think that God is watching us closely when children show up or even when they visit. God knows very well that when new people, and especially young people, join us, they bring us many challenges.

Yes, they will bring laughter, but sometimes we will feel as if that laughter doesn’t come at the most appropriate moments. They will certainly bring with them much disruption. There will be noise when we are not used to noise. Children arrive and bring with them the inevitable challenge that they don’t know what it is like to be in church, and that it takes them time to learn how to handle it all appropriately. And God is watching us with anticipation and ready to laugh at any discomfort we might show.

You see, God’s greatest joke is to give us what we pray and ask for. God loves to see how we actually deal with the answers to our prayers. And so, God will send those answers wrapped up in all kinds of curveballs and tests of our faith.

God gives us the gift of laughter, and thanks be to God who loves us enough to do so!

Join us on Sunday

From the Gospel of Matthew

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/xOsV1Ur7usU

Hespeler, June 7, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Communion, Second Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 12:1-9, Psalm 33:1-12, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

The promise that God gave to Abram was amazing: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It was a high calling – an exalted and holy mission not only to find the potential in himself but also to have a fantastic and positive impact on the whole world.

But apparently, this promise could only be activated in one way. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” And, as Abram looked around him, that seemed a little bit easier said than done.

Reasons to Stay

He had lived here in Haran for a very long time. He had put down deep roots, had developed a circle of friends. He had business contacts and connections throughout the area.

And then there was his father’s house. His father, Terah, had recently passed away at the ripe old age of 205. You think that King Charles had to wait a long time for his mother to die and to get the job he’d been waiting for all his life? Well, Abram had had to wait several lifetimes to inherit this house. How could he just leave it behind now?

More than just the house, though, he had his country, his national identity, his gods and his kin to think of. These were all the things that he would lose contact with, maybe forever.

Vague Promise

He also had a family that depended on him. He and Sarai did not have any children (something that had always been a sore point), but they did have an entire household of slaves, freedmen and clients. They all looked to him to provide for them. Was he really supposed to disrupt all of their lives for the sake of a promise?

But worst of all, the promise wasn’t specific. God wasn’t even telling him where he was going or what to expect when he got there. He was supposed to give up everything he knew for something he knew nothing about.

All these thoughts ran through Abram’s mind in the moment he received the call from God to go. He had every excuse in the world to stay exactly where he was. But what did Abram do? Did he let any of those considerations get in the way of the adventure that his God was placing before him? No, he did not.

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan.” And the world, my friends, has never been the same since.

Matthew’s Enterprise

Matthew had built up quite a business for himself over the years. He had been able to bid for the tax-collecting franchise around Capernaum. Basically, he had promised the Roman agents that he would extract a certain amount of wealth from tolls, tariffs and taxes. And so long as he delivered, they really didn’t care about anything else.

Anything he was able to raise above what he had bid for the franchise was his to keep. And he could use whatever methods he desired. Extortion, theft, threats to break people’s legs or to send them to sleep with the fishes at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee – the Romans didn’t care so long as they got their cut.

So, Matthew had done well. It was true that everyone hated him for it. They knew that he was part of a corrupt system that was designed to squeeze every last coin out of their pockets. But he had made peace with that. Let them hate him; he knew that he and his family would remain secure. And that was what mattered, wasn’t it?

Follow Me

At least, he thought he had made peace with it until one day Jesus passed by his collection station. Now, we’re told that when Jesus called the fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John, he had a quip that he used to refer to their jobs. “Follow me,” he said, “and I will make you fishers of people.”

But apparently the only thing he said to Matthew was, “Follow me,” which seems to me to be a great lost opportunity. Why not at least say, “You can count on me”? Why not say, “Follow me and even in the most off-balance-sheet activities, your deferred impact liabilities will be fully amortized into equity of change, ensuring a positive net present value on humanity’s statement of affairs.”

That’s how you talk to an accountant, am I right, Vern?!

A Response

But amazingly, all Matthew needed to hear was two words: follow me. Maybe he was less reconciled to being a mere leech sucking the life out of his countrymen than he had thought. Maybe he hadn’t quite given up on himself.

He had no idea where Jesus was calling him to go or what he would do. There were no long-term actuarial forecasts or business plans. He was just supposed to follow.

And did Matthew hesitate? He immediately dropped everything that had given purpose and meaning to his life up until that point. He left his tax records and lists of people who owed him money. He abandoned all of the people who relied on him to get them rich, and he followed Jesus. And the world would never be the same again.

A Rich History

The people of Knox Preston Presbyterian Church had invested so much into their common identity, their building and their sense of mission and purpose for generations.

They had so many reasons to hold onto what they had built. Their congregation had given them a sense of identity and a purpose. For many of them, the most significant events of their lives had happened in that place and among those people: their weddings, the baptisms of their children, their mourning for loved ones.

And then what happened a couple of years ago? God came along and said, “Go, go from your congregation and your church family and your ancestors’ building to the place that I will show you.”

Did God Call?

Now, I know that there are some who might dispute that and say that it wasn’t God who said that. It was the Presbytery who said that. Or it was certain individuals who were given a position of authority who said that. And of course there is some truth in that.

But you see, it is rarely immediately obvious when a message is coming from God. There are always other ways that you could explain it away. Perhaps, Abram might have explained to himself, he was just depressed following the death of his father. Maybe it was just his own wanderlust that he was hearing, not the voice of God.

And when Jesus came up to Matthew’s tax office, for all Matthew knew, he was a nobody. How could he know for sure that this Jesus was speaking for God? No, when God is calling, that is something that you have to figure out. And the people of Knox Preston, despite a great deal of grief and loss and a few other difficult emotions, did discern that God was calling.

And what did they do? They went. And they went above all with good will, accepting that this was part of God’s plan for them. They went not knowing what on earth they were getting into. I mean, they’d met some people who had made some promises, but that was it.

But still, like Abram and like Matthew, they got up and went. And they became a part of this new thing that God was creating – a new amalgamated congregation. And the world would never be the same again.

How God Does It

You see? That is how God does it. We may have our personal plans and visions. We certainly have things that make us feel comfortable and secure. And God, it seems, has a habit of calling people out of that comfort and security and into radical trust.

So I ask you all today where that call is coming into your life. And let me ask you first of all as a congregation. As I just said, there are several people here who recently went through that process of leaving behind what was familiar and comfortable to become a part of this congregation. They have demonstrated their courage and their faith to us all.

Call to St. Andrew’s

But, if they were called to become a part of this new thing, weren’t we all? Let’s ask what God came along and said to the people who were part of St. Andrew’s Hespeler before all of these conversations started. What did God ask us to leave behind?

“Go from your concept of a congregation that is totally based on things happening in this one place in the village of Hespeler. Leave behind your comfortable cliques and familiar ways of getting things done. Abandon the familiarity of a church that used to be to fully embrace this new congregation with the same courage and faith that those who have given up so much have shown.”

And do note that God is asking us all to do this even though we still don’t know all that this new congregation will be. All we have is a promise from God that God will let us know when we get there. It’s only the same promise that he gave to Abram and to Matthew, and look how those promises turned out.

It is a question that all of us have to ponder, and not just those who came from a particular place. It is a call that God places on congregations from time to time, and we definitely seem to be in a season when many congregations are pondering such calls.

Call to Individuals

But I would be remiss if I didn’t put the question to you as individuals as well. I think all of us have to pause from time to time and ask what new and courageous thing God may be calling us to do.

How might God be speaking to you and calling you to some new adventure of faith? Do not expect to hear some divine voice booming from heaven with instructions for what you are to do. I don’t think that happened for Abram, and I’m sure that it didn’t for Matthew.

Expect God to speak in various ways. Sometimes it is when we learn to quiet our busy minds through the practice of meditation that the voice of God (that has been speaking to us all along) can finally break through. With quiet whispers, God may direct you in a new course.

But God may also speak through the passions and concerns that drive us. Have you found in your heart a new concern for some disadvantaged group? Has your creativity been stirred with some crazy idea for how a problem could be addressed?

These are experiences of inspiration, and they can absolutely come directly from God. We do also have to practice discernment about them. We need to pray and meditate over them, and we need to talk to the trusted voices of the people that God has placed into our lives. God speaks through them too.

Stepping Into the Unknown

But do not dismiss the thought that God may be calling you to step out by faith into the unknown. God has done it before; why wouldn’t God dream of doing something amazing through someone like you – especially someone like you.

Abram was a nobody. God could have called many similar men wandering around Mesopotamia at the time. For all we know, God did. Perhaps the only thing that was unique about Abram was that he listened and that he went.

Matthew wasn’t unique either. The land was full of tax collectors. And, for all we know, Jesus stopped by the tax offices of dozens of them before Matthew dared to do what Jesus said and get up and follow.

God isn’t looking for people who have got it all together. God certainly isn’t looking for people who know how it’s all going to turn out. God is looking for people who are faithful. God is looking for people who can hear the words leave, go and follow as calls to adventure.

And, yes, God may be looking for you.

A Trinity Sunday Service