Cedar Park United

In today’s reflection, from the 5th Sunday in Lent, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to reflect on love that overflows—love so generous it might seem wasteful. What do we hold back, and why? What might it look like to pour ourselves out with that same fearless devotion? Perhaps “foolish and ruined…” Hear the Gospel reading from John 12:1-8 in the livestream recording . Connect with C...

God’s “Nevertheless” of forgiveness for sins is strange wisdom, and stranger still when we witness those who have power using it to condemn and punish “to the full extent of the law”… and beyond. What can God’s strange wisdom offer to us, and to our human community, in these troubling times? In this reflection from the fourth Sunday in Lent, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to consider the ques...

The weekend of March 21-23, 2025 was one of connection and community across faith dividing lines for Cedar Park United and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom , to find common purpose in movements of compassion. In today’s podcast, you’ll hear the sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones during the Erev Shabbat Friday evening service at Temple, as well as the message delivered on Sunday morning at Ceda...

If Lent is a seasonal discipleship journey, then week two’s “rest stop” is at the station called “Lament!” You might prefer to drive on by, but please don’t. Jesus stopped here, in tears and anguish, to name hard truths, to ask God some pointed questions, and we can too. Jesus also resumed his journey, refreshed, renewed, and encouraged. And as Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reminds us in her reflection...

We stand at the threshold of both Lent and our Annual Congregational Meeting—a season of discernment, decision, and challenge. Everywhere we turn, we are encouraged to seek power, security, and control. Yet in the midst of this pull, God calls us to move forward in love, courage, and trust. In today’s reflection, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites to consider that what looks beautiful can...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  Today is the grand finale of the Season of Epiphany – a season where we are trained to see God’s love and life unveiled, made clear in flashes of insight and spiritual wisdom, and in holy moments of encounter with glory in and beyond the created world. Today’s Gospel is the pinnacle of these moments of epiphany, telling a story of deep wonder and mystery...

Last week, we heard some “Plain Speaking” from Jesus. Blessings for the poor, hungry, grieving, and persecuted. To those who are socially well-positioned, a challenge to wake up and pay attention. When the things that give us stability and control fall away, how will we respond? Today, we sit together with the discomfort of Jesus’ next words: “Love your enemies.” It sounds simple, but living it? “...

Luke’s telling of the “Sermon on the Plain” is Gospel for our times, and for us as we try to live the Way of Jesus in a world where the gap between the poor and ordinary on the one hand, and the ultra rich on the other, is massive and getting larger. In today’s reflection, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones reminds us that in God’s eyes– and love – the poor, the grieving, the hungry, and the persecuted are...

We catch up with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke; we cheer for the hometown boy, preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth; we watch in awe as three men leave their livelihood as fishermen to follow him. But mind “the gap” in the middle! Watch for trouble! Was it/is it good trouble? And what does it have to do with us? Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to ponder these questions.   Hear the Gospel readi...

Our Way tells us that God is Love and that we are made in the image of God. In 1 Corinthians 13, we find one of the most well-known descriptions of love in our tradition… but living this love is not always easy. On this communion Sunday, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us all to the table, to Re-Member the Body of Christ, and find in this meal the grace and strength to keep loving, no...

Many of us are familiar with the rich metaphor, used by Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth, to describe the communities of Christ-followers as “the body of Christ.” This text and metaphor grounds today’s reflections and questions. Who is a part of the body of Christ? How large is this body? What’s the purpose of this body of Christ? How does this body relate to the world, and to other bod...

Today and for the next few weeks of this Epiphany season – a season of spiritual enlightenment – we are given countless glimpses of the holy, guiding, providing, restoring character of Creator God. We’re seeking that holy wisdom as we reflect on what it means for us to “be the body of Christ.” Today we ask, “What is it God is asking us to do as the body of Christ, right here, right now?” Guiding u...

At his baptism, Jesus joins us in the waters and reveals God’s renewing love. The Spirit descends, God’s voice declares him beloved, and we glimpse the grace that surrounds us. In her reflection, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to reflect on what it might mean to “swim in the waters of grace,” immersed in the Spirit and called into new life. Hear the Gospel reading from Luke 3:11-22...

God’s Wisdom, enfleshed in Jesus, touches all of Creation—boundless, mysterious, and beyond our full comprehension. In humility, we seek the Wisdom to follow the Light, knowing we cannot see the full picture but trusting in God’s unfathomable Love to guide and transform us. In her Epiphany Sunday reflection, Candidate Minister Jessica Gauthier invites us to reflect on the many-sided wisdom of God....

Welcome to the Cedar Park United podcast!  On December 29, when several churches from the West Island of Montreal gathered for an ecumenical worship service, a whimsical version of the Christmas story was shared by a cast of people from the various congregations. It was so delightful, we’ve chosen to make it today’s podcast so that all of our communities of faith can laugh, smile and be inspired b...

In this short Christmas Eve reflection, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to ponder how Jesus’ birth can be good news for humans at the margins, and for the wilderness, and the Earth herself. To hear the Scripture reading from Luke’s beautiful telling of the birth of Jesus, head to the livestream recording . Connect with Cedar Park United here: ⁠⁠ 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ 🟠 youtube.com/c/Ced...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast! Today, we invite you to settle in and participate in a midrashic retelling of  Luke’s story of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. (Midrash is the way we come at a Biblical text, asking questions about the gaps in the text, and allowing one’s faithful imagination to fill those gaps with possibilities). The Gospeller Luke begins, and the women – Elizabeth, Mary,...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  Gaudete! Joy!! Today interrupts the deepening winter, and seasonal melancholy, with joy, whether we’re ready or not. Hear the reading of the scriptures, from Zephaniah 3: 14-2 and Philippians 4:4-7 in the livestream recording. Connect with Cedar Park United here: ⁠⁠ 🔴 cedarparkunited.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ 🟠 youtube.com/c/CedarParkUnited⁠⁠ 🟢 ⁠⁠facebook.com/cedarpark...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  As Advent unfolds, we hear the call to peace: peace within ourselves, peace among us, and peace for all creation. In a world marked by conflict, division, and uncertainty, what does it mean to wait for the peace of Christ? How does this peace differ from what we often imagine? Today, as we gather at Christ’s table, may we be nourished by the promise of pe...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  “Christus Paradox” is perhaps the most apt way of describing what the “reign” of Christ means. The reign of Christ is nothing like the rule of kings, political parties, empires. It consists of little things, like compassionate and kind acts, like peace as a response to war, and like love-in-action away from the spotlight. That is the “reign” that we focus...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  Competing visions, hopes and fears of the future are in the news right now, and they are all in today’s Gospel reading also. In the Gospel two responses are offered by Jesus. The question is, do we, will we respond in those ways, or not? In this reflection from November 17, 2024, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones invites us to consider that even as our community o...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  Human history is punctuated by war, violence, and the clashing of competing ideologies. It is also filled with tiny, yet mighty acts of peace-making, compassion, resilience, and love-despite hate. “Remembering” brings all of the human story together, and worship brings all that we see under the redeeming love of God. In this Remembrance Sunday sermon from...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  In this sermon from November 3, 2024, Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones asks: Who could ever have imagined a time in living memory when it would seem “odd” to practise welcome, hospitality, respect, reverence, truth in our shared lives? Now is a good time to be reminded, by Scripture, that these are at the heart of God’s Dream for human community within creation:...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  As Hallowe’en approaches – the Christian tradition’s way to commemorate all God’s, and our, beloved saints – we gather to remember together the “Saints of God” of our families and our faith community who have died in the past year. We also remember those loved ones whose death feels like only yesterday. It is a much-loved service which enfolds our grief w...

Welcome to the Cedar Park United Podcast!  Today’s Gospel takes us to Jericho, where we meet a blind man,  Bartimaeus,  of whom Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?” How did Bartimaeus answer? How would we respond to Jesus’ question? To hear the scripture, head to the livestream:  https://www.youtube.com/live/cjagBlx6Y0U?si=ZxB8db3qO0se77mT&t=1456   Connect with Cedar Park United her...