Elevation Waterloo Sermons

This week we continue our series on metaphors for our church as we return to the metaphor of an open table. Brian Pengelly will be bringing us back to the idea of a table big enough that we can always add another chair and everyone feels at home and is welcome. We will also be re-examining 1 Corinthians 11 and how the text was about making everyone included, rather than making sure only the worthy...

This week we will continue our three-part series looking at metaphors for the church. We will explore the theme of textiles as we consider the ways that the Church is like a woven tapestry – full of beauty, diversity, and engaged in the work of mending and repair. Evolving Faith podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TjGbGZSaPoCMwFV3tXas8

This week we began to look at the first of three different metaphors for the church as we consider our identity moving forward. What if we saw ourselves through the lens of an ecological metaphor, like a forest garden, as a community of cultivation, interdependence, rootedness, and vibrant justice? “When you lack the verdancy of justice, your soul is dry, totally without tender goodness, totally w...

This week, we will wrap up our current series on the theology and practice of foot-washing by leaning into the practice. Our service will feature some more contemplative elements. During the discussion time in the gym, there will be an opportunity for anyone interested to practice foot-washing (or hand-washing as an alternative) outside in the courtyard. This is an invitation, and everyone can mak...

In our second week looking at the theology and practice of foot washing, we will be looking at the particular story of Jesus washing the feet of Judas. What does it mean to love and serve those that are different than us, or that we might consider as our enemies? How do we bear with one another even if we are so markedly different at times?

This Sunday we're exploring another sacrament of the Church: footwashing. This ancient practice finds its origin in the story of Jesus who modelled servant leadership to his friends and followers who often asked questions about their own importance. While we won’t actively be practicing footwashing this week, we’ll instead be looking at the virtue of humility that undergirds this practice. Epi...

We are continuing our Deep and Wide series this week, exploring the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love. We are excited to have Patricia Layng speak on the depth of God’s love for us.

We are continuing our Deep and Wide series this week, exploring the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love. We are excited to have Jonathon Sawatzky speak on the width of God’s love for us.

We are diving into our four-part Deep and Wide series starting this week, exploring the length, width, height, and depth of God's love. This Sunday we are excited to have Cathleen Getchell speak on the length of God's love for us.

This week, we will be talking about about how we know and experience God as an introduction to our July series: Deep and Wide. We’ll be exploring a few ideas as we navigate the mystery of knowing and experiencing the love of God who is vast and beyond us, and closer than the air we breathe.

This Sunday, we will turn our attention to the ancient practice of baptism. Why do we do it and what meaning does it carry for us as individuals and as a community? We will explore three main aspects of baptism.

It's Pentecost Sunday. It's the birth of the Church and the end of the Easter season. We'll be wrapping up this Tabled series by pulling together some developing themes around the Eucharist table. If God is the host, then the table is not ours; it is Christ's. And if the character of God is one of generosity and an open embrace, then everyone is invited to come and eat. Stemming fr...

We continue in our series called Tabled. This week we turn our focus to the peacemaking power of food. At the centre of this idea is sharing food together, and yet, we can broadly sketch out a great number of injustices - historical and present day - that surround and surface from food. This Sunday we will map out some of the ways justice is lacking when it comes to food before we pivot toward pea...

This Sunday we will be continuing our Tabled series by taking some time to explore the meaning and significance found when we gather around the Eucharist Table. What does this invitation to come, receive and remember mean for us today? In what ways does our approach to the Eucharist table reflect our calling to follow Christ in extending an open table to all?  Our kids will be staying with us for...

This Sunday, in the second week of our Tabled series, we move from the feast itself to the act of invitation. Who gets invited? Who’s banquet feast is it anyway? We will turn to a parable in Luke 14 as we consider invitation, welcome, and belonging.

Fasting and feasting. Jesus gets questioned about why his followers are more prone to feasting than fasting. Feasting is a thread that runs through the whole of the biblical story, from cover to cover, bursting with feasts of all kinds throughout. What would it look like if we were a community marked by feasting? What are some of our modern ideas about feasting? Can feasting be bad? We’ll attempt...

He is Risen! We are wrapping up our series Postures of the People on Easter Sunday with a look at three postures we see in the risen Christ. The art featured in the slides for Sunday comes from Mexican artist Bernardo Ramonfaur. You can find more of his work at  https://bernardoramonfaur.com/

During the season of Lent we have been digging into a series we have called “The Postures of the People” - spending time reflecting on some of the postures found in the life of Jesus, as well as those who walked with him on earth. This week Devon Wagler will share a message of blessing others. 

This week, we'll be exploring the posture of protection as we take some time to discuss the ways that we can develop a culture and community of protection especially for the more vulnerable among us.

As we continue in this Lenten season considering the postures of the people, we turn to the story of Lazarus. We will consider the posture of vulnerability in community that we find toward the end of John 11.

We will join together this week to celebrate the second Sunday of Lent. Melissa is carrying on with the “Postures of the People” theme with this week’s sermon titled ‘Awe and Adoration”.

On the first Sunday of lent, we turn to a story of walking on water. Jesus walks on the waves and meets his weary friends and followers in morning light, amid crashing waves. Peter is invited out onto the waves. As we consider the Postures of the People, we turn our attention to Peter’s posture as one who had the courage to risk.

This Sunday, we partook in a fishbowl conversation! A fishbowl conversation is a form of dialogue that can be used when discussing topics within large groups. A number of chairs are arranged in an inner circle. This is the fishbowl. The advantage of a fishbowl is that it allows the entire group to participate in a conversation.

This week, Christie Penner Worden joins us as a guest speaker. Christie is the North American Director for RaiseUP Faith (The platform that produces the OneStory Curriculum that we use here at Elevation). With a focus on equipping and coaching, resourcing and training, Christie is a strategic leader who is passionate about discipling children, empowering leaders and providing effective support to...

In our second week sitting with the crossing over story found in Joshua, we consider the role of endings and starts, as well as the importance of beginnings. We will look at Joshua 4 and the practice of markers in communal remembrance