St. Peter's Fireside

This Sunday, our apprentice Jude will be preaching (for his first time at St. Pete's!) we are looking at the first fourteen verses of John 14, which includes one of Jesus’ most famous declarations: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6). We’ll explore what this meant for the disciples and what it means for us today! You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/dh2BlgX3N...

Easter is the inauguration of a new creation and a new people, with new ways of relating to one another as the People of God. But we still live in a fallen world, and the Kingdom of God isn’t fully realized. How are Christians to relate to the world, including the governing authorities? Our reading from 1 Peter 2:13-25 speaks to this very question. Join us as we explore themes of authority and fre...

Our senior apprentice, Xue Ting, will be leading us through Acts 2:14, 36-37! Join us for “Marks of an Easter People,” where we’ll look at how to live out transformed lives in community as people who have experienced, identified with, and belong to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/cvE2p0DuJfM

What does the resurrection really mean? This Sunday, we explore two teachings from Peter: one is the first recorded post-resurrection sermon, and the other was written decades later to Christian exiles scattered across the world. Together, these teachings reveal a God who acts in history, a risen King who reigns, and a living hope that changes everything. We will see that the resurrection isn’t me...

Join us this Sunday as we journey from the season of Lent towards Easter together. As Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey into what will prove to be a crucial week, the people are shaken, asking, "Who is this?" We will look at how we answer that question, the danger of merely following the crowd, and what Jesus himself reveals about who He is. You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com...

This Sunday we will look at the wonderful story of Jesus healing the man born blind from John 9. Why does Jesus spit on the ground? Why don’t the blind man’s neighbours recognize him after he is healed? Why do the Pharisees throw him out of the synagogue, and what does it all have to do with us? Come and “see”! You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/8o4uqXxyRhc

This week's sermon will include a discussion of one of the hot-button topics in the church and wider society today. In Romans 1, Paul lays out how we collectively exchanged the worship of God for the worship of idols. Because of this, God “gave us over” to all manner of impurities. The list Paul gives of our impurities is long, but we must admit that he includes homosexual acts as a chief example....

Join us this Sunday as we journey through the season of Lent together. You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/ebqoe5HyHGU

You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/_c0ehjpYeTU Lent is the perfect time to review and renew our rule of life (also known as Rhythm for Life at St. Pete’s). A rule of life is simply a means of intentionally organizing our life around practices or disciplines that invite the Holy Spirit to help us grow into Christlikeness. In other words, it's a personal plan for disciplesh...

As we stand on the threshold between Epiphany and Lent, we will focus on Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. In this letter, Paul makes a bold claim: everything he once counted as spiritual success — his pedigree, performance, and religious passion — he now calls loss compared to one thing: knowing Christ. What if the greatest obstacle to knowing Jesus isn’t failure, but quiet confidence in o...

Each year, every church in our Diocese is encouraged to keep the second-to-last Sunday in Epiphany as “World Mission Sunday.” The whole Season of Epiphany is dedicated to Christ as the Light to the nations, but on this Sunday especially, we are encouraged to reflect on Jesus’ great commission to his Church to make disciples of all nations. Our sermon this week will reflect on Matthew 9:35-38, wher...

Long ago, before the co-option of Advent by commercialism, the celebration of the Incarnation - God the Son come to us in flesh and blood - began on Christmas Eve and lasted 40 days until the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, also called Candlemas. As Grady introduced to us last year, we will again consider the story of the divine appointment at the temple in Jerusalem of the infa...

We will be reading about how Jesus begins his public ministry by preaching. His first sermon is this: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” What does it mean to repent? What is the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it mean that the Kingdom of Heaven is “at hand?” Come and see! You can veiw the full service: https://youtube.com/live/2nEyq781aGA

Our Gospel reading for this Sunday unfolds as a drama of names. Jesus is called by several different names by those around him, lamb of God, the one who was before, Rabbi and Messiah. People can’t seem to decide what to call him. Then, Jesus turns the tables. He looks at a man named Simon and gives him a new name—one that reshapes his future and gives him a new sense of purpose. As we explore this...

We’ll be looking at St Matthew’s account (we’re out of Luke!) of the Baptism of Jesus. Matthew is the only gospel that gives us the little discussion between John the Baptist and Jesus before the baptism happens. John wants to stop it, and we can understand why. Why should the sinless Jesus undergo a baptism of repentance? It doesn’t seem appropriate. Jesus’ answer is that “it is fitting for us to...

Join us back at Robson Square this Sunday for the Second Sunday of Christmas, and our celebration of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ. You can view the full service here: https://youtube.com/live/8Asr3b61p3g -- We gather on Sundays at 10am Pacific Time online and in-person at UBC Robson Square (800 Robson) in Vancouver, BC. If you're able, we invite you to come visit us in-person! Learn more...

This Sunday, on the 4th Sunday of Advent, we finally get to anticipate Christmas! We’ll look at Isaiah’s famous prophecy: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa 7:14). We’ll begin by reading this text literally, in its original context. I think we’ll find that this will leave us unsatisfied. This will lead us to the question: What is the Old Testa...

This Sunday, our apprentice Xue Ting will be preaching as we continue our Advent journey in the book of Isaiah, this time in chapter 35. We journey from the desolation of exile, into the everlasting joy of redemption. We look at movements from barrenness to flourishing, our weakness to God's deliverance, and from spiritual exile to spiritual homecoming. We're looking forward to worshipping togethe...

This Sunday, we continue our Advent journey in the Book of Isaiah, this time in chapter 11. This chapter reveals much about the Messiah. He is a “Sprout from a Stump,” Spirit-saturated, the Just Judge, the Corrector of Creation, the Eliminator of Evil, and the Flag for All Folk. Our Messiah is glorious in his multifaceted splendour! Looking forward to worshipping Him with you on Sunday! You can vi...

If I had to pick a book of the Bible to represent the spirit of Advent, it would be Isaiah. This Sunday, we will begin a new series called “Advent in Isaiah.” We begin this week with Isaiah 2:1-5 and the striking image of the mountain of the house of the Lord being raised above all other mountains, drawing all nations to itself. We will also light Advent candles and sing one or two Advent favourit...

This week, for Christ the King Sunday, we'll be jumping into the middle of Jeremiah - a book that spoke to God's wayward people on the brink of catastrophe and exile in a way that brought comfort and hope. In Jer. 23.1-6, God confronts the sin of Judah's unfaithful kings (or shepherds), promises to care for his sheep, and points ahead to a "righteous" king who would come to save them. This should...

Believe it or not, we are nearing the end of the Liturgical Calendar (The Christian Year begins in Advent). In this season, sometimes nicknamed “Kingdomtide,” the readings are challenging. They speak of the political, environmental, economic, religious, and social upheavals that will occur before the return of the Lord. What is the Christian response to these upheavals? Do we do everything we can...

This Sunday, we continue our journey through Paul’s second letter to the young pastor Timothy. In this passage, Paul turns from instructing Timothy to reflecting on his own circumstances. Imprisoned and awaiting a trial he knows may end in death, Paul looks back on his ministry, updates Timothy on fellow workers, asks for some simple comforts, and shares his deep sense of loneliness. We see Paul a...

This Sunday, we return to the lectionary to guide our preaching until Advent. We’ll focus our preaching on the epistle reading 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5. In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to a young pastor who feels in over his head — a feeling many of us know well. But Paul’s words to Timothy aren’t just for pastors; they’re for anyone who is trying to live faithfully when life feels uncertain. Join us as we he...

On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we’ll be asking the questions: For what are we to be thankful? How are we to express our thanks? Seemingly simple Sunday School questions with Sunday School answers, but our text from Deuteronomy 8 reveals that there are layers of richness and complexity here that we can explore. You can view the full sermon here: https://youtube.com/live/DVZeNVcuoiE