WildWords: Sermons from Wildwood Mennonite Church

Our theme this Sunday is "Called to Hear" which follows the theme of the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan Annual Delegate Sessions coming up next month. Our "guest speaker" this Sunday is Josh Wallace, Church Engagement Minister at MC Sask. He shares a sermon on The Call of Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1-21).

In times of change, how does our understanding of God deepen and shift? Do we hold fast to the traditions that have sustained us this far or do we adapt and create new ways of thinking and being for the new times? In this middle section of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17-48), Jesus demonstrates how to hold together tradition and growth. What would that look like for you in 2021?

Does the pandemic have you feeling #blessed? Me either. So what is Jesus up to when he promises that "Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kin-dom of the heavens"? (Also, what the heck is a kin-dom?) Follow us up The Mountain to find out! #blessedarethecheesemakers

Psalm 19 says the law of God is perfect. But what if the law of the land is far from the justice that God longs for? And what is the church’s responsibility to engage the law of the land, especially when it impacts those that Jesus is particularly concerned with— the vulnerable? Despite rumors of political non-engagement, Mennonites have wrestled with the laws of the land for generations, not only...

Remember a week ago when everybody was excited to bid farewell to 2020, just certain that 2021 was going to be So. Much. Better. Well.... how's that working out for ya? Not so much? Take heart, you're not alone. Join us to hear about Tamar, and Rehoboam, and Josiah, and others who have felt like they'd reached the end of their story, yet found something more on the other side. #toosoon #imiss2020?

In this week's worship, we took a look back at the past year through the lens of Ecclesiastes 3: "There is a time for everything; a season for every purpose under heaven." In lieu of a sermon, Joe led us through a guided reflection exercise on that famous poem. inviting us to consider the many different times that we found ourselves in and the possibility that God was with us in and through them a...

Happy Solstice! Grab your yule logs and christmas lights and join us for Wildwood After Dark! (For our international followers, that's like 4:30pm these days...) Join us "On the Road to Revelation" for one more Advent Sunday journey. #nowledge

Advent 3: "On the Road to Restoration." If we can't go back to the way things were, what does it mean to be restored? When the world feels broken (still), when I feel broken (still), is it denial to hold to the prophetic call for a better way, to believe that indeed "If anyone is in Christ the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17)? Can we really be remade "good as new"?

Remember those classic Christmas carols, "Repent the Herald Angels Sing," "We Three Kings, Repenting We Are" and, of course, "Repenting Around the Christmas Tree"? Me neither. So what in the world is a theme like "On the Road...to Repentance" doing in the middle of our Advent series?? (hint: it has nothing to do with whatever Mommy and Santa Clause were doing underneath the mistletoe last nig...

"Ready or not, here I come!" Remember the thrill of that cry in childhood games of hide and seek? That's also the cry of Advent, but somewhere amidst the familiarity and tradition the advent-ure tends to get lost... What if God is up to something totally awesome and unexpected this year?? (yeah, turns out the prophet Isaiah was an OG of clickbait!)

Did you ever want to be Hamlet? Would you rather play the part of Hamlet or of St. Paul? Let me break it to you: You are not Hamlet; you are called to live your life as YOU! Check out the sermon to find out what difference it makes and to discover how that is a good thing!

This week we explore the theme of Peace in Practice . We are thankful to have Heather and Ben share some reflections and clips from the podcast  "Reconcile. Everyday Conversations" which they cohost.

Our sermon this week is a pre-recorded sermon from Rod Suderman, pastor at First Mennonite Church in Saskatoon. From Rod: “I used the controversy around wearing face masks as my main example to my basic message:  When crucified Jesus was raised from the dead, the world shifted on its axis, says Paul. A whole new world was initiated. To be a Christian is to have had one’s eyes opened to a new...

"You are my Beloved, my own. On you, my favor rests." Is that what you hear when you step into the water (or find yourself up to your neck in it involuntarily...)? A celebration of baptism and membership. Come and see.

What does it mean to be "People of God's Peace" when the conflict is coming from inside the church? We'd rather be the peacemakers that go out to help the world deal with its problems... but the truth is that our house is just as messy as the rest of the world--if not more. What do we do with that complicated reality?

Inner Peace. Sure sounds nice, but how do we get there? Psalm 23 has brought a sense of calm and comfort to people of faith for generations, so that sounds like a good place to start. Picture your favourite green pastures and still waters and join us for a journey (that may or may not include a brief interlude through the valley of the shadow of death...).

Happy Thanksgiving! Grab a turkey leg, loosen those pajama pants and sit back for a tale of woe from the ancient Hebrews... When it comes to searching for Peace, for better or worse, their story is our story. Okay, so it's mostly for worse...but can we make it better? Come and see! And bring your voter registration card!

What do peace and Revelation have in common? Anyone love games? How about Paul and a beach good-bye party? Dwight will try and weave them all together as well a story about his parents and see if this has anything to do with being a peace driven church. Shalom!

"In the Name of the Prince of Peace: Stomp! His! Face!" Ummm... is God really the God of Peace when that's pretty much a direct quote from Scripture? (Romans 16:20, if you're curious). So what are we supposed to do with the violence apparently done by, or at least done in the name of, the God of Peace?

"We Are People of God's Peace" - our "church founder" Menno Simons declared it so in 1552, and that has been central to the Mennonite identity ever since. But what does that mean, exactly? And what do we do when we don't all agree about that, much less manage to live up to our high ideals? School's back in session; time for a little bit of Peace Church 101!

This Sunday at Wildwood we are celebrating 100 Years of Mennonite Central Committee and Wildwood's participation in serving together with MCC. We are pleased to have Eileen Klassen Hamm, Executive Director of MCC SK and part of our WMC family share with us on the themes of creation, abundance, hospitality & reconciliation.

Goldfish? "Some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion" from a literary giant? A bit of unnecessary biblical Greek? And was that a very weak attempt at a Yoda voice I heard in there? Yep, it's sermon time at Wildwood... The Realm of God is within/among/in the midst of you! And even the nonsense is somehow "on fire with the same force that lit the stars" (David Foster Wallace) Grab your mars...

Our guest speaker from the internet this week is Erna Kim Hackett, with a sermon on Psalm 139. Most of us have heard that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made," but do we let that awareness permeate and transform the way we see ourselves? And do we let that knowledge shape our relationships with everyone and everything else? Grab some knitting needles and join us! You can watch Erna Kim Hackett'...

"...then Jesus told them a parable: Look at the fig tree, or any other tree." What does a common, ordinary tree have to do with what surely sounds like a prophecy about the end of the world? And wow, that's a pretty dire prophecy, all violence and destruction! Where is God when the whole world is on fire?

Mustard…Rapeseed…Canola…. Regardless, a tiny seed can grow into a huge shrub! And it really doesn’t matter - unless you’re cooking with it! In this time of pandemic, and maybe because of it, what seeds of hope for the world would you like to plant?