WildWords: Sermons from Wildwood Mennonite Church

"Love is the Gift of Christmas." Yes. And also, what does that…even…mean? If it’s to be more than a nice holiday sentiment, I’d like a few more specifics. Join Ken Bible and Evangelical Barbie to explore a broad view of the Love of Christmas!

The third week of Advent is typically known as Joy Sunday in some Christian traditions. As we wander through metaphorical and literal deserts, like our spiritual ancestors, we're invited to see the places of joy and hope where Immanuel, God-with-us, meets and sustains us.

The story of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is one of restoration, healing, and amazement. This Advent, we're invited to think of the places in our lives and communities that feel dead, and where we need the Spirit to energize us with the breath of life.

Why are Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego crashing the Advent party this year?? The backstory is complicated, but the result is that we are reminded anew that God shows up in this season--and every season--in unexpected and improbable ways. Come and Be Amazed with us!

Eternity Sunday is the last Sunday of the Christian calendar year. During the service, we remember those we've lost this year, and spend time lighting candles, sharing memories, and holding space for one another. This reflection on Revelation 21:1-5 revolves around a story of two friends, Yohanan (John) and Alexander, who embody God's presence for one another in challenging times.  

This Sunday, for the fourth installment in our sermon series Who is My Neighbour? Being the Church for the Neighbourhood , we had Lois Siemens as our guest speaker. Lois shared a dramatic reading around the table to show how Jesus invites us to cross boundaries and make a place for everyone at this table, where he has first invited us.

Listen to the Prophets! As we continue the journey through the bible, we encounter the prophets - those who call us to attention, remind us how to treat our neighbours, and dream a new world into being. Are we listening?

[God] brings justice to the orphan and the widowed,     and befriends the foreigner among you with food and clothing.  In the same way, you too must love the foreigner,     for you were once foreigners yourselves in the land of Egypt. ~ Deuteronomy 10:18-19 It really is that simple. And hard and complicated. God gave this vision to the ancient Hebrews of a society organized around the most vulnera...

"Who is My Neighbour?" With the parable of the Good Samaritan as our foundation and guide, we began this new sermon series. Over the next few weeks, we'll reflect on our neighbourhoods and creation around us, asking ourselves who needs to be shown compassion. Who do we want to be as a church community? What does it mean to be a community hub, a safe space, and to offer a non-anxious presence?

The Haudenosaunee people have long greeted their days and started their gatherings with " The Words Before All Else,"  often called  The Thanksgiving Address . This Thanksgiving Sunday at Wildwood, we learned and joined in this Haudenosaunee practice by weaving readings from the Thanksgiving Address alongside some of the familiar songs and prayers of gratitude from our Anabaptist faith. 

This week Amy Peters shared her thoughts on the Season of Creation with us. Reflecting on the Season of Creation for me brings up feelings of awe and lament. Leviticus 25 offers great practices of redemption for both people and the land through a Sabbath year and a year of Jubilee, but we rarely adopt them. Nature is full of so many amazing creatures and systems, yet human systems of hierarchy and...

In this second week of the Season of Creation, we listen to the sounds of creation for a language of belonging. All creation groans - and we groan with it - and all creation also sings. Are we listening? How do we respond? This sermon included the work of Graeme Dyck, a local sound artist. His piece, "Frost Worlds: Microgeographies of the Anthropocene," is a study on the ever-changing wo...

Today marks the beginning of our celebration of the "Season of Creation," a season in the ecumenical church calendar. As we embark on this journey together, we reflect on what peace with creation looks like through the words of the prophet Isaiah. We lament and celebrate creation and our role in it, and gather together at the Communion table.

So here we are, at the end of the world as we know it. Facing the beginning(s) of a world of unknowns and uncertainties, along with some definitely frightening realities and some resilient, grounded convictions.  Where do we go from here?   And how do we get there? Both are uncertain, but in this case putting the “how” before the “where” is exactly what we need to carry us through. For the church,...

As we face our Doom via climate crisis or other unknowns, how can we plan for the uncertainty ahead? What are ways forward that might help us to protect what is most vulnerable, preserve what we can’t afford to lose, and provide seeds for rebirth on the other side of Doom? Brian McLaren proposes multiplicity and flexibility, because there is so much that we do not know and cannot predict. “Rather...

Listen! Wisdom cries out in the streets and builds her home on this earth. Are we listening? In our dance with doom, we rely on Wisdom in all her diversity to guide us. Our prayer is that we bear the fruit or bear characteristics of this ancient Wisdom, which is pure, peace-loving, gentle, full of mercy, and open to another's way of seeing and thinking (James 3:17).

So... how do you feel about the upcoming collapse of civilization? Not thrilled, I'm guessing? Well, good news: it's (pretty much) inevitable! And so is the reorganization, growth and thriving of the next form of civilization. Human civilizations follow this pattern--growth / stability / collapse / rebirth--and so does (almost) everything else in the universe. While that doesn't feel g...

Hope is complicated! How do we hold onto the good and beautiful things of this world when it's all a vapour, and we know that doom is coming? When we remind ourselves that "for everything, there is a season," we remind ourselves that our hope is found not in the outcome, but in the ups and downs of the journey, and the values that we live out each day.

A quick glance at any news source--let alone the comment section--raises questions about the crisis response capacity of most humans. When trouble comes our senses, emotions and mental processing are quickly overwhelmed and we react impulsively rather than rationally. How do we turn those reactions into thoughtful and intentional responses? Paying attention to what’s going on internally can serve...

“We need to face what we know. And we need to face what we don’t know. Only what is faced can be changed… Welcome to reality.” ~ Brian McLaren // Life After Doom There is so much that is out of our control. As mortal individuals with significant physical, emotional and intellectual limitations. As a fragile species navigating a natural world of awesome power and violence. As inhabitants of a finit...

We were please to welcome Janeen Bertsche Johnson to speak to us via zoom this Sunday as part of our series The Whole Body: Towards Deeper Inclusion for All of Us . Janeen Bertsche Johnson has been campus pastor at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana for 30 years, and also has roles as admissions counselor, alumni director, and core adjunct faculty. She is in her final year...

"Does God still speak to us today?" On this Pentecost Sunday, guest speaker Gareth Brandt wrapped up our weekend of celebrating the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of our Anabaptist Mennonite tradition. Looking backwards, our faith is grounded in the trust that God guided and indeed spoke to and through our spiritual ancestors in the Bible and throughout church history. What does it...

The good news of Jesus is for all! In Acts 8, the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip are moved by the Spirit to worship and learn in community and share this good news with one another and with us. The eunuch's question, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" is a call to the church to embrace all bodies, as scarred and beautiful as the body of Jesus.

Boundaries and lines serve a purpose: creating identity, making safe spaces to learn and grow, for protecting the vulnerable and using power appropriately--”elbows up!” And yet, from the beginning, God has always been present and moving beyond the lines we draw for ourselves and others. As we follow the biblical story, we can hear the voice of God constantly whispering "wider!"

What are you worth? In our world, so much of our value--how we see others and ourselves--is dependent on what we produce and contribute. Those who earn and build and create and help are valued and those who are seen as needing support and taking up resources are treated as problems to be fixed. What's behind that way of seeing the world? And is there a better way, not just for those with disab...