The Power of Encouragement

A Troubling Request

A TROUBLING REQUEST Twenty-first after Pentecost: Mark 10:35-45. By Hugh Farquhar  From time immemorial, humans have had difficulty with authority. People who misuse authority are people who have allowed some power they have inherited or achieved to go to their heads....
Not to Worry

Not to Worry

NOT TO WORRY Thanksgiving Sunday: Matthew 6:25-34 By Hugh Farquhar Many years ago, my family and I moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, where I was a post-graduate student at King’s College. During our time there we became familiar with a phrase people often used: “not to...
The Ministry of Children

The Ministry of Children

THE MINISTRY OF CHILDREN Nineteenth after Pentecost: Mark 10:13-16. By Hugh Farquhar I remember well a day when I went to visit a man whose vibrant spouse had just died after a lengthy illness. I was feeling something of the pain in his life and was looking for the...
Not to Worry

Wisdom is as Wisdom Does

WISDOM IS AS WISDOM DOES by Hugh Farquhar Seventeenth after Pentecost: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a. In this section of his letter, James distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom: “earthly, phony, wisdom” and “loving, authentic wisdom.” Earthly wisdom, in his thinking, is...
Not to Worry

Open the Circle

OPEN THE CIRCLE Year B, Fifteenth after Pentecost: James 2:1-10 By Hugh Farquhar When I was responsible for a time with children at Sunday worship, I sometimes taught them a song called “Open the Circle” by Jack Miffleton. (It’s like a no fail fudge recipe; it always...
ABOUT INTERRUPTIONS

ABOUT INTERRUPTIONS

ABOUT INTERRUPTIONS by Hugh Farquhar The Gospel Reading from the Lectionary next Sunday is Mark 5:21-43. I own a book of cartoons that poke fun at ministers. One of my favourites shows a minister at work in his study at home. His four-year-old son is knocking...