July 5, 2026
READINGS and MESSAGE
GENESIS 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Our first passage this morning is quite the story…Abraham’s servant is sent out to find Isaac a wife and she can’t be coming from the Canaanites, she needs to be from Abraham’s lineage…it’s a purity issue…so…enter Rebekah…and her decision is in full accord with her general character and she is pictured as an ideal figure of Oriental girlhood – modest, kindly, generous, and pious…and she leaves with her entourage and the two meet – Rebekah and Issac and the marriage union takes place…
MATTHEW 11:16-19, 25-30
In the Gospel passage something stands out to make us pay attention : “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed and you did not mourn.” How can we fail to reflect on the ways in which our own generation understands – and fails to understand – the reasons for dancing and the reasons for weeping…we are so often and so easily lulled by the other songs and voices of our culture…not only do we miss the moments that matter; we regularly dance when we ought to mourn for a world whose burden is heavy and for a people who need rest…there’s a place for both…
“SHARING A SERMON – PLAYING GOLF: ARE THEY RELATED WHATSOEVER?”
In the culture in which we live, which for most of us is city or rural, some-what south-central (populated) Alberta, countless country-music listeners, many-many rodeo lovers, curling fanatics, acquirers of ‘big’ toys, weekend Costco or Cross Iron Mills shoppers, rainfall measured in millimeters (and your neighbour down the street always seems to have more millimeters than you do), many of you believe that you come to church to hear advice for your personal problems, to get ethical instruction on how to live better lives, to feel something or to think something religious, well this Sunday’s Gospel is a reminder, to me anyway, that the purpose of church, the source of the gospel, the reason why we’re here, is the living Christ and what he means to us…and…the wonderful game of golf… and golf, by the way, is an acronym G O L F…for Getting Older and Living Fine…so what is the relationship of sharing in a sermon – sharing in the message of the Good News and Golf...and are they related whatsoever?..
I thought of this on Monday and gave this message today this title and as I sat down with it on Tuesday, I thought to myself, “What was I thinking?... how can sharing in a sermon and playing golf be related?...
Well… here’s my take on this… are you ready for this?...
I’ve recently heard someone say at the golf course that they would die if they didn’t get to play golf at least once or twice a week…I just said that you gotta be kidding because golf can’t be that great… “Oh but it is”, he said to me… “There’s nothing better than to be out on a nice day, focusing all my attention, all my thoughts and affection on that little white ball…all burdens are lifted from my back; all concerns are put on the shelf…my cell phone is nicely tucked away in my car in the parking lot…all I want to do is to get that little ball into that little hole on the green in as few shots as possible…It’s…wonderful!!”…
and you know, being a somewhat golfer and not a very good one, I can somewhat associate with what this person said to me…so how do I put this sort of explanation of a game of golf alongside another love of mine which is crafting and delivering messages or sermons for all of you?... sharing a sermon – playing golf…are they related?... and I was wondering about this question, and I rightfully have to say “Yes…they are” …
Because, what runs through my head as I tee up the ball?...I clear it…I focus only on the delivery and if it’s an errant shot – so be it…it is a wonderful, all-too-rare (in this culture anyway) moment of self-forgetfulness…and this also happens as I prepare to deliver a message to all of you…in the singing of the little ‘Hymn for Illumination’ which is on a normal Sunday but today I’ve passed it on to Prashant, it’s my moment to pause and ready myself to share in the Gospel passage and the message which follows…and in that pause, as in the setting up of the driver on the tee-box, in that moment just before I share the message with you, I find that I am not thinking about anything except the sermon itself…my whole being is caught up, focused on the demands of the sermon…I become what I am intended to preach…I don’t ask myself how do I look?...am I going to do well?...will you like what I say?…have I come here with the right message?...at the right time?... will they like me?
These questions are irrelevant because I need to share with all of you the messages of hope and peace, of justice and love, of joy and of hole-in-ones…and maybe self-forgetfulness, which I mentioned a moment ago, is not so much an achievement as it is, a gift… to focus on what is really real opposed to being focused on secondary or tertiary stuff…and Jesus is making this perfectly clear to his followers. The journey is not going to be easy…the walk is going to be painful… are you in? ...or…are you out?...
We live in a culture in which there is constant pressure to focus upon, become preoccupied with, and to cultivate…ourselves…we all embody the aphorism or saying of Oscar Wilde, who is reported to have said to someone at a London party, “Hey, come on over here and sit next to me…I’m dying to tell you all about myself.”…self-forgetfulness… focusing on the game of golf…focusing on the one message that you may hear this week or possibly this month and making the most out of it…
My one connection with you from my heart and mind to yours…my one drive down the middle of the fairway – 275 yards…
Sharing a sermon and playing golf…are they related?... yes…
For they put us into a place of what is truly real….
and the sermon’s focus comes from the heart –
the heart of golf comes from the focus…
Sometimes when we come to church on a Sunday, we get new insights or possibly fascinating ideas…sometimes we come here anxious and perplexed and leave comforted and at peace…but our understanding… our peace…and reassurance are not the point…the main thing we get is the presence of God and that is point enough for being here…the main thing we receive on the golf course is a personal strive for excellence, in whatever way that may look…
And by-the-way, it’s your putt….Amen.