September 20, 2026
READINGS and MESSAGE
EXODUS 16:2-15
So, this Sunday, we continue with the story of Moses and the Israelites. They’ve crossed over the sea with the walls of water engulfing the Egyptian army and now they have landed on dry ground. And of course, once again the Israelites are complaining because there is no food. So God hears the complaints and we hear the story of the quail flying into the camp and people had their meat…and then it rained over night and what was on the ground was something which looked like coriander seed, whitish, and tasted like a cracker and honey…and they only gathered what they needed for the day and gathered twice on the sixth day in that the seventh day was the day of rest…of course, not everyone followed the instructions…nonetheless, people were fed…
PSALM 105:1-6
When one reads into the Psalms we find a crying out to God for help or out of fear or a loneliness and then we find some of the Psalms filled with joy and countless hallelujahs…well this morning, Psalm 105 is full of praises and encourages everyone to live a happy life and to always be alert to where you find God’s signs of presence. And when you find these signs, rejoice, for you will find all the strength that you will ever need in the happiness which it brings…
MATTHEW 20:1-16
This passage from Matthew this morning would probably not sit well in our world economy, in our day-to-day hiring of folks to do the same work and be paid the same for one hour or for 15…in fact, unions would be set up and soon strikes would happen and everything would shut down. But here again, is Jesus’ idea of the first ending up last and the last first. The Estate Manager did no wrong in offering the first folks at dawn a dollar a day for work and offering folks at 5:00 pm a dollar a day for work. What was agreed upon would have been the settlement.
CREATION TIME # 2 ---- WATER
It was about a month ago when I started putting some thoughts and pieces together for the themes of Creation Time and what that would look like. And I was in a place of restlessness in that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go with that topic or just follow the normal lectionary. I needed a theme which would speak to me and then in turn, I could share it with all of you and maybe it would also speak to you in your world…and part of me also said that maybe a theme is not as important as I make it out to be…but being a somewhat organized person, I knew that if one would be telegraphed to me through the spiritual channels, it would make the other bunch of weeks a little easier to handle…you know, to have a focus…
And I knew that I wanted to put some focus on the different elements of the Earth but how do I share what is so basic yet so paramount in our lives and in our world as we know it.
So, I’m on the highway heading home and keeping my eyes on the road but also thinking of my surroundings and it comes to me…maybe I just broke one of those ‘distracted driving laws’ because I took my hands off the wheel and went…Yeh!!!...
For all around me in what I had been involved with were the elements of the Earth…I could see water, a fair amount of it in that we’ve had a fair quantity of rain in the last many days…I smelled the air and at that time it was smokey but I knew that there was air…I could see earth…dirt…sand…and I remembered in that I’ve worked with truckloads of it in the months before – clay, regular loam, screened loam…I think 12 – 14 truckloads of it… “Do I know dirt!!”
I saw stone, rocks, and remembered the countless wheelbarrows full of rock which became the rock walls that we built…some to become berms which would hold back the Fish Creek waters in the spring...and I passed countless trees – wood, which reminded me of the wood pile which we have and continual log splitting throughout the seasons…
I kept all these elements in my mind and then began to do the readings for the Pentecost season and so many of these elements are portrayed in the passages which we share…
So, I said thanks…for God speaks to us often through our confusion and the muck in our lives….God speaks through those times of restlessness and opens new doors…
God moves in where uncertainty lives…
So today, the element we’re going to focus a little bit on is water…the essence of life… something which if we didn’t have any, we would be done – finished…kind of like the words I shared last week with Air…and the importance of water…
So, what might be an interesting practice for this lengthy season of Pentecost for yourselves is to think of the many ways to cut down on the use of water and act upon it...if we all did this, and corporations included, places such as Saskatchewan may be greener in the summer instead of so often, a very dry landscape…the sometimes desert may burst into bloom…
Historically, the two most important feast days in the Church were Epiphany and Easter, when baptisms were celebrated…Advent and Lent were both seasons to prepare for baptism and for new life and so was the season of Pentecost…think of all the biblical lessons involving water…
Creation, when the waters filled the Earth…the Flood, the greet Flood…the Jordan River and all of the events that happened in it and around it…the crossing of the Red Sea…Mose striking the Rock and water coming out of it…the Woman at the Well…and of course, the washing of the disciples’ feet…the Walking on the Water and the Calming of the Sea…
and so on…many, may stories having to do with water and the significance of it so it’s fitting today that we continue with our Creation Time Sundays with all of our connections with water…everything is inter-connected…all of you are inter-connected to everything that is…you are a part of the whole and the whole is a part of you…Jesus is history and the present and the future and so are we…
And in the passage where Jesus becomes baptized by John in the Jordon River, we see that Jesus leaves the water and goes out into the wilderness – the desert…and we do know that he eventually leads his disciples into the desert and this is where he is followed by the masses to hear his teachings…the hurting masses begging for attention…Jesus looks upon them as wandering sheep in the wilderness without a shepherd…so Jesus asks everyone to sit down on the green grass so he can teach…green grass?...Mark tells us repeatedly that this is a desert waste…what gives?...
So a reflection on Psalm 23 comes to mind and God is spoken of as a shepherd who leads the helpless sheep in “green pastures”…and Isaiah states that when the Messiah comes, creation will be restored… “The deserts will blossom”…even the driest, dead places will be green gardens…so there’s the correlation…wherever Jesus sets foot, all miraculously bursts into bloom…life…abundant life…for he is the water of life…and this is the Good News for this Sunday in Pentecost…this Sunday where we look at the importance of “LIVING WATER!”…
When you fill your bathroom sink up with warm water in the morning and wash your hands and face, with the water trickling down your cheeks, smile into the mirror and give thanks that you…too…are the water of life, possibly for yourself and for others for each of you are truly a blessing and you know ‘who’ you are and ‘whose’ you are…