Red Deer Lake United Church: Recent Episodes
Red Deer Lake UC
Miss a sermon? We've got you covered! We are an inclusive community of works-in-progress who want to participate in something more than ourselves through faith, love, grace, and compassion. We believe this is what Jesus is all about. Together we worship, live in community, explore what it means to be human, live life to the fullest, and strive to make this world more like the one God made it to be.
ministry student robin galey shares with us what that wild story of a women killing someone with a tent peg has to do with breaking binaries
rev vicki tells us the inspiring story of Dorcas and why her story needs to be heard today
our friend Rev Hillary walks us through the amazing story of Anna and refines for us what it means to live a life well spent.
as we explore the lesser known stories in the bible, this week we hear the wisdom of two women who took on an empire.
all summer we're looking at the obscure stories in the bible asking what they tell us about what it means to be human. this week we look at that time God made the earth eat people who complained.
This week we explore two conversations an old Bible story invites us into: How can arguing be holy, and what to do when we see God's butt.
This week we talk about gratitude by talking about the thing David Brooks said, the proverb that makes Rev Nick roll his eyes, and the answer to the question we're all asking: how do I survive the pandemic?
In this sermon podcast, we talk about that time Jesus said he brings a sword and that people will hate us.
This week we remember that to follow Jesus is to be anti-racist and ask: What do we do with our anger?
As we head into the season of Pentecost, we explore one big truth and ask two life- and world-changing questions.
In this sermon podcast, Rev. Nick talks about Victorian fax machines, imagination, being ridiculous, sweat, and playing the right game.
Rev. Nick asks the question we all need to answer to get us through this pandemic: Am I my brother or sister's keeper?
Politics is thought of as a bad word but what if it's actually a good word? This week we explore the notion that to be political is to be spiritual, and talk about poets, prophets, and pirates.
With all the bad things we hear in the news, it makes sense to just turn it off and disengage, detach, and get some distance from it all. But is that what our faith calls us to do? What if the news is a tool that can help us decide where our love, justice, and compassion need to go?
This week we explore some lies we all tell ourselves and some truths we can replace them with.
How is food spiritual? This week we explore why food is something we need to think about spiritually by talking about Abbot and Costello, delight, and three things to think about at the grocery store.
The word of the decade is "they." Rev Nick explores why it's a great choice and talks about what it can teach us as we head into 2020.
Did you hear about the Christmas pageant that was perfect until a tiny sheep piped up, “Mom, this makes no sense!” In his sermon from our 2019 Christmas Eve service, Rev. Nick contemplates the questions that can arise with Christmas and offers us a new and liberating way to celebrate what Christmas is all about.
In this season that calls us to be the Light, Jackie reminds us that we are all have a light within us and invites us to take the risk of letting it out, even when it's uncomfortable.
We hear about joy, we sing about joy, but what are we talking about when we talk about joy?
This week we explore the thing Rev. Nick keeps in his basement, two questions, and the thing we should never do. Through it all, we wonder if joy isn't pure bliss, but feeling the bad and still knowing it is good to be alive.
As we move one week closer to Christmas, we explore how Advent is all about getting ready for peace and we ask: what does that mean for us living in a world of predatory violence?
What does that story about Jesus healing the person born blind say to us today? It tells us something pretty tough that we all need to hear: we are all blind and all in need of healing.
In this sermon podcast, we explore what we see through the miracle of Lazarus and talk about the sacrament of absence, the power of ugly crying, and our role in helping resurrection happen.
As people who believe faith and spirituality are an everyday thing, we asked this week: how does our faith and spirituality show up at our work? Rev. Nick interviewed his friend Chris for his thoughts on three ways we can integrate our faith at our work.
We begin our fall series on miracles by looking at the story of Jesus keeping the party going by changing water into wine. But what if the miracle isn't the actual transformation? What if it's deeper than that? What if it has to do with liberating us into a life that begins and ends with joy?
One of our community members shares her experiences and thoughts after attending Calgary’s Pride Parade for the first time.
We start the fall season off with a story about why God is like Patrick Swayze, the difference between being willing and willful, and the most liberating truth you'll ever hear.
This week Rev. Nick talks about tomato sauce, the most important person you've never heard of, and 3 reasons why Jesus matters.
We pray the Lord's Prayer every week but what are we actually saying? If we look closely enough, we see this isn't just any other prayer but one of the most important, revolutionary, and even challenging, things we can do.
The parable of the rich fool just may be one of the most challenging teachings Jesus ever gave because it reminds us of a really tough truth: you can’t buy or have your way into a meaningful existence. This week we explore how not to find the life we're looking for and hear some mantras to point us in the right direction.
Many of us learned it as children. We memorized and routinely recite it. Yet our familiarity with the prayer Jesus taught us to pray might blind us to its underlying and revolutionary message. If we really listen to what we are saying in the Lord's Prayer, we will no longer be able to merely "recite" it.
We all like the parable of the Good Samaritan, but what if we shouldn't? Turns out, the parable offers us some really really tough truths and wisdom. This week we rehear the parable and discover three scandalous things it offers us: the importance of drawing near, repaving roads, and finding God in things we don't like.
What does that ancient story about a guy named Naaman say to us today? A lot. It offers us wisdom on the importance of humility, on letting compassion guide us, and on why God is sometimes silent.
(You can read the sermon on Rev. Nick’s blog post: https://www.nickacoates.com/blog/3-things-about-naaman)
Ever wonder why spirituality is important? One reason is because it reveals how so many of the truths we tell ourselves about what we're worth & what we're capable of are just straight up lies. This week we hear 3 common lies we've all been told and 3 truths to counter them.
As we head into the season of Pentecost, we explore how being spiritual means being a seeker of wisdom.
What do we do with those painful parts of our stories we don't want to be reminded of? As much as we want to find healing by leaving them behind, Jesus offers another way forward: we have to take it with us.
This week Rev Nick unpacks a super rad Jesus story and talks about crossing lakes, naming our demons, and being who we are where we are.
Rev Nick's family lost their dog leroy this week. On Sunday he shared about telling God off and how Leroy taught him about joy, the greatest commandment, and unconditional love.
Why do we spend so much time, effort and resources to reach goals that do not satisfy us?
Jesus of mountaintop glory, I long to ascend with you, to behold your heavenly splendour. Yet my life seems locked in a deep valley shrouded by shadows and endless neediness. And so I pray that even here, especially here, you will make my life a window for your glory to shine through And a mirror reflecting your great love to all I meet.
In an age of social and often spiritual ‘rootlessness’, we, as the people of God, are called to live as ‘radical’ followers. We are to root our lives in the One who is the ‘ground of our being’, and to be more deeply and intimately rooted together in vibrant community in order to discover, live, grow, and bear fruitful lives in the way of Jesus.
There is a need for celebration in life to help define who we are and where we are going.
We must concentrate on the art of seeing to appreciate what is happening and what can happen in our world.
Advent is when we take time to ask ‘how am I supposed to show up on Christmas?’ If we look to the story of the Magi, the answer we find is we show up open, ready to change, grow, and become.
This Advent we asked a few people to reflect on a carol and tell us what it says to them about the significance of Christmas. During the week of joy, Liz reflects on how “Joy to the World” isn't really a Christmas song, but really is a Christmas song.
This Advent we use our Nativity Scene to journey towards Christmas and ask 'what do these characters teach us about how to show up at Christmas?' This week we look at Mary and Joseph's story and ask if we're ready to take on the same risk they did on Christmas morning.
This Advent we asked a few people to reflect on a carol and tell us what it says to them about the significance of Christmas. During the week of peace, Al reflects on how “Silent Night” helps him find the awe and wonder of Christmas.
This Advent we asked a few people to reflect on a carol and tell us what it says to them about the significance of Christmas. During the week of hope, Barry reflects on how Away in a Manger speaks to him bout the possibility of miracles.
Tony Snow is a minister from the Stoney Nakoda Nation. As we continue to explore what (re)conciliation with our indigenous neighbours means for us, Tony encouraged us to follow God's Spirit of truth and life, knowing it's only then that we can come together in respect, justice, and peace.
Jesus is asked over 300 questions and get this: he only answers 3 directly. The rest of the time he engages or asks a question back. That tells us something: to be curious, is to be holy. To be human is to be curious. To help us be people of curiosity, this week we did an Ask Anything Sunday and explored questions about the afterlife, God, and how we do what we do.
Whenever we see the phrase 'eternal life,' it's not talking about life after death, it's talking life before death. It’s talking about a life that's abundant, deep, and full.
This week we explore how one of the things Jesus says we need to do to enter into that life is to 'look at our knuckles' and ask: what am I holding on to that I need to let go of?
Faith isn't intellectual. It's not a matter of what we believe or think about certain things. Faith is a matter of the heart. But the question, as we ask this week, is what kind of faith do we have: do we have hearts that are open, soft, and willing, or do we have hearts that are closed, hard, and stuck?
If Jesus got angry and indignant then are we supposed to too? As uncomfortable as it may sound, yes. But here's the catch: just like Jesus, we're supposed to get angry and indignant about certain things in certain ways. Do we let out our anger in destructive and harmful ways or do we let it our in creative and healing ways?
Taking one day in seven off as a day of rest can seem like a tall order in our busy lives. Today's reflection explores how Sabbath rest relates to our own self care and to our relationship with the Holy.
Hope is one of the things Jesus calls us to wear. but hope isn't simply blind optimism, it is a courageous act of faith that calls us to step out and trust in the Spirit of Possibility.
We kick off our fall sermon series by talking about how what we wear matter, how clothes aren't the only thing we wear, and what Jesus has to do with all of that.
Kessa, one of our young adults, gave the sermon today and shared about her experiences of marching in this year's Pride parade and how we all need to celebrate life by choosing love over hate.
Challenging the Jewish purity system of first century Palestine, Jesus taught the inward transformation of faith; Jesus saw that any outer form of rituals and customs was the expression of the innermost mind. Jesus’ redrawn boundaries were not based on the system of purity but on the transformative power of love. In following Jesus, all people are included and welcomed regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
We all know what it's like to fail and we all know the devastating fear and shame it can bring. But what if failure doesn't need to be like that? Rev Nick offers us a way to understand failure in the Jesus Tradition and asks: what if failure isn’t something to be avoided, but something to be embraced?
Guest minister Rev. Grant Dawson shares on The Pestering God, who summons us on a journey.
WWhat's buying a house got to do with our faith and spirituality? Turns out, quite a bit.
Rev Nick walks us through 4 things he learned about the spiritual life by buying a house and offers us some questions to rumble with throughout the week.
Guest minister Rev. Grant Dawson shares on coming to terms with a transforming world, when all we really want is stability.
What do we do with crazy? Generally we're taught to do one of two things: either gaslight it or tame it. But our tradition offers a third option: embrace it. When it comes to the crazy ideas Jesus offers us like safe spaces for everyone, looking after the poor, and trusting we are all loved our job isn't to laugh it off or rationalize it away but to say 'yes' and embrace the crazy.
Rev. Nick talks with us about the most important word in that story of Jesus feeding the 5000 and how that one word unlocks how we can be the compassionate and generous people God calls us to be.
Our Worship Arts Director, Jesse, talks to us about the fine print, Pentecost, and systemic racism.
Part of what it means to be the church is to be the "repeating witness" - people who share about how God has moved in their lives and world and who try to help others experience the same. Rev. Nick talks about that and what that means for us as a church community.
Why does Jesus show up as a stranger? It's a good question and one that asks us some questions of its own: 'how can we be strangers to others' and 'what do we do with the strangers in our own lives and worlds?'
Rev Nick shares with us that story of Jesus appearing to the disciples in a locked room and how that story can help us understand what we do with our fear.
Our friend Rev Tracy, a former chaplain of a youth correctional center, shared with us about justice being a responsibility and what a criminal system based on God's restorative and healing justice could look like.
In 2017 there were 65 million people displaced in our world. That's 1 in 113 people. As we have conversations about what to do with immigration and refugees, we need to know how to have that conversation as people of faith and spirituality. We need to ask: 'What is God saying to us about this?". Turns out, God is saying something we need to hear.
What's the one thing you never talk about in church? Sex. But why is that? Registered psychologist and sexual health educator, Jillian Thompson, shares the why behind why we actually should
What does justice look like in our relationships with our indigenous neighbours? Rev Phipps spoke to us about the challenge of owning the moment and stepping forward to love our neighbours by taking responsibility for the spiritual, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse residential schools have caused, and listening to how we can make things right.
This Lent we're exploring something central to our faith and spirituality: justice. This Sunday Rev Nick talks about why God is a God of justice and what that means for us as the church.
This week we look at a story about the movement of grace: a story about the God who comes into our sickness, our brokenness, and deaths, and takes us by the hand and lifts us up out of it,bringing us back into health, back into wholeness, and back into life as it was meant to be. The question it leaves us with is 'how will you be a steward of that life and love?'
We all have power. Whether its our words, actions, presence, or how we spend our money, we all have the ability to influence the people and world around us. The question is: how do we use that power? Do we use it for our own benefit or do we use it for the benefit of the people and world around us?
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To read the written version, please go here.
Worship Service from January 21, 2018. The faith and spirituality of Jesus isn't about trying do what it takes to get God to come to us. it's about recognizing that God's already here and letting that Love pull us into new life.
Rev Nick shares with us three things to help us discover that its in the dirty, human, every-day, & mundane kind of stuff, that we can actually find something transcendent. It's in the ordinary that God lives and moves and speaks.
Christmas didn't just happen. Christmas happens. It's not just celebrating the gift of God being with us and for us in Jesus, it's also all the moments when God enters into our world and lives, bringing us hope, joy, peace and love. That's what we celebrate on Christmas Eve and that's what Rev Nick shared with us that night.
Each Advent Rev Nick offers us an open letter to one of the characters in the Christmas Story. This year, it's the shepherds and we hear how their story helps us tap into the message Christmas offers to us all.
Just what is that Christmas story all about? On Sunday, Rev Nick and our Worship Music Director Jesse, helped open up that ancient story in a brand new way, bringing it alive with music and words, helping us hear and feel the subversive, powerful, and liberating good news it offers.
What do we do with the Jesus who makes us uncomfortable and feel challenged? Today we explore how we live within the tension of the faith we want versus the faith we get.
Our friend Pam Rocker preached at our service celebrating becoming an affirming church - a church that intentionally strives to make room for everyone. Pam encouraged us to have holy imaginations while we courageously journey deeper into God's love for the world.