Service Sunday March 29, 2026
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
Worship Leaders: Rev. Max Ward
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Music Director: Melissa Stephens
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Sermon: “JESUS: The Cornerstone of Our Faith”
Listen to an audio recording of the sermon below or read it at the bottom of this page.
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Sermon 29 March 2026
“JESUS: The Cornerstone of Our Faith”
Matthew 21: 1 - 11 & Psalm 118
Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.
Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith.
We can rely on Jesus.
Like a cornerstone that supports the block wall above it, Jesus offers us support in times of need.
One of the ways to show our love for God is to strive to know God better.
We search, looking for signs of God, trying to recognize God’s presence in the world.
We take time to discern the will of the Spirit blowing in our lives.
Then, we follow through with actions we are called to perform for the sake of justice.
In a nutshell, that is the Christian life.
That is what we are called to do as Christians.
Showing up at church is only one part; and may even be the easiest part some days.
Jesus, being a good Jewish man, also shared these goals of striving to know God better, to search and discern and then take action.
Jesus shared in this and continually delivered the Good News to all people.
Some were poor, hurting people.
Some were wealthy, comfortable people.
Jesus was always “riding on” whether he was greeted with followers in the streets or beaten.
He was as solid as a cornerstone, enduring whatever pressures were put upon him.
Jesus did not allow the distractions of fame or the next meal to lead him away from his devout life.
What distractions sidetrack us from pursuing a deeper understanding of God?
I can think of many things:
- trying to earn a living
- household chores
- raising a family
- medical appointments
just to name a few.
Even then, those are the normal
or even good times of our lives.
It is easier to be faithful when things are going well, but difficult when we endure hardship.
I can’t even imagine what the families are suffering through having lost both pilots in that terrible Air Canada airplane accident in New York recently.
As a private pilot myself, I can appreciate how helpless the pilots were in those final seconds when on the landing roll.
Rolling too fast to turn or stop yet too slowly to reascend into the air.
A vulnerable moment that happens in every landing or at the end of every takeoff.
The grief of the pilot’s families must have gone from shock to anger to sadness and back and forth.
They many even be wondering how God could let this happen.
Or even worse, trying to figure out why the death of their loved ones is somehow God plan.
These and other times of pain or suffering are the times that take hold of our faith like a sapling in the Fall and shake it hard to watch all the leaves of faith fall to the ground and die.
However, with Jesus as the cornerstone of our faith, we can rely on Christ to hold us up, to hold us steady.
Jesus holds us in the quest that brings us closer to God.
You may have heard it said before that these things happen for a reason.
I don’t believe that at all.
The God I love and believe in is heartbroken and weeps at the loss from a tragic accident.
Why on earth would God want accidental deaths to somehow be a part of God’s plan?
The truth is, WE make up reasons to try to explain why things happen the way they do.
We try extra hard to come up with reasons to explain why bad things happen, especially to innocent people.
What about this new war going on in Iran?
What about the other wars that are grinding on with immeasurable suffering as a result?
I can just imagine God metaphorically scratching God’s head at some of the strange explanations we ascribe to God for the way or reason things happen.
Not that long ago, people believed that lightening was from God.
People also used to believe that we shouldn’t use lightening rods because they might interfere with God’s Will!
That may seem strange to us now but it is the truth!
What truths will future believers wonder about us and why we struggled to believe in God’s amazing love?
If Jesus could have known that day when he rode into Jerusalem with the crowd cheering him on and then also know what would happen during this next week, how would he have explained it?
The moments in our lives that are special; the happy, the sad and even the normal in between, viewed through the lens of faith, offer that foundation that we all need.
Jesus is there, solid like a rock, in the good times, in the bad and all the days between.
His Spirit blows through us when we are breathless with excitement and joy as well as when we are struggling even to take a breath.
That is the meaning, the explanation that helps me to seek to know God better.
Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith.
Like a cornerstone that supports the block wall above it, Jesus offers us support in times of need.
We can rely on Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
