Southside Community Church - Milton

January 12, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Genesis 12.1-3 The Pilgrim's Progress is very reminiscent of the story of Abraham and also prompts us to think of the Christian life as a kind of a journey. It involves leaving and travelling and finally arriving. This is a better way to think of ourselves than being and staying somewhere in a static sense. Did you start? Where are you on the journey? What is your destination? What are you encountering along the way?

Sunday, January 5, 2020 Speaker: Ian Campbell Philippians 3.13-14 Ringing the Changes is a lovely but perhaps passing expression that describes the pattern of chiming church bells. Then comes the encouragement to "ring out the old" and "ring in the new" at the change of year and, indeed, decade. This rhymes well with St. Paul's exhortation to forget what is behind and to straining forward to what is ahead. Let's each think about the particular change that we need to ring in our lives in 2020.

Sunday December 29, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Luke 2.8-20 Shepherds have been brought into the limelight in nativity pageants worldwide. But notoriety would have been very surprising to the group referred to in Luke’s nativity account – the ones who were living out in the fields. Why were they the first to hear this news? Who were they anyway? What’s important about them for us?

Sunday December 22, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 41 As we walk through the journey of sorrow in our lives we face intense loneliness as a result of our losses and disappointment. Comfort is the severe mercy that we grasp perhaps tentatively. God is called the God of all comfort. We are comforted so that we can comfort others. As we emerge from the intensity of our sorrow we can look up and around.

December 15, 2019 Speaker - Ian Campbell Psalm 40 The pink candle in the midst of the purple/blue advent wreath is called “Gaudete,” a Latin word that means “rejoice” and specifically refers to a 16th Century carol with the exact exhortation in song. It is placed well into the season that has a growing sense of desperation amidst our sorrow as we long for Advent.

December 8, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 22 Lament is an uncommon term for today. It implies a mixture of sadness, complaint and helplessness. It speaks out of the depth of our sorrow with only the faintest hint of hope that we glimpse and need the power of Advent to manage.

December 1, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 39 Hope’s presence in the midst of sorrow has a subtle persistence to it. It has the character of resilience which allows us to take a “deep dive” into our sorrow. It is empowered by the strength of Advent’s promise.

November 24, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Rev 20.11-15 "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." So we find in Dante's Inferno from the 14th Century where he describes an inscription at the entrance to Hell. Is Hell a real place? Who is destined for Hell? Is it about conscious, eternal punishment as many doctrinal statements of evangelicalism state?

November 17, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 14.6 Jesus was very plain about His claim to be the only way to the Father. So is it just that plain and simple, come to Jesus and you're given a ticket to heaven and the Father? Or is it more complicated somehow? Do you find yourself with some "but.." questions that don't seem easily resolved? Are they "who.." questions that poke at the "us" and "them" sorting that we might have grown up with? Is there any other way? What if you don't know about Jesus?

November 10, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Genesis 50.20 Last week we established that God knows and loves us individually and personally. The follow up question is why then doesn’t He intervene in our lives when we are in trouble of some kind? Perhaps the greatest objection people raise is about the relationship between God and suffering. Is there a reasonable response?

November 3, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Psalm 139 This question might be followed by a "why" sort of question which is perhaps the harder one to figure out. But it's a very important one to ask first. Then we might be able to discuss possibilities for the "why" follow ups!

October 27, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 20.29 On the other end of our discussion about the value of questions and doubt we are faced with a statement Jesus made to Thomas calling those who believe without seeing "blessed." How do we make sense of this? Wouldn't it be better to know God's existence for sure and then deal with what implications that has? What is the added value of faith?

October 20, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell 2 Timothy 3.16 What kind of book is the Bible? How are we supposed to read it and understand it? The National Post posed that question a few years ago and proposed that there are four views on this question: 1. supernatural revelation of God's eternal will; 2. inspiring moral guide; 3. sacred literature like all sacred literature or 4. faithful confessions and family album. What does the Bible claim about itself? What has your experience of the Bible been?

October 13, 2019 Speaker: Mike Burns If anyone has ever read through the Bible – or even read parts of the Bible from both the Old & New Testament – a nagging question usually arises: How can the God of the Old Testament be the same as the God of the New Testament? A quick glance could leave us viewing the OT God as an angry father and the NT God as the hippie son. Are they different? Did God change? Do Christian’s have to reconcile the two or can we just ignore what we read in the Old Testament in favour of Jesus? Join us this Sunday as we wrestle with these questions together!

October 6, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 14.1-6 Is Heaven real? Is there really an afterlife? We will address this question this week as the gatekeeper of the rest of our doubts. Should we join John Lennon and imagine there’s no heaven? Would that solve our problems or create new ones?

September 30, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Job 19.25-27 In the midst of Job's great existential struggles for meaning and answers he has the profound clarity of the hope of life after life and certainty that he will see God in a physical existence. Can we hope in the midst of doubt?

September 22, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Each Sunday we are taking an "Alpha" approach to our teaching time as we explore our questions about life's meaning. Join us as we piece together some topics of discussion and instruction and feed in your great questions! Question #1 Is it OK to ask? (Ecclesiastes 1.3) I once asked a difficult theological question of a mentor as we were travelling together. He looked at me rather severely and in a rather stern voice said "Don't ever ask that sort of question." Is that right, that there are some questions we dare not ask? As we prepare our questions for this series we will assure ourselves that there is no question no allowed at the 200 Main table!

September 15, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 1:6-9 The classic introducer in the stories of the Bible is someone that we meet with the simple words that "there was a man sent from God whose name was John."Many of the Kingdom aspects of introduction are personified in this dramatic character. He was sent to bear witness of the Light. And his means of bearing witness was the public job of introduction. A good role model in many ways.

September 8, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell John 1:41-42 Last Sunday we dispensed with "Inviters" in favour of a better word to describe our role as Christ's Followers. As we continue to follow the example of Andrew we will find that this is precisely the role he assumed. Our role is not to invite people to something but to introduce them to someone. And we will see there is often a chain of introductions that has surprise and exciting endings in store.

August 25, 2019 Speaker: Ian Campbell Exodus 20.5 Can God be jealous? Is it like an exclusive relationship that has God looking nervously or suspiciously at someone moving in on his lover? Is he insecure? We have a hard time with this adjective "jealous" don't we? What do we make of it?