[This is a (rather lengthy) sermon I preached this past Sunday on John 16:5-15 and Revelation 1:9-19.]
I just finished my second year of college, papers were submitted and exams completed. In honour of this occasion my roommates and I thought it would be good to hit the town a let loose a little. So three of us headed downtown ready for a little mischief. Now granted we were renting a house in [the small Mennonite town of] Steinbach [the fictional setting of Miriam Toews’ Complicated Kindness] so heading downtown may have limited our options a little. In any event we hit the 7-11 for some Slurpees. We pulled a stuffed racoon across the road by string when cars drove by. You know, wild and crazy college stuff. In any event as the night wore on we began to wander aimlessly around when eventually we heard some shouting. We went to get a closer look. Eventually we came across a man and woman fighting on the driveway. We were quite close at this point. Eventually the fight ended, they parted and the man got into his car to drive away. We quickly hid behind a bush on the next yard. Now as the man turned the headlights on and backed out of the driveway the car paused for a moment and in that moment lined up directly with the bush we were hiding behind. The car lights lit up the bush like a light bulb clearly revealing three figures cowering behind it. The engine was shut off and the door opened and we heard him get out with a yell. And in that same moment we turned and ran with him coming after us. Running down a back alley we eventually split up and I found myself running alone, well that is with an angry man coming up behind me. Now I need to make clear that I am not runner, a sprinter at best, but I knew I could not keep my pace up. And in those brief moments I needed to make a choice. Bear in mind I had no idea how big or small, young or old this guy was. I decided to stop. As I stopped I turned around, folded my hands behind my back to face and see my pursuer. I’ll leave it there for now.
David CL Driedger 