Rev. Chelsey Harmon lives in Vancouver, BC and is a bivocational pastor at The Bridge Community Church (CRC) in Langley, BC. Chelsey is also on staff at Churches Learning Change, a non-profit that aims to help congregations and leaders pursue personal and congregational transformation. She earned her M.Div. at Calvin Theological Seminary (2009), a ThM in Spiritual Theology at Regent College (2023) and is currently a part-time PhD student at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity where she studies historical examples of Trinitarian mysticism and theology.
Chelsey has been writing sermon commentaries for the CEP website since 2019.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Commentary
Lent 4C
What makes someone resent repentance? That’s really the crux of the matter for the older brother, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s that the older brother doesn’t care about his younger brother’s repentance, but that he resents his father’s compassion. Jesus tells three stories about something lost being found and how being found is always worth…
Luke 13:1-9
Commentary
Lent 3C
On the surface, this exchange about suffering as punishment for sins seems simple enough to understand, but there is a lot more to reckon with. To be sure, the need for everyone to repent—and soon—is the clear point Jesus is making. Not only does his parable make the point that time is short, but he…
Luke 13:31-35
Commentary
Lent 2C
There is an undercurrent throughout these lenten gospel texts. Flowing through most of the accounts is some emphasis or use of time or timing. For instance, last week, along with the length of Jesus’s time in the desert, there was the way Satan tried to tempt Jesus with early (false) glory. And next week, Jesus…
Luke 4:1-13
Commentary
Lent 1C
For many of us in more evangelical traditions, we think of retreats as pleasant and uplifting spaces where we can reconnect with God, be refreshed, and maybe even have a “mountaintop” spiritual experience. Retreats are hard to make space and time for, so it really isn’t surprising to me that most of us modern Christians…
Luke 9:28-36
Commentary
Transfiguration Sunday C
Comments, Questions, and Observations The liturgical calendar gives us a glimpse and experience of glory before reminding us that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Transfiguration Sunday ends Epiphany even as our heels are nipped by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent—a season where we will try our very hardest to…
Luke 6:27-38
Commentary
Epiphany 7C
From the highs of naming names and giving the high and mighty the what for last week, we come down to the realization of what God’s mercy means for all of us this week. It turns out that those who are blessed are meant to love, do good towards, and bless and pray for those…
Luke 6:17-26
Commentary
Epiphany 6C
Along with a number of his others disciples, the newly minted inner twelve have come down the mountain with Jesus. The plain where Jesus stops them is full of people: great crowd of disciples, great multitudes from all over. They are all there because of Jesus. The people have come to hear him and be…
Luke 5:1-11
Commentary
Epiphany 5C
I’m intrigued by the way Jesus enlists Simon Peter at each stage of this miracle, and how, by doing so, Jesus leads Peter to conversion. The story begins with Jesus teaching a large group of people. As more and more gather and push in on him in order to hear his unique take on the…
Luke 4:21-30
Commentary
Epiphany 4C
We really run the gamut of human emotions during Jesus’s first preaching assignment in his hometown. How does the congregation go from being amazed, all eyes fixed on Jesus, to so livid with him that they try to lynch him? I emphasised the moment of the Holy Spirit at work as Jesus preached in the…
Luke 4:14-21
Commentary
Epiphany 3C
Jesus’s opening teaching session in the gospel of Luke is divided between this week and next. The division affords us the opportunity to hold off on the challenge that Jesus’s prophetic voice will always bring to us as we listen to him. And in light of the Epiphany season, we can read our current text…
About Chelsey Harmon