Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 26th January 2025, the first Sunday following the inaugration of Trump as the 47th president of the United States of America. The gospel was Luke 4:14-21 . Do you have a technique for getting through a sermon? My kids have a snack. It started, when Isaac was a lot smaller, as a way to ensure he was quiet and didn’t fidget. A decent-sized apple could keep him going through the affirmation of faith and the intercessions too.   I’m sure you’ve seen videos of Trump’s inauguration service on the news or social media. I bet that presidential party would have given anything for a way to get through Bishop Budde’s sermon. Trump really looked like he could have used the distraction of a snack – something like a whole bucket of chicken into which he could bury his head. When we take Isaac and Miriam out to the pub, we let them have their tablets and headphones to watch cartoons or films for when they’ve finished their tea. I b...

This sermon was given at our Trinity Sunday service on 7th June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and the blasphemy of Donald Trump using the police to gas peaceful protestors, helpers, and clergy in order to clear a way to stand outside a church and wave a bible in the air. Today is Trinity Sunday. I’m not going to spend this sermon digging into metaphors and similes for what the trinity is like. I’ve given those sermons before, and, if that’s what you’re after, you can find one from five years ago on my blog, or countless others elsewhere on the internet – many of them with good, sound theology (and some with not so much! – I’ll let you decide which into which camp you think my previous sermon falls). I think today, though, calls for something more than sound theology. The world in which we’re living today needs something practical , and not theoretical, and so, for that reason, I’m going to jump straight to the conclusion of what might be a ‘normal’ trinit...

This sermon was given at our Evensong service on Sunday 24th June 2018. There had been much in the news that week about the US's policy of child-detention camps. The Old Testament reading that evening was Jeremiah 10:1-16 . Our Old Testament reading tonight is taken from the Book of Jeremiah. I don’t often go into historical detail about our readings, but I think – tonight – a brief overview would be helpful. The Book of Jeremiah was written somewhere around 625-585 BC, so roughly about 2600 years ago. It was written mainly in Hebrew, and was written when the Jewish people in Judah were a subject state, being ruled over by the Egyptians, and then – after a war between Egypt and Babylon – by the Babylonians.  Judah rebelled several times against Babylonian rule, but was, each time, defeated, until finally, Babylon crushed Judah, destroying Jerusalem and its temple, and sent the Jewish people into their famous Babylonian exile. Given that background, our reading seems som...

This sermon was preached at our Evensong service on Sunday 15th October. The New Testament reading was 1 John 3:1-15 . Every Sunday, we start our Evensong service with one of a number of set sentences. I must be honest, sometimes I pick the sentence based on a whim or a gut feeling; sometimes I look through and try to find one that is appropriate for the tone of the rest of the service and the sermon, and sometimes, I completely forget until the time comes to read one out, and I just pick the first one my eyes hit upon – nobody tell Huw, ok?! This evening, however, picking the appropriate sentence was what is known as a ‘no-brainer’. Very little decision had to go into choosing the right introduction for tonight. It was the only sentence with which I could start this evening’s service. I’ll repeat it now: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse ...