Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given on Easter Sunday 2022. The Gospel was John 20:1-18 . Happy Easter to you! I n the beginning , the very beginning, the world was without form, and darkness covered the face of the deep. God spoke something different into that formless void, into the literal chaos. God spoke a word, and the word was light . In naming it, it came into being. On the first morning of the new creation, the world was dark. The sky had turned black on the Friday, and it was still dark when Mary came to the tomb. We expect great new things to start with a fanfare ; with fireworks and a party. They don’t. Things start in the dark. That’s when most births happen – for humans as well as animals – when it is night time and the sky is black. The world may seem a dark place today. It is still Easter; Easter always starts in the dark. The light of Easter  The thing about darkness, is it hides what’s really going on. Mary got to the tomb in the dark, and – although she could see t...

This sermon was given at our Easter Sunday service - Sunday April 1st 2018. As well as being Easter Sunday, it was April Fool's Day. Oh - hang on a minute. Dons jester’s hat That's better. Alleluia! Christ is risen! RESPONSE:          He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I was half-expecting at least one or two of you to shout back at me, ‘April Fool!’ instead, there. Let’s be honest – there are many people out there this morning making similar jokes, I suspect – ' those foolish Christians, sitting in church, celebrating a god who doesn’t exist dying and rising again. April Fool to them!' And, if you think about it – really think about it – what we believe is foolish. St Paul says so himself in his letter to the church in Corinth. He tells them that, to the world, for the people who do not know Christ, “ the message of the cross is foolishness ” And it is … …imagine it afresh, as if you’d never heard it before ...