Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given at our Zoom service on Sunday 7th March - the third Sunday of Lent, a few weeks' before our planned return to our church building. The Gospel was John 2:13-22 .   It’s odd to hear today’s Gospel story – the story of Christ clearing out the Temple – when we ourselves are not in our own church building. Were a preacher giving this sermon twelve months ago, they’d probably attempt to provide comfort and reassurance to a worried congregation about to move into a year of virtual worship by preaching something along the lines of the church being the people, and not the building, and making a link back to the destruction of the temple that Christ foretells in this gospel. But we’ve been worshipping virtually for many months now, and… God willing… it looks like a return to our beautiful building is in sight. As such, we all know more than ever before that the church is the people, but even those of us who have long fervently held the belief that the ‘where’ of wo...

This was preached for my sermon on 17th January 2016. It is an imagined piece from the point of view of one of the slaves at the Wedding at Cana . There were a number of things I wanted to bring in, which I hope come out in the story. I've not provided links for any of the references this time, as I wanted part of the reaction to this piece to be thinking upon the meaning and how the references link in. One thing in particular that I was struck by in researching this was how maligned Mary is in our traditional understanding of the story; she is so often portrayed throughout Christian history here as the overbearing Jewish mother. I found this piece  from a Catholic writer which made me stop and think, and encouraged me to look for a non-sexist, non-racist view of the narrative. I hope the story helps you find another view too. I love a New Year wedding, don't you? It seems to fit so well - the sense of hope and new beginnings. The celebration mingled with the feeling o...