Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 25th April. The Gospel was John 14:23-29. I hope you enjoy reading it!   Those of you who have been paying particular attention might have noticed that our Gospel readings for the last three weeks have all been centred around the events of the Last Supper. That seems a bit odd really, given we’re now six weeks post Easter. Didn’t we leave all this behind during Easter Week? Those of you who have been paying attention too, might find an element of repetition in what I say with Fi’s and Huw’s sermons from the last two weeks as well. But, sometimes, the best way to help someone understand something is through repetition. There’s a phrase often used in training and learning – tell ‘em, tell ‘em and tell ‘em again.   So, this morning, we’re getting told again!   But first, the context. As I said, we’re at the Last Supper, and Jesus has just told his disciples that he’s going away. He’s preparing them for...

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on Sunday 21st May, the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The Gospel was John 17:1-11 . I hope you enjoy reading it! Before I start this morning, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge Peter, who is leading our intercessions today. Today is a really hard week to lead the intercessions, because today’s Gospel is basically one long prayer, and so, maybe you can guess what I’m going to be preaching about! Sorry about that, Peter! Don’t change anything in what you’ve written in response to my sermon today though! Don’t worry; I’ll make that clearer later as to why! Who knew the Pope had a holy hotline? All the commentaries I’ve read on today’s Gospel passage talk about it being a model for prayer. And I think there is certainly something in that. In the other three Gospels, the disciples ask Jesus to show them how to pray, and he duly does as he is asked. “ When you pray, ” he says, “ pray like this… ” And then we get the most famous prayer ...

This sermon was written for our service on April 16th 2023; the second Sunday of Easter. The Gospel was  John 20:19-31 . I hope you enjoy reading it! My little girl, Miriam loves a bedtime story. I think, if we’re honest, we all do, don’t we? Mine - to be honest - are often televised, and Isaac and Jen both have Kindles, which I’m not sure either of them would ever want to live without again. For Miriam, though, it’s a picture book. Two of her favourites are by the same author. When I say her name, many of you will know of her. But, even if you don’t recognise her name, I’m sure you’ll know of her books. The author is  Jill Murphy . She wrote ' The Worst Witch' books, which Miriam is a bit too young for, but I’m sure will love reading in a few years. She also wrote two series of books about animal families; a family of elephants called Large, and a family of bears - called (either unimaginitively, or very cleverly) Mr Bear, Mrs Bear and Baby Bear. Miriam’s favourite books are...

This sermon was given at our Sunday morning service on Sunday 19th March, when we celebrated Mothering Sunday. The Old Testament reading was  Exodus 2:1-10  and the Gospel was  John 19:25-27 . Did you know that today is not, in fact, Mother’s Day? That sounds like the start of a sermon from someone who forgot to buy a card for their mum today, doesn’t it? Thankfully, I remembered, and my kids remembered, so I don’t need to try to cover up anyone’s forgetfulness with a technicality – I’m really not sure it would go down well at all, and I would not recommend trying it! But, it is true though. Today is Mothering Sunday – not Mother’s Day – and from the perspective of the Church, there is a difference. Mother’s Day started in the US in the early 1900s, and it was originally a day for mothers to stand together and ask that their sons and husbands would no longer be killed in war. The day took off in popularity, transforming into a day to celebrate and be thankful for moth...

This sermon was written for our Sunday morning service on 22nd January. In the news headlines recently had been much talk of strike action across various industries in the UK . It was also the Sunday within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity . The previous Sunday, we had had a guest speaker come to talk to us about the Inclusive Church movement. The Gospel that Sunday was Matthew 4:12-23 . I hope you enjoy reading the sermon! If you’ve been paying any attention to the news at all over recent months, you will have heard of strikes across many and various trade unions across our country. There has been worker-led disruption across many industries for the last six months or so; some taking up more headlines than others: transport strikes, barristers, and the postal service; other high profile strikes across our healthcare system; and schools and universities – but there have also been strikes across local government, the refuse industry, the financial conduct authority, and my own ...