Sermons And Gubbins

I wrote these lyrics for a hymn for a service celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration. It's in 7,7,7,7 meter, and would fit to the tune used for "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy". In the end, we didn't use it as a hymn for the service, but instead as prayers (changing the language to communal instead of personal). Both versions are below. It's based on a  quotation  from  Teresa of Avila . Feel free to use as a hymn or prayers if you wish! I'd love to hear about it, if you do! Hymn : The Body of Christ Where now are your hands, O my God? They are those with which I touch. They are all you have to use to heal the world you love so much. Where now are your feet, Lord Jesus? They are those with which I tread. Walk with them to take your gospel   All across the world to spread. Where now are your eyes, O my King? They are those with which I see. Open them to view your world as you yourself know it to be. Where now is your mouth, O my Lord? It is tha...

This sermon was preached on the 18th October, when we celebrated the Feast of St Luke. We held our regular Wholeness & Healing service on the same day. The readings were Isaiah 35:3-6 , Psalm 147:1-7 , 2 Timothy 4:5-17 & Luke 10:1-9 . Once, there was a man. Let’s call him Noah. He was a very firm believer in God – zealous for the Lord, you might say. Now, in the place where he lived, there was a storm. The local officials in the area sent out a warning that the riverbanks would soon burst and cause flooding. They warned the occupants of the town to evacuate immediately. Noah heard the warning, and he said to himself, “I will trust in the Lord. God will keep me safe.” His neighbour came by, and said to him, “We’re leaving now – come get in our car and we’ll get out to safety!” Noah politely refused. “Thank you,” he said, “but I believe the Lord will save me.” And he prayed to God for the waters for subside. The water rose until it was the level of his porch. A m...

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgement comes forth perverted.                                                                                  (Habakkuk 1:2-4) The question has plagued us throughout the ages. Those words, from the book of Habakkuk were written two and a half thousand years ago, and yet, you can imagine them being spoken – you can almost hear the words echo – any night of the week on the news, by people all over the world being interviewed at the scene of the late...

This sermon was preached at Evensong on 27/09/15 where we celebrated Michaelmas - the feast of St Michael, to whom our church is dedicated. The readings were Daniel 10:4-end and Revelation 5 . Names have always been seen as important things. I’m sure you know the story of Rumpelstiltskin – whose name likely literally means ‘Noisy, Limping Imp’, who struck a ghoulish bargain with the fairy-tale queen that he would take her first-born son unless she could tell him his name. In our Christian and Jewish tradition, we hold much reverence over the name of God in particular – in Judaism, the name of God cannot be spoken or written, instead, the tetragrammaton   – the four letters ‘YHWH’ – are used whenever the name of God needs to be invoked. Through the years, we have added vowels, to make the name ‘Yahweh’, or even ‘Jehovah’. In our bibles, the four letters will often be replaced by the way we now commonly refer to God – The LORD (often written in capital letters). God’s name is too...