Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning Eucharist on Sunday 8th August 2021, following a few weeks of relaxation of the UK's covid restrictions. The Gospel was John 6:35,41-51 . Hope you enjoy reading it! Raising children can be repetitive sometimes. Mealtimes especially. Don’t get me wrong, my two are very, very good, but we still have those conversations every parent has: “Come on now, eat up!” “Don’t liiike it!” “You do! This is your favourite!” “Want ice-cream.” “After. Eat up your meat and potatoes first. And you, eat up your bread.” I swear I have these conversations in my sleep sometimes; “Eat up! Eat your bread!”   Eating bread There is – surprisingly – a link here to today’s Gospel. When I read it out earlier, did it feel oddly familiar? A bit repetitive? If you were here last Sunday, or even the Sunday before, you’d be forgiven for thinking that maybe I’d read out last week’s Gospel instead, or maybe that of the week before? “Hear the Gospel of o...

This sermon was preached on Sunday 4th July 2021; the morning after the England football team qualified for their first semi-finals in the Euros in 25 years! The gospel that morning was Mark 6:1-13 . In today’s Gospel we heard the story of what happened when Jesus – after travelling throughout nearby villages, towns and cities, performing miracles, healing the sick and bringing God’s good news – much like football, came home.   Coming home (well, I had to, didn't it?) You’d think that ought to be a joyous occasion, seeing family and friends again after so long, welcomed back to a home-cooked meal and perhaps even praised as the famous celebrity preacher everyone has been talking about, but… things were quite different.   Jesus, it seems, was none too popular back home. We all know this story – a favourite of many a teenage Christian: ‘a prophet is not without honour except in their home town’. Except this is actually more than a belittling; the people aren’t just d...

  This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning worship within church and on Zoom on Sunday 4th October. The Gospel that morning was Matthew 21:33-46 . What is there to say about today's Gospel? It really does seem so obvious doesn't it? Centuries of Christian teaching has, it seems, cemented its clear meaning in our collective conscience. In the parable that Jesus tells us, often known as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, we have come to know that the landowner is God, the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, the wicked tenants are the Jewish people, and the new tenants are us Christians. Done, dusted and simple. A nice comfortable parable that helps us feel good about ourselves. But I don't think Jesus was particularly into telling comfortable parables. I think there must be something other going on here. We didn't have it this morning, but if we had heard the alternative Old Testament reading for today, we would have realised that Jesus was actually telling an...