Sermons And Gubbins

  This sermon was given at our Sunday morning service on 15th February 2026. The readings were Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9 . I hope you enjoy reading it!   I’ve been thinking a lot – for various reasons recently – about Change. I swear I saw some of you almost shudder there. I think, deep down, none of us really like change. The American journalist, Sydney J Harris, once wrote: “ our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time. What we really want is for things to remain the same but get better ”. I can very much relate to that, can you? Wouldn’t it be excellent if things were different? Not the things I like, though…   The master of self-change and reinvention, David Bowie This morning’s readings are all about change. They’re probably the readings about change in the New Testament. This morning, we heard the story of the Transfiguration . And the story of the Transfiguration is a pivotal point in God’s story of how the world changes. ...

This sermon was given on the morning of Sunday 11th August 2024, after a week of riots and counter-protests in the UK. The New Testament reading was Ephesians 4:25-5:2 . This morning’s Gospel is about bread. When we get to August every third year, we get John’s Gospel, and for about 6 weeks, we go through John Chapter 6, during which we talk a huge amount about bread. If you come to church in August this year without having had your breakfast first, you’re going to get hungry! I’ve actually preached in this slot both times over the last six years. Today marks my third sermon with these same readings. So, I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t actually preach on the gospel at all today?  Don’t worry, Caroline is preaching next week, and I’m sure she’ll cover the Gospel – unless she throws in a wild card? Instead then, for today’s sermon, I’d like to turn to our New Testament reading, from the letter to the Ephesians. There’s all sorts of scholarly thought about this letter that I don’t...

This sermon was given at our morning service on Sunday 10th September. The Gospel was Matthew 18:15-20 . I hope you enjoy reading it!   Are you listening? No, but are you listening? That’s what Jesus is asking us this morning. Listen – there’s that word again – listen to his words from our Gospel again and see how often that word comes up:   “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector.”   So – are you listening? Not necessarily to me prattling on up here on a Sunday morning. I’m not particularly bothered about...