Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given on Easter Sunday 2022. The Gospel was John 20:1-18 . Happy Easter to you! I n the beginning , the very beginning, the world was without form, and darkness covered the face of the deep. God spoke something different into that formless void, into the literal chaos. God spoke a word, and the word was light . In naming it, it came into being. On the first morning of the new creation, the world was dark. The sky had turned black on the Friday, and it was still dark when Mary came to the tomb. We expect great new things to start with a fanfare ; with fireworks and a party. They don’t. Things start in the dark. That’s when most births happen – for humans as well as animals – when it is night time and the sky is black. The world may seem a dark place today. It is still Easter; Easter always starts in the dark. The light of Easter  The thing about darkness, is it hides what’s really going on. Mary got to the tomb in the dark, and – although she could see t...

This sermon was preached at our Evensong service on the first Sunday of Lent 2018 (Sunday 18th February). The Old Testament reading was taken from the book of Genesis, chapters 2:15-17 and 3:1-7 . Today is the first Sunday in Lent; the start of our solemn journey with Christ towards his cross. During these forty days, we might choose to fast, or devote more time to prayer and Bible study. Perhaps you might have started a book of Lenten devotions? We probably should also be using this period of time to look at our lives, calling to mind the exhortation of Wednesday just gone – “ Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ. ” It’s appropriate, then, that, as we contemplate our failings, and turn away from sin, we at this point turn the pages of our Bible to contemplate the first sin. It’s appropriate that here, at the  start  of Lent, we have heard a story from the start of  time .  It’s ...

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...