Sermons And Gubbins

This poem was written for our Sunday morning service on Sunday 28th April, the second Sunday of Easter. The gospel reading was John 20:19-31 . In the news that week had been the horiffic bombings in Sri Lanka and the murder of Irish journalist, Lyra McKee . The poem was inspired by the idea of resurrection being a process as espoused in this sermon by Michael K. Marsh, especially this quote:   " The facts are just the starting point for the story. The fact of the empty tomb is the starting point for the resurrection story. Whatever facts you woke up to on Easter Monday are simply the starting point for your story of resurrection. Too often, however, we take the facts as the entire story. Isn’t that what we’ve done with St. Thomas?"  I think we certainly do think of Thomas like that - he is the perennial doubter, rather than the saint who brought Christ's message to India, and had grown so much in faith that he was prepared to die for his God. It made me wonder wh...

This poem was written for our Evensong service on 7th October, the week of National Poetry Day 2018. The day was given over to our church's Harvest Festival, and I was reflecting on what we - who no longer plough fields or scatter seed - can bring to the creator of everything, who needs nothing from us. Hope you enjoy... I am not a farmer; I can bring no wheat. I am not a butcher; I can bring no meat. I am not a baker; I can offer no fresh batch. Nor am I a fisherman; I can bring no morning catch. I am not a hunter; I can bring no prey. I am not a potter and can bring no refined clay. I am not a gardener; I can bring no fresh produce. And I am not a fruit picker; I cannot bring first fruits. I am not a cow-herd; I can offer you no milk. I am not a weaver; I can bring you no fine silk. I am not a serving cook; I can prepare for you no meal And I am not a blacksmith; I can forge for you no steel. I am not a miner; I cannot bring you coal. N...

This sermon was preached at our morning service on Sunday 13th August. The gospel reading was Matthew 14:22-33 ; Jesus walking on the water. I've always found the usual interpretations of this story somewhat simplistic, so it was interesting to think upon and do some research into other potential meanings here. I hope you find it useful.   When I was a little boy, I loved playing in the local swimming pool. Now, notice how I phrased that; ‘playing in the swimming pool’. I didn’t love going swimming. I’ve never been a strong swimmer; in fact, I was in high school before I finally learnt to swim without using arm bands or a float. No – I didn’t like going swimming; I tolerated the swimming so that I could play in the swimming pool. The pool was exciting; there was a shallow area with spurting fountains you could manipulate to spray in your playmates’ direction, there were huge foam boards that several would-be-pirate children could climb onto and command at the same time,...

This sermon was preached at Evensong on Sunday 28th May, 6 days after the Manchester bombing that claimed the life of 22 people and injured many more. The New Testament reading was Ephesians 1:15-23 . Like many, if not all, of us, I have been trying to come to terms this week with the horrific actions of Monday night, when, after a pop concert at Manchester Arena, a young man, full of religious fervour, set off a bomb, killing himself and 21 other young people, and wounding many others in the area.  “How can this happen?”, we ask ourselves. How does God allow it? Where is God in this awful situation? These are natural questions to ask ourselves, and ask of God. I’d go so far to state that not only are they natural, but they are necessary . Ours would be an immature faith if we did not ask; if we simply stopped our ears at the sound of the question. An immature faith ignores this issue. Not as immature and perverted a faith as one that persuades its adheren...