Sermons And Gubbins

This is a (slightly) updated version of my story from 2015 and was given for my sermon on Sunday 30th June 2024. The gospel was Mark 5:21-43 . I hope you enjoy reading it!      She’d heard he was going to be there. The talk on the street was of nothing else. The man who worked miracles, who cast out demons, who cured the sick, was in town. She knew she had to be there too. Perhaps, just perhaps , he’d take pity on her? Perhaps this was her chance?  That’s why she was there that day. That’s why she was being jostled back-and-forth in that crowd – every one of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the teacher. For her, though, a glimpse was not enough.       She wasn’t just ill. As awful as the constant bleeding made her feel, that wasn’t the worst of it. She was ‘unclean’. Physically and spiritually . She hadn’t been allowed in the synagogue for twelve years – hadn’t been allowed to worship God for twelve years. She shouldn’t even be out in public, ...

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on August 25th. It was my first Sunday back after my paternity leave. The sermon borrows heavily from one I gave in Oldham three years earlier , but I think that's ok! The gospel this morning was Luke 13:10-17 . Hope you enjoy... It’s lovely to be back up here in the pulpit this morning. It’s been quite a long time since I last preached, and I’m really thankful that Huw, Alex, Cath, Fi and Vaughan have picked up the extra services and sermons whilst I’ve been off on paternity leave. Thank you all! The ministry team here are fortunate to have the freedom of being in a large team that allows one of us time off when needed. Even with that, however, the time has still gone pretty quickly, though! My last sermon before Miriam was born was right at the beginning of June, and I wasn’t on the rota to do anything then until after she was born. She was 6-weeks-old on Friday, and this is my first time back in the pulpit sinc...

This sermon was my first as a guest-preacher, preached on Sunday 21st August; I was invited to preach at St Agnes and then at St Thomas in Oldham. The gospel that morning was Luke 13:10-17 . (As an aside, ignore the heading on the biblegateway link; headings (like chapters and verses) in the Bible are not original and are added by editors to help seperate the sections. Hopefully you'll see (as you read through the sermon) why I don't think the heading is the most helpful!) I’d like to start my sermon this morning with a confession, I hope you won’t hold it against me; I’m not a sports fan.   I don’t follow any football team – and that’s tricky as it’s always one of the first questions I get asked whenever people hear that I live in Manchester – are you City or United? There’s always a sense of disappointment when I answer ‘neither’, the person I’ve met has just had their conversation-starter stopped in its tracks and needs to try to think of something else to talk about. ...

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...

I'd heard somene last week point out that Jesus told sermons and asked questions, whereas we preached sermons and gave explanations. Today's sermon was my attempt to address that - an imagined account of the unnamed woman in Mark 5:21-43 She’d heard he was going to be there. The talk on the street was of nothing else. The man who worked miracles, who cast out demons, who cured the sick , was in town. She knew she had to be there too. Perhaps, just perhaps, he’d take pity on her? Perhaps this was her chance? That’s why she was there that day. That’s why she was being jostled back-and-forth in that crowd – every one of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the teacher. For her, though, a glimpse was not enough. She wasn’t just ill. As awful as the constant bleeding made her feel, that wasn’t the worst of it. She was ‘unclean’. Physically and spiritually. She hadn’t been allowed in the synagogue for twelve years – hadn’t been allowed t...