Sermons And Gubbins

 This sermon was preached on our Sunday morning service on 8th September. The gospel was Mark 7:24-37 . I hope you enjoy reading it! The Jesus of the first half of today’s Gospel is – I have to say – a Jesus I don’t really recognise. I don’t know if you feel the same? It starts off normal enough; in our gospel, we hear that Jesus leaves his own community and sets off travelling. Maybe he’s visiting extended family, or perhaps he’s on a tour, spreading the Good News to other members of the Jewish faith (or, potentially more apposite to today’s Gospel, the Jewish race ). Either way, he’s in foreign climes. Whilst there, he finds a place to stay. He’s approached by a local woman who asks for his help. Not for her, but for her daughter, who, she says, is possessed. And here’s where Jesus looks to go off the rails. He says ‘no’.   Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman     He says ‘no’, and really not politely. He’s rude to her. His language is discriminatory...

This sermon was written for our Sunday morning service on 22nd January. In the news headlines recently had been much talk of strike action across various industries in the UK . It was also the Sunday within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity . The previous Sunday, we had had a guest speaker come to talk to us about the Inclusive Church movement. The Gospel that Sunday was Matthew 4:12-23 . I hope you enjoy reading the sermon! If you’ve been paying any attention to the news at all over recent months, you will have heard of strikes across many and various trade unions across our country. There has been worker-led disruption across many industries for the last six months or so; some taking up more headlines than others: transport strikes, barristers, and the postal service; other high profile strikes across our healthcare system; and schools and universities – but there have also been strikes across local government, the refuse industry, the financial conduct authority, and my own ...

This sermon was first given at St Michael's Church, Middleton , and then at All Saints, Rhodes, where I was invited to preach to both congregations on Sunday 28th August. The parish has been following a theme of Community Living, as taught by St Benedict in a recent sermon series. The Gospel that morning was Luke 14:1,7-14 . I hope you enjoy reading it! I’d like to start this morning by offering my thanks for inviting me to preach to you all today. Jenni tells me that you’re nearing the end of a series of sermons drawing upon the teachings of St Benedict on community living, in preparation for your away-day in just a few weeks’ time, and then following that, that you have a meeting on 22 nd September to discuss the idea of being a ‘mission community’. I hope my sermon this morning plays its part amongst the rest of the preparation you’ve been doing to generate some thoughts and ideas as together you plan this next exciting stage that God has in store for you all. I also hope ...