Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given at our Zoom service on Sunday 7th March - the third Sunday of Lent, a few weeks' before our planned return to our church building. The Gospel was John 2:13-22 .   It’s odd to hear today’s Gospel story – the story of Christ clearing out the Temple – when we ourselves are not in our own church building. Were a preacher giving this sermon twelve months ago, they’d probably attempt to provide comfort and reassurance to a worried congregation about to move into a year of virtual worship by preaching something along the lines of the church being the people, and not the building, and making a link back to the destruction of the temple that Christ foretells in this gospel. But we’ve been worshipping virtually for many months now, and… God willing… it looks like a return to our beautiful building is in sight. As such, we all know more than ever before that the church is the people, but even those of us who have long fervently held the belief that the ‘where’ of wo...

  This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning worship within church and on Zoom on Sunday 4th October. The Gospel that morning was Matthew 21:33-46 . What is there to say about today's Gospel? It really does seem so obvious doesn't it? Centuries of Christian teaching has, it seems, cemented its clear meaning in our collective conscience. In the parable that Jesus tells us, often known as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, we have come to know that the landowner is God, the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, the wicked tenants are the Jewish people, and the new tenants are us Christians. Done, dusted and simple. A nice comfortable parable that helps us feel good about ourselves. But I don't think Jesus was particularly into telling comfortable parables. I think there must be something other going on here. We didn't have it this morning, but if we had heard the alternative Old Testament reading for today, we would have realised that Jesus was actually telling an...

This sermon was given at our Evensong service on Sunday 27th January;  Holocaust Memorial Day . The Old Testament reading was  Numbers 9:15-23 . Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It's said that to ensure the horrors of the past are never repeated, they must never be forgotten. Personally, I think it's very important that we remember the stories from our past, and also the past of our Jewish brothers and sisters. One such story can be found in our Old Testament reading this evening. This story tells us of the beginnings of the Tabernacle. I don’t know how much you know about the Tabernacle, but it’s quite an interesting concept. It’s all tied up with the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt; escaping slavery and setting off to find new lives for themselves in the Promised Land. There, in the desert, the Israelites journeyed for forty years, rarely staying in the same place, all the while relying solely on the providence of God. But, even in these times – perhaps especially in th...