Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Evensong service on Sunday 24th March, a week that had been pretty eventful in the political life of the UK, as the country prepared to leave the EU - the original 'Brexit Day' was supposed to be 29th March, but at this point in time, who knows if/when it will be! The Old Testament reading for the evening was Genesis 28:10-19 . Hope you enjoy the sermon... What a week it’s been for the UK politically! As the now-potentially-postponed Brexit-day loomed ever nearer, concerns this week grew amongst the public and politicians over the possible impacts of the UK leaving the EU with no deal. We’ve heard about all sorts of planned emergency operations on how as a country we’ll mitigate any fallout, including measures to control traffic, a ministry of defence underground control-centre and the stockpiling of food and medicine; and across social media, the UK’s fastest growing petition has been shared thousands of times garnering literally mill...

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 3rd March 2019, shortly before the start of Lent. The Gospel that morning was Luke 9:28-36 , and the Old Testament reading was Exodus 34:29-35 .   I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up with the Comic Relief Kilimanjaro climb on the BBC over the past week? Nine celebrities, including BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker, Strictly Come Dancing judge, Shirley Ballas and Pointless quiz-host Alexander Armstrong have been recreating the original Comic Relief celebrity mountain climb from 10 years ago. To all accounts, it’s been a gruelling journey up Africa’s highest mountain. There’ll be a documentary on TV on 13 th March which should make for interesting viewing! Mount Kilimanjiro I must be honest, though, there’s not many of these celebrity endurance charity tasks that gain my attention. I’m aware David Walliams did some swimming a few years ago, and there was, of course, Eddie Izzard’s marathon of marathons for S...

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...