Sermons And Gubbins

  This sermon was given at our Holy Communion services on Sunday 13th September. The Gospel that morning was Matthew 18:21-35 . St Peter gets a bad rap, doesn't he? He always seems to get the wrong end of the stick in his interactions with Christ. Looking back, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see he often just doesn't understand what seems obvious to us, or he drops clanger after clanger. Nowhere is this more obvious than at Easter when he cries out his unwavering commitment to never betray his friend and saviour, only to do exactly that three times after Christ's arrest.  It's even more ironic, then, that we find it is Peter who is questioning the limits of forgiveness in our Gospel this morning. I wonder if he looked back upon this conversation on forgiveness when he heard that cockerel crowing that day?  I think sometimes though that hindsight can be unhelpful. Sure, it can help us see the irony in a situation such as this, but also, I think it can cloud ...

  This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on Sunday 16th August. The gospel that morning was Matthew 15:21-28 Today’s gospel is difficult. Difficult because it presents us with a Jesus who – at least at first – doesn’t seem particularly Christ-like. Jesus in this passage is parochial. His concern is for his people and his nation. He’s got a mission to the House of Israel, and that is where he believes his focus needs to be. He's not concerned about helping the Canaanite woman who begs for his aid. She is not Jewish, and she is, seemingly, not worthy. I’m sure you’ve heard it before that different Gospel-writers had different focuses. John, for example, was particularly concerned with writing a theology about Christ, and Mark was writing for the benefit persecuted Christians in Rome. Matthew – who wrote our passage today – was particularly writing for a Jewish audience. Perhaps this makes Jesus’ viewpoint here more understandable; it’s an expression of solidar...

This sermon was preached on Sunday 9th August, in the wake of Greater Manchester being placed in further coronavirus lockdown measures. The Gospel for the morning was Matthew 14:22-33 . If you'd prefer to read a less political take on the passage, then you can read my sermon from 3 years' ago on the same passage here instead. My little boy, Isaac has been trying to perform magic recently. His favourite trick is to put a toy on the table, and then cover it with his hat and then, when you're not looking, he will remove the toy from under the hat and show you that it has disappeared! It's been very interesting watching his technique change; he's progressed now from shouting " Don't look! Don't look, Daddy! " to realising that it's better to try to draw your attention elsewhere. Admittedly, shouting " Oh! Look at the bin! " is not the most sophisticated way for a magician to cover up their sleight-of-hand, but, you have to admit, ...