Sermons And Gubbins

 The Trinity Shield. The corners represent Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the centre of the shield is the word 'God'. Today is Trinity Sunday; a day universally dreaded by preachers. For, today we find ourselves trying to explain the Trinity. Sermons on Trinity Sunday are expected to be academic, theological assignments, using words such as 'modalism', 'co-eternal' and 'perikhōrēsis', and at the same time, be interesting , engaging and understandable, whilst the preacher avoids being heretical (another of those theological words, there). On top of that, the sermon must have relevance to our daily lives, and leave us with a deeper understanding of God and our faith! You see my dilemma, then!  Here are the things I must tick off: Be theological Be interesting Be understandable Be relevant Don't preach an incorrect, heretical, understanding of the Trinity Actually have a point that makes a difference At this point,...

I preached the following sermon at Evensong this evening. I found it a difficult sermon to write, and a large part of me wanted to write something very different. I tried hard to be non-partisan. Whilst writing it, I found myself hoping I would have written the same sermon had the election outcome been different. I certainly learnt a lot whilst writing it; I hope you find it helpful to read. ----- How could I preach this evening without talking about the general election? And how can a preacher do that in a meaningful way without causing offence to some, or even all!? For, if God has any meaning in our daily lives, He must surely be a factor in us forming our political views. And as Christ himself will never be our prime minister, the conclusions we individually reach in determining how to vote as Christians will be as diverse as we ourselves are. No party, be they comprised of God's people or otherwise, is God's party. In our earthly battles, God, as Joshua l...