Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Evensong service on the first Sunday of Lent 2018 (Sunday 18th February). The Old Testament reading was taken from the book of Genesis, chapters 2:15-17 and 3:1-7 . Today is the first Sunday in Lent; the start of our solemn journey with Christ towards his cross. During these forty days, we might choose to fast, or devote more time to prayer and Bible study. Perhaps you might have started a book of Lenten devotions? We probably should also be using this period of time to look at our lives, calling to mind the exhortation of Wednesday just gone – “ Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ. ” It’s appropriate, then, that, as we contemplate our failings, and turn away from sin, we at this point turn the pages of our Bible to contemplate the first sin. It’s appropriate that here, at the  start  of Lent, we have heard a story from the start of  time .  It’s ...

This sermon was preached at our Maundy Thursday service on 13th April 2017. The gospel reading was John 13:1-35 .   If there were one season of the year that marked us Christians out as ‘weird’, it would be Lent through to Easter. That difference between us and the rest of the UK was particularly hammered home this year back at the start of March, when SNP Member of Parliament Carol Monaghan attended a Commons select committee meeting after having attended a service to mark Ash Wednesday. She showed up in Westminster, still bearing the ashes on her forehead, and uproar went forth amongst politicians and the media , believing she was making a political statement about the place of faith in society. Perhaps, even more odd, though, than sporting an ashen cross is what we do here in this service this evening; the foot-washing, the stripping of the altar, even the name of this day is odd. What on earth is a Maundy Thursday when it’s at home? What does this whole thing mean ? B...