Sermons And Gubbins

 This sermon was preached on our Sunday morning service on 8th September. The gospel was Mark 7:24-37 . I hope you enjoy reading it! The Jesus of the first half of today’s Gospel is – I have to say – a Jesus I don’t really recognise. I don’t know if you feel the same? It starts off normal enough; in our gospel, we hear that Jesus leaves his own community and sets off travelling. Maybe he’s visiting extended family, or perhaps he’s on a tour, spreading the Good News to other members of the Jewish faith (or, potentially more apposite to today’s Gospel, the Jewish race ). Either way, he’s in foreign climes. Whilst there, he finds a place to stay. He’s approached by a local woman who asks for his help. Not for her, but for her daughter, who, she says, is possessed. And here’s where Jesus looks to go off the rails. He says ‘no’.   Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman     He says ‘no’, and really not politely. He’s rude to her. His language is discriminatory...

This is a (slightly) updated version of my story from 2015 and was given for my sermon on Sunday 30th June 2024. The gospel was Mark 5:21-43 . I hope you enjoy reading it!      She’d heard he was going to be there. The talk on the street was of nothing else. The man who worked miracles, who cast out demons, who cured the sick, was in town. She knew she had to be there too. Perhaps, just perhaps , he’d take pity on her? Perhaps this was her chance?  That’s why she was there that day. That’s why she was being jostled back-and-forth in that crowd – every one of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the teacher. For her, though, a glimpse was not enough.       She wasn’t just ill. As awful as the constant bleeding made her feel, that wasn’t the worst of it. She was ‘unclean’. Physically and spiritually . She hadn’t been allowed in the synagogue for twelve years – hadn’t been allowed to worship God for twelve years. She shouldn’t even be out in public, ...

  This sermon was written for our Sunday morning service on 18th February 2024 - the First Sunday of Lent. The gospel was Mark 1:9-15 . I can’t quite believe it’s Lent already! It seems like only the other week we were celebrating the end of Christmas, and now, here we are, already preparing for Easter. Oh – hang on – it was only the other week we were celebrating the end of Christmas. Just 14 days ago, Fi and Caroline led us in our Candlemas service. That time between Christmas and Lent really has been a whistlestop tour this year. Perhaps less so for us in the Church than for those who work in retail though. I distinctly remember Jen messaging me when she was shopping on 6 th January to say that she’d already seen Easter Eggs for sale!   Time really is relative, I guess!   Knowing that doesn’t make any of it feel less of a rush, though, does it? I have to be honest, I’ve not really had time yet to think about what my Lenten discipline this year is goin...