Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given at our morning service on Sunday 10th September. The Gospel was Matthew 18:15-20 . I hope you enjoy reading it!   Are you listening? No, but are you listening? That’s what Jesus is asking us this morning. Listen – there’s that word again – listen to his words from our Gospel again and see how often that word comes up:   “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector.”   So – are you listening? Not necessarily to me prattling on up here on a Sunday morning. I’m not particularly bothered about...

  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 ...