Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was written for our Sunday morning service on 28th December; the festival of the Holy Innocents . The Gospel was Matthew 2:13-18 . I hope you enjoy reading it! May I start this morning by wishing you all a very happy Christmas!   After this morning’s Gospel reading, that sounds a bit incongruous, doesn’t it? Herod learnt that he had been tricked by the wise men, and so set out and killed all the infants in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger. Happy Christmas everyone! What a way to begin our Christmas season – mass murder and infanticide.   This part of the Christmas story is one we often gloss over. It does not – for obvious reasons – make it into our nativity plays. It does not feature in our crib scenes. It does not align with the message of peace and joy and hope that comes with the birth of the Christ child. As such, it may not be one that you’re that familiar with. Let me provide a synopsis:   The magi have visited He...

This sermon was first given at our Epiphany service on Sunday 7th January 2018. The gospel was Matthew 2:1-12 . I am quite sure you’ve heard the joke about imagining if, instead of three wise men, there’d have been three wise women in our reading today? They would, of course, have planned their journey well ahead, got directions to the stable instead of to King Herod’s gaff, turned up in time to actually see the child as a baby, rather than – as is currently assumed – roughly two years later, made a casserole, and brought useful gifts, like nappies, baby clothes and a Moses basket. Gold, frankincense & myrrh - the more traditional gifts of the magi...   Things would have all gone that much smoother for the holy family in those early days if that were the case, wouldn’t they? That’s not how the story goes, though. No. Instead of that, we are told about the visit of the magi; mysterious astrologers from a pagan religion (probably Zoroastrianism), with their...