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 Evensong on Sunday 28th May, 6 days after the Manchester bombing that claimed the life of 22 people and injured many more. The New Testament reading was Ephesians 1:15-23 . Like many, if not all, of us, I have been trying to come to terms this week with the horrific actions of Monday night, when, after a pop concert at Manchester Arena, a young man, full of religious fervour, set off a bomb, killing himself and 21 other young people, and wounding many others in the area.  “How can this happen?”, we ask ourselves. How does God allow it? Where is God in this awful situation? These are natural questions to ask ourselves, and ask of God. I’d go so far to state that not only are they natural, but they are necessary . Ours would be an immature faith if we did not ask; if we simply stopped our ears at the sound of the question. An immature faith ignores this issue. Not as immature and perverted a faith as one that persuades its adheren...

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgement comes forth perverted.                                                                                  (Habakkuk 1:2-4) The question has plagued us throughout the ages. Those words, from the book of Habakkuk were written two and a half thousand years ago, and yet, you can imagine them being spoken – you can almost hear the words echo – any night of the week on the news, by people all over the world being interviewed at the scene of the late...