Sermons And Gubbins

 'Triduum' is Latin for 'three days'. Ecclesiastically, it refers to the three days of Jesus' arrest and death running up to Easter Sunday, covering the events of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, and the liminal time of Holy Saturday when Jesus is dead. 'Haec Dies' means 'This is the day', and it is often used to refer to Easter Sunday itself ('This is the day that the Lord has made', from Psalm 118, which is often recited on Easter Sunday). Triduum Feria Quinta  Ante diem festum Paschae, sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem. I ran this morning.  Lord, have mercy — Along the path and round the field  that overlooks faraway green hills Then back up towards the church and down, and down, and through the daffodils Sliding on mud — my attempt to avoid  crushing purple hyacinths I traced the grass and my circling path around the garden labyrinth Christ have mercy — The mud s...

This sermon was written for Bible Sunday 2023 and was preached at our Sunday morning service that day (29th October). In the news recently had been stories of awful atrocities committed in Israel and Gaza with escalations of violence on all sides. My sermon this morning has been a particularly difficult one to write. For me, the weight of everything that’s happening in Israel and Palestine just feels so heavy. I’m sure for you, there’s a similar feeling. It’s a kind of grief, I guess, mourning the senselessness, the cruelty and the seeming hopelessness of it all. There are no easy answers, and there really does not look to be a way out of this situation, save for a multiplying of the violence. Today, we’re supposed to be celebrating Bible Sunday ; a day to come together to celebrate the gift of the scriptures to God’s people. But, for me, at the moment, I cannot help but think about the fact that this book is intricately linked with the soil and the sea of the land we are watching fall...