Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 26th January 2025, the first Sunday following the inaugration of Trump as the 47th president of the United States of America. The gospel was Luke 4:14-21 . Do you have a technique for getting through a sermon? My kids have a snack. It started, when Isaac was a lot smaller, as a way to ensure he was quiet and didn’t fidget. A decent-sized apple could keep him going through the affirmation of faith and the intercessions too.   I’m sure you’ve seen videos of Trump’s inauguration service on the news or social media. I bet that presidential party would have given anything for a way to get through Bishop Budde’s sermon. Trump really looked like he could have used the distraction of a snack – something like a whole bucket of chicken into which he could bury his head. When we take Isaac and Miriam out to the pub, we let them have their tablets and headphones to watch cartoons or films for when they’ve finished their tea. I b...

Is it too late to wish you a happy new year?    I’m sure there must be some convention here to follow; a piece of good etiquette that says something along the lines of “new year’s wishes may be conferred upon others up until midday on the Feast of Epiphany, unless there was resting snow on New Year’s Day, in which case – in exceptional circumstances – you may continue to wish someone a happy new year until the first bells of Evensong on the following Sunday”. If that etiquette exists, I must confess my ignorance as to not knowing it, and so I’d like to take this opportunity this morning to wish you a happy new year. May it be kind to you. I think we could do with a kind year, don’t you? The past two years have been hard and cruel. They’ve changed us. None of us are the same people we were this time in 2019; our lives have become smaller and more insular. We’ve lost colleagues, friends and loved ones. Covid has changed our plans and rewritten our rules and – even if we have man...

This sermon was given at our Sunday morning service on 5th December 2021, the third Sunday of Advent. The service was also our annual toy service, in which we donate new toys to charity for Christmas presents. The Gospel was  Luke 3:1-6 . What do you think of when you picture a prophet? Maybe your mind is turned to the ancient Greeks and of  Cassandra  – the doomed prophet cursed to always predict the future, but never be believed until she uttered her last, tragic prediction of her own death. Maybe you picture something like The Seer from the History Channel’s ‘ Vikings ’ series; a cowled, disfigured old blind man, who talks in riddles, stating that the nature of prophecy is “only to be understood when it has happened, and it is too late to change it”. Or, perhaps you think of a man like John the Baptist in our Gospel reading from Luke today; a wild man, wearing camel hides who eats locusts and wild honey, crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. Thro...