Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was given at our Sunday morning service on 29th June - St Peter & St Paul's Day. The Gospel was Matthew 16:13-19 . I hope you enjoy reading it.   In our gospel today, Jesus asks his disciples a question. Well, he asks them two questions actually, but I’ll stick to the first one for now. Jesus takes his disciples out of of their Jewish homeland, and into  Caesarea Philippi  – a place named after the Roman governor of the area, where the Greek god Pan was worshipped prominently, and there was a temple dedicated to Caesar himself, and Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him. “Who do they say I am?”, he asks, surrounded by all the trappings of empire, and pagan gods. Who does the world, scrabbling to hold onto the power it has, fighting political and religious wars, say Jesus is?     Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. We call today Petertide.  Two little dickie birds, sitting on a wall....

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 25th April. The Gospel was John 14:23-29. I hope you enjoy reading it!   Those of you who have been paying particular attention might have noticed that our Gospel readings for the last three weeks have all been centred around the events of the Last Supper. That seems a bit odd really, given we’re now six weeks post Easter. Didn’t we leave all this behind during Easter Week? Those of you who have been paying attention too, might find an element of repetition in what I say with Fi’s and Huw’s sermons from the last two weeks as well. But, sometimes, the best way to help someone understand something is through repetition. There’s a phrase often used in training and learning – tell ‘em, tell ‘em and tell ‘em again.   So, this morning, we’re getting told again!   But first, the context. As I said, we’re at the Last Supper, and Jesus has just told his disciples that he’s going away. He’s preparing them for...

T his sermon was first preached at our Sunday morning service in 23rd February 2025. The gospel was Luke 8:22-25. I hope you enjoy reading it! I love a nap. I don’t just love it – I’m pretty good at having a nap too. Honestly. if napping ever becomes an Olympic sport, I’ve a really good chance at representing the country. Let me tell you some of the places I’ve had a nap: On a cold, hard bench outside Sydney airport in Australia. Not so much a nap that one as an attempt at a night’s sleep – I had an early flight the next morning and didn’t think it was worth booking a hotel, as I could get a few hours in at the airport. No-one told me the airport closed overnight until security came along and kicked me out! Not my most comfortable night’s sleep, but I still managed to get an hour or so in. In the middle of a packed, very noisy pub during the 2007 England-France Rugby world cup final, head down on the table, snoring away. I’d honestly not even had that much to drink! On the Berlin unde...