Sermons And Gubbins

This sermon was preached at Evensong on Sunday 3rd April, the 2nd Sunday of Easter. The readings were Genesis 3:8-15 , Psalm 85 & Galatians 4:1-5 . This article was used in my research. A while ago, before Isaac was born, Jen & I talked about adopting. I guess many people who want children but, for whatever reason, do not have them, consider it, as a way to both satisfy their desire to raise a family and to be able to provide a loving, stable environment to a child in need. Paul, in our reading from his letter to the Galatians this evening also talks about adoption, but his understanding, and our understanding of the word are really quite different. I’d like to think about that a bit tonight, and see if it can help us to understand that reading, and God, a little bit better. I have to confess, when I read through this reading a week or so ago to prepare for tonight, I was a bit confused. Paul talks of us receiving adoption as God’s children, and my gut reaction t...

It is, admittedly, with some trepidation that I have come to lead us all in Evensong this evening. After the horrific events earlier this week at the 16th century St Etienne’s church in Normandy, there is, unfortunately, a small amount of fear in coming to church, to worship God together, at all. I suspect mine was not the only mind whose thought this crossed tonight. For, as I’m sure we’re are aware, on Tuesday morning, whilst saying mass with a small, faithful congregation in an ancient church, Father Jacques Hamel was murdered, martyred at the altar, by two young men, eager to perpetuate and escalate a religious war. I am very glad to see that you are here with me this evening. I am glad to see that you have, consciously or not, made a decision to not let the main weapon of terrorism – that of fear – win over your desire to congregate and to worship God together. I’d like, this evening, for us to think about Father Jacques, and the reaction of the world to the events...

This sermon was preached on the morning of 3rd July, when we celebrated the feast of St Thomas. In the news recently had been the EU referendum and the ensuing Tory leadership contest. The Gospel was John 20:24-29 . Today, we celebrate the feast of St Thomas. I have preached on him before, and I will try my best to not repeat myself today! That is difficult, though, because there is only ever one event from the gospels that is read out when we talk about Thomas; the one which gives him his nickname of Doubting Thomas , the familiar story we have heard again today where Thomas refuses to believe Christ has risen until he has seen with his own eyes. I wonder what Thomas himself would make of it? Every year, the same story being told of him, over and over? “ Not this again! ”, he might cry, “ Must they only ever talk about that moment of weakness? I was the first to take the Good News of Christ to India and converted thousands of people there! ”  And then, turning to Ma...

I often see posts on Facebook trying to flood the site with music, or superheroes. There's one doing the rounds at the moment asking people to post 'then' and 'now' photos of their relationship. They're all fun, but I think, at the moment, Facebook in the UK probably needs to be flooded with something different. There's a tide of racism sweeping the country, with some people thinking the Brexit vote legitimises the voicing of torrid, vicious, nasty views. I hope it's just the media publicising these things more widely at the moment. I fear it is not. Even so, if these views are *not* being expressed with more force, volume and frequency at the moment, they *are* still being expressed, and that scares me - *especially* so if this is normal (or the 'new' normal). I believe that staying silent whilst this is happening is to be complicit. If I do not speak out, how can I expect others to do so? If no-one speaks out, then there is no challenge...

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...

This sermon was preached on the morning of 5th June 2016. The readings were 1 Kings 17:17-24 , Psalm 30 , Galatians 1:11-24 and Luke 7:11-17 . You’d be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu with today’s Gospel reading. It seems like we’ve heard it before – only minutes earlier, in fact – in our reading from the Old Testament; the story from 1 Kings. In both readings, we hear of a great faith hero – Elijah and Jesus – and their coming into contact with a woman – in both cases a widow, who is mother to an only son, who, in both cases, has died. Again, in both readings, the dead son is raised and is given back to his mother – the same phrase, in fact, is used – by the hero of the faith. Finally, in both readings, there is a recognition that the man is a holy man. This is surely not coincidental. Luke, our Gospel writer, clearly knew of the story of Elijah and the widow, and wanted to refer to it when he gave his account of what happened that day in Nain, when Jesus met tha...

This sermon was preached at Evensong on Sunday 29th May 2016. The Old Testament reading was Genesis 4:1-16 . I came across the idea for the sermon from an article on a website I've referenced before. Whilst the idea of reciprocity is probably one that isn't really found in the Genesis passage, I thought it was a good one to explore, especially as no reason for the rejection is given. It would be hard to make an academic argument that this is what the passage is about, but, to be fair, it would be hard to make that argument with any interpretation. I hope you find the sermon helpful at any rate!   It’s interesting how the rivalry between brothers can become legendary. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of myths and the ancient world, and have recently enjoyed watching Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome on the BBC – the first episode harked back to the foundation of Rome, and the two famous brothers, Romulus and Remus, who vied to found the city. In English legend, we have the...