Sermons And Gubbins

This meditation was written for our Good Friday Last Hour at the Cross service - Friday 30th March 2018. The service included five music tracks that fit the theme of Good Friday, focussing on death, and the cross. You can find a list of them at the bottom of the meditation. So, this is it. The Last Hour. I remember when I was small, an hour would last a lifetime;  boring car-journeys that went on for miles bending the laws of time and space;  dull maths lessons that stretched out over eons, as far into the future as I could imagine.  Now? Now, those sixty minutes can pass by in the blinking of an eye.  I can sit down for ten seconds only to find an afternoon has been spent. I look at your cross. I wonder how long that Last Hour lasted for you.  Did it feel like eternity to you? Was it eternity to you?  Is it eternal? To you, outside of time, it must surely have been both –  the blinking of an eye, and the life...

This sermon was given at our evensong service on Sunday 18th March. The New Testament reading was  Romans 5:12-21   During the week leading up to the service, both  Ken Dodd  and  Stephen Hawking  passed away. Whenever I prepare to preach a sermon, I look at the readings, and first of all try to find something that strikes me as odd or unusual to preach on. Sometimes, I’ll find that when I’m looking at the readings, that there’s one which is hard to understand, or I need to read several times and do quite a bit of research on to really get what is being said. When that happens, I know that that is what I should be preaching on – if I find it hard to understand, then others might too, and spending my sermon unpacking that difficult reading could be really helpful to at least some of the people who are listening (I hope!). And so, you can imagine how thrilled I was – the sheer joy of the inner voice in my head when I saw that today’s New Testament readi...

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 given at our Evensong service on Sunday 14th January 2017. The New Testament reading was Hebrews 6:17-7:10 .   The Bible, as we know, is full of all sorts of weird and wonderful characters. There are those that are more well-known, like Jonah , who was famously swallowed by a big fish, or the giant Goliath , slain on the battlefield by the young David; and there are those that are more obscure, and therefore, perhaps more tantalising – Balaam , the prophet, who had a talking donkey, or the wicked Simon the Sorcerer encountered in the book of Acts, who, according to apocryphal sources, was a powerful wizard, with the ability to fly. One of the more mysterious characters, though, was mentioned in our New Testament reading this evening – Melchizedek , the King of Salem. Our reading from the book of Hebrews goes some length in explaining why he’s seen as so mysterious. It brings together the only two references to him in the Old Testament – a passage in the bo...

This sermon was first given at our Epiphany service on Sunday 7th January 2018. The gospel was Matthew 2:1-12 . I am quite sure you’ve heard the joke about imagining if, instead of three wise men, there’d have been three wise women in our reading today? They would, of course, have planned their journey well ahead, got directions to the stable instead of to King Herod’s gaff, turned up in time to actually see the child as a baby, rather than – as is currently assumed – roughly two years later, made a casserole, and brought useful gifts, like nappies, baby clothes and a Moses basket. Gold, frankincense & myrrh - the more traditional gifts of the magi...   Things would have all gone that much smoother for the holy family in those early days if that were the case, wouldn’t they? That’s not how the story goes, though. No. Instead of that, we are told about the visit of the magi; mysterious astrologers from a pagan religion (probably Zoroastrianism), with their...

This poem was given in place of a sermon at our 10:15 service on Christmas Eve. It's (obviously) based on Clement Clark Moore's famous poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas .  I hope you enjoy it. ‘Twas the day before Christmas, and all o’er the world Every grown-up was busy; every boy, every girl. The stockings weren’t up yet, the mulled wine not yet spiced, The presents unwrapped still – <gasp!> – the cake’s not been iced! Church-goers were dotted alone in their rows Whilst shopping lists higher thoughts in their heads o’er-imposed. And mum’s getting frantic, and dad’s getting ‘merry’ And – oh no, no, no! We’ve just run out of sherry! And out in the towns, packed shops fill up their coffers As last-minute shoppers vie for last minute offers. Home, quick! Put lights up, to compete with our neighbour; But somewhere else, now, a teenage girl is in labour. And she’s waited – her advent has been 40 weeks – And she thinks of the child that she be...

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on November 19th. The Gospel was Matthew 25:14-30 ; commonly known as The Parable of the Talents. In the news recently had been fresh allegations of tax avoidance by the rich, royal and famous , including particular stories of the Queen's Duchy of Lancaster estate having invested in BrightHouse ; a rent-to-own company, accused of irresponsible lending . In researching this sermon, I am indebted to  this sermon from 2007 I found online when looking up an interpretation that fit a more- Liberation Theology perspectice. I hope you enjoy...  # Apprentice Theme Music # Dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum DUUUM NARRATOR:            Previously on the Apprentice…  Our three remaining candidates were all given large sums of Lord Shudder’s own personal wealth whilst he went away on a business trip. The dividing of the money was determined by how many tasks th...