My sermon on Sunday was interrupted by a young macaw called Tango, stuck in our garden during lockdown (usually to be found in Chris Smith’s props box. Thank you, Chris!) Hello. The Lord be with you. I want to talk about the ascension this morning. (Tango arrives, scattering nesting material everywhere. What follows is my […]
Sermon Luke 24.13-35 One night last week we had to call out an emergency plumber because we had a leak in our kitchen. He arrived, a big man with no hair and a mask over his face and set to work, mumbling to us occasionally through the mask while his head was under our kitchen […]
John 8.1-11, Isaiah 58.1-12 One evening when I was in Sweden, two of the art students from my college said hello to me in the street and said they were going to an art exhibition and would I like to go with them? It was the launch of the exhibition so there was a jazz […]
Sermon 26 January 2020 Isaiah 9.1-4, Matthew 4.12-23 This week the Davos summit has been in the news, as well of course, as the adventures of Harry and Meghan! I was picking up from the Davos summit that we’re at a kind of tipping point globally, mainly around climate change, but also about how we […]
Isaiah 52.7-10, John 1.1-14 Sermon Christmas Eve 2019 The opening words of tonight’s gospel are from John the evangelist, our John, as I like to call him. They echo the very first words in the bible, ‘In the beginning…’ where a lyrical description of how God created the universe follows. The power of God’s word […]
Today, continuing in our season of Advent, as we prepare for Christ’s birth at Christmas, the spotlight is on two prophets – Isaiah and John the Baptist. It’s over 4 months since I last preached here and I felt a bit rusty as I was preparing for today! Most of you will have gathered that […]
11 August 2019 Hebrews 11.1-3, 8-16, Luke 12.32-40 Ensam – the Swedish word for lonely, also meaning single; sometimes seen on noticeboards – Ensam? here is this club, network etc you can join. The picture on our screen today shows a lake a short walk from where our daughter Anna lives in southern Sweden. There […]
Snatches of a conversation overheard between 2 women in a home in 1st century Palestine: A How many did you say need feeding? B 12 definitely, but there seem to be more coming all the time. A Where’s Mary? She’s the quickest at making the flat bread. They’ll all be expecting at least a bit […]
Acts 1.1-11, Luke 24.44-end On Sunday Gary spoke about prayer being like a pause, that moment when everything is suddenly still, as if holding its breath. I want to suggest that the ascension is this sort of pause – a kind of still point between the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at […]
John 20.19-31 ‘The doors were locked for fear of the Jews’. ‘The doors were locked for fear…’ Our gospel narrative today comes from John the evangelist, one of our patron saints, and traditionally identified with the disciple described as the one whom Jesus loved. Two resurrection appearances are described here, and only in John. Firstly, […]