Acts 3:13-19, Luke 24:36-48 If you have seen the film, ‘The Shape of Water’, you may have wondered about the title. The movie takes its name from Plato’s idea that in its purest form, water takes the shape of an icosahedron, a 20-sided polyhedron, evoking the idea that beauty has many faces. It’s a lovely, […]
+ May I speak … Quote from Les Miserables: “To love another person is to see the face of God.” It’s been a week, a long week.. and a lot can happen in a week. I wonder how your weeks have been since we last were together celebrating the wonder of Easter’s resurrection… have you […]
A Talk for Family Communion, Mark 16. “The Garden looks so beautiful this morning…” We join this morning with the woman making their way towards the tomb of Jesus…. Their hearts, we presume, are heavy.. The women are strong.. they have seen a lot of life – and death. They are not afraid of […]
Psalm 118 | Mark 11:1-11 Palm Sunday. Anticipation So here we are .. Palm Sunday.. the beginning of Holy Week This is the most vivid week of the church year. It’s why the liturgical colours go from Lent’s purple to red! In this vivid week the human story is written on a cosmic canvas. In […]
1 Samuel 1.20-28 . Gospel John 19.25-27 May I speak in the name of the One who is Source of all being, eternal Word and Spirit of truth. “Remember me?” She stands before Eli the priest, I came every year, and then I stopped. Does she look him in the eye? Does she come marching […]
Mark 8:31-38, Genesis 17:1-7 , 15-16 Lent is the season which is all about denial of the self and the mystery of God. When it comes to the mystery in this challenging text I’m reminded of Mark Twain who said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it […]
Lent 1 – Mark 19-15: Repent It was the festival of St Valentine Day on Wednesday, but also Ash Wednesday. St. Valentinus appears to have had no special connection to romantic love, but Chaucer connected his saint’s day on 14th February with birds mating in Spring, and it all seems to have gone from there. […]
Epiphany 4, Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Mark 1:21-28 This morning we read in the gospel of an encounter between Jesus and a man gripped by evil. How will that speak to us? The first chapter of Mark’s gospel throws us headlong into the beginning of the three years of Jesus’ ministry, three years that literally changed the […]
This was an improvised sermon for a Family Communion, but the points which covered can be seen here; We took the children to follow the footsteps of the Magi and to go on a long journey to find Jesus, (Ben made an amazing star carrier and led us right to the stable!) We also recognized […]
Isaiah 61.10 – 62.3, Luke 2.15 – 2 Introduction – Christmas choices For reasons with which I will not bore you, Nancy and I invited ourselves at very short notice to Christmas lunch with my brother and his family in Wokingham. The welcome was warm, the company delightful and the spread, ample and delicious. There […]