Sermon for Lent 4 (Mothering Sunday), Mark Laynesmith Everything has changed. Who imagined a week ago that we would be here? Back then, as I planned to preach this Sunday I had begun to think about speaking of Julian of Norwich. Julian was a female English mystic – she lived in (surprise surprise) Norwich and […]
As you have read or listened to Psalm 130 – what word or phrase speaks strongly to you right now? What rings true to how you feel, or to your own situation? I’d like to share some brief thoughts on three of the words or phrases in this psalm and how they might speak to […]
St John and St Stephen’s Church, Reading, March 15th 2020, Lent 3 Psalm 46, John 4:5-42 Living water What a strange time. We can’t go anywhere, talk to anyone, turn on the TV, radio, internet or look at your smartphone without a blaring mention of coronavirus. Now let’s add to that the now visible […]
Second of Lent (Year A) St John and St Stephen’s 8 March 2020 Genesis 12:1-4a: The Call of Abram Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and […]
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 […]
Matthew 17:1-9 The Transfiguration 17Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then […]
Genesis 1v1-2v3, Creation Light 7, 16th February 2020 [1] I am going to be talking today mainly about our first reading in Genesis, rather than the gospel reading in Matthew, though I will touch on that. The lectionary reading in Genesis gives us the whole of the creation story. Or at least the first creation […]
Sermon 3rd before Lent, year A, 09.02.20. Matthew 5:13-20 Salt and Light 13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 ‘You are the light of the world. A […]
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 […]
Matthew 2vv13-23, Holy Innocents Christmas 1, 29th December 2019 The last three days have been church festivals. The first two were our church’s patronal festivals. The 26th December is St. Stephen’s day, Stephen Deacon and First Martyr (Acts 6-7). The 27th is St. John’s day, for John the Apostle and Evangelist (St. John’s gospel). We […]