Easter 3, 11th April 2021
John 20:19-31: Resurrection These things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Our gospel passage today starts on Easter Sunday, late in the evening of the first day of the Jewish week, […]
Sermon Palm Sunday 2021
Mark 11.1-11 I couldn’t help but notice parallels between the events of Palm Sunday and our return to our church building this morning. Just like those Jews entering Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, eager to celebrate their most important festival, the Passover, here we are at the start of Holy Week anticipating the celebration […]
Sunday 21st March
A year on – waiting and hope I thought I would begin this morning by sharing an inspiring message from the Methuselah Tower of Prayer Baptist Church…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYP1mXqiwqc That ‘sermon’ was actually from the American comedy series Saturday Night Live. I don’t think we have ever had as many problems as encountered there, […]
February 28th 2021, 2nd Sunday in Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. Mark 8:31-end A new name for everyone It’s the second Sunday in Lent. Not exactly Christmas day, is it? The ‘fun’ of Ash Wednesday is behind us, Palm Sunday is weeks away when the pace picks up again, and Easter – it’s like, years away. My Lenten resolve is just about […]
First Sunday in Lent. 21.02.21 by Rev. Claire Jesus’s Temptations
from Mark 1:9-15 How can temptation be Good News? SERMON starts with a video Clip: ‘Only the penitent man’, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPdqbmYi8U You may have recognised the clip, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indiana, aka Harrison Ford, has to pass three tests that others have failed, at the […]
Sermon 14 February
2 Kings 2.1-12, Mark 9.2-9 Today is the last Sunday before Lent starts. Given the rigours of lockdown and Covid I decided not to talk about giving up things or denying ourselves; just accepting that we are where we are is giving us plenty of opportunities for that this year. This happens to be a […]
St John and St Stephen’s Zoom Church, Reading, February 7th 2021, 2nd Sunday before Lent
Proverbs 8:1,22-34; Psalm 104:26-end; Colossians 1:15-20; John 1:1-14 I rest in the grace of the world, and am free When Claire invited me to preach this Sunday, she asked if I could do something a bit ‘lighter’. I fought back by reminding her of the words of the great 20th Century evangelical, JI […]
Sermon for Candlemas 31.01.21
Malachi 3:1-15 The Coming Messenger 3See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can […]
The Wedding in Cana – Sunday 24th January, Epiphany 3
John 2 v 1-11 Here we are at the beginning of John’s gospel having set the scene with John the Baptist and the calling of the first disciples. Jesus is starting with his ministry and this is, according to John, the first miraculous sign and the disciples put their faith in him. You don’t […]
