I have just finished reading a remarkable book – both inspiring and devastating in pretty equal measure. It’s ‘War Doctor – surgery on the front line’ by David Nott. David is a surgeon who has spent a lot of time working literally on the front line in places like Syria and Gaza, doing […]
Eucharist, St John’s and St Stephen’s 27 October, end of Creation Season. Joel 2:23-end & Luke 18:9-14 The last Sunday in October is traditionally Reformation Sunday. So perhaps it’s fitting that we think today about a parable of Jesus addressed to ‘some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous’. This little parable, which […]
I wonder what is one of the most romantic things you have done in your life? For me it relates to this object… a tape cassette! I was once keen on a girl who was spending a year travelling around the world. To show my interest in her I created a mixed tape of all […]
Sermon for Trinity 17C (aka Creation Season) 13.10.19 Luke 17:11-19 Don’t be surprised if faith is found amongst those we don’t tend to notice, who are continually noticed by Jesus. It’s a case this morning, not of the Good Samaritan, but of the grateful Samaritan. Luke is often at pains in his gospel […]
(this better be good!) Luke 16.1-13 . Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 So I thought – on my last Sunday with you all – that I would like to do three things. To speak from the heart about my time with this wonderful and inspiring congregation; to speak about creation season and water … and if I was […]
Religion and Anxiety What is religion for? I know there are some Christians who don’t like to describe themselves as religious (‘they have a relationship with God, not a religion’) but I think it is a useful term. The root of the word ‘religion’ may mean to bind up again (the same root gives us […]
Luke 14:25-33, Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Jeremiah 18:1-11 So a few weeks ago, I gave a sermon riffing on two readings; one from Luke with a very angry-sounding Jesus, and the other, a challenging part of Jeremiah, speaking of false prophets. And afterwards I thought to myself.. “thank goodness I won’t have to do anything like that […]
Jeremiah 2:2-13, Luke 14:1,7-14 There can be few more painful experiences than that of a broken marriage. I am very aware that there are people sitting here today who have had exactly that experience. Those of us who are still married, or who are single, can imagine the grief and heartbreak, or have seen it […]
Luke 13 v 10-17 – Jesus heals a crippled woman on the sabbath. Imagine for a moment about the woman in our gospel passage today. She has been bent double for 18 years and cannot straighten up. How do you think she gets on with life, how does she cope with the ordinary day […]
Jeremiah 23:23-29 Luke 12:49-56 This week, amid the many depressing items on the news, came the rather bizarre (though no longer surprising) story of a much older man publicly bullying a much younger woman, (almost still a girl). Arron Bank’s ‘joke’ about Greta Thunberg having a “freak yachting accident” as she sailed the Atlantic to […]