Sermons | St John and St Stephen's Church

The Rich Young Ruler – 11th October 2015 Rev. Vincent Gardner

16/10/2015

Vincent Gardner

Rev. Vincent Gardner Rich young ruler 11/10/15 Do you know what one of my fantasies is? To be able to look out from a balcony window on the Amalifi coast in Italy with a glass of red Barolo wine in hand, good company, sun on my face… while lying on a bed of hard cash….Gorgeous. […]

Who do you say I am? 13th September 2015

14/09/2015

Richard Croft

St John’s and St Stephen’s Church, Reading, 13th September 2015, Creation 2 Isaiah 50:9-11, Mark 8:27-38 Who do you say I am? I cannot remember a time when a leadership election for a political party has generated such interest and, whatever we might think of the outcome, it has re-ignited an interest in politics for […]

Heartfelt Trust – sermon given by Richard Croft on Sunday 12th July 2015

20/08/2015

Richard Croft

St Johns and St Stephens Church, Reading, 12th July 2015, Trinity 11 Proverbs 9:1-6, John 6:51-58 ‘Heartfelt trust’ Many of you know that a couple of weeks ago a small group from St John’s, and some friends, spent a week at the community of Taizé in France. It was the 6th visit we have […]

Trinity Sunday 31st May 2015

02/06/2015

Jeremy Thake Festivals

Trinity Sunday – John 31-7 Morning Communion, Trinity, 31st May 2015 Who do you pray to? Do you pray to the Father, as Jesus did? Or do you pray directly to Jesus? Or sometimes one, sometimes the other? And do you pray to the Spirit? I suspect that, like me, you may not always be […]

Be Loyal

18/05/2015

Be loyal

Doubt again – Rev. Vincent Gardner, 19th April 2015

24/04/2015

Vincent Gardner

It has always seemed to me that we all attend church there are two main impulses: to come to find and be told a way of living in this world, to receive answers from someone else how to tackle and live the big questions Or secondly to escape from the difficult questions of life […]

22nd March 2015 – Rev. Vincent Gardner

23/03/2015

Vincent Gardner

22nd March 2015 Rev Vincent Gardner At the time of this scripture Jesus was well on His way to the cross. His public ministry was coming to a close and a variety of things were unfolding. A crowd of people from many different places had gathered for the Passover Feast. The people in the […]

Beginnings – Sunday 22nd February 2015

03/03/2015

Richard Croft

Genesis 9:8-17, Mark 1:9-15 Beginnings In the year 445, St Patrick baptized King Aengus of Munster in Ireland. St Patrick had in his hand a sharp-pointed staff and by mistake, without noticing, he stabbed the King in his foot while he was conducting the baptism. The King made no mention of this, and […]

Joy – John 21-11: The Wedding in Cana

25/01/2015

Jeremy Thake

An Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman walked into a bar, and the barman said, “Is this a joke”.

There are not many jokes in the Bible. You may think that was not one either – one to think about. But there is humour.

Today we are going to be following our reading about the wedding at Cana. It is, in many ways, a rather strange story. We know it well, but there are some odd things here

Baptism of Christ

11/01/2015

Christine Bainbridge

Genesis 1.1-5, Mark 1.4-11 Today is the Sunday when we remember Jesus’ baptism by John in the river Jordan. I want us to consider Jesus’ baptism, but also our own baptism. Baptism is a big topic. Both Jesus’ baptism and ours are rich in symbolic meaning. I can only touch on some aspects of baptism […]