No matter how far you get along in faith, even as a "professional Christian", God seems to invite you, or require you to make new starts again in your relationship. This sermon tells some of my big new starts, and of the new start that began on my retreat into silence last week. … [Read more...]
Remembrance day and paying attention
Horror and valour sit side by side in war. Goodness is not quenched even by near overwhelming evil. By why do we go to war? Why do we fail as a nation or a species and batter our children against each other? And how can we try to find the better way through conflict? … [Read more...]
All Souls and All Saints. Can this be about us?
A friend once told me she aspired to be a saint. I was shocked.I have thought about this ever since. Death (saints tend to be dead), Decision, Resurrection, Trust, Grief and Loss, Hope and Faith. These are the ingredients behind saintliness. And Zi think it is about us. … [Read more...]
Blind Bartimaus and you meet Jesus
This Bible story is so small and so personal. I can almost feel myself in this. I offer, in this sermon, a way to get inside the story, to imagine it as if you were there, and it was you who met Jesus. I invite you to read and go slowly enough to let your imagination pad out the details. It is more of a meditation than a sermon, so let the spirit speak you you through this. … [Read more...]
The Art of Being Thankful
"....May the Lord make us truly thankful" at the end of a Grace before a meal always seems to imply that I will not be thankful on my own. This could be to do with the cooking, or it could be about me/us. The sermon looks at two stores where thanksgiving was real, spontaneous and joyful. … [Read more...]
Worship. What it is?
Worship is one of those words that get used a lot lightly but need a deep looking at now and then. this sermon is a slow and quiet reflection on what we are deeply, spiritually doing in church, and in other places every day. … [Read more...]
Knocking over rituals and making new and better ones
Why do we do what we always did? Jesus asks us to think about what we were trying to get done when we first started. Don't get attached to the form of your worship, but be committed to why you worship God in the first place. This sermon starts with dog and a disaster, and ends thinking that these were both good things we need to do more often. I hope this can help you get unstuck from old rituals that are actually blocking God's closeness. … [Read more...]
Building a Church
When you are building a new church it is easy to get caught up in the brain work of planning, designing and problem solving. But Solomon realised that the whole thing is a bit beside the point if God is not the point, the motivator and the one to whom you keep turning. If the Lord does not build it, those who try to labour in vain. … [Read more...]
Eucharist and your WishList
This sermon looks at what kind of wants we have and then what kind of wants we are invited to if we wish to follow the Spiritual Life in the Christian Tradition.It is also about what being a member of the church is profoundly about. Central to Anglican (and all the catholic churches) teaching is the Eucharist. This sermon revolves around the eucharist from St john's Gospel. I hope this quickly written sermon speaks to you. … [Read more...]
Vacations and the lost art of Sabbaths
There is a teaching about Sabbath time which is one of the Ten Commandments, but which we have pretty much ignored. Like all of the teachings in the Bible it is for our good, our health and our spiritual wellbeing. Vacations are all that we have left of this. This sermon may inspire you to take another look at a better way to live. … [Read more...]
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