Category: Sermons
What I said on Sunday – Advent 3
John the Baptist again this week! Here’s what I said.
Getting to heaven is as easy as one, two, three. Well – at least that’s what most devout Jews thought at the time of Jesus who were under the impression that simply being a Jew more or less guaranteed you your place unless you were particularly evil. At least, most thought that. The Sadducees didn’t believe in life after death – for them there was no heaven – that’s why they were sad you see. (Groans from congregation!) But for most, it seemed fairly straight forward – as easy as one, two, three. And today’s message from John the Baptist is – don’t kid yourself. Don’t think that just because Abraham is your ancestor your place in heaven is guaranteed.
Now, I don’t know what’s come over me this Advent but I keep thinking of old songs – last week as we thought about repentance it was Brenda Lee and “I’m sorry” from 1960. Today it’s Eddie Cochran. You may remember his famous song, also from 1960, Three steps to heaven: Continue reading
What I said on Sunday – Advent 2
Here’s what I said this week.
“I’m sorry, so sorry” sang Brenda Lee back in 1960, making it to no 1 in the charts in the US. Well, sorry she might have been, but saying sorry is never easy. Elton John was clear about that when he sang “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”, as were Chicago with their song “Hard for me to say I’m sorry.” Connie Francis, though, put the blame on someone else when she sand ‘Who’s sorry now.” There are so many songs that are about people saying sorry. Continue reading
What I said on Advent Sunday
Here we are – Advent Sunday. And I wouldn’t mind betting that even though Advent is still only a few hours old you’re already, most of you, thinking about Christmas. In vicarworld we can beat that – we’re already planning Lent and Easter. So let’s just think about Easter for a moment and the words of Saint Augustine: “We are an Easter people – and Hallelujah is our song”.
What the priest I live with said this Sunday – Christ the King
A little late posting this week’s sermon – I’m having a few days off and have only just been able to sort this out. I had a week of preaching as Mother Anne-Marie had the privilege. Here’s what she said. The cross in the picture is the cross that she mentions having brought in the sermon.
The Church is which I became a Christian was dominated by a wonderful cross depicting Christ as King. It was only many years later that I came to appreciate how much that image spoke to me and the part it played in my conversion.
I had originally gone to this church very reluctantly on an Easter Sunday, simply because my mother and aunt were staying with me for the holiday weekend and wanted to go to church – we are going back some thirty five years here. They chose this particular church because my auntie Trix had seen a photo of the vicar! A leaflet had come through the door advertising all the local churches and it included a photo of each minister – what a way to advertise. Anyway Auntie Trix had said “let’s go there, that vicar looks sexy!” Continue reading
What I said this Sunday – 2nd Sunday before Advent
Here’s my sermon for this week.
For thousands of years people have been predicting “The end of the world as we know it”. There have always been people who have had some sense that mysterious and destructive events are the beginning of The End. The death of a beloved national leader, the eruption of a volcano, comets appearing in the sky have – all been seen as heralding the end of the world. And people are so worried about such events that they can easily be persuaded that they are about to happen. And then when they don’t, they are left feeling rather silly. Most people know of the famous broadcast of October 1938 by Orson Welles of the H. G. Wells book “The War of the Worlds”. It was so convincing a broadcast that many people in America thought Martians really had landed and that the end of the world had come. Panic was widespread and many even fled from their homes as they tried to escape from the Martians. Continue reading
What I said this Sunday – Remembrance Day
Big service as always – well over three hundred in church. And here’s what I said.
This year saw an important seventieth anniversary. Yes – seventy years ago, this year, the BBC broadcast the very first episode of Desert Island Discs. It’s possible that some of you remember it, though most of us don’t. The guest, on that very first edition, introduced by Roy Plomley, was none other than Vic Oliver.
I can see a lot of blank faces. No, I have no idea who Vic Oliver was either, though I’m sure some of you will remember him. In fact it’s not until the tenth episode of Desert Island Discs that there’s a guest I’ve actually heard of – Arthur Askey. For those of you who don’t know, Vic Oliver was an actor, radio comedian and conductor and – given his popularity and the fact he was Jewish – was listed on a Nazi blacklist of people to be arrested and killed immediately upon a successful invasion of Britain. Continue reading
What I said this Sunday – All Saints Sunday
We kept All Saints Day on the 1st November, but as I know attendance at a weekday feast is always low, we also kept All Saints Sunday as the Church of England allows us to do.
Today is a day for thinking about heaven. This morning we celebrate the great feast of All Saints, as we remember those great heroes of the Christian Faith who have gone before us. And tonight, at our evensong for All Souls – the annual commemoration of the faithful departed – we remember those dear to us who have also gone before us and who join with those great saints we remember this morning in the worship of God in heaven. For all are now equal and worshipping God for eternity. Today we think about heaven.
The Co-operative Funeral service recently undertook a survey of the music that people choose to have played at funeral services. It was widely reported in the news. One thing they discovered is that pop songs now outnumber hymns by two to one. On the whole, while they might not be everyone’s choice, most people pick songs that are favourites of the person who died, or that express some emotion or sentiment on the part of the mourners. Top of the list for the seventh year running is My Way by Frank Sinatra which, apparently, is now played at one in every seven funerals. At number two, from Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli comes Time To Say Goodbye. At least I suppose you can say it’s relevant. However, several of the songs express – even though they may not be hymns – profoundly Christian sentiments. Continue reading
What I said this Sunday – Bible Sunday
This Sunday we kept as Bible Sunday, and it was a particularly special Sunday for us as we were receiving the gift of a new lectern Bible from the Friends of Saint John’s. We already had a lectern Bible, but it has been largely unused for a long time since, like many churches, we now use the New Revised Standard Version in our worship. The new Bible we have is a beautiful leather-bound copy of the NRSV with Apocrypha.
For the occasion I chose as the gospel reading Luke 5.1-11 for reasons which will become clear. Here’s what I said.
Have you noticed how some things just don’t make sense?
- How do dads get away with buying presents for their children that they intend to play with themselves.
- Why do we press harder on a remote-control even when we know the battery is dead?
- Why do people go to Burger King and order a Double Whopper with large fries and then insist on having a Diet Coke?
- How come abbreviated is such a long word?
- Why do banks charge a fee on “insufficient funds” when they know you haven’t got the money to pay it?
- Why is there an ‘s’ in the word ‘lisp’?
- Why do people say that they slept like a baby? Do they mean they cried all night and kept their parents awake?
- Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to ashes and set fire to the kitchen?
- Why is the Bible the world’s best-selling book, and yet so few people seem to actually read it?
What I said this Sunday – Trinity 20
Here is my sermon from this Sunday
Three years ago the Guardian newspaper published a list of the thousand novels that everyone must read. I think I have some way to go. I looked through the list yesterday and I have read 65 of them. In case you think that actually sounds rather impressive I should explain. The list contains many of the great classics from around the world, Dickens, Cervantes, Dostoevsky, Jane Austen and so on, and many of the books are seriously heavy going. It also contains great modern novels that you probably know better as films – Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith, the great Philip Marlow novels of Raymond Chandler, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I managed to resist cheating and didn’t include those in my total even if I’d watched the film.
I was actually helped along to my total of 65 by the inclusion in the list – and remember this is the thousand novels that everyone must read – of such great classics as Asterix the Gaul and Tintin in Tibet, the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend. Even Sharpe’s Eagle, that terrific novel about an army officer in Wellington’s army. Continue reading
View from the Valley 