What are you wearing? A sermon for Bible Sunday


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Last Sunday we had, in the Church of England, the option of keeping either the Last Sunday after Trinity (Proper 25 in the Revised Common Lectionary) or Bible Sunday. I opted for the latter as it never hurts for people to be reminded of the centrality of Scripture. I decided to preach on the New Testament reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

Colossians 3.12-17

I’ve always liked clothes that make a statement.

By that, I mean clothes that really do make a statement – t-shirts, sweatshirts and the like that have a message written on them. I have a growing collection of t-shirts at home that come out for holidays in the sun, or days off when the weather permits.

One I particulary like says right across the from for anyone I meet to read, “I don’t know everything, but I can see how from your point of view it might look that way.” But one of my favourites has drawings of cats down the front with a quotation, “Time spent with cats is never wasted,” with the name of the author of the quotation. Anyone know who said that? Sigmund Freud, the famous founder of psychoanalysis. Who’d have thought that Freud was into cats? Continue reading →

Give to God what is God’s – Proper 24


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This week we heard about the way Jesus responded to the question: Is it lawful to pay taxes? Here’s what I preached.

Matthew 22.15-22

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

I’m sure you’ve all heard that saying before – and it’s known, of course, as Murphy’s Law. It’s named after the American aerospace engineer Edward Murphy who worked on safety-critical systems and who is believed to have first coined the phrase. We tend to think of Murphy’s Law as somewhat humorous, but it is quite serious in its application. When designing systems it is important to eliminate any possible areas where something might go wrong – because if it can go wrong, in the end it will. Continue reading →

The Great Banquet – Proper 23


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The priest I live with was preaching on the 19th October. We were then off the next day on the delights of our five-yearly diocesan clergy conference, hence the late posting of what she said. Better late than never, here is Mother Anne-Marie’s sermon on the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew.

Matthew 22.1-14

In this morning’s gospel we have an image of the Kingdom of Heaven as a great wedding feast. A wonderful meal is awaiting the guests, the wine will flow and no doubt there’ll be music and dancing – a really good time to be had by all. It’s a wonderful image of what awaits us in God’s Kingdom. And here as the church of God, we are a microcosm of that Kingdom, we are meant to be a taste of the Kingdom to come. Here within this church people should catch a glimpse of that glorious kingdom, with its upside down values, its joy, its love, its merriment, and its embracing of life in all its fullness.  But the image Jesus gives us in the Gospel reading tells us that however good it is, there will be people who don’t want to come. The King has many refusals to his invitation to the great wedding banquet which tells us that God is aware that many will refuse his invitation to be part of his Kingdom both in this world and the next. Continue reading →

Dealing with authority – what I said last Sunday


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Last Sunday we heard how the religious leaders demanded to know from Jesus where his authority came from. Here’s what I said.

Matthew 21.23-32

Ask any parent and they’ll tell you – being a parent is one of the most difficult things you’ll ever do in your life. And it doesn’t stop when the children leave home. And all the while you have at the back of your mind that you must always treat them carefully because they’ll be choosing the care home you go to when you’re old. My favourite quotation about parenting and children is from Erma Bomberg, an American humourist who wrote a newspaper column about family life in the latter half of the last century. She wrote: When my children become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out!
Continue reading →

The Feast of Saint Matthew


Matthew the Apostle, detail of mosaic from facade of the Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral, Bucharest, Europe

Matthew the Apostle, detail of mosaic from facade of the Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral, Bucharest, Europe

Last Sunday was the feast of Saint Matthew. At St John’s we had a presentation on the state of our finances, so I preached a very short sermon. However, the priest I live with was taking the service at one of the other churches in our team. so here is what Mother Anne-Marie said.

Matthew 9.9-13

Which do you think are the least trusted professions in the United Kingdom?  (And personally it is a bit of relief to me that that still includes Scotland?) The least trusted professions? Well a recent survey in the Daily Telegraph put politicians and journalists at the bottom – no doubt based on recent experiences. Third from bottom was bankers, sixth from bottom civil servants and seventh from bottom accountants. It will be no surprise that estate agents and builders were also amongst the top ten least trusted. Apologies to you if one of these is or was your profession! It’s a survey, not me saying this. Continue reading →

Holy Cross Day


A little late, but here is the sermon that the priest I live with preached for Holy Cross Day here at St John’s.

On this day, the 14th September, one thousand six hundred and seventy nine years ago, a part of the cross of Jesus, discovered by Saint Helena, was taken out from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem – out from the church which had been dedicated just the day before – taken outside so that all the believers in Jesus Christ could come and venerate it. Holy Cross Day is kept on this day to commemorate that event. And this year there seems to be a rather satisfactory symmetry about the date. It is of course today the 14th September 2014, and it so happens that the 14th September this year is a Sunday, so we can gather here together at our normal Sunday service on Holy Cross Day itself, to both commemorate that occasion in 335AD and to celebrate together the life giving cross of Jesus. It is appropriate too that we should have a baptism in our service today, as later I will sign N. with the sign of the Cross. How wonderful for her to be given that sign on Holy Cross Day. Continue reading →

What I said last Sunday – Let Jesus deal with your fears


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Last Sunday’s gospel reading was Matthew’s account of the calming of the storm by Jesus. Here’s what I said.

Matthew 14.22-33

Many of us, at some point in our lives, find ourselves gripped by fear or panic. Sometimes that fear may be well-founded. But at others it may seem totally irrational – either to ourselves or to others. Fear is a very powerful and controlling emotion, and not understanding why we feel afraid or fearful can be awful. And there’s no shortage of good advice around from experts and self-help gurus on how to deal with those things that cause us unbearable fear or stress.

Advice such as this: Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Anyone know who said that? It was, of course, Continue reading →

What I said last Sunday – What’s the Kingdom worth to you?


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Here is my sermon for Sunday. Jesus is speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven, and what it is worth.

Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52

What does it feel like to be able to buy absolutely anything you want, no matter the cost, and not to have to worry about whether you can afford it. Presumably the person who ran a repair garage in Mitcham, has some idea of what that feels like, having  scooped the £108 million jackpot on the Euromillions lottery in March of this year. Having given up his garage, he can now buy pretty much anything he likes without batting an eyelid. Even a top of the range executive jet would only set him back a few million. Any time he suddenly thinks “I’d like one of those” he can just indulge himself and not have to worry about his bank account.

Money, of course, won’t buy everything, and often the things we really want in life aren’t things we can just go and buy however rich we might be. And people want all kinds of things. There are internet sites that are specifically designed to let people ask questions about anything, and then others can answer the questions. And one very common question that people ask is “What do you want more than anything else in the world?” It led to some interesting answers as well as answers you’d expect:

  • A big fat savings account said one person
  • To not ever have to worry about money again, which means that I could shop and buy to my heart’s content

As you’d expect, lots of variations along the lines of lots of money. But they weren’t all about money. Take these desires … Continue reading →

The Sower – the sermon from last Sunday


The priest I live with was preaching last Sunday. The gospel reading from Matthew was the parable of the sower. Here’s what she said.

Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23

I sounded out a friend this week about sermons on the parable of the sower – the gospel reading we have just heard. John is a very committed Christian and has heard many sermons – in fact he is a church organist. He said “Oh they’ve nearly always been sermons where I’ve felt told off – I’ve come away from church thinking I’m either the seed that fell upon rock or the seed that fell amongst thorns, and I’ve left church feeling depressed.” Continue reading →