Pentecost – my sermon for this week


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Back from two weeks in Crete, where the priest I live with and I went to get some sunshine – a much needed respite from the unseasonable cold and wet of our English spring this year – but also to coincide with Orthodox Easter. Back in time to preach for the feast of Pentecost.

John 14.8-27

There’s not much that’s more annoying than returning from holiday to find a note on the table from the person who’s been feeding the cats while you’re away saying: Welcome home, the cats are fine … and by the way you’ve got a flat tyre. We went out to have a look. Yes – there it was. It was fine when we went away – and now it wasn’t. So on Wednesday morning, as the car belongs to the priest I live with, she phoned the RAC (Note: the royal Automobile Club, a vehicle breakdown service in the UK) to come and change the wheel so that she could drive to the garage to get a new tyre. The man from the RAC was there in seconds – literally! Turned out he lives in Caterham and this was his first call, and the priest I live with had hardly put the phone down when he arrived! He quickly put on the temporary wheel, and then before he went said: All I need to do now is check your oil level. They never used to do that – but in these recessionary days people are not having their cars serviced so frequently, so now the RAC check on every call. Just as well – the oil level was very low as the car is somewhat overdue for a service. Continue reading →

Easter 6 – my sermon for this week


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This Sunday the gospel reading was Jesus giving the disciples the new commandment of love. Here is what I said.

John 13.31-35

Every Saturday night, as I cook our Saturday Supper, I close the kitchen door and put on some good, loud music to cook by. And you can’t help but notice just how many of the great songs released over the past fifty years or so have something to do with love.

There seem to have been more songs written about love – whether requited or unrequited love – than about anything else. There are thousands of them – and many of them instantly forgettable, though some of them have stood the test of time. “All you need is love”, sang the Beatles, tuning in to the mood of the Sixties but rather missing the point that life is not quite that simple. And, I suspect, thinking of love as warm feelings, feelings of kindness, a desire to do good to others, even, perhaps, as desire for others, but without any of the sense of deep commitment that Jesus calls his disciples to in today’s Gospel reading. Perhaps Michael Ball was closer to the Christian concept of love when he sang the words of Andrew Lloyd Webber: “Love, love changes everything, how I live, and how I die”.

Abba sang about love a lot. I should know. I listen to Abba a lot. Take their song “People need love” which I listened to again last night while preparing our Jambalaya. Continue reading →

What I said this Sunday – Easter 4


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The fourth Sunday after Easter is also known in many churches as Good Shepherd Sunday as the gospel reading in each year of the three year cycle is about Jesus as our shepherd.

John 10.22-20

There has been a lot in the news recently – but one big story that broke a week last Thursday may, I suspect, have passed you by – it doesn’t seem to have made the national press though it was reported by the Gloucestershire Echo and posted on its This is Gloucestershire web page.

Police in the small town of Newent have seized a flock of delinquent sheep – the sheep have been terrorising the town. The seven sheep, whose owners had allegedly neglected them and allowed them to roam freely, were accused of “trashing fences, gardens, and other property.” Police were unable to solve the problem themselves, so they called in a shepherd and two sheepdogs to help crack the case. The sheep have now been successfully rounded up and auctioned off to cover the cost of the operation. A local constable said, “The community has suffered a great deal because of this.” Perhaps we should call them The Newent Seven. Continue reading →

What I said this Sunday – Easter 3


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This Sunday I decided to major on the first reading from Acts – the conversion of Saint Paul – rather than the gospel reading. Here’s what I said.

Acts 9.1-6, John 21.1-19

Where would we be if Jesus had decided to do background checks, or even criminal record checks, on those he wanted to be his apostles? Would he have appointed them? Or would he have decided that they weren’t suitable candidates for the job?

After the resurrection the eleven – the original twelve minus Judas Iscariot – had been keeping their heads down because they were fearful of the Jewish authorities. Whether they had actually done anything that the authorities deemed to be criminally wrong we shall never know because Acts doesn’t tell us, but they may well have had their names on an official blacklist. Paul, of course, is a different matter. Paul – or Saul as he was originally known – was, to be blunt, not a particularly nice person when we first come across him. He is a religious zealot, hounding followers of Jesus and putting them to death simply because he didn’t agree with their religious beliefs. He wants every follower of Jesus off the streets. Continue reading →

What I said this week – Thomas Sunday


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This week, the Sunday following Easter Day, has us thinking about Thomas the doubting disciple. Here’s my sermon.

John 20.19-end

As a child I was hopeless at sport – sport was simply not my thing. The best I ever managed at secondary school was the report in my first year where the sports master had written for Gym: He has absolutely no aptitude for this subject but he tries his best. I was the one nobody wanted on their team. When I was at primary school we used that iniquitous system of two people being chosen as captains for football, and then they picked their teams. And of course, when it came to choosing who was going to be in your football team it was never going to be me, because I couldn’t play an even half-decent game of football if my life depended on it. I always knew that I wouldn’t get picked but that didn’t make it any easier.

There is nothing worse than being left out. Continue reading →

Alleluia! Christ is risen!


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Here is my sermon for Easter Day.

Perhaps it’s just my imagination. Eastenders (for readers from abroad – Eastenders is a highly popular TV soap from the BBC noted for its miserable storylines and characters) always used to seem to be so miserable and depressing. But recently I’ve noticed that nobody in Eastenders seems to have to face the problems that the rest of us are dealing with. In fact they seem to be rather oblivious to the regular stream of bad news that we normal people have to cope with.

I can’t remember anyone moaning about the cold weather – or the cost of petrol – or rising fuel bills. Continue reading →

Services for Easter Day at St John’s


Services for Easter Day:

6.15am The Paschal Liturgy

We begin with the lighting of the Paschal Fire from which we light the Paschal Candle. After the procession into church we sing the Exsultet and then have a vigil of readings. Litany of the saints as we go to the font to renew our baptism vows. Then holy communion. We finish with breakfast in the church hall.

10am Parish Mass

Parish mass for Easter Sunday. We begin by processing with the Paschal candle to the Easter Garden. After communion it’s Easter eggs for the children!

In Christ Alone


Stuart Townend sings the worship hymn In Christ Alone.

The priest I live with, Mother Anne-Marie, used this hymn as the basis of her Good Friday talks. You can read them here:

  1. In Christ alone my hope is found
  2. Scorned by the ones he came to save
  3. Light of the world by darkness slain
  4. He stands in victory
  5. Here in the power of Christ I stand
  6. Sermon at the Good Friday Liturgy

Good Friday 6/6 – Sermon from the Good Friday Liturgy


This year on Good Friday, the priest I live with, Mother Anne-Marie, preached a series of sermons interspersed with prayer and silence on the hymn ‘In Christ Alone’. She concluded with this sermon at the Good Friday Liturgy.

During the two hours before this service we have been reflecting on the Stuart Townend and Keith Getty hymn “In Christ Alone” – in Christ alone my hope is found – so goes its first line.

Continue reading →