Sermons for Holy Week – Good Friday 4


Mother Anne-Marie’s turn to preach, sermon number four.

Reading: Colossians 3.1-4, Matthew 25.31-40

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me Continue reading →

Sermons for Holy Week – Good Friday 3


Sermon number three was from me.

Reading – Galatians 6.17b; Colossians 1.15-20

I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Continue reading →

Sermons for Holy Week – Good Friday 2


Sermon number two was from Mother Anne-Marie.

Reading: John 18.1, Mark 14.33-36

Jesus went out with His disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little further, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want but what you want.” Continue reading →

Sermons for Holy Week – Good Friday 1


On Good Friday we preached a series of sermons based on Graham Kendrick’s hymn The Servant King. I preached the first sermon.

In the name of the Living God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Reading – Philippians 2.1-8

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross. Continue reading →

Sermons for Holy Week – Maundy Thursday


I preached on Maundy Thursday.

John 13.1-17, 31b-35

Jesus began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel. John 13.3-4

Maundy Thursday means one thing – time to look on the internet for feet jokes. And I’m afraid the best I could find was: Did you hear about the man who was born with two left feet? He went out and bought some flip flips. You really don’t want to hear some of the others. So I’ve had to resort to recycling last year’s feet joke which was somewhat better. A little boy put on his shoes himself for the first time. His mother noticed that he had put the right shoe on his left foot and his left shoe on the right foot. So she said to him, “Timmy, your shoes are on the wrong feet.” He looked up at her, rather puzzled, and said Continue reading →

Sermons for Holy Week – Palm Sunday


Busy week, of course, being Holy Week, with services every day, so only just catching up with sermon posting. However, for those of you with a bit of stamina I’m about to post all our sermons from Holy Week. The first, from Palm Sunday, was preached by Mother Anne-Marie.

Mark 11.1-11; Mark 15.1-39

Jerusalem was a conquered city, a city under Roman occupation. Not unusual. Throughout the entire history of the known world, people have conquered other people, Kings have sought to rule the world and empires have come and gone. Jesus enters the Roman occupied city of Jerusalem to the triumphal waving of palms and the victorious cries of the crowd “Hosanna, blessed is the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David”.  Is Jesus coming to reclaim Jerusalem – coming to conquer it back? The cries of the crowd would indicate that perhaps they thought so. “Hosanna” – the Hebrew “hosha’na” – God save us – that was what the crowd were shouting – hosha’na – God save us. Jesus was interested in conquering territory – in conquering a place as yet unconquered. He wasn’t there to win back Jerusalem but there to win for the first time a far more precious territory. A place as yet unconquered, the unconquered territory of the human heart. He was entering Jerusalem, but more interested in entering the heart of every person lining the road. Continue reading →

What I said this Sunday – Passion Sunday


Here’s my sermon for this Sunday.

John 20.12-33

Why Greeks?

Now amongst those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

Why Greeks? Our gospel this morning began with these couple of sentences about some Greeks – it appears pretty unrelated to what follows – we never even find out if they did see Jesus and we certainly don’t know what happened if they did.

Why Greeks?

Well you kind of have to know what has happened before and whereabouts we are in John’s Gospel. In the previous chapter, Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, had died – you remember how the sisters send for Jesus but he apparently comes too late and Lazarus is not only dead, but buried. But Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb and he struggles out still bound in the cloths that wrapped him for burial.

It is a dramatic moment and it divides those who witness it. John’s gospel tells us that Continue reading →

What I said a couple of weeks ago – 3rd Sunday of Lent


It was only while getting ready for the services tomorrow that I realised I had forgotten to post my last sermon which was two weeks ago now. Usually someone in the congregation reminds me, but this hasn’t happened on this occasion. Perhaps the sermon wasn’t that memorable and no-one wanted to read it again! Last week being Mothering Sunday I put together an interactive talk using Powerpoint so nothing to post.

Anyway, here is my sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent which I based on the psalm for the day.

Exodus 20.1-17; Psalm 19; John 2.13-22 I’m sure that all of you hear consider yourselves to be good, upright, law-abiding citizens, who would never wittingly break any laws or statutes currently in force. Even if you don’t always agree with them. Not even ever breaking the speed limit or trying to be creative with your tax return.

Of course – that rather depends on you knowing the law. Just in case you should want to brush up your knowledge of the law, to avoid inadvertently committing any  breaches, the British Library rather conveniently keeps copies of all the laws in force – you can go and consult them if you wish. Though I wouldn’t advise it. Apparently our general laws and statutes currently fill 358 volumes, while local laws and other private acts fill another 682 volumes. Adding in even more volumes containing statutory instruments that’s 104 shelves of the British Library for you to work your way through. However, this morning, to help you stay within the law, I’d just like to reminder you of some laws that are currently in force – I wouldn’t want you to inadvertently run foul of the authorities. Continue reading →

What I said this Sunday – 2nd Sunday of Lent


Here’s my sermon from this morning.

Mark 8.31-end

How much are you prepared to suffer for what you believe in? And I mean suffer voluntarily? How much unnecessary suffering would you willingly take on because you thought the end result was worth it?

Would you, for example, be prepared to suffer as much as the Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop has over the past few days?

Well, John Bishop has been raising money for Sport Relief. He was sponsored to travel from Paris to London. And he did it in five days. Why so long? It was how he did it that was the problem. Because he cycled, ran and rowed his way. He has cycled 185 miles, run three marathon distances and rowed across the channel. He has battled exhaustion, severe aches and pains, sickness, sleep derivation and was in severe pain for the final stint. He has had his legs strapped up, and had regular ice treatments and massages, and in the final stages was diagnosed with shin splints – an injury caused by severe stress on the tibia. And he kept going. And on Friday he finally hobbled up the Mall into Trafalgar Square and up the steps of the National Gallery to go through the finish archway, to the strains of the Liverpool anthem “You’ll never walk alone.” Continue reading →

What I said on Sunday – Transfiguration Sunday


Last Sunday was what we call in the Church of England the Sunday next before Lent. It is also known as Transfiguration Sunday, hence the theme of my sermon. We had a baptism during the service which I mentioned in the sermon – I’ve removed the name of the baby being baptised.

Mark 9.2-9

I don’t know about you, but personally I’ve not climbed many mountains in my life. Well, strictly speaking I don’t suppose I can claim to have climbed any, since I always take the easy route – train or chairlift.

I remember in particular the time when we took the train to the top of Mount Snowdon in Wales during a holiday, and although Jesus and his companions walked to the top of their mountain, we had a similar experience at the top – we were overshadowed by cloud. It was a gloriously sunny day. No clouds in sight. An ideal day for going up a mountain – the views, we assumed, would be spectacular. The train set off on its journey to the summit – and it was about a hundred feet up that we entered the cloud. And this was no ordinary cloud. All the way up it rained, it was freezing, and the wind was so bad that it was impossible to keep the cold and the wet out of the carriages. At the summit station the children flatly refused to climb the short path to the actual summit of the mountain. They kept warm in the station whileAnne-Marieand I braved the elements and climbed the last few feet – I’m not quite sure why, since the only view we got was about six feet in front of us, since it was so dark and the rain was pouring down. Continue reading →