A sermon for Midnight Mass based on John 1. 1-14 and Hebrews 1. 1-4.
Our Gospel reading tonight starts on the largest scale you could imagine. It’s like we’ve zoomed right out, wound time right back, and we’re standing in the void of nothing and there with us is God. God and the Word. And we know if we cross reference this passage with Genesis 1 that God creates everything, and he creates it by speaking, by speaking words. And so everything is created through this Word. And we’re still at this cosmic scale as galaxies and stars and nebula and planets and moons are created. All the way down to animals and plants, particles and sub-atomic particles. We’re watching as the universe in its infinite complexity is created. And what are its hallmarks? Light and life.
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Based on Luke 16. 19-31.
Have you ever met someone who was doing something not because they cared about it, but because of how it would benefit them? I’m not so much talking about the world of work here as the world of relationships. Have you ever come across someone who was friends with someone else because they had a great house with a pool or because they had contacts which would benefit them. In the world of films I’m thinking of Mother Gothel in Tangled who doesn’t care about Rapunzel, who she has kidnapped and locked in a tower, but only pretends to care because she needs the magic of her hair to keep her youth. So she pretends to be a loving caring mother so that this girl will continue to provide her with eternal youth. A sermon preached in the wake of the death of HM the Queen. It's based on 2 Corinthians 4.16-5.4 and John 6.35-40.
As a society we’re not the best at talking about death are we. We prefer not to think about it, and when it comes close, when a loved one dies, we often try to push on and not really deal with it. But now we, the whole country, and many other parts of the world have found ourselves staring death in the face with the death of HM the Queen. We have wall to wall news coverage, outpourings of both affection and grief across the nation. There are some who knew they’d be sad when this day came, some who are surprised at the wave of emotions they’re feeling, and others for whom this doesn’t really affect them, and still others for whom this has brought back the emotions of recent or longer term losses. But in loss and death we are left with three things. Based on Luke 14. 25-33.
Jesus says many hard things, many things we find difficult, which challenge us. But hearing Jesus calling us to hate people, it’s not a word we expect to hear on his lips. Moreso his calling of us to hate those who are meant to be our closest loved ones, the ones dearest to us. What’s going on? Do you remember the 70’s track ‘how deep is your love’ by the Bee Gees? I won’t sing it. But that’s the question at the heart of today’s gospel reading, how deep is your love? Does your love for Jesus outstrip all other loves? Is it deeper than all others? Based on Luke 14. 1, 7-14 & Proverbs 25. 6-7.
When I was looking at the Gospel reading today I did a quick Google search as I sometimes do to look for news articles about someone or something being humbled. And what I found wasn’t a story, but rather article after article extolling the benefits of humility, in dating, in employment, in starting your own business. What I found was lots of testimony that humility is a good thing, an admirable thing. But here’s the thing, it’s a quality we like to admire in others, but it doesn’t really seem desirable for ourselves does it? If we’re humble, if we’re not shouting our achievements, our successes, whether it’s in family life, wealth, home, job, education etc, if we’re not shouting about these things we worry we’ll be overlooked, forgotten about whilst those who do brag, even exaggerate somewhat get all the attention and make all the progress. We deem humility as admirable, but not desirable. A sermon I preached back at my sending church, it's based on Hebrews 12. 18-29.
The letter to the Hebrews is a letter in the New Testament which ties the Old Testament into the new, uncovering how the Old Covenant prefigured and pointed to the New and what has changed. For this reason it’s one of my favourites of the New Testament letters. And today’s passage is no different, contrasting the giving of the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai to us approaching Mount Zion, the place of God’s dwelling. And the writer gives us very quickly a summary of the terror, majesty and awe of that day when God descends upon Mount Sinai to make a Covenant with his people. They’re referencing Exodus 19 and to help us enter into this better I’m going to read a portion of that passage. This sermon is based on Mary's song in Luke 1. 46-55 also known as The Magnificat (after the opening word in Latin) and preached for the Feast of St Mary at two churches which bear her name.
Our world is facing all sorts of crises’ at the moment isn’t it. We have the threat of global warming, we have war in Eastern Europe, we’re still suffering the results of the pandemic which sort of feels over but certainly isn’t. We have Monkeypox floating around on the side lines and we’re not sure what’s going to happen with that. And then we come closer to home and in our country we’re facing a cost of living crisis with rising fuel bills, rising petrol and diesel costs, rising food prices. Fears of shortages of those things. We have a government which feels rather paralysed as we await the results of the election of a new leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister. We have this rolling heatwave which we aren’t really set up for, and the risk of water shortages because of it. This sermon is based on Luke 11. 1-13. I hop about quite a bit so it's worth having the passage open in you Bible or a separate tab.
For added context I preached this sermon at a service my friend Pete was leading, as well as knowing each other since High School we also trained for Ordination together. He's the one I refer towards the end. How should we pray? It’s a common question, particularly among those coming to faith or starting to take it more seriously. And there have been countless books written on the subject by countless people. I’m reading one by Tim Keller at the moment, rather conveniently. But how should we pray? In Jesus’ day it was common practice for disciples to learn from their Rabbi a way to pray that was somewhat unique to that teacher, as John the Baptist taught his disciples. So the disciples aren’t unusual in making their request, they’ve seen him pray, watched him go off into quiet places gone looking for him while he is praying. Teacher, teach us how to pray. And Jesus gives us the masterclass in prayer. A sermon based on Luke 10.38-42 with reference to Genesis 18. 1-10.
Have you ever missed an amazing opportunity? Missed out because you were doing something else? When I was in my early teens I went to a music festival at Alton Towers with my youth group. I’d gone because one of my favourite bands at that time was opening, and in the run up to it I’d been listening to the music of the two headliners and really got into them too. Now when I got to the festival I really enjoyed my favourite band’s set. Then another band went up that I didn’t know but I listened to them. And then another band came on and I decided that actually, now would be a really good time to go to the merchandise tent at the back of the site to buy some CD’s, perhaps a t-shirt. And I spent the whole of their set in the merch tent, as I came out they were just finishing ready for the next band to play and I enjoyed the rest of the festival. This sermon was preached on the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle and is based on Ephesians 2. 19-22.
We often think new is better don’t we. The new iPhone will be better than the last one. If we get a new car or a new house we want it to be better than the last. And we have this wider sense that progress always pushes forwards, we’re always getting better. Our generation should be better than the one that came before it, which should have been better than the one which came before that. Newer means better, doesn't it? |
AuthorAn Anglican Curate in my 20's I was raised in an Anglican Church, went to a Youth Club run by an Evangelical Church, attended a Baptist Church while at Uni and was a member of a New Monastic Community after graduating. As such my faith has been influenced by these experiences and traditions into what I hope is a more rounded viewpoint. Archives
September 2022
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