A sermon for Pentecost based on Acts 2. 1-21 & Romans 8. 14-17.
Where does God dwell? Ask someone that on the street today and they’ll probably point to the sky, not because they literally believe he’s in the clouds but because it’s the universal metaphor for heaven. But is that correct? Is that where he dwells?
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A sermon based on John 17. 20-26.
Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension where, after 40 days of showing himself to his disciples and many others, Christ returns bodily to heaven to take his seat at the right hand of the Father. So what is he doing now? Is he having time off? Having a break after all the activity on earth? No. He is praying for his people, interceding for us to his Father. And whilst we don’t know exactly what he is praying, John 17, of which we heard a portion in our Gospel reading, gives us some insight. It’s a chapter known as the High Priestly prayer because it gives us that insight into how Jesus prays for us and all his people. So let us take a look at the portion we have this morning. A sermon based on John 14. 23-29 & Ezekiel 37. 1-14.
Jesus in our Gospel reading today challenges us in saying that we demonstrate our love for him by keeping his word, in other words by listening and putting into practice, by keeping his commands obediently. And on the surface that seems an odd, even manipulative perspective on love. You can see how such a view could be abused. If you love me do this, do that, enslave yourself to me. A sermon based on John 13. 31-35.
The words we heard in our Gospel reading are traditionally read, with some wider context around them, on Maundy Thursday. It’s from this new commandment, or mandatum, that we get the word maundy, it’s commandment Thursday, that new commandment to love one another. So what are we doing reading it over halfway through Eastertide. Probably because Jesus says he is with them only a little while longer, he’s perhaps referring to his imminent death, but perhaps and particularly reading it now post Easter, he may be referring to his Ascension, after all he only stays another 40 days after his resurrection before being taken up into heaven. Regardless of the reasoning, that commandment, to love one another, to love one another just as Jesus loves us, is worthy of reflection at any point in the year A sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter 4) based on John 10. 22-30.
We’re picking up in John towards the end of an extended discussion between Jesus and the crowds and leaders about who Jesus claims to be, and part of that is one of his great ‘I am’ sayings, ‘I am the Good Shepherd’. And the people are divided because they agree he does good works but his words are difficult, some believe because he does good, others fear they are being deceived Have you ever been to an airport? I’d imagine probably pre-pandemic if you have. Or perhaps stopped at a motorway service station on a long journey. There’s an odd feel to those spaces isn’t there, time doesn’t entirely make sense, it’s full of people who are arriving and leaving. You don’t feel settled, and that’s deliberate, it’s a place that you’re not meant to stay, it’s a place to pause before moving on. It’s what’s known as a Liminal space. A place between places.
A sermon based on John 20. 19-31.
There are lots of sayings about proof and believing aren’t there. ‘Seeing is believing’, ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’. And quite often faith and proof are seen as opposite ends of a spectrum. You have the things you can prove over here, and right over here you have the things you have faith about. It comes across in another saying that’s widely used, ‘a leap of faith’. That sounds much more uncertain than those earlier sayings. Our Gospel reading today is all about faith and doubt. Belief and questioning. A sermon for Easter Sunday 2022 based on Luke 24. 1-12.
We’re in the wake of Good Friday, the brutality, the horror of what has occurred. Some of the disciples are in hiding, deep in mourning, overcome with grief, terrified that a similar fate awaits them. Some others are on the road back home to Emmaus, disheartened and disillusioned. It seems like the darkness has won, that it has snuffed out the light. They do not understand yet what has happened.
A sermon based on Song of Songs 3. 1-4 and John 20. 1-2, 11-18. A transcript of the full sermon can be found below the audio player.
The Gospel reading we just heard tells us something really important about Mary Magdalene which separates her from Jesus’ other followers, she stays, she remains at the tomb. She gets to them tomb, discovers that Jesus is gone and hurries to tell the other disciples, the reading we heard cuts out the next part where Peter and John come to the tomb with her and look inside. They see and believe, but they don’t yet understand, and in their confusion they go back home. But Mary stays, she remains at the tomb, and as a result becomes the first person to see the risen Jesus.
The following sermon was preached online at the Feast of the Ascension. The video below should start at the sermon, but feel free to watch thew whole service if you wish. A transcript of the sermon is included below.
The Feast of the Ascension doesn’t work without a descent, how can you go up if you first haven’t come down.
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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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