Sunday's coming!

Since this Sunday is our patronal festival at St Mary & St Andrew our readings will be Isaiah 52: 7-10 Romans 10: 12-18 Matthew 4: 18 -22 But I think these also fit the Advent theme pretty well. The world does not need the church to tell it that it's nearly Christmas - every advert is shouting it at us, and tomorrow we get to start opening our Advent calendars. But what the world does need us to tell them is... what? If we say 'the Lord is coming' we will see some people immediately write us off as the sort of people who want to walk round with a sandwich board which says 'the end of the world is nigh'. And yet our message is vital - and the world needs it now more than ever. Of course our message is more than what we say - it is how we live and how we treat people. If our following Jesus has taught us something about who he is and what his coming means, we need to share this with our neighbours.. somehow. Just opening thoughts - more to follow soon I hope!

For those who know me & have asked - I'm fine, thanks: down to 3 month check-ups at the dermatologist now & all nasty moles removed with no sign of more cancer. Meanwhile, back at the coal-face: This week's sermon so far (will need finishing off later/ tomorrow morning: Christ the King Today is the very last day of the current lectionary year – next week a new year begins for the church, with Advent Sunday. That means today we mark ‘Christ the King’. You might wonder what it’s all about. What does it mean to acknowledge Jesus Christ as King – and why are we doing it now, just as Advent is about to start, rather than after Easter, perhaps even at Ascension, when the hard part is all done for Jesus and he is about to take up his triumphal place in heaven. And anyway, you might well be wondering, does the lectionary and its themes really make any impact on our real lives? What’s it all about? This week’s gospel reading is another well-known one, but another quite tricky o...

So - we nearly made it to the end of the lectionary year! Readings this coming week are: Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24 Ephesians 1: 15-23 Matthew 25: 31-46 I feel really uncomfortable about the theme of 'judgement' - but it's inescapable. But I think I want to focus on our judgement. It seems to me that the last few weeks have all been building up to this - wise or foolish virgins; thankful, hard-working slaves or head-in-the-sand people; sheep or goats. It's not so much about God's judgement of us (and certainly not about condemnation) but about our choices, our discernment. If, in the end we discern that Christ is King, this has HUGE implications for our lives - this means following Christ is not just a leisure option but the basis for our whole lives. And if Christ is King then Advent (starting next week!) is also a BIG THING - not just a messenger from God but the message made flesh. More to follow when I've calmed down a bit!

This Sunday's gospel reading is Matthew 25: 14-30 - the parable of the talents. I'm not preaching - so I thought I'd post up a sermon I KNOW I wrote on this only a couple of years ago. But I can't find it - which is odd. I know that then I took a fairly hard line on 'this is about money - stop trying to squirm out of it'. But maybe that isn't the message for the four churches where I'm currently serving. I think here there are more issues about the other resources we have - especially of buildings. Who are our buildings for? And what does Jesus want us to do with them?? One of the great challenges of serving four churches is four potential set of headaches about maintenance - but I don't see anything in the gospel here which supports us using our buildings as clubhouses - isn't that the equivalent of burying the talent? - so we need to be more imaginative, more engaged, more prepared to have things get a bit messy in order to serve our neighbours...

These may be even more 'note-like' than usual - since I'm not sure what kind of congregation we'll get on Sunday (whether we'll have any children present, whether there might be a bigger turnout than usual, etc, etc) so I'll have to play things a bit by ear. Remembrance Amos 5: 18-24 Matthew 25: 1-13 What is the purpose of Remembrance Sunday ? Surely this question is what they call a no-brainer – Remembrance – it’s for remembering – duh! As a child I used to watch my grandad (who fought at the Somme) watching the festival of remembrance, with tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched the poppies fall in memory of his dead friends. We must not forget those who die at war. But it’s not enough to remember, it’s not enough - even though it can be very costly if our memories are painful. Of course it’s vital that we do not take for granted the lives laid down in war - but our Bible readings remind us that there is more to life than simply remembering – or even r...

With All Saints & All Souls last weekend, our Tuesday memorial service next week and Remembrance Sunday this week it seems the whole theme of memorial is hanging in the air. Sunday will see us standing at the war memorial for the 2 minutes' silence at 11 o' clock (& this year, for the first time, I'll be at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford in the afternoon).. But I want the service (at 9.45) to be one of commitment to peace - not in spite of those who go to war, but in honour of them. Our readings are Amos 5: 18-24 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 Matthew 25: 1-13 Thessalonians is concerned about the dead & their 'fate' in God. Amos & Matthew are both concerned with 'values'. Amos contains the 'I despise your sacrifices... I require mercy & justice' bit. Matthew is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. We may have some cubs at the service so I guess they might hook into the 'be prepared' element of the story of the virgins...

I've spent the week thinking about the sermon - on & off - but not got round to posting - for which (if anyone ever reads this) - apologies. As you'll see from the notes below I have a baptism at one church - but this is the sermon for the other church (if you see what I mean). It may seem very simple - but I wanted it to be. Maybe my brain has been in a half-term sort of mood - or just frozen solid by the cold weather! Anyway - her it is: Fully Alive! 1 John 3: 1-3 Matthew 5: 1-10 Yesterday was All Saints day. Some people’s impression of saints is of people who gave up all fun in their lives to follow Jesus. But one of my favourite saints is St Teresa of Avila – who was once travelling with a younger nun who was shocked to see Teresa tucking into a dish of partridge with great relish. ‘Haven’t we devoted ourselves to a life of prayer?’ asked the younger woman, to which Teresa wiped her mouth & said ‘at prayer time, prayer – at partridge time, partridge!’. Or to put i...