Sunday's coming!

Lent 1 I’ve had one of those weeks. When you forget what day it is on Ash Wednesday, you know you might be overdoing it! My diary seems to have been filled with one thing after another. I’m not complaining, but I’m hoping the pace of next week will be rather more measured. Perhaps you’ve had a busy week, too. Or perhaps you’ve had the frustration of not having enough to do – or not enough energy to do very much at all. One of my Oxford tutors once said that we should all remember that we’re human beings, not human doings – we are not made by God with the primary purpose of doing things, but only of being – and we mustn’t get overwhelmed by business. As we start Lent, we start a time when we try to be more reflective – to slow down a little, and go on the journey towards Jerusalem with Jesus. So what do we learn from Jesus in today’s Gospel reading about how to ‘be’? I’m struck by how passive Jesus is in most of the reading we heard. Jesus is baptized by John and in Mark’s version of th...

Given the title 'Sunday's coming' I wasn't sure whether to post this one: but here it is, anyway. Ash Wednesday (Isaiah 58: 1-12 , John 8: 1-11) Soon we will hear the traditional words to accompany the imposition of ashes ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.’ Dust gets a bad press. We all dread the visitor who will notice the dust on what should be shiny surfaces of our home; we speak of grand plans turning to ‘dust and ashes’; we certainly know it’s not a good thing to get be described as ‘old & dusty’. The origin of the phrase ‘you are dust and to dust you shall return’ come is the judgement of Adam, when God finds he has sinned’. It might seem a terrible, even a debasing thing, to be told we are just so much dust. But we are dust. Apparently up to 95% of household dust can be made up of human skin: even before death, we are destined to return to dust. And when Adam is told that he is dust, i...

Transfiguration The story of the transfiguration is one of the strangest of the episodes of Jesus’ ministry – so strange that some writers have suggested that it didn’t happen during Jesus earthly life at all, but is a resurrection appearance which has got misplaced in the gospel. But if this is a resurrection story, it’s a very odd one – nowhere else do Moses & Elijah appear with the resurrected Jesus, or does anyone offer to build a shelter for Jesus, and in no other resurrection story is Jesus silent. I think we learn most from the story when we take it that Mark has put it in the right place in the narrative of the life of Jesus: and in fact we learn most when we stop looking at what Jesus is doing, and pay more attention to the disciples: James, John & Peter. Everything that happens in this story is directed at the 3 disciples: Jesus led them up the mountain He is transfigured before them There appeared to them Moses & Elijah A cloud overshadowed them They saw no-one w...

This week's reading from the Hebrew scriptures is the story of Naaman the Syrian. I've got the weekend off - but was at a meeting in the week where we were reflecting on the story & I was very struck by the role of the 3 servants in this: Naaman's wife's servant is the one who tells him to go to Elijah for healing in the first place - she has faith in her God. Naaman's servant is the one who persuades him to bathe in the miserable little river Jordan - he seems to a pragmatist 'if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?' - whether he believes it will work or just thinks Naaman might as well try it, we don't really know. Elijah's servant goes running after Naaman after he has tried to pay Elijah for his services & Elijah has refused payment - Elijah's servant says 'Ooh, I'll take some money!' - & is punished with the skin disease. He thinks Gods power is something he can cash in on. ...

Healing of Simon’s mother-in-law Mark 1; 29-39 On Monday I had to go to the dentist. I was hoping that with the snow that morning, my dentist might not be there and I’d be spared my treatment. No such luck – there she was and she cheerfully said “I’m German – of course I’m here: why do you British get so thrown by a tiny bit of snow?”. I tried to explain that we’re not really used to it and so it does seem to disrupt our usual lives a lot. Suddenly you can’t take it for granted that the buses will run, or the school will be open, or that you can walk on the pavements safely. Of course it’s great fun for the children building snowmen and having snowball fights: but mostly we all want to get back to normal. But perhaps the break from the normal routine can get us thinking about how we normally live and act. Sometimes a time to stop and take stock is no bad thing: what are our daily lives normally like and are we spending our time well? Our Gospel reading gave us a description of part of...

Below you'll see last week's sermon. I was a bit nervous about taking a political stance on Gaza, but felt I couldn't wriggle out of it. Preach the sermon twice (at a 9.30 & 11 am at two different churches)... nothing. No real reaction at all. Oh well. On to this week - Proper 1 ( 3 before Lent). Isaiah 40: 21-31 Mark 1: 29-39 Some nice reassuring words about strength & health from the Lord (in both Isaiah & the gospel). What I don't want to do is preach an anodyne 'cast your burdens on the Lord' sermon - I think I might try to say something about rhythym, about 'work', about resting & praying & being restored... Will anyone hear the word of God in what I say? How will I know if they do??

Candlemass: Malachi 3: 1-5; Luke 2: 22-40 The difficulty with starting any sermon by looking at the Bible readings is that if the preacher isn’t careful the impression can be given that the Bible is an old book full of ancient stories, which need to be studied carefully if they are to make any sense to our modern minds, but which can, with care, be bent around to give a meaning for today. But that’s not what the Bible is – the Bible is God’s word to us now and we read it in each act of worship so that God can speak to us now, where and when we are listening. Those of us who were able to be at John Proctor’s Bible study at Whittlesford on Tuesday evening heard John saying that the story of Genesis – though thousands of years old – has something to say to us about our care of the planet right now. So when we hear of God’s appearance in the temple in the prophecies of Malachi and at the start of Jesus’ life, we need to hear these as stories about God’s appearing and God’s concern for just...