Sunday's coming!

It is nearly time for the child to be born. The birth of a child is always good news. In the bit of the world I come from – the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, there’s a poet who’s well known - Sam Laycock. In his poem ‘bonny brid’ – written about the birth of yet another child to a poor family during a time of famine in Lancashire, he manages to be realistic about how hard it is and yet strikes a positive note of good news at the birth of a child: Tha’rt welcome, little bonny brid , But shouldn’t ha’ come just when tha did; Toimes are bad. We’re short o’ pobbies for eawr Joe, But that, of course, tha didn’t know, Did tha, lad? Cheer up! These toimes ‘ll awter soon; Aw’m beawn to beigh another spoon- One for thee;- An’, as tha’s sich a pratty face Aw’ll let thi have eawr Charley’s place On mi knee. (For those who want to see more about the poem, there's a webpage here ) It is nearly time for the child to be born. And that birth is Good news. It’s a night for goo...

A very short reflection...we all have turkeys to cook, don't we? Christmas Day So all through Advent we have been looking at the Advent gifts ‘ God can’t wait to give’ The lit candle – hope in the darkness. The Word of God - which brings comfort. The water - which reminds us of John the Bapitst & the new life from God. The baby, born to Mary – who shows us how God chooses to enter the world. Today’s final gift – is.. a crown (a simple paper crown from a cracker!) We are reminded that the child, Jesus, the baby born to Mary & placed in the manger, is the King of all. He will grow to heal, teach, lead and ultimately to save people. His life, his death & his resurrection will demonstrate the amazing gift of the love of God. God is born in human flesh – come to be among us and yet born to be our King and our Lord. The crown also reminds us of the 3 wise ones who are traveling to worship this baby king – with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Bu...

Advent 4 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:26-38 The Advent gifts ‘gifts God can’t wait to give’ just keep coming. We have had the lit candle – a sign of the light of hope in the darkness; the Word of God, which brings comfort; and the water – to remind us of John the Baptist and the promise of new life. This week’s final gift is…a child (photo of a baby), which reminds us that God decides how he will come into this world. The idea that a child can be God’s gift to us is certainly not earth-shattering. I had a friend who used to joke ‘children are a gift from God – don’t tell him where you live!’. But Advent tells us that God does not just give us the gift of a child – but that the child who comes is God’s gift of himself. We know this – it is why we sing ‘O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel – God with us’. But you might wonder about the relevance of the reading from the second book of Samuel, where David wants to construct a home for God. Through the prophet Nathan God...

This coming Sunday I have two more Carol services & just one 'preaching service'. The theme for this week is Mary: ‘God decides how he will be ‘housed’ in this world’ Object in the 'bag' will be a baby photo The readings are 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Luke 1:26-38 I heard a great sermon on the significance of the manger from Susan Durber at Westminster College, & I think I want to contrast to care with which preparations are made for any baby being brought into the world - and especially the birth of Jesus - and the whole 'laid him in a manger' bit. Luke has the angels tell the shepherds this is a 'sign'. A sign of what? presumably the identity of this special baby: Jesus, the one who will feed the world, who will be the bread of life for all.

R eadings this week: Isaiah 61: 1-4 John 1: 6-8, 19-28 Advent 3 Today’s advent ‘gift’ from God: is water. I don’t expect any of us will find ourselves unwrapping a bottle of water this Christmas day: but we couldn’t manage long without the gift of water. What does water mean to us? We associate water with life – growing, drinking, washing, cleansing. We have heard in the gospel reading how John the Baptist comes baptising with water – he is offering a new start, a turning around, repentance. John offers people a new beginning – but he is clear that his role is only to start people on the path to a better life. John is the forerunner for the Lord who is to come – he is clear that what people really need is not his baptism with water, but what Jesus has to offer: a new life knowing that God is with them. So our gift of water is only a sign of the Advent gift of life. What does this life look like? Stop for a moment & hear the voice of John the Baptist ‘Make straight the ...

Advent 2 Isaiah 40: 1-11, Mark 1:1-8 This Advent I’ve been inspired by the John Lewis adverts on the TV. If you haven’t seen them yet, they star a 7 year old lad waiting for Christmas. We see him staring out of the window, looking at his advent calendar, trying to make the clock go faster, and finally gobbling down his peas on Christmas Eve so he can go to bed, where he shuts his eyes tight & tries hard to get to sleep. On Christmas morning he finally wakes up, but rushes straight past all his presents… because what he’s been waiting for is the chance to get a badly-wrapped present out of his wardrobe which he proudly takes in to give to his mum & dad. The punchline is “For gifts you can’t wait to give”. I’m not being sponsored by John Lewis, but when I got one of their bags, having bought some candles for Whittlesford URC, I thought I would use it. But my version is modified – “Advent: for gifts God can’t wait to give”. Last week the gift was a candle – a sign of the ...

I did preach on Advent Sunday - but sadly, just as I had finished my sermon notes my Hard Drive died. It is now replaced but of course the sermon has gone! I made some notes in long hand (using paper & pen) & I'm not sure anyone noticed on Sunday - but it does mean there is no electronic version of the what I said. Sorry. Thank goodness I'd saved the Advent ideas here, though - because that has gone, too!

I'm very grateful to Neil Thorogood of Westminster College for his ideas about Advent downloadable here , along with a whole host of ideas from the wonderful Westminster staff. I've decided to have a theme running through Advent: "The Gifts God can't wait to give". (Yes, I also owe inspiration to the John Lewis ad here - if you haven't seen it (It still makes me cry when I watch - I think its beautifully filmed & a lovely sound track). So, each Sunday of Advent I will pull out of my modified John Lewis bag (modified to read 'God's Advent - for gifts God can't wait to give) a symbol of the Advent theme for that week, as an intro into the sermon. This means I now need to sit down and decide what my theme will be for each week of Advent - but when I've done it, it could take a lot of the heat out of preparing worship for the next 5 weeks! So here's the outline: Advent 1 Theme = hope Isaiah 64:1-9 Mark 13:24-37 ‘The day of the L...

Christ the King In a week where the news has been full of further protests against banking practices, unrest in the Arab nations, and financial questions about the euro, unemployment and recession, it might be tempting to look for a breather when you come to church. But I think our Bible readings today make us think about our world and question still further: Where is God when life is difficult and unfair? What use is prayer when we’re struggling? Why can’t the Bible help us to make ethical decisions about money or power or what to do with our lives? I'm particularly struck by the Ezekiel passage. Three times we find the phrase, in the words spoken by the Lord God 'I myself..'. I myself will search for my sheep. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. You might think all this ‘sheep’ talk is a long way from where we are. But clearly, through Ezekiel, God is wanting to tell his people that he will car...

Readings for this week include: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Matthew 25:31-4 Perhaps because I've been looking at the Matthew for the last few weeks, I'm particularly struck by the Ezekiel passage. Three times we find the phrase, in the words spoken by the Lord God 'I myself..'. I myself will search for my sheep I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. The theme of judgement is of course taken up in the parable, too. But I think I want to focus on Christ as God incarnate - God as 'I myself'. Christ's care for the sheep - the good shepherd who searches & tends. & then Christ's demand, as King, that we act as those who live by his rules - searching, caring, tending, for the lost sheep of our world.

Yes, gentle reader, some of this is the same as last week - that's the beauty of being in four different churches - I felt some of it was equally relevant this week Many people know how much I like puzzles – sudoko, crosswords, brain-teasers: I find it hard to walk away from an unsolved challenge. Perhaps that is why I love parables so much: they tease our brains, we wonder what they are about, and we try to work out their relevance to us. So today we heard the parable if the talents. 3 servants are each given a number of ‘talents’ and treat those talents differently. When the owner returns from a long time away, he asks them each what they have done with the talents they were given, and rewards them or punishes them according to what they have done. Some people read this story about ‘talents’ quite literally and conclude that Jesus is telling us not to waste the talents – the gifts and abilities God has given us. Unfortunately, this is ignoring the fact that Jesus probabl...

Some of you might remember the Ian Dury song of the same name 'what a waste' (if you get the same 'thrashy' ad first I do apologise - Ian Dury is much better!). It's kept going round in my head this week as I've been contemplating Remembrance Sunday and (especially) the Gospel reading for this Sunday - the parable of the Talents. I think the idea of being 'called to account' frightens many of us - but accountability is an important part of life. So, reading Matthew 25: 14-30 in the context of the whole of the chapter I am left with the question of how we spend our lives, rater than waste them: spend time instead of wasting it - maybe even 'spend' rather than waste our remembrance. I'm hoping this will make more sense when I sit down to flesh it out - meanwhile I still have the thrid of three funerals to conduct this week - so maybe that explains why I'm more than usually concerned with how we spend and don't waste what God gives...

Very late posting this week - I have really had to wrestle with Matthew 25: 1-13! So this Sunday is the 3rd before Advent, which means that Christmas is starting to loom on the horizon. I don’t know about you, but I am simultaneously intrigued and frustrated by those little puzzles that you sometimes get as Christmas presents. I’m the sort of person who can’t really rest until the puzzle is solved. I might force myself to put it down from time to time, but I can’t stop myself from coming back to it to have another go at solving it. Christmas Day and Boxing Day can be seriously eaten into by the frustration of a puzzle which is difficult to solve. A bit like a parable really. Especially this parable. All week I’ve been reading, re-reading – trying to solve the puzzle – what is the point of this parable? What is Jesus trying to teach us by telling it? Matthew has Jesus conclude the parable with ‘Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour’. I see how this fit...

Reformation Sunday. Today is Reformation Sunday. It’s always interesting to get Christians together & find out who does and who does not consider themselves to be ‘Reformed’. I think as I was growing up (as a part of the United Reformed Church - formed by the union of Congregationalists and Presbyterians) we were more likely to use the term ‘non-Conformist’ than “Reformed’: though as time goes on I think I prefer the more positive title of Reformed. And it’s particularly interesting to ask Anglicans where they stand, because they need to decide whether the formation of the Church of England was, at least in part, a response to the European Reformation or merely a split from Rome, so that they feel more Catholic than anything. But if you’re worried about this turning into a history lesson or an exercise in tribal allegiance instead of a sermon, let me remind you that being Reformed means, among other things, taking the Bible seriously. So let’s do that. At one level it sounds...

This coming Sunday is 'Reformation Sunday', but it seems to me to be a good Reformed principle to look in detail at the set Bible readings for the day. So my texts will be: Micah 3: 5-12 Matthew 23: 1-12 I'm very struck by the criticism of "authority" in both Micah & by Jesus in the gospel. It would be easy to say somehting like 'the Reformation challenged the authorities of that day & won through - thanks be to God. This is what one OT lecturer has called the approach of 'hey Martin (Luther) got it right and so do we!'. (Fred Gaiser, here I want to preach Reformation but not as a historical 'hoorah' - rather as a challenge to all of us to never forget that we need to keep our eyes on God's gracious working among us. The Reformed sensibility teaches us that our 'religious' lives are not just what we do in church, but how we treat others in 'the world'. I hope we can celebrate but also have our hearts set o...

Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18 Matthew 22: 34-40 I have lived my life in fear for the last 10 years or so.. ever since one of my brothers revealed that if he was ever on ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ I would be his friend to phone to help him if he had a Bible question. Imagine the pressure of being on national television (heard, if not seen) and having to give the right answer: and imagine the embarrassment when it was revealed that even thought I had got the simple question wrong, I was in fact a minister of religion. Sometimes I wonder what sort of questions I might be asked, which part of the Bible the question compilers might choose. Perhaps today’s readings have given us a clue – because probably the best known bit of the Bible is the 10 commandments. Well, I say best known – but most of us are a bit hazy about exactly what they are. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours ox… or was it a...

Perhaps I wimped out, but I decided that some people might get so upset by the 'God's backside' phrase, That I've dropped it! God turns his back Sometimes a sermon starts with a text that is a struggle to understand. Sometimes life throws up such hard questions that the sermon needs to start there. And sometimes the two things come together. This week I have been wrestling with the reading from Exodus (33:12-23) but also wondering what we do in those times in life when it feels that God is far from us and doesn’t really care. And I hope the reading actually gives us some help with our questioning. So what is the Exodus story all about? Moses is having a wobble - and you can't really blame him. After much pleading with Pharoah, and many miraculous interventions from God, God’s people have been released from Egypt. Then the people wander in the wilderness, complaining about the lack of food and water – and again are miraculously provided for by God. Finally the...

Back in May I went to a 'festival of preaching' where one of the speakers was Anna Carter Florence. If you've never heard of her, find some of her preaching & read it - she's fabulous! She was telling us that in order to preach you first have to let the Word 'pass over your body'. Since then, I've tried to preach on whichever text has gripped me most (even if sometimes I've felt I had to wrestle hard to get some sense out of it). So this week my text has to be Exodus 33:12-23 What is this all this about? Moses is having a wobble - and you can't really blame him. But it seems like God, too is having a sulk and is ready to give up on his people altogether. At one level this feels very removed from our experience of God - we don't chat with God & insist that he acts like we want & then demand 'show me your face'. But we do know what it is to go through times when we are not sure whether God is with us or not. And perhaps, l...

Matthew 22: 1-14 - the parable of the wedding banquet Jesus’ parable, as ever, paints an exaggerated, almost ridiculous picture. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who invites people to a party, but they don’t come. No, more than that, they refuse to come & they murder the slaves who have come with the invitation. So the king sends troops to destroy the non-attending, murdering guests and burns down their city. I think they can consider themselves un-invited! Then the king sends out for more guests, gathering anyone and everyone off the streets. This king goes to enormous trouble to makes sure the feast is full of guests. If you went a sense of how ridiculous all this is, imagine the gates of Buckingham Palace being thrown open to everyone for the Royal Wedding this year and the Queen encouraging everyone from the streets to tuck in to the wonderful food. But, back at the parable, a man is spotted who is inappropriately dressed – so the king orders the servants to bind the g...

After a sudden epiphany when I realised that Jesus does not answer this question 'what will he do?', I have re-shaped the sermon a bit. And thanks to those friends on facebook who helped me conclude my thoughts about fruitfulness - have a gold star! What will he do? This week's wrestling is with the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. The other lectionary reading helps us to remember that in the Hebrew Scriptures 'the vineyard' was God's Promised land, inhabited by God's chosen people. I think we have to beware an anti-semitic reading of this parable that says 'God throws out the Jews and put new 'tenants' in his vineyard: us!’. So what does Jesus say about this owner of the vineyard? He is persistent - almost to the point of stupidity. The first slaves are beaten, killed and stoned. So what does he do? Sends more! - and they are 'treated in the same way'. Isn't this the point at which we expect the owner to bring in the ...

This week's wrestling is with the parable of the tenants in the vineyard: Matthew 21:33-46. The other lectionary readings help us to remember that in the Hebrew Scriptures 'the vineyard' was God's Promised land, inhabited by God's chosen people. I think we have to beware an anti-semitic reading of this that says 'God throws out the Jews and put new 'tenants' in his vineyard: us! So what do we learn about this owner of the vineyard? He is persistent - almost to the point of stupidity. The first slaves are beaten, killed and stoned. So what does he do? Sends more! - and they are 'treated in the same way'. Isn't THIS the point at which we expect the owner to bring in the bailiffs & clear the place out & either put in new tenants or sell & get out of wine-production altogether. But no, our persistent/foolish owner sends his son, saying 'they will respect my son'. But it comes as no surprise to find that these lawless t...

This week I am not preaching on Sunday - but I will, instead be preaching on Saturday, at the induction of my friend, Rachel, to be warden of the URC's St Cuthbert's centre on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. see here for more details My part is to reflect on the passage about Jacob's ladder: Genesis 28: 10-17 Here is a first draft of what I'm likely to say: “Way way back many centuries ago: not long after the Bible began, Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, a fine example of a family man…” Except that in the reading we just heard we catch up with Jacob long before Andrew Lloyd-Webber & Tim Rice get hold of him. This Jacob is not a fine example of anything – except perhaps a rather slimy, cheating piece of work. Jacob is the younger twin, the second-born, and not the one who is supposed to inherit the lion’s share of his father wealth and blessing. But first he tricks his brother Esau into promising him all his rights as first-born (by catching Esau when he...

I realise it's only Monday - but struck by an item of news about modern day 'slavery' and inspired by a reflection by Anna Carter Florence on the hardship of waiting here I've just sat down and written a first draft of the sermon. The parable of the workers in the vineyard: it’s NOT FAIR! This last week a disturbing story emerged of workers allegedly held in slavery on a traveller site in Leighton Buzzard. In 21st century Bedfordshire, grown men were picked up in vans and promised labouring work and somewhere to live at £40-£80 per day. But when they got to the caravan site they were put in small sheds or rundown caravans with too little food, had their identity papers taken and their heads shaved and were made to work with no pay – whilst being told that of they tried to run away they would be beaten up. And all this in a neighbouring county to ours. At first I could scarcely believe it – and then as news of the case grew it became clear that this is not the...

OK -back on track with the lectionary: Matthew 18: 21-35 and here's a first draft... Forgiveness Peter asks Jesus about forgiveness ‘How many times should I forgive?’. What a good question. She let me down again – should I forgive her again? He really hurt my feelings this time with what he said - how can I forgive him? The crime is so awful, the implications so enormous – where is the place for forgiveness? in the story of the Twin Towers & 9/11, or the death in custody of Baha Musa, or the shootings carries out by Raoul Moat. What difference would it make to this world if we really took forgiveness seriously? How many times should I forgive? So Jesus tells one of his parables. A parable about forgiveness.. or maybe unforgiveness. A slave owes his king 10,000 talents. A talent was about a year’s wages for a labourer. This is a huge sum. Even if the man lives on nothing and gives all that he earns to the king it would take him 10,000 years to pay him back. This...

Yes, I'm cheating: having not preached last week I'm using last week's lectionary readings as they fitted so well with the baptism that I'm conducting. Thought that after holidays I could be allowed to cut myself some slack!I also shortened them slightly for the sake of the 2 grandfathers who are reading them and the congregation, most of whom will be the 'baptism party'. Sermon notes for Sept 4th (baptism) Romans 12:9-13 Matthew 16:21-26 I was delighted to hear the first reading – the one from Paul’s letter to the Romans this morning, especially at Harry’s baptism. Here’s the Bible my Godparents gave me the day I was baptised – aged just under 3 months. You can see that like it’s owner it’s showing signs of wear & tear! And here inside my Godmother, Marjorie, wrote (verses from Romans ch 12). It might seem an odd present for a tiny baby: I remember as a child being a bit jealous of my brother – who had a silver egg cup and spoon as a Baptism pre...

Completed sermon notes for Aug 21st Transformed As some of you know I have been on holiday this last week, so this sermon had to be written a week early, for once. As I was writing it, the news was full of the riots and looting in London and various other cities. Whatever else has happened in the intervening week, I’m sure the riots are still fresh in our minds. Paul’s letter to the Romans, with it’s call to 'Be transformed not conformed' feels like the good news many people need to hear as we contemplate what makes the think veneer of society break down so dramatically. Don’t follow the crowd, and be conformed but allow God’s love to change you: be transformed. There have been many theories as to why the disturbances have happened, and I’m sure there isn’t one simple answer. But I saw struck by three comments in particular I heard from people at the centre of areas of trouble. A mother in Manchester stated “if you treat them like scum, they’ll act like scum” A resi...

No, I haven't forgotten August 14th - but I'll be on holiday & not preaching. So the plan is to get ahead and prepare for Aug 21st this week. Well, it's a plan - but lots of extra stuff seems to have hit the diary this week...*sigh* Anyway readings for Aug 21st are: Isaiah 51: 1-6 Romans 12: 1-8 Matthew 16: 13-20 My initial thoughts were to preach about Peter - but will all the riots & stuff it seems that Isaiah & Romans are more relevant. 'Being transformed not conformed' feels like the good news many people need to hear - it's time for the church to speak out about what really makes people happy & to stand out against consumerism - not just moaning about 'the state of the world' but offering an alternative. I may well make reference to the Camping and caravanning club campaign 'Get Rich Quick' here - especially as I am off in the tent the next day! Happy Times.

Slightly expanded and amended: If it is you Matthew 14: 22-33 Last week’s gospel passage told the story of the feeding of the five thousand. This week’s passage begins with Jesus sending the disciples back across the lake while he dismisses that crowd of over 5000 and spends time alone in prayer. And then, in the depth of the night, as the disciples struggle against a head wind, the most amazing thing happens – Jesus walks across the lake towards them. I am not surprised the disciples were terrified – wouldn’t you be? The storm is wild, the night is dark, they just want to get to land. And through the dark and the storm comes a figure …walking on the sea. What?? Maybe they had already lamented the fact that Jesus wasn’t with them when the storm started – after all Jesus had already shown them on another occasion that he had the power to still the storm. But the last thing they expected was for Jesus to come and join them in the boat by walking on the water. This is not normal...