Sunday's coming!

Readings: Genesis 32: 22-31 Matthew 14: 13-21 I know I’m showing my age – but one of the first films I remember seeing was Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”. I loved the little flying Fairy Godmothers with their gifts for the little princess – and I shuddered at the appearance of Maleficent – the Bad fairy Godmother who came with the curse – the bad news that the little girl would prick her finger on her 16th birthday and die – although in fact she only falls asleep. I feel a bit like Maleficent today – here we are gathered on this happy occasion of Nia’s baptism, when we celebrate God’s blessing of her: but I want to remind you of some of the bad news around, some of the many hazards and difficulties. How are we meant to make sense of God’s blessing in a world where so much can go wrong? The funerals have begun for the 76 people who died in Norway; our TV screens are full of pictures of people starving in Eastern Africa; and nearer to home this village has been shocked by the death...

The Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-33,44-52) Listen, then, to the parable of the vicarage garden. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a vicar who had in her garden great quantities of ivy, cow parsley and ground elder. She watched as these plants grew until the whole garden was thick and green and almost impenetrable. And when there was a street party for the Royal Wedding the local children made dens and forged paths with sticks and declared the garden ‘brilliant’; and muntjac deer came and could eat without causing any real damage; and the wood pigeons came and waddled about feeding and grew so fat they could hardly leave the ground. And the vicar decided she’d better not try to become a member of the village gardening society.’ Those who cast a glance over my fence will realise this is not entirely fantasy. I have a dream that one day when I retire I will grow vegetables and pretty flowers and sit in the shade sipping something cool and enjoying it all. But right now my garden is som...

Readings for this week include Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 with a real treasure-trove of parables of the kingdom: the yeast, the mustard seed, the pearl, treasure in a field, the net. I think I will preach on just one: the mustard seed - which I referred to in last week's sermon with the 'other' churches. At one church this week we will have the Godly Play version of the Mustard seed - it is such a short, simple story and yet can provide such food for thought. I would also like to encourage people to set aside dates in the their diaries for the Autumn for an 'Everybody Welcome' course, making a link with the birds of the air being welcomed in the branches of the strange weed that is the mustard bush. Also i think I'd like to link the idea of the growth of the kingdom in the mystery of a seed with the Romans reading (Romans 8:26-39) and Paul's teaching about the way the Spirit helps us to be on-anxious about God's love and God's purpose.

Readings: Matthew 13: 24-30 Romans 8: 12-25 Fit for purpose? – seeds and weeds “Fit for purpose” seems to have become something of a buzz phrase. A few years ago I only ever heard people talking about articles you had bought being ‘fit for purpose’ or ‘not fit for purpose’ under the consumer goods act. But in just the last week, for example, there have been questions in the news as to whether bodies such as the International Whaling Commission, the banks’ risk management systems, and the press complaints commission are ‘fit for purpose’, and even whether individuals such as sports stars, journalists and politicians are ‘fit for purpose’. It seems that wherever there are doubts about human performance someone will want to say not just that mistakes have been made, but that somehow these people are not ‘fit for purpose’. For weeks now we’ve been listening to chunks of Paul’s letter to the Romans, with Paul agonising over human fallibility. If we are created by a loving and powerfu...

Ears to hear? If you’ve heard the Gospel story before you probably know it as the parable of the sower. But a better title is probably the parable of the seed. The whole point of the story is what happens to the seed. It is scattered by the sower – broadcast, thrown all over the place. The sower is generous, almost wasteful, in the way that he scatters the seed. He doesn’t look at some areas and think “there’s no point in scattering there” – he risks throwing the seed everywhere. This is a parable – so Jesus is telling us this story to show us what the kingdom of God is like – what God is like – and Jesus demonstrates how this liberal generosity works. A great crowd of people are listening to Jesus. They are stood on the beach. listening to Jesus talk from a boat. Jesus’ words go everywhere – he doesn’t try to control who hears the message of God’s love – he wants everyone to hear. Jesus starts his story with ‘listen!’ and ends with ‘let anyone with ears listen!’. Anyone with ear...

Romans 7 15-25, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 How are you feeling today? More specifically – how do you feel about yourself? How is your self-esteem? According to an article I read this week, if you’re the Chief Executive Officer of a company your answer to that question is likely to be ‘I’m perfect’. Every week for the past year and a half, the Financial Times has asked business leaders 20 questions including: "What are your three worst features?" In the replies, the CEOs refuse to really admit to any weaknesses – reflecting instead on ‘disguised strengths’. They almost all cite impatience, perfectionism and being too demanding - all of which turn out to be things that it's rather good for a CEO to be. This led the researcher to suggest that the three worst traits of chief executives are a lack of self-knowledge, a refusal to be honest and a quite extraordinary willingness to give themselves the benefit of the doubt. (Article here if you want to read it) But what ab...