Sunday's coming!

Mark 5: 21-43 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15 Mark’s gospel tells us a story of desperation. It’s a story full of illness and death and desperation. Of a desperate father who longs for Jesus to heal his daughter before it’s too late. Of a desperate woman, who has tried everything to find healing, and is grasping her last chance. Jarius comes and says to Jesus ‘My little daughter is at death’s door. I beg you to come and lay your hands on her so that her life may be saved.’ It’s the use of the word ‘little’ that’s so revealing somehow. And it’s the use of the word ‘beg’. Many of us know at first hand what it means to love another human being so much that we would beg, we would give up anything, we would do anything to save them. You don’t have to be a parent to know what this feels like. But of course we all know how deep human love can go and how much we’d do to keep those we love alive. Meanwhile the woman is alone and her desperation is for herself. We know that she’s o...

Gospel reading for this week is Mark 4: 35-41. We have a baptism, so it will be a short sermon. I am not a good sailor. I’m really much more comfortable on dry land. So when I had to get on a ferry to sail from Ramsgate to Dunkirk, some years ago, I was apprehensive. But it’s only 20 miles – so I thought ‘how bad can it be?’ If I’d known how bad it would be, I would never have got on the boat at all. It was a gusty, wild sort of day, the sea was dark grey and looked like boiling ink, and the boat pitched and rolled and yawed and heaved and various other sea-faring terms I don’t understand. On the boat it was truly horrible – people being sick everywhere, falling around, moaning & groaning. There was only one thing we wanted to do on that boat and that was GET OFF. When we finally reached Dunkirk all any of us could think of was getting back onto dry land and staying there. So I really sympathise with the disciples in the gospel story which we heard. They’re in a fair...

Mark 4: 26-34 I hope we all remember the parable of the mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.   Very small, but amazing, growing into a bush so large that you might even think of it as a tree – big enough for birds to nest in the branches. But in Mark’s gospel, from which we heard the parable, before the parable of the mustard seed Jesus tells a less well-known parable – the kingdom of heaven is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground. Any seed will do – because all seed is amazing. But it seems Jesus is talking about some kind of grain – maybe wheat. It grows, the sower doesn’t know how: stalk, head, full grain. Once the grain is ripe, the sower knows what to do – gather in the harvest. Jesus helps us to think about the amazing potential of a seed. In even the tiniest seed, there is everything needed except water to begin growth – and then as long as the seed is in good rich soil, and the light conditions are right the seedling can grow...

Readings for this week: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 and Mark 3: 30-35 We do not lose heart. After all the excitement and (let’s face it) sheer hard work of celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee here we are back to earth with a bump. Perhaps there isn’t a better time to hear Paul’s words ‘we do not lose heart’. Some of you might know that I wrote to the Queen about the diamond jubilee back in January this year. In researching the background of ‘the day thou gavest, Lord is ended’, for a songs of praise service at Pampisford, I discovered that the hymn was chosen by our present queen’s great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, to be sung at every church service to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. I asked our present queen whether any thought has been given to her providing a selected hymn for use during acts of worship to celebrate this Diamond Jubilee this year? Sadly, the answer was a very polite ‘no’. But what an amazing hymn for Queen Victoria to choose. Victoria, whos...

We have a village service for the Diamond jubilee tomorrow - so what follows is a short reflection on Luke 22: 24-30.  Jubilee We are here because it is our Queen’s diamond jubilee – she has been Queen for 60 years. A friend of mine was wondering lately – what must it be like to be the Queen? To know that whenever you go into a room you’re going to be the most important person there? To know that when you’re at one of those great big posh banquets you are going to be in the most important place. To know that when everyone stands us and sing ‘God save the Queen’ you have to sit there and try not to look too smug. But it seems that although she is Queen and the most important person in the country, our Queen is not big-headed and pushy but is actually very sure that what she is doing is serving other people. That doesn’t mean that she will say to one of her footmen – ‘you look tired – why don’t you sit on the throne and I’ll go and pour the tea’ (or whatever it is th...