Sunday's coming!

Joel 2: 21-27 Matthew 6: 25-33 It would be easy to be smug today, wouldn’t it? The church looks beautiful, the weather’s picked up again, and of course Ellie is gorgeous – and the rest of us have scrubbed up Ok too. Is there really anything more to say than ‘aren’t we lucky!’ and maybe ‘thank you God’. But I think there is a bit more to say than that – as we’ve heard from our Bible readings   - one kept saying ‘be not afraid’ the other ‘do not worry’.   On the face of it they’re not very cheerful and ‘harvesty’ – nor are they particularly good news for a baptism. But actually if we were to wish Ellie anything at this start of her journey of faith, then freedom from fear and freedom from worry would be a pretty good start. We meet surrounded by flowers and fruit and we heartily give thanks for all the gifts with which God has blessed us. But we are reminded that people do worry about the harvest, that they are sometimes afraid that there won’t be enough...

Mark 9: 30-37 As we’ve been plodding through Mark’s gospel in the last month or so this question has kept coming up one way or another:  What does it mean to be a disciple? Marks’ gospel is 16 chapters long, so more than once you might have heard me say in a sermon on chapters 8, 9 or 10 ‘we’re about half way through Mark’s gospel’. You might have heard me talk about tipping points, or see saws, or points of no return. Mark’s gospel spend the first half talking about what Jesus said & did & where he went, and then from chapter 11 it’s the entry into Jerusalem & down hill all the way. Chapters 8 & 9 & 10 have a special, in-betweeny feel about them, and some things just keep coming up. Who is Jesus? What does it mean to follow Jesus? Who are his disciples? How do we walk God’s way, not our way? And today’s passage covers a lot of this ground. Jesus talks about his suffering and death The disciples don’t understand They argue among...

Mark 8: 28-37 Jesus has a question. It may not seem like it at first, but it is a vital question. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Don’t you think it’s interesting that no-one gives the obvious answer – son   of Mary & maybe of Joseph (though the rumours are that Mary was already expecting before the wedding). Jesus the rabbi, the teacher. Jesus the miracle-worker. Jesus of Nazareth. Clearly the disciples understand this is an important question – Jesus isn’t looking for the obvious answers – he wants to know what it is about him that makes people want to follow. It’s a question which asks ‘who do you think you’re following?’ Some say John the Baptist, other Elijah, or one of the prophets. This is not just a carpenter’s son   - this is someone one worth following, not just a teacher – a prophet – maybe the great prophet Elijah, maybe a more modern prophet like John the Baptist. But who do you say that I am? asks Jesus. Peter blurts out the right answ...

A right strawy epistle! Well that was what Martin Luther thought of James. But   this week I'm going to go with the reading from it (James 1: 17-27) as my main text. Some of you might groan at that – you may agree with Luther that James is just a list of suggestions of things that Christians should or should not do, that doesn’t add much to our understanding of what it means to be loved by God.  Others of you might be quietly cheering inside: at last a sermon full of practical advice about how to follow Jesus, how to actually live our lives, tips for what to do and what not to do, uncluttered by too much questioning of who Jesus was. I have bad news for you, whichever camp you fall into – I think James is determined to hold together both the theological understanding of Jesus and the practical outworking of discipleship. Luther’s difficulty with James’ letter was that he felt that in James’ insistence on the importance of works rather than faith alone, he w...