Sunday's coming!

Isaiah 35: 1-10; James 5: 7-10; Matthew 11: 2-11 It must be a sign of middle age and relative security that I find the hardest question for me to be asked lately is “what do you want for Christmas?”. It is also a sign of getting older that my honest answer to “what do you want for Christmas?” is “sleep”. So this third Sunday in Advent is a gift for me… and anyone else who is feeling just a little bit harassed. Here is Isaiah’s gift to us, from chapter 35: Strength for the weak hands, Firmness for the feeble knees. The Lord says to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. The greatest gift of Christmas is God’s presence in our world and in our lives. And it is a gift that we receive without even lifting a finger. More than that, it is a gift which promises us new strength, new grace, new and deeper reserves of love and joy and peace. Or as Isaiah puts it: “everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; the...

Isaiah 2: 1-5 Romans 13: 11-14 Matthew 24: 36-44 For the Dr Who fans it has been an exciting few weeks. Last Saturday was the 50 th anniversary of the first episode of Dr Who. Of the more recent Dr Whos, I have liked David Tennant best: and it was Tennant’s Dr Who who came up with this description of time “People assume that time goes in a straight line, but actually it’s like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey..stuff." Ok – you may not care about Dr Who at all – but as it’s Advent Sunday you’re forced to think about time. We might have been told that Advent Sunday is about getting ready for Christmas: but if that’s all it is, why aren’t our readings a bit more Christmassy? If we are getting ready to celebrate the coming of Christ in a historical event from 2000 years ago – why are our readings looking not back, but forward? On Advent Sunday we think about the coming of our God into the world in Jesus. And that means we think about time, beca...

Last weekend I was in Mevagissey, leading Sunday morning worship. Unfortunately, just an hour before the service I realised that I had left the sermon at home (2 and a half hours' drive away). I managed to collect my thoughts enough to preach - it may even have been better! Anyway, this is what was on my computer, all that time. Readings:  2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13    Luke 21: 5-19 It is a joy to be with you. Not only because I have made no secret of the fact that I love to see the sea, as I travel around the synod, but because this is a very special weekend, with the signing of the ecumenical covenant for Cornwall this afternoon. In that covenant we commit ourselves – Anglican, Methodist, United Reformed, Salvation Army & Baptist Christians – 1.    “to seek out every possible opportunity for joint initiatives at local and county level in mission to all the people of Cornwall 2.    to work together to equip both lay a...

Sermon for an induction on November 10th. Readings were: Luke 18.15-17 , John 15.1-5 (the readings used at Prince George's baptism!) &  Isaiah 11: 1-6 So here we are at the start of something. The start of a new ministry. This is the start of a relationship between Gary & this United Area, and especially between Gary & the churches at Market Lavington, and Devizes . It is also the start of Gary’s relationship with the South Western synod. One of the great joys of a new start like this and welcoming any minister in an induction is getting to know him or her better. So what do we learn about Gary from his choice of readings? The gospel readings from Luke and from John were the ones he chose – the same ones chosen for the baptism of Prince George a few weeks ago. At first this worried me: are we dealing with delusions of grandeur here, Gary? Are you introducing yourself to us as the heir to the throne? Maybe ‘Prince Gary’ has a bit of a ri...