Sunday's coming!

This was last week's sermon - didn't get posted as I was away from my desk from the Thursday. Sorry. Gospel reading was Matthew 22: 34-46 Who is Jesus?   That might seem like a huge question, but it is one which I think resonates through each gospel (each of which, after all, was written to try to answer the question) and is as important a question for each of us as ever it was for the first followers of Jesus. In the section of Matthew we’ve had in the lectionary over the last few weeks there have been questions to Jesus – some from the Sadducees, some from the Pharisees: there have been questions on divorce, authority, taxes, resurrection and now the law. Matthew states that these questions are put to ‘test’ or to ‘trap’ Jesus, but perhaps there was also a genuine desire to find out whose side Jesus was on, what he stands for, who should rally to his cause. Who is Jesus? Or perhaps whose is Jesus? But Jesus shows no interest in claiming support fro...

Matthew  5:1-12       1 John 3:1-3 There are some Bible readings which we’ve heard so many times that maybe they’ve lost their power to make us sit up and take notice. Perhaps today’s Gospel reading is like that – a reading so popular we often put it on the walls of our churches opposite the ten commandments. It’s such a well-worn piece of scripture we even have a special posh Latin name for it, the “beatitudes”. But what Jesus is actually saying is quite shocking. Blessed are... the last people you might expect. Who would you expect to be the ones considered most blessed by God? What does the world say about the “Top people of 2014”? I used Google to answer that question and I found lists of The most influential people Most creative Most famous Most powerful Richest Most popular And people shaping the fashion industry But who does Jesus say are the most blessed people? The poor in spirit Those who mourn The meek ...

This week I am preaching at a Church Anniversary, using the lectionary readings: Exodus 33: 12-23 & Matthew 22: 15-22 I’m grateful to our previous Synod Moderator, David Grosch-Miller, currently moderator of General Assembly, for the start of his latest blog: “It has been a busy time in pursuit of the places where God is at work! The latest quest began in Sheffield with the 300th anniversary of worship on the site now occupied by Central URC. Anniversaries can sometimes be the excuse for nostalgia to cloud the memory and reality to take a back seat.” Perhaps this explains why I was initially nervous about accepting the invitation to lead worship today as we celebrate this church anniversary. It is dangerous, isn’t it, looking back. It can make us wistful, even a little disconsolate , as we remember past glories and good times. When I was the minister of one quite large church, we were talking about the church anniversary which was coming up and one...