Sunday's coming!

            1 Corinthians 1:10-18      Matthew 4:12-23        Part 1 Today is the end of the week of prayer for Christian Unity.   It’s not too late for us to pray for unity – but perhaps the fact that we are doing this in our own chapel, hoping that others are doing it in theirs, show we still have a lot of learn about being together. It’s good that we’re part of God’s church and that today we have heard parts of scripture to challenge us.   We heard part of the Letter of Paul to Corinthians.   This letter gets off to such a good start ‘to God’s church at Corinth, called to be saints’…and yet now, just 10 verses in, Paul gets to the real purpose of writing. He doesn’t want to tell the Corinthians how well they’re doing as followers of Christ, but to tell them off for all the dispute and division between them.    Paul is realistic about how...

      John 1: 29-42 Opticians are very keen to impress upon us the importance of being able to see clearly. Specsavers have got their catchphrase “should’ve gone to Specsavers” into all our brains.   You might remember this advert from the last few years – as it includes the tune we have been singing for the words   “behold the lamb of God”, and includes both sheep and the importance of seeing, I couldn’t resist using it to introduce this sermon:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV2qiOeUT9E   It is hard to navigate the world if we can’t see clearly. We need to pay attention, look and see.   John’s gospel is full of references to seeing, looking, watching. The part of the gospel we heard this morning contains at least 10 references to seeing, and John the Baptist is clear that he wants the people around him to look and to see Jesus for who he is : “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.  ...

  Matthew 2: 1-12, Isaiah 60: 1-6 Just how wise are the wise men? We don’t know quite where they have come from, or how far they have travelled. We are not told how their families and friends reacted to them starting out on their strange journey. Maybe they all thought these so-called wise men were being immensely foolish.   But they set off, following a star, looking for a king. Once they arrive in the land of Judah their wisdom seems to fail them – they stop following the star and because they are looking for a king they look first in the obvious, but the wrong place. They go to the royal palace in the capital of Judah, Jerusalem, asking to see the new-born ‘king of the Jews’.   For ‘Wise men’ they act in a rather stupid way, exciting the interest and the anger of the actual King of Judah – Herod.   But, interested in finding and eliminating the opposition, he asks his own advisors where the child is to be born and receives the prophecy “In Bethlehem”...

Christmas Eve Sermon Adults – we’ve nearly made it. The shops are mostly shut, the food is bought, the presents are wrapped, at least some of us are ready for bed.. Children – you’ve nearly made it. One more sleep, everyone’s arrived, the decorations are magical, at least some of you are ready for bed…   We all just need to wait for Christmas to arrive, to feel ‘Christmassy’, for Christmas to come alive. I wonder what one thing brings Christmas to life for you? Perhaps it’s the moment when you see candlelight on the face of your loved ones When you see a star shining in someone’s window Or an angel atop a Christmas tree When the tinsel or the lights twinkle at you and you feel excitement again When you hear a brass band playing carols Or catch the bray of a donkey, or a bird singing in the near-darkness.   If you haven’t felt it yet, you have about twelve hours until whatever you are feeling, it will be Christmas morning any...

I didn't write this - the "guest Author" is Susan Durber. I will be using it on Christmas day A Christmas story I know a Christmas story that comes in a book with only pictures, and no words, no sounds at all - you have to imagine the words yourself. But this is a Christmas story with no pictures, only sounds. In this story you have to imagine the pictures, and you have to make the sounds.   Once there was a spare room in a house in Bethlehem. This was not a spare room like you might have; with a spare bed and a wardrobe where the Christmas decorations are stored. It was the second room in the house, built on the side, where the animals were kept in Winter. In the summer it was empty and silent, but in the darkest, coldest days of the year it was filled with sounds. And one year, one year in particular, one special year, there were many sounds…   First, there was the usual sound of the cows…   And the usual sound of the donkeys…   ...