Queerness, Shepherds and the Holy Family

December 30, 2020Posted inSermons
Liturgically it is not too late for another Christmas address. We are, technically on day 5 of what is a 12-day long festival of Christmastide! The life of Jesus queered social boundaries from the start. Who outside the Holy Family should hear of his birth first but shepherds. Shepherds were, according to the religious orthodoxy of the day, seen as ritually and physically unclean. They were at the mercy of the constant demands of their flocks and had no time for the meticulous program of ceremonial hygiene that would have been demanded of the average person.

First Sunday After Christmas

December 27, 2020Posted inSermons
So in this past week we arrived out of the season of Advent into Christmas. Many of us completed our Advent calendars, listened to carols from King’s College, Cambridge, and left appropriate festive fair by the fireplace for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day you might have been lucky enough to have your family with you for a great dinner, you might have called friends and family members from afar, or maybe you felt slightly green around the gills after over indulging in the chocolate from your selection box.

Advent: Looking Forward from a Time of Pandemic

December 13, 2020Posted inSermons
When I preach during Advent, I have been known to have a bit of a moan at people who to skip observing the quiet solemnity of Advent and instead, choose to plunge headfirst into the manic merriness of Christmas earlier than they liturgically should. This is not going to be one of those occasions.

Remembrance Sunday

November 8, 2020Posted inSermons
[A sermon given via Zoom to the Oxford Unitarians congregation on Sunday, 8th of November 2020] (Readings: Parable of the Old Man and the Young by Wilfred Owen and Matthew…

Pride in Tying Times: Princess Dresses and Stormy Seas

October 11, 2020Posted inSermons
I have to start by saying how wonderful it is to be preaching to what for many years was my home congregation while I lived, worked, and studied in the wonderful city that is Leeds. This must be a really odd time of you as a congregation. You would, in any other year, be recovering from putting on a host of activities as a part of Leeds Pride. However, with 2020 being the year that it is, it was sadly not to be. Pride may not have been the same this year and I cannot possibly make up for that with a sermon – but I’m going to try. Just for you – and whoever is watching this online afterwards – I am going to try to make this my most Queer Theology packed sermon yet!