woman in orange coat with black and brown scarf

Advent and Prayer: The Importance of Patience

December 4, 2022Posted inSermons
It might be a surprise for you to learn that I was once invited to become a monk. It certainly came as a surprise to me! The offer was made after I asked a question to a man with white hair, wearing a long white robe, at a conference of the Student Christian Movement. That man was Timothy Radcliffe, a Roman Catholic Dominican monk in the Order of Preachers who was the author of our second reading today. Of course, I had to decline Timothy’s invitation for a number of reasons, the main one being I told him, was that my then-girlfriend, now fiancée, would probably not be too happy about me taking monastic vows – an excuse I remember he graciously accepted.
Mental Health and Social Stigma: The Gerasene Demoniac

Mental Health and Social Stigma: The Gerasene Demoniac

June 19, 2022Posted inSermons
“Keep to yourself; do not come near me, for I am too holy for you” (Isaiah 65:5). This is the ‘holier than thou’ attitude that the prophet Isaiah spoke against in our second reading today. For the Hebrew prophets this attitude smacked of hypocrisy. Worshiping out of a belief that we are better than everyone else is not true worship but a selfish enterprise. Yet so much of our lives is geared towards giving us a sense of superiority over our neighbours. We see this in the consumerist sense “buy this car and be the envy of your friends,” “wear this dress and be the envy of your colleagues” etc. but also in how competitive our society has become, “look how hard working and productive I am,” “look how much money I have.”

Miracles and Healing

February 7, 2021Posted inSermons
Back in the days before such things as Modernity and the Enlightenment had come about, if you had enquired of minister where the evidence was for the existence of God or Christ’s divinity, there is a good chance that they would have pointed you to the miracles in the Bible as infallible or unquestionable proof of such doctrines.

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.