Sermons from the Benefice
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Sorry we didn’t manage to livestream the service this morning.
However, we recorded the sermon at St Stephen’s. We thought about what family means. Jesus family thought he was mad, the religious leaders thought he was bad, Jesus offers those who believe he’s God the chance to join his family. Listen to Rosemary preach on the gospel reading from Mark 3
Click above for the link to the audio file.
“Love as Christ loved us” Does the bible set the bar too high? Listen to Mike’s talk to see what he thinks.
Hear how he makes a connection to Prince Philip and the Queen.
We know our bodies are wasting away but our citizenship is in heaven - this is the hope that Queen has and so do we.
Listen to Mike’s talk by clicking on the link above.
Why does the Resurrection story in Mark’s gospel have so much sadness and fear?
We recorded the Easter Sunday readings and semon at St Stephen’s.. Listen and watch Grant preach and answer this question.
Click above to play.
Listen to Jonathan’s sermon from Sunday 28th February - the meaning and challenge of the cross.
The restrictions of lockdown this Lent present us with a real opportunity to go through this season focusing on own selves and souls, and potentially reap the rewards of a holier, deeper and more wholesome relationship with the Lord, at the end of it.
Lent then is the perfect opportunity to return to our deep relationship with God, to listen to him, to offer the ashes of our own lives, that he may exchange them for beauty, and give us hope, courage, mercy and love in abundance.
On Sunday morning, I took the well known opening passage from John’s Gospel and talked about three things:
Through this passage we are welcomed into the story of God personally.
We as the Church are called to be light to the world.
God came to us. To be with us, to be close to us.
There are a wide variety of things that we can do to deepen our relationship with God, even in lockdown. God isn’t limited by social distancing like we are. The crucial thing is that we do something rather than nothing.
Contd…. click link
Candlemas (2nd February) is about half way between Christmas and Easter. It’s a pivotal point when we look back at Jesus’ birth and forward to Easter, his suffering, death and resurrection. Here is a meditation on the different reactions to the birth of Jesus that we find in the Christmas story. Based on an idea from Sylvia Penny. Click on the arrow in the image to watch the slideshow.
"Working parents want kids to go back to school because school closures directly impacts them.
Teachers don’t want schools to open because covid spreading round their school directly impacts them.
NHS staff want a full lockdown because sick covid patients directly impacts them.
Business owners want to carry on as normal because lockdown directly impacts them.
People with physical health problems want everyone to stay socially distant because catching covid could kill them.
People with mental health problems want people to spend time with because isolation could kill them.
Some can’t wait for a vaccine because they believe it will bring back some normality.
Some are terrified of a vaccine because they believe it could harm them.
We are all going through this but none of us are going through the same thing.
Some face crippling financial challenges, others face heart break.
We don’t all have to agree with what is best because what’s best for us won’t be best for everyone.
We don’t have to understand what others are going through. But we do need to stick together and keep loving each other no matter our differences.
We need to be mindful when some things go the way we want it to, it could be terrible news to another person. We need to be kind."
Listen to Revd Katy's sermon from Sunday 13th December 2020 - Third Sunday in Advent.
Preparation and waiting.
Last Sunday's talk mentioned the book 'Knowing God'. Read on for a bit more about the book and the author. Dr Packer's thoughts on growing old and infirm - 'on losing sight but seeing Christ...' provide illumination for us
St Stephen's was as full as is allowed by social distancing for Katy's first service as 'priest' - celebrating the Eucharist for the first time.
Katy’s supervisor Revd Derek Spears preached about the significance of Holy Communion, how Jesus instituted it with symbols of love and openness and that it reminds us Jesus is with us today. He taught us that the Latin for priests in Ancient Rome was 'pontifex' which is literally 'bridge-maker'. Using as his text "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood"(1 Peter 2:9), he reminded us in his sermon that we are all priests together with Katy. We are all called to be bridge makers and connect people with God. As Jesus our great high priest connects us with God, he is the great bridge builder and we share in that ministry.
You can watch the service on our YouTube channel.
“Revd Derek Spears preached this sermon on Romans 14:1-12, at our zoom service on Sunday, 13th September. Definitely worth watching!
A plea for tolerance, respecting those who have different opinions and not to judge those who aren't wearing a facemask."
One my favourite films is “Forrest Gump”. The film has iconic opening and closing scenes of a single white feather blown by the wind through the air – sometimes carried on an updraft, sometimes on a downdraft. This can have many interpretations – but the most obvious is that it is a metaphor for how the course our life takes is influenced by events that happen around us.
This is certainly the message from the film. Forrest Gump is a kind-hearted man from Alabama whose life seems to be directed by all the defining historical events in the post-war years of the United States. Through various personal highs and lows the film ultimately ends with Forrest leading a fulfilled life. He exercises no conscious control over the events that appear to determine the course of his life, but his uncomplaining and accepting attitude seems to carry him through.
On Sunday Morning I was thinking about Psalm 137 and the question 'How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?' The times are strange right now, we have to do everything differently. My thoughts on the psalm resonated with the situation we are in, so I thought I'd share them with you.
A candle in your window as a visible symbol of the light of life, Jesus Christ
How often do we hear something about Jesus and wonder what it means?
Hear something on Sunday and consider how it impacts on our everyday life?
Do we investing ate, look into it further
This is what a true disciple is – not a mindless follower, but one who learns, grows in faith.
Let us respond to Jesus call to ‘Come and see’
Look into Jesus
Discover more
Let him impact our everyday lives.
No-one expected Christ’s ministry to be quite what it is – yet it is the model for our own ministry.
In Baptism, we are called to be Christ-like in our response to God’s loving-purposes. Jesus grew up to be compassionate, generous, kind-hearted, loving and forgiving. It is those Christ-like qualities which we nurture in ourselves and in others.
The cross inside the church, above the communion table, shows that we all need to keep coming back to the cross of Christ – our relationship is an ongoing thing.
We continually need to receive his help and healing in good times and bad.
It may appear “foolishness” to many, but to those that experience this relationship with God it has the ring of truth.
what might appear foolish to the rest of the world is what we as Christians are baptised into – the suffering of the cross, for without the suffering of the cross then Christ could not have risen.
Corinth, according to the Book of Acts, was one of the more successful of Paul’s churches and yet the picture that St. Paul gives us today is far from rosy:
'It has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters'.
Did you see the TV Series –“The Toughest Place to be a............”?
A London binman with semi-destitue Indonesian binmen in Jakarta;
A Cornish Fisherman in Sierra Leone;
Sussex firefighter in Brazilian forests;
Devon dairy farmer with subsistence cattle farmers in Kenya;
A London Cabbie in Mumbai.
Being in someone else’s shoes is not something we can easily do.
It may be fun, challenging, or exciting, to receive insights into a different life!
Swapping jobs is one thing, how about bodies? How might we fare if we had to suffer the disability of the woman in the Luke's story:
"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all."
Listen to Richard Hudson’s talk about The Grace School, South Africa.