Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Life is hard, especially as we grow older. It is not for wimps. It takes courage. And S had courage in abundance. But with her courage she also had hope and, I am pretty sure of this, a sense of the risen Jesus walking beside her. One of the last books she was reading was about the Jesus prayer . It is appropriate, given S was a quite literal home maker, both our readings ( John 14:1-6 , Revelation 21.2-7 ) speak about our ultimate home – not here, but in heaven, in the new Jerusalem. Revelation: ‘See the home of God is among mortals’. Estate agents sometimes speak of ‘your forever home’ (I struggle with that phrase!) Well, this is the real ‘forever home’, where  there will be no more pain and weeping, no more death and mourning. Of course we cannot speak of it because it is bigger than space and time, beyond space and time as we know it – and we can only use picture language. And the language that is used here is of a radiant city - like a bride - coming down from heaven. But...

The association of St Cecilia with music is surprising because there is very little in her story about music. Indeed there is just one sentence in the C5th Passio , describing the story of her life. The key words are: Cantantibus organis, Caecilia Domino decantabat in corde suo When the day of her wedding arrived, and the musical instruments were sounding, Cecilia sang in her heart to the Lord , saying: "Let my heart and my body remain undefiled, that I may not be put to shame." (The references to her hearing the angelic choir at her death are a later addition, after she had been associated with music.) It is almost certainly because of that one line that she became the patron saint of music. Carlo Saraceni, The Martyrdom of St Cecilia c.1610 It is surprising, but it is also very profound. Everything around her is disordered. She is a young woman who has chosen to commit her life to following Jesus and for him she had freely made a vow of chastity. And yet here she is at the ...

Matthew 13:24-30,36-43   One of the big questions that we ask is why – if there is a God of love and power – is there evil in the world. Why doesn’t God root it out? And that was an even bigger question for the first followers of Jesus. They were seeing amazing things. People were being healed, evil was being cast out. The Messiah had come. So why was there still evil? And the answer these verses give is that there will be a judgement, a harvest, a separation of good from evil, but it will be in God’s time. Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat attributed to Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, 1590 - 1610.  And these verses show us how we should live in this in between time: the time between the first coming of the Messiah, of the ‘Son of Man’ and the second coming, at the end of time. 1. We are not to judge others, whether they are wheat or weeds. This story separates people into the children of the kingdom and the children of the evil one. But I don’t think that the main po...

Hebrews 6:13-20 When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and multiply you.’ And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek. One of the very early Christian symbols that...

Romans 8:18-25 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. "I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us". ...

Matthew 10:40-42 Jesus said, ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ We continue our reading through Matthew 10 Jesus has sent out the 12 disciples, and has given them authority to preach the kingdom, to cure ‘every disease and sickness’ And last week we learnt that as they spend time with Jesus so they will grow into the likeness of Jesus. And today we come to the end of the mission instructions to his followers. Listen to this talk here Three things I would like to draw attention to: 1. Identity Jesus identified himself with his sent followers. ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and...