Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Three gospel shaped values: truthfulness, graciousness, faithfulness 1 Corinthians15:1-11 I’m reading TerryLeahy’s book about his time heading up Tesco . He writes about 10 words that sum up management. One of those words is ‘values’. He argues that if any organisation is going to work well, then those who work for it need to have shared values. So he got everyone together, from all levels of the company, so that they could come up with the sort of values that they considered important. ‘ No one tries harder for customers’ : Understand customers better than anyone. Be energetic, be innovative and be first for customers. Use our strengths to deliver unbeatable value to our customers. Look after our people so that they can look after our customers. ‘ Treat people how we like to be treated’ : All retailers, there’s one team . . . The Tesco Team. Trust and respect each other. Strive to do our very best. Give support to each...

Psalm 23 This is the most well known Psalm It has been set to many musical settings: Crimond, The King of Love, The Lord's my shepherd (Townend), Brother James' air, Stanford – to name but a few. It is a psalm that I use when I sit beside the bed of people when they are ill or even dying. It is a psalm that is often used at funerals. But it is also a psalm that people use to express their confidence and trust in God. It is profoundly personal. God has commanded the rulers and prophets of Israel to be good shepherds of Israel; but here David, who has been brought up as a shepherd, takes the illustration a step further and declares that the LORD himself is the shepherd of Israel [but note Gen 48:15, where Joseph calls God 'my shepherd']. And David goes even further. He calls God ‘my shepherd’.   And because David can call God shepherd, he makes four statements about himself. 1. 'I shall not want' God will give you everything that you ...

Song of Songs 8:6-7 “Set me as a seal upon your heart,      as   a seal upon your arm, for   love is strong as death,      jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire,      the very   flame of the   Lord . Many waters cannot quench love,      neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love      all the wealth of his   house,      he would be utterly despised. ” Many congratulations It is a real joy and a privilege to celebrate your wedding and your love for each other. You’ve chosen two remarkable passages. When I read ‘The two of us’ to Alison, she said: ‘Why didn’t we have that at our wedding’ ? And I’m delighted that you’ve chosen some verses from the Song of Songs. I love this book. It is about a wedding, but it is a love poem, in which lover and beloved speak of each othe...

John 20:19-31 I'd like to look today at the story of a man called Thomas. And I'd like to illustrate this with an egg (I'm wary of using eggs because when I did an assembly at St James school I exploded an egg onto the school stage curtain) Did you know - you can't break an egg by pressing down on both poles? The shell is very hard Thomas had become hard: He refused to believe the others when they told him that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Why? He felt that it was impossible; he didn't want to be let down; he didn't want them to say 'April Fool'.  I watched the last ever Goodies (it had to be because it's topic was the end of the world.) Well, the end has come. They're watching the clock click down to midnight when they've been told the world will explode. It hits midnight and nothing happens. They start to laugh with relief - it was all a con. But one of the Goodies is in hysterics in the corner. When he stops laughing he says, ...