Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Mark 5.21-43 If you had a choice of superpowers, what would they be? I’d probably settle for ability to fly! Very useful in this time of closed borders .. But what about the power of being invisible?   That is OK if you can choose to become invisible and then choose to become visible again - but what if we got trapped in our invisibility power, if we could not get out of it, if nobody could see you or hear you? That is one of the reasons why people are scared about ghosts.  Today we read how Jesus has the power to make ghosts real, to make the invisible visible That is what happened with the woman She was invisible - not in a superpower sort of way - but invisible because nobody saw her. She was sick with a haemorrhage, with bleeding, which had lasted for 12 years. It meant that she was unclean. It meant she would have been socially isolated. It seems that she was on our own. She was  like a ghost,  the person who came in the crowd and would have gone away i...

Mark 4:35-41 The shape of our building/roof is the shape of an upturned boat. That is not accidental. It is the style of church building that is common particularly in the UK. The church is likened to a ship It is an illustration that Peter uses: he speaks of the church as being like the ark in which Noah and his family were saved. While everyone else perished, the ark kept them safe and brought them to a place of safety. And here we are: gathered together in our boat because Jesus has called us to go to the other side. We’re on a journey But we are not on our own. He is with us. As a people we are on a journey – we are on a journey together. We are very different – we often say that, but for a year, two years, ten years, maybe longer, whatever it is – God has called us to worship together in the good ship St Andrew’s. He has called us to be together, to learn together, to grow together, to be shaped by each other and encourage each other and challenge each other – through just meeting...

Mark 3.19-35 What is the unforgivable sin? I was reading online someone who wrote: murder, torture, and the abuse of any human being especially children or animals is unforgivable. I hope not. I am not saying that those things are not dreadful, and I am not saying that there is no justice in the universe, but Jesus said that if we hate someone, we are guilty of murdering them in our heart. And who of us can claim that we have never used someone for our own purposes, against their wishes. If those sins are unforgivable, then I am unforgivable. But the one sin that Jesus says is unforgivable is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. ‘Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’. And the passage continues, he said that because the Pharisees are saying that ‘He has an unclean spirit’. We can never have forgiveness when we call the work of the Holy Spirit evil. Because then we are taking the precious gift of God and choosing to rip it u...