Talks, Sermons and Reflections

We live in complicated times There is much darkness. Evil is done There are many alternative truths slopping around “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3 An audio of the talk can be found here People are lost, confused, fearful; there is great suffering, pain and despair As we celebrate a new roof, others have no roofs. As we sit in warmth, others have no heating. We face forces that threaten to overwhelm and extinguish us - and we have become acutely aware of our human foolishness, weakness and deep vulnerability But this night is a night of good news It is the news that God has not abandoned us, not given up on us, but come among us ‘The Word became flesh’ The One who was with God in the beginning, through whom all things are created, becomes one of us, and is - of all things - placed in a cattle feeding trough When the angels speak to the shepherds, they tell them that there will be a sign that the child they see really is the Son of God. The sig...

Someone was telling me the other day that she had written to her friend and told her that she had found ‘The Leaky Cauldron’ in Moscow! Listen to the audio of the talk here The Leaky Cauldron, for those who are not aware, is a pub in London in one of the Harry Potter novels. It looks very unimpressive; it is a bit of a dive. Few people go in. In fact to the non-wizarding community it looks like a disused shop front. But if you do choose to go in, you discover that it is in fact the doorway to another world, the world of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter saga. Well, she said to her friend that she had discovered the Leaky Cauldron in Moscow. But it wasn’t a pub. It was a church. And you are sitting in it! St Andrew’s is a doorway to a different, and maybe for some, a strange world. It is a world where they do things in a different – rather odd way. Where they speak a different language and remember a different history. They do not play quidditch, but they do play cricket. They don’t have ...

Matthew 4.18-20 As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen.    And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’    Immediately they left their nets and followed him. We thank God for St Andrew He heard the call of Jesus He was fishing with his brother Simon, and Jesus calls from the shore and says ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people’ It was a call to live a new life, to live in and for the Kingdom of God He was an ordinary man, a fisherman, living for his business, his family himself, catching fish. And he was called to begin a new life, to become a fisher of people, living for the Kingdom of God, for Jesus Christ and for other people. He caught fish – and that was death for them But now he is called to catch people – not to death, but to life. Life for people who are lost, with little dignity, little purpose and li...