Talks, Sermons and Reflections

There is something very special about this night. It is a moment in time – filled with memory and with anticipation. An audio of the talk can be found here If this building could speak, I wonder what it would tell us of Christmas midnight communions past? Much has changed since this church was built in the C14th. For a start, there would have been no pews – you would be standing. And much of the service would have been in Latin. But as we read the Bible, it is the same story of the birth of Jesus that our ancestors heard. And as we gather at his table and share the bread and the wine, it is the presence of the same Lord Jesus who we celebrate. This night is full of memories of Christmas past and anticipation for the Christmas morning. The night is full of memories of a child born 2000 years ago, and deep longing for the future. Johny Mathis sings of a child to be born. The Christian hope is that the child has been born. “a child that would grow up and turn tears to laughter Hate to l...

I’ve been watching again the film Nativity. It is very funny, but also poignant. At one point children pour out their hearts to Santa – about what they want for Christmas. What do you really want for Christmas? Story of the three ambassadors … I think deep within many of us there is a sense that we are empty, and we long to be filled. Maybe we cry out for love, for a friend, for a particular person who we have lost and their going has left us empty; maybe we cry out for a world we have lost, for our home country; maybe we cry out for meaning, for significance, to know that we matter; maybe we cry for freedom – freedom from fear, from pain; maybe we cry out for another world, a world that we hear rumours of – that seems so close, especially at Christmas, but that is still beyond reach. Maybe we cry out because we long that there is someone out there who knows us, will hear us and listen to us and who will fill us. When Mary was told by the angel that she was going to be the mother of Je...

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to You, our God, glory to You. O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Who are in all places and fill all things,  the Treasury of Blessing and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain, and save, O Gracious One, our souls. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us. [3 times] Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen. All-holy Trinity, have mercy upon us. Lord, be merciful to our sins. Master, forgive our transgressions. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities, for Your name's sake. Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; Both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and...

Luke 3:1-6 The audio of this talk can be found here Our reading from the gospel today is a bit of a fraud! Half of it is a reading from the Old Testament. Luke quotes from Isaiah 40 verses 4-6. “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”  Luke is saying that these words, spoken by Isaiah 600 or so years earlier, are fulfilled when John the Baptist turns up in the wilderness ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’. John – who we know as John the Baptist is the voice There are three things that I would like to draw from this passage this morning. 1. God is coming ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness “prepare the way for the Lord”.’ Christmas is coming. But something, someone so m...

  Luke 10:25-37 Russian protest outside St Andrew's Church Moscow, Remembrance Sunday 2022 The audio for this talk can be found here Two years ago, nine months after the invasion of Ukraine, I was about to conduct a Remembrance Day service in St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Moscow – where I was the chaplain. On the opposite side of the road there was a group of about 20 protestors. They were chanting their slogans, in Russian, which included phrases like “defeat to the Anglo Saxon vampires”,  “ Go home ”  and, best of all, “Freedom to Scotland”. It was very controlled, very organised – someone had brought along all the banners - and incidentally very illegal. The Russian authorities brought in a COVID law that said it was illegal to hold an outdoor protest where there is more than one person – and they forgot to lift it when the COVID risk was reduced. But, of course, the police were not going to intervene. So I decided, wearing my cassock, to go across the road to ask th...

John 11:32-44 In John 11:32 we are told that Jesus, seeing Mary weeping and the people with her weeping, is deeply disturbed.  Why? The audio of this talk can be found here He knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. It was the reason he had delayed going to Martha and Mary when he was first told that Lazarus was seriously ill. He knew that glory would come from this: glory to his Father and a revelation of his glory. If it had been me, I would have gone with a sense of excitement and anticipation – of the joy of Mary and Martha in seeing their brother alive again. But we are told in verse 38 that Jesus ‘again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb’ I want to suggest that Jesus is deeply disturbed because 1. He sees the devastation that death brings He sees the despair and brokenness of Martha and Mary. They have lost probably the one who was the rock of their family, and as two unmarried sisters without a brother they would have suddenly become very vulnerable And...

Mark 10:46-52 I love this story of blind Bartimaeus. It comes at a very significant point in Mark’s gospel. The audio of this talk can be found here Mark has put this story here as the climax of the first half of the short book that he wrote. From chapter 11, beginning with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we are told of the final few days of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion. Julia Stankova (Bulgarian, 1954–), Christ and Bartimaeus, 2017. So it is important. It is about how, at the end of all the teaching, someone puts their faith in Jesus, sees, and follows Jesus ‘on the way’. That phrase, ‘on the way’ is how Mark describes being a Christian. The disciples were ‘on the way’ to Jerusalem with Jesus (v32). We are on the way with Jesus, a way that leads to the cross and through the cross to resurrection. But I love this story for another reason. It is much easier to relate to Bartimaeus than it is to many other characters in the gospel. Like us, Bartimaeus had never seen Jesus....