Talks, Sermons and Reflections

John 6:16-21 I’d like to focus on the second half of our reading today. The story of when Jesus walks on water Audio of the talk can be found here For most of us, even if we profess to be Christians, it is as if we are down here and God is up there.   We live parallel lives. It might be like having an older teenager in the house. You think they are there, there is evidence that they are there – dirty clothes, unwashed dishes - but you never see them. But occasionally God comes to us and there is a meeting. Maybe we experience him coming to us in church, as we hear his word read and taught, and those words speak to our heart; or as we receive him through bread and wine. Maybe we experience him in encounters, when we become aware that God has come very close to us. I remember Jenny dying of cancer in a side room in the West Suffolk Hospital. Jesus came to her in a very real way. She couldn’t look at him, but he lifted up her head so that she looked into his face. Well, the ...

Proverbs 3:1-6 The words we have just heard are the words of Solomon to his son, of a parent to their child. They are words that you have chosen that you would want William to hear 1. Listen to the wisdom of the past “My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments” There is something very special about the passing down of wisdom from generation to generation, even if we have sort of lost that a bit. I am conscious that if I had listened to my parents, and not insisted on learning everything for myself, life could have been so much richer! And as a parent I do wish that my children could learn from my mistakes, and not have to make those same mistakes for themselves! There is a wisdom which comes to us from the past I think that you said that your mother spoke these verses from Proverbs to you, and her mother spoke them to her. And so it is special that you have chosen them for today. Even in this, there is a passing of teaching and wisdom And this chu...

Mark 6:1-13 “And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them” (Mark 6:5) Compare that with Mark 6:13 “They (the disciples) cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them”. A link to the audio of this talk There was a huge difference between the ministry of Jesus in his hometown and the ministry of the disciples – and, one suspects by the reference to anointing with oil, the ministry of the early Christians after the death and resurrection of Jesus. We long to see those deeds of power. We long to see people set free from the grip of evil, and those wonderful healings. When I finished at university I went to work as a parish assistant in Hackney. I was asked to visit a young man who was in a long-term coma. I sat by his bed, and I would pray for a miracle. Perhaps, if I am honest, I wanted to see that miracle so that I could claim that I had power, so that I would be vindicated, so tha...