Talks, Sermons and Reflections

2 Timothy 4:1-8 ; Matthew 13:44-46 St Margaret of Antioch, as she is known in the West, is the same as St Marina the Great celebrated in the Eastern churches. St Margaret of Antioch (on the left) together with St Margaret of Scotland. Stained glass window, St Margarets' Church, Burnham Norton. According to a C9th Martyrology (a record that tells the lives of the martyrs), Marina/Margaret suffered and died in 304. An audio of this talk can be found here She was the daughter of a pagan priest, Aedesius, and her mother died when she was very young. She was nursed by a Christian woman, who lived 15 miles or so from Antioch. She embraced Christianity and consecrated her virginity to Christ. It was at about this time that men were beginning to go off into the desert to consecrate themselves to Christ – the earliest monks; and so we could say that Margaret was one of the earliest nuns. She was disowned by her father, adopted by the Christian woman, and lived in the country keeping sheep. ...

Luke 10:38-end Jesus gave the wrong answer. I know that because I asked the children in an assembly last week. An audio of the talk can be found here I had Martha peeling a potato, cutting an onion, tidying up and washing up, setting the table – and I had Mary sitting with Jesus and listening to him. And Martha became more and more angry and irritated because she was doing all the work, and Mary was doing nothing. So I asked them, ‘What should Jesus have said to Mary?’ And they said that he should have told her to help! But he gave the wrong answer. Christ in the Home of Martha and Mary, Johannes Vemeer ,  Scottish National Gallery  in  Edinburgh What is going on? 1. Don’t ask Jesus to do your dirty work for you Martha says to Jesus, ‘Tell Mary to help me’ But Jesus, it seems, challenges Martha and not Mary That also happens later in Luke 12:13-15 . A man goes to Jesus and says, ‘Tell my brother to share the inheritance with me’, and Jesus replies, ‘Friend, who appoi...

HOLIDAYS AND PILGRIMAGES Article for Burnham Market Parish Magazine. July 2025 Holmes and Watson were on holiday in North Norfolk (why not?). They were lying on the dunes looking up at the clear starry night sky. ‘What does that tell you?’, Holmes asked Watson. Watson replied: ‘It tells me that this is a wonder-filled universe. That we are so small. That surely there must be some mind behind that.’ And then he asked Holmes, ‘And what does it tell you?’. To which Holmes replied, ‘It tells me that someone has stolen our tent’. They are so annoying, those pedants who are only concerned with details and can’t see the bigger picture!! They also happen to be the ones who get things done, and who detect crime! But we need both. The pedants and the star gazers. We need to be able to see the stolen tent and the awe of a star filled night. The problem is that most of the time we are looking down, at the details, at the next thing on our to do list: organise who is going to pick up the childr...

Psalm 107.23-32   Luke 8:22-25 'The Calming of the Storm' from the ' Holkham Bible Picture Book ', c.1327–35, Unknown English artist. Illumination on parchment, 285 x 210 mm, The British Library, London. A commentary can be found at  Calming the Storm | VCS .  Our Psalm begins with business, and it ends with praise: V23 ‘Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters’ V31 ‘Let them thank God for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind’. A link to the audio of this talk It is not that business is wrong. It is just that there is something that is bigger. And what happens in between the business and the praise: There is the sea the encounter with God. He takes them down and he lifts them up. The Sea helps us to see 1. It helps us to see our vulnerability The sea is vast, seemingly unending. It dwarfs us, everything that we have created or built. It is a reminder that we are so small. And on a stormy day, we encounter the ove...