Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Luke 10:38-end Jesus gave the wrong answer. I know that because I asked the children in an assembly last week. 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 appointed me to be judge and arbitrator betw...

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...

Matthew 16:13-19 We are looking this morning at the Church. Not the institution of the Church. Not this beautiful building of All Saints, Burnham Sutton. We are talking about the Church, the ‘ecclesia’ (that is the word used here), the people who God has ‘called out’ to be his people, who Jesus gathered to himself, who live by faith in his promises, who are facing God rather than walking away from God, and who are seeking to grow in love and communion with God, together with each other and sharing in God’s mission to the world. A link to the audio of this sermon  (and apologies for the poor quality of recording) And I note from our reading 1. That this is Jesus’ Church. Jesus says, “I will build my Church”. We sing the hymn, ‘The Churches one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord’. Jesus is the rock that is the foundation, the cornerstone of the Church. He is the stone on which we stumble and fall to our knees, or which falls on us. And he is the rock on which we can build our ...

Luke 8:26-39 Today we meet the demon possessed man. Mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac from the  Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo  in  Ravenna , C6th Click here for the audio of this talk We meet a person who has almost been consumed by forces of evil. He is naked: stripped of dignity, protection, socially excluded and living like a wild beast. He lives among the tombs: he is living as a dead man among the dead. He has lost his name. When Jesus asks him what his name is, he defines himself by the demons He cannot be tamed. Others cannot control him. He cannot control himself. And when they enter into the pigs, the demons go into self destruct mode. They serve ‘Apollyon’ (Revelation 9:11), which means ‘the destroyer’. The demons can destroy the pigs. They would have destroyed this man, but for the tiny fragment of God residue that remains in him. But what we also see is that the demons recognise the person of Jesus; they recognise his authority. And they fear...

John 16:12-15 Today is Trinity Sunday It is the climax of the festivals: Good Friday and Easter, Ascension and Pentecost Click here for a link to the audio of this talk It is what all those feasts are pointing to The revelation of the fire of love that is at the heart of God And the life changing encounter with the three in one. And now, for the next 20 or so weeks of the church’s year, we have the opportunity to live out the Trinity. Trinity Sunday is when we reflect on the revelation of the mystery at the heart of God. It is a mystery – not in the sense of a puzzle to be solved (I love a murder mystery) or an ignorance to be overcome. Rather it is a mystery of awesomeness, a reality that is so profound that we will never understand it and so big that we can never encompass it. Indeed the more that we encounter this mystery, the bigger we realise it is, the more we discover that there is to explore, and the greater will be our wonder. There is so much, especially in John, about the r...

John 14:8-17 Thank you, God, for sending Jesus; Thank you, Jesus, that you came; Holy Spirit, please now teach us More about his precious name. Philip said to Jesus, ‘Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied’ (John 14:8). The audio of the talk can be found here Philip is asking to see the source of all honour and glory and power - the God of Glory. It is a big prayer. Only a very few people had seen the glory of God. Moses and Isaiah had seen the glory of God. The people of God had seen the glory of God, the shekinah of God, in the cloud which led them through the wilderness. They saw it when the glory of God filled the temple that Solomon had built. It was so real that nobody could enter it. Peter, James and John saw the glory of God in the transfigured Jesus on the mountain. And Paul later mentions a vision which he is given, which is so wonderful he cannot express it in words. Philip is asking Jesus, he is praying that he might see the glory of God. People have been transfo...

John 5.1-9 A link to an audio of this talk 1. Jesus sees this man. That is important. There are many people who are sick by the pool by the sheepgate. But Jesus chooses this one man. He has been ill for 38 years. We are not told what his illness is, but he obviously cannot move himself easily. And Jesus sees him . We’ve noticed that before. In John 1, Nathaniel comes to Jesus, and Jesus says to him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” It is a bit enigmatic, but it seems that Jesus is saying something that is incredibly significant for Nathanael. He had noticed Nathaniel and he knew Nathaniel. It is enough for Nathaniel to make the pretty dramatic declaration: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:47-49) What is interesting in this passage is that whereas Nathaniel is told about Jesus and comes to Jesu...

  John 13:31-35 Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. (John 13:34)  The audio of this talk can be found here It is a strange saying because the command to love is not a new command.  It is there in the Old Testament In Leviticus 19:18, the people of God are commanded to love their neighbour, the member of their community: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD”. And now Jesus commands his followers to love 'one another', the community that is now centred on him.  So how can Jesus say that this is a new command? Some say that up to now, in John’s gospel, the great command has been to believe, to put our trust in Jesus as the Son of God. And now Jesus says that he is giving them a new command. Not just the command to believe but the command to love – to love one another. ...

Micah 4:1-4 It is wonderful to be here celebrating VE day 80. Quite a few of you will remember the actual celebrations. My mother travelled from Newcastle to London, to be in Trafalgar Square, along with thousands of other people. Evil had been defeated People were coming home. Children would see fathers for the first time, and there would be family reunions. There was peace: no more fear of sirens calling people to the air raid shelters There was the possibility to rebuild There was the promise of abundance Sadly, of course, we know that VE day was just a glimpse of what could be. There is still so much evil. Men and women go off to war. Today there is the fear of renewed war between India and Pakistan; and we add that to the litany of Sudan, Congo, Ukraine and Gaza Families and communities are torn apart People live in fear. Possibly tonight they will hear the sirens and have to run to the shelters The arms industry is huge, and it is growing And because of war, millions are homeless...

John 21:15-19 In our reading Jesus commissions Peter to care for his people, for his sheep. Jesus commissions Peter. Icon from the  church of St. Peter Gallicantu in Jerusalem   I wonder what the qualification is for a new Archbishop? Or a new pope? This is rather an appropriate passage for the beginning of the conclave. 1. It is about a very personal encounter between Jesus and Peter Three times Jesus asks Peter, ‘Do you love me?’ Twice Peter answers, ‘You know that I love you’. But the third time he says, and I wonder whether it is a bit of revelation to him, ‘Lord you know all things. You know that I love you’. John tells us that Peter denies Jesus three times, just as Jesus predicted. But, unlike Luke, he does not tell us that Jesus turns and looks at Peter after the third denial in the courtyard. So, when Jesus asks him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’, he must have realised and is now acknowledging that Jesus knew that he had denied him three times. In some homes ...