Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Matthew 18: 21-35 What do Christians have in common? It is certainly not language (although obviously at St Andrew’s that is quite important!), or culture or education  It is not politics. Christians can seriously disagree about politics. One person was telling me that their Christian organisation now struggles to hold joint Ukrainian – Russian conferences. There is too much tension and conflict. Both sides see the world in completely different ways. It is not our views on sexuality and gender, on political activism, on climate change, on multi faith worship – if anything those are the sort of things which tear us apart. It is not whether we like ‘religion’. There are Christians who do cherish the ritual and rites of the Church, and there are Christians who would do away with everything and focus exclusively on the word.  And it is certainly not that we are a gathering of good people. If we are, then I should not be here. The thing that we have in common can be summed up in ...

Matthew 18:21-35 John Grisham, in On Sycamore Row , writes of the father of two brothers, Kyle and Bo, who have been killed by a drunk driver. He visits the lawyer who represents the guilty man’s wife. The dad says, “Are you a Christian, Jake?” “I am. Sometimes more of one than others, but I’m trying.” “I thought so. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches the importance of forgiveness. He knows we’re human and our natural tendency is to seek revenge, to strike back, to condemn those who hurt us, but this is wrong. We’re supposed to forgive, always. So I’d like for you to tell Lettie and her family, and especially her husband, that Evelyn and I forgive Simeon for what he did. We’ve prayed about this. We’ve spent time with our minister. And we cannot allow ourselves to live the rest of our days filled with hatred and ill will. We forgive him, Jake. Can you tell them?” Forgiveness is something that is very hard, but it is also an essential part of the Ch...

Genesis 50:15-26 Imagine our opening scene. We meet 11 men with their heads bowed. One man is standing over them. He is pretty impressive. He is the prime minister of Egypt.  There is an image of that man in one of our South windows.  His name is Joseph. The 11 are his half-brothers. And they are terrified that Joseph is going to order their execution.  Many years earlier these 11 had done something dreadful to Joseph. They had seized him, dropped him in a pit with the intention of leaving him there to die, and then - when they realised they could get some money for him - had sold him as a slave to some passing traders. Yes, Joseph was an arrogant brat. He was 17, the youngest of the family so far, and the favourite son of their father. His father had made that blatantly clear by giving him an honoured robe.  He swaggered around in that robe. He snitched on his brothers. He even told them of his dreams: I dreamt that you all bowed down b...