Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Mark 11:1-11 Draw a donkey (or get people to draw a donkey) using the letters D (disciples), C (colt), P (people), P (praise) and S (spread) As you draw the donkey, tell the story as told by Mark. 'Jesus told two of his D isciples to fetch him a C olt. As they were untying the colt, the P eople asked them what they were doing (obviously the local 'neighbourhood watch'). They told them that 'The Lord has need of it and will return it'. As Jesus rode on the donkey, the people declared his P raises. They S pread their garments and branches on the road.' So what is going on? Let's look at what the people say about Jesus. 1. They are saying that Jesus is coming in the name of the Lord (v9) (draw the letter L) In other words, Jesus is coming as the representative of God. If the Headteacher at school stops you in the corridor as you are going into a lesson and tells you to ask another teacher to come and see him, you are sent in the name of the h...

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 There are times when we have to boast. I was talking to someone last week who is looking for a job. She has not done an interview for many years. And she was finding it very hard: she was not used to blowing her own trumpet, to selling herself, to saying how great she was. And sometimes as Christians we do struggle with the idea that there are times when we need to promote ourselves. We struggle with the idea of boasting. And that should be the case. It may be necessary at times, but we need to recognise that when we boast, we become fools Paul begins this chapter by saying: 'I must go on boasting'. He has begun boasting in chapter 10:7 But he recognises that although his boasting is necessary, it is actually 'a little foolishness' (11:1); he asks his listeners to 'accept him as a fool, so that I too may boast' (11:16). He finishes the whole section by writing (12:11), 'I have been a fool!' Perhaps Pau...

Our starting point is our parish vision statement . We seek to: Worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit Teach the bible Grow people in faith, love and understanding Equip people to serve Introduce people to Jesus so they can meet him and discover forgiveness and eternal life 1. Centrality of worship and prayer So many things we could be/are doing: music, tourists, fabric, community work - but the priority is worship: worship of the God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The key: those times when we meet together to worship: to praise God (in music or words), to seek him and to receive from him (in word and sacrament) My deep desire is that for every person in our churches, coming to our churches, worship and prayer would be the most central thing in our life. The priority which shapes everything else. So even though evangelism and social work come very high up my list of priorities, worship is more important for me. Mission ...

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 We continue to talk about giving, and over the last two weeks and this week we are asking people to reconsider our giving: what we give to the church, what we give to other Christian ministries, and what we give to people generally in need. My apologies to those who have recently joined our churches, or who are visitors. We do mention giving in our preaching here: the bible speaks quite a bit about giving; but we are not usually as full frontal as this. And we have seen the following principles 1. God is love, and God's nature is to give. 2. This is really simple. If the Spirit of God lives in us then we will desire to give. If the Spirit of God does not live in us then we will not desire to give. The more that we allow the Spirit to work in us, the more that we will desire to give. The work of a pastor in a church where people are filled with the Spirit is not to get them to give, but to stop them from giving recklessly. 3. The greatest act of love is...

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 Forgive me! For the next three weeks in both our churches we are going to be looking at giving. I am very conscious that I do not wish us to become churches that are always talking about giving and money. And if you have recently joined us, or started coming along, I promise you that we rarely speak about giving. You've just happened to come along at the wrong moment! The reason I don't like talking about money is that people often think that the church is only after your money. Well, yes the church is after your money - but actually more seriously, the church really is after your life! I'm also conscious that I am speaking about giving in the context of a serious recession. There are several members of our congregations who are currently unemployed. Salaries are being held back. Pensions have been squeezed. And most of us have had to tighten our belt and to cut back. But it is about three years since we last seriously spoke about giving: and ...

Lent is that time when we prepare to remember again the events of the first Good Friday and Easter. It is also often associated with self-denial. The passage usually read on this first Sunday of Lent is the story about the temptations of Jesus: how he went into the wilderness, and fasted for 40 days. He denied himself. And at the end of Lent, on Maundy Thursday night, we remember how Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that he might escape the cross. But he ended his prayer, 'But not what I will, what you will'. And Jesus said, 'If anyone would follow me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me' (Mark 8:34) Of course, self denial is not exclusive to Christianity The bride on a diet will deny the emptiness in her stomach and the craving for food in order to squeeze into that wedding dress The athlete will deny the screams of agony from their muscles in order to get their body into as good a shape as possible for the race The soldier about t...

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5 "Lord, help me to see this world with your eyes. Otherwise I might value what you despise and despise what you value." Who likes going camping? Tell us the worst thing that has happened to you when you've been camping! There is one purpose for camping: and that is to make you appreciate home far more. The first day is OK. It is exciting. You set up the tent. You boil the kettle on the gas. You explore the campsite. You get told off by the campsite official because your tents are 5.99 metres apart and not 6 metres apart. And you cook the sausages. Actually we usually stumble at the first stage: the setting up the tent. I have a tent: would you please set it up! But by the end of the a couple of days, you are usually cold, wet, tired, dirty, the blow up mattress refuses to stay blown up, the battery has run out, the gas has given up the ghost, and you are fed up of living on cereal and soggy bread. [the first time we went camping as a family ...