Talks, Sermons and Reflections

The last few weeks has been like watching, in slow motion, a horrendous car crash about to happen The audio of this talk can be found here I was aware of the western press and the general pessimism among the embassy staff that war was going to happen, and yet like most of us, we read in the Russian media that war was 'unthinkable', let alone war with Ukraine. And yet four days ago war began It does seem that a deep darkness – politically, economically and spiritually - is descending on Ukraine and Russia Many have spoken of their shock and disbelief at what has happened Many have spoken of a sense of shame that this is being done in their name And there is fear – among those in the foreign community, those who have made this their home, and those for whom this has always been home What will happen? How will we survive sanctions and global exclusion? Will it all go out of control? Will a new impenetrable iron curtain descend? How are those from overseas to travel home? And there...

2 Corinthians 8.8-15 We are thinking over these three weeks before Lent about giving, and we are looking at verses from Paul’s letter to the Christians in the city of Corinth. Today we are looking at the reason for giving. A link to the audio of the sermon And it is very simple. It can be summed up in one word: LOVE We give to what we love, we give because we love. And it works the other way round If you want to know what you love, then look at what you spend your surplus money on – the money that is over and above our essential needs, the essential needs of those for whom we are responsible, and the things that we required to pay, like taxes. (By the way, paying taxes is not only a legal duty, but a spiritual duty. Jesus tells us to pay our taxes). But after that, how do we spend our money? Is it a bigger or more modern flat, clothes, technology, restaurants, gaming, savings, investment, entertainment, travel, holidays? We spend our surplus money on what we love That is what Jesus sa...

2 Corinthians 8:1-7 Today we start a series of three talks on giving The heart of giving The reason for giving The blessing of giving They are based on 2 chapters in 2 Corinthians, a letter sent by Paul to the Christians in the city of Corinth in which he talks about a collection that the church in Corinth planned to make to support the Christians in Jerusalem and Judaea, because they were facing a famine. And in our reading today, Paul urges the Corinthian Christians to complete what they said they would do. That is important. It is easy to make a promise, especially if it is about money, and then – if not deliberately break our promise – forget our promise. I wonder how many of us have done that! Well, Paul encourages them not forget their promise and to do what they said that they would do. And in these verses, he tells them about the Macedonian Churches (Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea). He says that, although they were extremely poor, and even though they had suffered d...

Luke 4.14-21 The Kingdom of God is good news for the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed In Matthew and Mark, when Jesus comes out of the wilderness and begins his ministry, he announces the Kingdom He preaches: The Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the Good News Luke is slightly different. He is speaking to people who don’t know their Old Testament, who don’t really understand what the Kingdom of God is. And Luke instead tells us what this Kingdom will look like. Instead, when Jesus comes out of the wilderness, and begins his ministry, he declares “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 The Kingdom of God is good news for the poor. “to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” That is a consistent messag...

Luke 3.15-17, 21-22 Today we remember the baptism of Jesus, and it is good to have Leo’s baptism in this service.  You may have noticed that before communion, I will say that ‘All who have received the gift of baptism and who love the Lord Jesus and want to follow him are welcome to receive the bread and the wine here’. On one occasion when I said that in the UK, a man came up to me after the service, I think he claimed to be a Buddhist, and asked me, Why did someone have to have been baptised to receive communion? Wasn’t that being exclusive? I have no idea how I answered him then, although I’m sure I thought of some very clever things to say - half an hour later. But it is interesting that to become a member of any organisation, you usually have to have done or do something: pay a subscription, achieve a qualification, be interviewed, go through some initiation ceremony. But the only thing that Jesus says that you need to do, to become a member of the Church of God, is to allow s...

From 1647 to 1660, Christmas was cancelled in England and Wales! Oddly it was cancelled not by some fanatical politically correct authority, but by the Puritan government, which consisted of people who were committed believers and followers of Jesus Christ and who tried to put the teachings of the Bible at the centre of all that they did. They argued against Christmas for two reasons. One, we cannot be certain that 25 December really was the day that Jesus was born (it almost certainly was not), that the first church celebration of Christmas that we know of was as late as 336, and the Bible tells us that we do not need to celebrate one day as more special than another (it is interesting how ‘do not need to’ becomes ‘must not’ in our thinking). And the second reason they gave was because the celebration of Christmas, the dressing up in fine clothes, the music and singing, feasting and partying was pagan and led to immorality. Oh, and maybe there was a third reason. Most of the people in...

Luke 1.39-58 Today in our reading we hear how Elizabeth blesses Mary. Or, more accurately, how Elizabeth tells Mary that she is blessed. In Luke 1, an angel had appeared to Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah and told him that Elizabeth and he would have a miracle baby (they were both very old), and then, a few weeks later, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she would have a miracle baby. The first thing that Mary does, after the visit of the angel, is to go to see Elizabeth –to talk, because Elizabeth would have been the only person who she could have talked with, and also – I suspect - to confirm that what the angel had said was true. If Elizabeth really was pregnant, then God could work the impossible. So Mary comes to Elizabeth, and as they speak together, Elizabeth uses the word ‘blessed’, three times. Blessed are you among women Blessed is the fruit of your womb (v42) Blessed is she who believed that what God said would be fulfilled (v45) And I would like to explor...