A sermon on the Prodigal Son, Luke 15: 11-32 Lent 4 2022

Most of us know and love the story of the prodigal son. – it’s one of those stories that stick in the mind –that’s the mark of a really good story. Perhaps we’re too familiar with it. If we heard it first at Sunday School, we learned that it’s a parable about God’s enduring love, even for the lost and straying. And, of course, it is! But it’s also a great deal more than this.

We’ve lost the dramatic impact it had in its first telling. Continue reading Coming Home – Sunday 27th March 2022 →

You may have recently seen the photos of the Russian President Putin meeting visiting heads of state at a massive table. He is at one end and the visitor is some considerable distance away at the other. It was rightly seen as a power play by political commentators long before the more obvious events in Ukraine. For despite the roundness of the table, usually a nod to the equality of participants, here these photos demonstrate that Putin is clearly the one in charge. “Yes, I have invited you to join me at the table, but I am the one with the power,” it says. But that is totally the opposite message the passage from Isaiah wants to give. With its references to journey and invitation it is clearly stating that coming to God’s table is coming home, that this is a table where everyone is equal. Continue reading An Open Invitation →

A lot has been said about freedom as people block streets and camp in the grounds of parliament and Cranmer Square, thereby restricting the freedom of others.  A colleague of mine suggested that a better term to define the overall goals of the protesters would be ‘personal sovereignty’

However, having had an overload of David Attenborough on summer television I doubt that any primates have such a thing as ‘personal sovereignty.’ Certainly, we have seen aging alpha males defeated and sent to forage for a lonely subsistence in a hostile environment, excluded rather than free. Continue reading Freedom or Personal Sovereignty →

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Luke 4: 1-13. Lent 1C 2022

We’re at the beginning of Lent: a season which, I have to say, we don’t really know what to do with. Oh, we have special Bible studies (sometimes), some of us change the colours in our churches, and we have a few extra possible services that we may or may not use. Given the attendance at some of these, they are treated as optional extras. And we have a set of readings that take us through the 40 days – and with some of these we struggle to find our way into them for our time and place. Today’s readings, at first hearing, don’t seem to be related. One is a defining narrative for the understanding of the covenant between God and Israel. It’s the climax of the Exodus story. The other is familiar to anyone who has grown up in the Christian faith. So – where to start? At the beginning! Continue reading REMEMBERING JOURNEYS →

The Transfiguration, by Raphael

We’ve had some tricky readings lately and of course, I’ve no idea what you’ve made of them here, so who knows how my take on today’s gospel will sit with your last few weeks! Luke’s Gospel has taken us on a bumpy ride, and we are living through a chaotic time here and now, what with pandemic, climate change, and warmongering leaders. What, in the midst of all this, can we make of the Transfiguration story, which, on the face of it, was a transforming – and peaceful! – experience? Continue reading Mountain or plain? 27 February 2022 →