Rev Stephanie Wells

Theme ” The Light Shines”

Epiphany 4

TEXTS:          Deuteronomy 18: 15-20,                    Mark 1: 21-28

Our news is often full of the cry that the young have no respect for authority. The strange thing is that we have heard this comment every generation as the young rebel against the rules and expectations of their elders.

‘Authority’ is a word that carries a lot of baggage. At this time of year we think of the authority teachers need in the classroom to make sure pupils actually get to learn. Teachers hope they won’t get students with authority issues – the ones that challenge their authority every moment. In turn pupils hope that they won’t get a teacher this year with authority issues either; the ones that are bossy and mean, and even worse the ones that have no control and let the classroom become a war zone where no one learns anything and each day is a case of the survival of the fittest.

We hear of parents too who have authority issues with their children; either being too soft or too tough on them. The government and its various agencies have also been worried about how parents exercise authority over their children. Unfortunately, according to many media reports, parents are either too harsh and should have their children taken off them or are accused of not taking enough responsibility for their child’s action and are told to be tougher. With all these conflicting ideas on authority it’s a wonder more parents don’t simply give up.

In the church we also get conflicting suggestions on this thing called authority. So much so I wonder whether some of us haven’t given up too. We are called to respect the authority of scripture. Which is something most people shouldn’t have too much problem about – right? Wrong! Because everyone who calls on the authority of the bible seems to have a different idea on what this means.

Some believe they can find a bible verse that supports everything they believe; (please note the order I said that). Some believe God dictated every word, in the language of the King James version, and this means other versions are evil. Some believe that every word has a divine meaning, or a cosmic meaning, or a hidden meaning based on a special code, usually their own. Bible passages have been used to justify wars, slavery, greed, all kinds of things we might regard as evil. Is it any wonder then that some people, even Christians, have become a little cynical about the claim of scriptural authority. Continue reading Sunday 28th January →

Rev Hugh Perry

Theme: Voices in the Night and Encouragement

1 Samuel 3:1-10

Samuel you may remember was dedicated to God by his mother and given into the care of Eli the priest so he could be brought up to serve God.  In 1 Samuel 2:12 we are told:

Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for Yahweh or for the duties of the priests to the people.

So in a time of hereditary leadership, we have a constitutional crisis looming with the dedicated successors to Eli demonstrating that they are clearly unsuitable. It is a time when people were not particularly in touch with God.  But today’s reading tells us how that is about to change and how that change comes from an unexpected direction.

John 1: 43-51

Mark, Matthew and Luke describe Jesus’ baptism. But John’s Gospel does not have a baptism scene as such.  Instead, John the Baptist describes what happened when he baptised Jesus.  In so doing he recommends Jesus as the one to follow on from his ministry to two of his own followers and they go to visit Jesus.  One of them, Andrew, then goes and brings his brother Simon to Jesus whom Jesus then names Peter, or Cephas in Latin which in Greek is Petros.  John wrote in Greek so there is a pun as Petros is confused with Petra the Greek word for ‘rock’.  That becomes relevant later as Jesus affirms Peter’s rock like dependability and authority.

The key issue here is that John the Baptist, who has had a vision of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus at baptism, recommends Jesus to others who then pass on that recommendation.  Listen for that as.

SERMON

Sometime, in the not-too-distant past, a young dyslexic man is called back to work an extra shift because the person rostered on was sick.  His father had told him that if you are working for someone you should always treat their business as your own.  So, in spite of a promised diner date with the love of his life he went back to work.

What his boss hadn’t told him was that there would be a film crew in the restaurant making a documentary about restaurants.  That didn’t bother him because he worked in the kitchen.  He just worked away with his usual skill and control of multiple orders, as he usually did.  However, the film crew were fascinated by the way focused on his tasks, his manual dexterity, his cheery countenance and his ability to keep so many tasks going at the same time.  As a result, he featured extensively in the filming and when the producer saw the film crew’s results, the young man’s phone began to ring.

This year with the publication of his latest book, Five Ingredients Mediterranean that now not so young man became the author of the most non-fiction books in the United Kingdom.  He has also just had a series on our television called ‘Jamie’s Christmas Shortcuts.

He is of course Jamie Oliver MBE. And after I reheard him relate that story on a recent Graham Norton programme it mixed with my recent reading of Samuel’s night voices, and I woke with the thought:

‘How many times does a serendipitist moment change people’s lives.’  Was, being in the right place at the right time what Samuel’s night voices was all about?

Are we all called to be awake to those unexpected events that can change the direction of our lives? Should we always be ready to sing, even in the middle of the day. ‘Here I am, Lord, Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night’. Continue reading Sunday 14th January →