Sermons
Follow Me
FOLLOW ME Read More ...
The naming of Jesus
* THE NAMING OF JESUS* Read More ...
VIRGIN BIRTH
VIRGIN BIRTH Read More ...
The forgiven and forgiving community
THE FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING COMMUNITY Read More ...
Art: Heaven and Hell and Judgement
17 Jul 2011 - Peter Stuart and Phyllis Mossman
[Peter:] # Two pictures side by side: Wheat and Darnel, photographs Today’s gospel, the parable of the wheat and the darnel, has two aspects. The first is clear enough. When wheat and darnel are young, it’s difficult to tell them apart. If we try to weed out young darnel from young wheat, specially when their roots are tangled together, we’ll wreck the wheat-field. So we ought to wait. In this parable Jesus is saying, ‘don’t play God; leave it to Him to distinguish between the righteous and the unrighteous within the People of God.’ He was disagreeing with those Pharisees who tried to create the People of God by separating themselves off using their ceremonial purity test, and also disagreeing with the Essenes, who hived off proudly into the Wilderness. Read More ...
Free to serve
*“Come to me, all who are weary and whose load is heavy; I will give you rest.”* Read More ...
A moveable feast
I read recently of a Cambridge University professor who thinks the date of Easter should be fixed. Based on his research of literary and astronomical sources, he argues the actual date of the crucifixion was April the 3rd, in the year 33AD, and thus the resurrection was on the 5th. He suggests, therefore, we celebrate Easter, on or as near as possible, the day it happened. Now, I have to admit the professor’s suggestion makes some sense. Even if his calculations are incorrect, the idea of a fixed date for Easter would make life easier for many people. Read More ...
Let them go
It doesn’t take much to incite hatred and violence. Read More ...
Let it shine
I saw an ad at the movies last year that used a song I sang at Sunday school, to get across its message. In it, a group of people, ordinary New Zealanders, walk around the streets of a city, and as they do their thoughts and aspirations are blown up in colour on the walls and windows of the buildings. I am told the company who made the ad asked eight people “what makes you shine?” and they used their responses as the inspiration for their creative work. Read More ...
Gifts
A couple of Sundays ago I preached for nearly half an hour in another parish where they’re used to having proper length sermons. It was of course a very careful, reasoned exploration of a very important subject, and duly edified its hearers. I’m tempted to repeat it here today. But I’m not at all sure that that would be appropriate, after all the stresses and strains of the Christmas season and New Year revels – which I can see etched on your faces. So I won’t. Instead, I’m going to start off with a simple question and tell two or three stories and read a poem and the words of a song and make one or more comments and ask a couple of other questions, and leave it at that. Read More ...