I seem to be starting all my sermons these days with the words ‘this Gospel passage is very difficult to understand’. Today’s gospel passage is definitely not easy – it’s hard to make sense of it. Our understanding of economic justice is that if you work longer hours you get more pay than others in…Continue reading Sermon, Proper 20 Year A

I have a copy of  a most remarkable book called ‘If you sit very still’ It’s by a woman called Marian Partington who’s sister Lucy disappeared one night on her way home in December 1973. What had happened to Lucy remained a mystery for almost 20 years until her remains were found in the cellar…Continue reading Sermon for Proper 19 Year A

Today we have the giving of instructions for the first Passover. It’s a familiar story, but a difficult one. The instructions for the killing of lambs, to be eaten and shared – there is care for households who don’t have a lamb or couldn’t eat a whole one – neighbours are to care for eachother.…Continue reading Sermon for Proper 18 Year A

I really love David Suchet as Hercule Poirot – Kenneth Brannagh doesn’t come anywhere near, in my humble opinion! I watched a programme David Suchet did once – it was called ‘In The Footsteps of St Peter’, in which he described getting the ‘walk’ of his characters right – once he’d mastered their walk he…Continue reading Sermon for Proper 17, year A

One of the delights of the last year for me has been watching my 2 year old grand-daughter develop and grow. She loves Duplo and spends hours engrossed in strange hybrid creations such as a bridge-house or an aeroplane-bathroom. Funnily enough, I remember her mum doing the same thing when she was that age, although…Continue reading Sermon for Year A Proper 9

Proper 8 Knuzden 26th June 2005. Adapted for 2nd July 2023 This week Muslims in Blackburn, and around the world, have been celebrating Eid al Adha – the feast of the sacrifice. It is a time for prayer, the sharing of food and gifts, It is the Feast of the Sacrifice, and its origins lie…Continue reading Sermon for Trinity 4/Pentecost 5 (Proper 8)

Easter 3. 2023 If you were taking part in a sort of ‘Desert Island Discs’, where, instead of choosing music, you were choosing bits of the bible, which bits would you choose? I suspect many might take Psalm 23, maybe the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke’s Gospel, and perhaps this passage – the Road…Continue reading Easter 3 Sermon

Jesus’ last supper was a meal hovering on the threshold of things. We tend to think of it as settled, easy, and relaxed – a big Jewish meal with friends at the heart of the Passover celebrations in Jerusalem. Whether this was a Seder Celebration is now a matter of debate, but what we do…Continue reading Sermon for Maundy Thursday

How much lovely are these accounts of encounters between Jesus and individual people, and the conversations that took place. Last week we heard of the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. Today we hear of the Samaritan woman who came to Jesus in the brightness and heat of the middle…Continue reading Sermon for the Third Sunday of lent