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
Intercessions for Proper 9
O God, you yoke us to yourself, sharing our burdens, walking through life with us, shouldering, with us, all that we face – all our joys and sorrows, all the mundane things and the things that challenge us. Help us to share with others as you share with us, especially where people are struggling with…Continue reading Intercessions for Proper 9
Sermon for Trinity 4/Pentecost 5 (Proper 8)
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)
Pentecost Intercessions
Spirit of God, Spirit of transformation and courage, we ask that your life and energy will fill our lives, and the life of the church, here and around the world. Give us your gifts, and help us to journey with you, inwardly in our souls, and outwardly in the world. Make us bringers of hope…Continue reading Pentecost Intercessions
Intercessions for Easter 3
On this weekend of International Earth Day, we pray and give thanks for your creation. God of Creation, we give thanks for the beauty around us, for the wonder of the earth, the splendour of the universe which tell both of your greatness and your love. We pray that we will walk on the earth…Continue reading Intercessions for Easter 3
Easter 3 Sermon
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
God of love, your Son, Jesus, still carries his scars even in his risen and glorified body. Give us the courage, with Thomas, to look on your scars, and on the scars of the world, not averting our eyes, but ready to face suffering. Give us hope and faith that a better world can grow…Continue reading
Sermon for Maundy Thursday
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
Intercessions for Maundy Thursday
Gathering to celebrate Jesus’ last meal with his friends, we pray for the church which has the Last Supper at its heart: that this meal of our salvation will not be a meal of immunity from pain, a place where we are detached from affliction, but a place where we bring suffering humanity to you,…Continue reading Intercessions for Maundy Thursday
Palm Sunday Intercessions
O Christ, in whose face we see the suffering of the world and the love of God, we bring to you the world’s pain, the anguish of your children in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, on the African continent. Help us to build a peaceful world, a world of love, compassion and respect, a world where…Continue reading Palm Sunday Intercessions