That is an interesting take on it @TheOrganist and one I haven't heard before either.
Our sermon was also on the subject of Pentecost - the day of the birth of the church, which is still going. God is unstoppable. The Holy Spirit also wants to work in us today and we need to rediscover prophecy, tongues, etc.
(Not for the first time I left knowing I heard the same sermon 30 years ago, and done better then . This is not really the place for that sort of comment so I'll make a quick exit before the hosts come after me... oh wait... )
We are all members of the body of Christ and all have a part to play in ministry.
Visiting preacher( s) at Choral Evensong in a rural village - not my usual place, but I go for the music. Part 2 of a 3 part series on the theology of ministry.
A staged dialogue between husband and wife ministers, mainly recounting the varied ministries they have had over many years. After 20 minutes the local priest interjected to say the visiting choir have another engagement. They carried on for a further five minutes, so the service lasted 1h25- not quite the norm! It might have worked in another context, eg a day’s workshop or an afternoon group. Their conclusion did not really follow from what they had recounted.
Part 1 was from a local person, a non-church goer. Now that would have interested me!
Some of the Holy Clergy™ love the sound of their own voices. A young lady (aged 7) attending a Low Mass at Our Place, accompanied by her uncle, asked why we found it necessary to use so many words when talking to or about God?
With all due respect to ++Cranmer, who IIRC intended the homily to be preached at Holy Communion, Evensong is wordy enough without any sermon, let alone nearly half-an-hour's worth...
We're in "Bible Month", and this year we're working through John. So, this morning we had John 4 as our reading rather than a specific Pentecost service (there's a Pentecost circuit service this evening). The sermon took the Samaritan Woman at the well and had a "the gospel heard by all nations" theme, picking up the Pentecost narrative of visitors from many nations hearing the gospel in their own languages. Also brought out a comparison with John 3 - both start with a conversation (in John 3 it's with Nicodemus) and end with lots of people becoming disciples - and how this embeds the gospel being for all nations into the early part of John in a way that the other Gospels don't (there it's just a couple of individuals). An application of the message into how the Church can sometimes be slow about embracing the riches of other cultures in worship and practice or find it difficult to encapsulate the gospel message in a culturally relevant way (also a wee rant about European Christians importing their cultural practices into other nations), and a short reflection on the contrast with an unnamed (but clearly identified) political party that stood in a local by-election (fortunately coming third, but with over 7000 votes) with a racist campaign and policies that don't welcome people of other cultures into our communities.
We also had an earlier conversation with the congregation, half of whom were born in other nations, which anchored the sermon message of good news for all nations in the experience of the congregation.
Comments
Our sermon was also on the subject of Pentecost - the day of the birth of the church, which is still going. God is unstoppable. The Holy Spirit also wants to work in us today and we need to rediscover prophecy, tongues, etc.
(Not for the first time I left knowing I heard the same sermon 30 years ago, and done better then
We are all members of the body of Christ and all have a part to play in ministry.
Visiting preacher( s) at Choral Evensong in a rural village - not my usual place, but I go for the music. Part 2 of a 3 part series on the theology of ministry.
A staged dialogue between husband and wife ministers, mainly recounting the varied ministries they have had over many years. After 20 minutes the local priest interjected to say the visiting choir have another engagement. They carried on for a further five minutes, so the service lasted 1h25- not quite the norm! It might have worked in another context, eg a day’s workshop or an afternoon group. Their conclusion did not really follow from what they had recounted.
Part 1 was from a local person, a non-church goer. Now that would have interested me!
With all due respect to ++Cranmer, who IIRC intended the homily to be preached at Holy Communion, Evensong is wordy enough without any sermon, let alone nearly half-an-hour's worth...
We also had an earlier conversation with the congregation, half of whom were born in other nations, which anchored the sermon message of good news for all nations in the experience of the congregation.