Matthew 2:1-12
The wise men visited Jesus and they were not Jews so a symbol of all the nations and likely to number more than three. They came looking for a king, not for God. This new king brings a new currency: of kindness, generosity, humility and keeping no record of wrongs.
We should live our lives in the context of the resurrection( and it is up to us to interpret what this means).
I don’t know how this fitted with everything else that was said, but we were told this was the main message.
The reading Ephesians 6: 10-20 exhorted us to put on the full armour of God. A familiar passage preached on many times, and today's sermon did not seem to offer any new insights.
Making children welcome in church - I suspect in response to something said by one or two members of the congregation after we had a rather fractious baby in church last Sunday.
Continuing our series on Matthew's gospel, life includes suffering, struggle, mourning and oppression; there is darkness into which light is born. Jesus is the centre of all history and fulfils God's purposes. In him we have a saviour who suffers with us and in whom suffering does not have the final word.
Making children welcome in church - I suspect in response to something said by one or two members of the congregation after we had a rather fractious baby in church last Sunday.
And possibly tied to the Lectionary Gospel Mark 9.30-37
The funeral of a 10 year old who died after a two year battle with leukemia. The gospel was the beatitudes. The preacher talked about how children exemplified them and how we can learn from our children's trustfulness and open-heartedness.
I played. It was harrowing.
One of the most poignant funerals I've heard about (didn't attend because I was in school at that point) was for a four year old girl at our then-church who died from a congenital heart disease. The recessional was one of the songs from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show, and my parents said there wasn't a dry eye in the house. A good reminder of how even the most rigid of us about what is proper and right in church should make exceptions when the situation warrants it.
I played Hedwigs Theme from the Harry Potter movies
on the organ as this child's body came into the church despite our strict rules forbidding secular music in the Liturgy. Which don't seem to apply to Mendelssohn and Wagner at weddings!
The Temple was rebuilt because God was looking after the Jews and influencing the King of Assyria
The Church is being built because God is looking after it and influencing people in authority
we should keep on keeping on because God is looking after us
Matthew 3:1-12
After 400 years of silence God speaks again through John the Baptist. Would I thrive in the wilderness on a diet of locusts and honey and would I respond immediately to God's call to repentance? Jesus is coming, so get ready (tune in next week for details).
In this showdown between Jesus and Satan, Jesus shows us how we can deal with temptation. Every human being falls short of God's standard. The devil tries to twist our perceptions of our own identity and of God's identity, but Jesus in the desert succeeded against the evil forces as Israel in the desert failed, and in Jesus we can succeed too.
Ezra 7:1-13, 9:1-12, 10:1-6
Sometimes lines have to be drawn. Money, sex, power, sanctity of life. It starts with the leadership and needs pastoral sensibility.
Romans 12: 1-2
God is not really concerned about how we worship on a Sunday - musical style, liturgy etc. Sunday should help set us up for our "true worship", which is how we live during the rest of the week. God reserves judgement on our Sunday worship until he sees how we behave on Monday!
Nehemiah spent months in prayer before acting. We should similarly be devoting ourselves to prayer. And acting (noting our situations are probably not as consequential as his).
Matthew's account makes it sound as though these men randomly chose to follow a complete stranger but other gospel accounts show that Jesus was known to them. They gave up everything to follow him because they knew who they were giving everything up for.
(I'm sure there was more to the talk than this but I'd been struck by a couple of things other people had said during the course of the meeting and was madly writing them down before I forgot them.)
It was Mission Sunday which is celebrated across the RC world. Our lovely Indian supply priest told how in his first posting in Mumbai, on this day the entire congregation would spend the day together in the church hall, eating all meals together and donating money for the missions.
The last time he was there they raised the amazing sum of (the equivalent of) £4000 on the day. There was an audible gasp from the congregation!
Our parish priest is slowly recovering from bacterial meningitis which saw him hospitalised for a couple of months after Christmas, and has left hime with impaired mobility, hearing and sight. His family live in the town and he has been living with them as he slowly recovers. It has been a great joy to having him slowly returning to church and sit with his sister in the front row of the congregation among his flock.
Continuing our series in Matthew. (Speaker: "Is everyone enjoying it?" Mumbled and generally affirmative responses from the congregation.)Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35 form the bookends of a period of Jesus' ministry in which there was Proclamation, Teaching and Signposting. Also fulfilment of the prophecies in Isaiah, which is often called The Fifth Gospel (news to me).
All Saints', All Souls', and 24th Sunday of Pentecost.
A few topics...
Two quotes from Australia's first Saint, Mary MacKillop, on the themes of All Saints and All Souls; I was struck by one encouraging us to reflect on everyday saints (I encountered similar topics earlier this week so this hit home), written to parents after the death of their 14 year old.
A call to bring our cares and needs to Jesus as He understands them, reflecting on His emotions at Lazarus' tomb (the Gospel reading).
We've been commanded to preach to all the nations, even to the whole of creation, but we mustn't forget the need to disciple people and walk alongside them as they take their first steps in faith.
Continuing our series through Matthew (progress is slow and, as the speaker observed, we may or may not complete it before Jesus returns) Matthew 5:1-6 describes the blessings available to those people who may not expect them, the sort of people qualified to live in God's kingdom; much of the passage mirrors Isaiah chapter 61. The kingdom of God is here and this is what it looks like; it's about who we are, not just what we do. We are in the age of God's favour.
The (visiting) Bishop preached on the Gadarene demoniac. A few topics, but a thrust of inviting Jesus in to transform our lives and to not turn him away, as did the residents of that area, and to transformed by the Holy Spirit. Also to continue in the daily practices the Orthodox church recommends.
At early morning communion, the first line of our reading James 3: 13-18 asked "Who is wise and understanding among you?".
Wisdom and understanding is not about what you know but about how you live. The final verse concerning peacemakers allowed the preacher to touch on Remembrance Sunday (which was to be the main theme of a later service following wreath laying and two minutes silence at the town's war memorial outside).
Continuing with the series on Matthew's gospel, the passage today was Matthew 5:7-9 and how it looks to be the people of God. As followers of Jesus we are full of mercy (forgiveness and compassion) for others; we are pure in heart (loving God with all our hearts) and peacemakers (reconcilers, as God reconciles all things to himself).
Mark 12:38-44. Connecting the denunciation of the scribes in the first part of the reading—“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”—with the widow’s offering in the second part, it was noted that Jesus’s main point wasn’t that the widow was admirable and worth emulating because she was giving “two small copper coins, which are worth a penny” and which was all that she had. Rather, the point was that the community, the scribes and the rich people, were failing to heed the Law, to love God and love neighbor as self, by failing to ensure that the widow had what she needed. Jesus is primarily indicting the religious establishment, not praising the widow.
This was tied (effectively) to both the recent election and to stewardship, as it’s that time of year when we make our pledges for next year.
Just as Jerusalem had to have its walls rebuilt to protect it from pagan influences, the church today has to rebuild its wall to keep out all those nasty post-moderns and ecumenicals and all the denominations who are dodgy. And some people in our church are probably dodgy and they need to come out of Babylon like Revelation says and just like the exiles in Nehemiah's time. And the Bible tells us what that means for our beliefs and practices.
Saturday afternoon special (minister admitted that pneumonia was going to prevent his participation Saturday morning) from me based on the lectionary readings for Remembrance Sunday. Talked about remembering both the stories of courage and sacrifice that come out of war, and the failures that led to war in the first place.
The Christian Life is a joyful life. We shouldn't engage with modern culture because it doesn't recognise God as the reason for celebration. We need to separate ourselves into a sub-culture and only listen to "Christian music".
Today was designated "Vision Sunday" at Our Place. A summary of this year's financial situation and the outlook for 2025 was presented, with a view to asking for commitments next year. The emphasis on finances was reduced slightly by celebrating what we have achieved this year, and what we want to achieve next year. Commitments in prayer and time are valued as much as money. Being British, there was no hard sell as our Rector preached on 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15. The "God loves a cheerful giver" aspect was emphasized rather than going down the prosperity gospel route.
Preached on Mark 13:1-8. Video here (starting at about 15 minutes). Theme: Everything will be all right.
One person was so involved in my illustrations that when I mentioned having surgery tomorrow and being afraid, she had a prayer request for a good outcome for me. Had to explain it was an illustration.
Comments
The wise men visited Jesus and they were not Jews so a symbol of all the nations and likely to number more than three. They came looking for a king, not for God. This new king brings a new currency: of kindness, generosity, humility and keeping no record of wrongs.
Our first priority should be to worship God
We should give generously for it
We should appreciate that building for the Kingdom is a long term project
I don’t know how this fitted with everything else that was said, but we were told this was the main message.
Continuing our series on Matthew's gospel, life includes suffering, struggle, mourning and oppression; there is darkness into which light is born. Jesus is the centre of all history and fulfils God's purposes. In him we have a saviour who suffers with us and in whom suffering does not have the final word.
We need to be really thankful to God because he has given us everything good that we have.
I played. It was harrowing.
on the organ as this child's body came into the church despite our strict rules forbidding secular music in the Liturgy. Which don't seem to apply to Mendelssohn and Wagner at weddings!
Jesus is always enough. ( Feeding of the 5000)
God is a God of abundance, whereas economic decisions are based on scarcity.
There is enough for everyone if resources are combined and shared. ( NB an ecumenical service, so a wider application)
The Temple was rebuilt because God was looking after the Jews and influencing the King of Assyria
The Church is being built because God is looking after it and influencing people in authority
we should keep on keeping on because God is looking after us
After 400 years of silence God speaks again through John the Baptist. Would I thrive in the wilderness on a diet of locusts and honey and would I respond immediately to God's call to repentance? Jesus is coming, so get ready (tune in next week for details).
In this showdown between Jesus and Satan, Jesus shows us how we can deal with temptation. Every human being falls short of God's standard. The devil tries to twist our perceptions of our own identity and of God's identity, but Jesus in the desert succeeded against the evil forces as Israel in the desert failed, and in Jesus we can succeed too.
Sometimes lines have to be drawn. Money, sex, power, sanctity of life. It starts with the leadership and needs pastoral sensibility.
God is not really concerned about how we worship on a Sunday - musical style, liturgy etc. Sunday should help set us up for our "true worship", which is how we live during the rest of the week. God reserves judgement on our Sunday worship until he sees how we behave on Monday!
Matthew 3:13- 4:4
Visiting Preacher from Wycliffe Bible Translators
John Wycliffe was a good guy who translated the Bible into English so that we could have the scriptures in the language that we understood the best.
Wycliffe Bible Translators believes the same. God uses Scripture to change lives. The Church deserves it.
Jesus' defence against Satan was to quote scripture - he valued it: we should value it too.
Fixed coding - Nenya, Ecclesiantics Host
Nehemiah spent months in prayer before acting. We should similarly be devoting ourselves to prayer. And acting (noting our situations are probably not as consequential as his).
Matthew's account makes it sound as though these men randomly chose to follow a complete stranger but other gospel accounts show that Jesus was known to them. They gave up everything to follow him because they knew who they were giving everything up for.
(I'm sure there was more to the talk than this but I'd been struck by a couple of things other people had said during the course of the meeting and was madly writing them down before I forgot them.)
My sermon is about being at the bottom of the pecking order.
The last time he was there they raised the amazing sum of (the equivalent of) £4000 on the day. There was an audible gasp from the congregation!
Our parish priest is slowly recovering from bacterial meningitis which saw him hospitalised for a couple of months after Christmas, and has left hime with impaired mobility, hearing and sight. His family live in the town and he has been living with them as he slowly recovers. It has been a great joy to having him slowly returning to church and sit with his sister in the front row of the congregation among his flock.
God's Dream Team requires servant leadership, diversity and unity. The whole body of Christ has a role to play.
Oh dear! Preachers shouldn't set those questions loose
A few topics...
Two quotes from Australia's first Saint, Mary MacKillop, on the themes of All Saints and All Souls; I was struck by one encouraging us to reflect on everyday saints (I encountered similar topics earlier this week so this hit home), written to parents after the death of their 14 year old.
A call to bring our cares and needs to Jesus as He understands them, reflecting on His emotions at Lazarus' tomb (the Gospel reading).
We've been commanded to preach to all the nations, even to the whole of creation, but we mustn't forget the need to disciple people and walk alongside them as they take their first steps in faith.
Wisdom and understanding is not about what you know but about how you live. The final verse concerning peacemakers allowed the preacher to touch on Remembrance Sunday (which was to be the main theme of a later service following wreath laying and two minutes silence at the town's war memorial outside).
This was tied (effectively) to both the recent election and to stewardship, as it’s that time of year when we make our pledges for next year.
Just as Jerusalem had to have its walls rebuilt to protect it from pagan influences, the church today has to rebuild its wall to keep out all those nasty post-moderns and ecumenicals and all the denominations who are dodgy. And some people in our church are probably dodgy and they need to come out of Babylon like Revelation says and just like the exiles in Nehemiah's time. And the Bible tells us what that means for our beliefs and practices.
The Christian Life is a joyful life. We shouldn't engage with modern culture because it doesn't recognise God as the reason for celebration. We need to separate ourselves into a sub-culture and only listen to "Christian music".
Today was designated "Vision Sunday" at Our Place. A summary of this year's financial situation and the outlook for 2025 was presented, with a view to asking for commitments next year. The emphasis on finances was reduced slightly by celebrating what we have achieved this year, and what we want to achieve next year. Commitments in prayer and time are valued as much as money. Being British, there was no hard sell as our Rector preached on 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15. The "God loves a cheerful giver" aspect was emphasized rather than going down the prosperity gospel route.
The kingdom of God might not work in the way we expect. Obedience brings persecution. Treasuring our future hope brings joy.
One person was so involved in my illustrations that when I mentioned having surgery tomorrow and being afraid, she had a prayer request for a good outcome for me. Had to explain it was an illustration.