St Mark's Broomhill and BroomhallThis is is the last Sunday of the Church year. It is also the festival of Christ the King. It is also is a special day for other reasons too – after communion the choir will perform the premiere of a new anthem composed by Reuben Tozer Loft. The music is a setting of words […]
Readings: 2 Thessalonians 2.16-17: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. From the Good Friday Agreement 1998: The tragedies of the past have left a deep and […]
Reading: Gospel: Luke 18:9-14 Baptism Homily: We have gathered together today for a variety of reasons. For some of us Sunday morning worship forms a regular part of our week or month; some of us have come today especially to celebrate Katie’s baptism; some of us are here with a friend or have dropped in […]
Readings: Genesis 32: 22-31 and Luke 18:1-8 Sermon: Persevering for Justice The two texts we have today are – in a certain sense – texts about prayer. We have Jacob wrestling with an unnamed man (or angel); and we have a parable from Jesus about a woman – known as a persistent widow – arguing […]
Readings: Habakkuk, 1, 1-4; 2, 1-4. Luke, 17, 5-10. Sermon: Greta Thunberg’s challenge I was deeply challenged and profoundly moved by Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN Action Summit in New York on 23 September. If you haven’t seen it or heard it, please do so and do so today, preferably before lunch. She does […]
Readings: Exodus 32.7-14, Luke 15.1-10 Sermon: The Keeper of Lost Things When our children hear a parable, the Godly Play story begins with the story-teller looking for the box which has the story in it. The children can help. The box is gold because gold is valuable and a parable is valuable. But the box has […]
Readings: Luke 14.25-33; Philemon 1-21 Sermon: Discarding Bias Jesus turns to the people who are following him and says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate their own father and mother and spouse and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even their own life, they cannot be my disciple.” There are, of […]
Readings: Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16; Luke 14.1, 7-24 Sermon: ‘Who would come to your dream dinner party?’ It’s one of those questions that you find on the back page of weekend newspaper supplements. It’s a Guardian question – which in itself tells you something – but is perhaps more interesting than the Church Times version – ‘Who would […]
Readings: Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 13: 10-17 Sermon: Counterculture As I speak, our friends in the Beacon church in Broomhill are holding what will probably be the last service of worship to be held in the church after almost 160 years of there being a Methodist church on that site. As the members of the […]
Readings Jeremiah 23:23-29; Luke 12: 49-56 Sermon (This was one of those sermons where I found myself speaking to the congregation without the notes on the page. What I offer here was what I prepared in advance but it is not exactly what I preached). Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life: such a way […]