Ash Wednesday Sermon 2009
February 25, 2009 by Simon
THIS SERMON WAS PREACHED AT A TEAM EUCHARIST ON ASH WEDNESDAY DURING WHICH OUR NEW TEAM CURATE, ANDREW WATSON, WAS LICENSED TO HIS POST BY THE BISHOP OF CROYDON
Andrew, one of the things you’ll learn about Sanderstead is that news travels very fast. In fact, the only thing that travels faster than a tummy bug around an Egyptian boat are reports going around the parish that the Rector got it! Three hours from the first person I spoke to, to the first phone call wishing me well. News travels fast here. Thanks for your kind concerns.
So, in case you’ve missed the grapevine, I didn’t exactly have a brilliant holiday on the River Nile. Whether it was the Curse of Tutankhamun, or Cairo Tummy or whatever, I was laid completely low for four out of seven days. No energy, no appetite, no where further than 30 seconds from a loo. I was a pathetic sight. And I felt it. You’ve no need to feel sorry, by the way, I’m just telling you honestly how I felt.
I’m telling you because preaching, they used to tell me at a very good theological college in the East Midlands, preaching ought to be about the raw material of life (and that’s the nearest you’re getting to an off colour joke tonight). And as I laid in my cabin, a long way from home, I thought what am I going to say next Wednesday evening? And it occurred to me that that sense of being powerless, without any sense of my being able to help myself, was exactly what Ash Wednesday is about. Saying ‘I need help.’ Asking for it. And getting it. Read more
Welcome to the Lord’s Table – Week 6 - Prayer
February 22, 2009 by James
Welcome to the Lord’s Table – Week 6 - Prayer
Sermon for St Mary’s 10am Sung Eucharist by Revd James Percival, Team Vicar
22nd February 2009, Sunday before Lent
Readings:
2 Kings 2:1-12 Elijah ascends to heaven
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ
Mark 9:2-9 The Transfiguration
Prayer
1. Be yourself
As I have said before in this series, we need to have the courage to come before God not on our best behaviour, but as we really are. That is certainly true of prayer – and as luck would have it, I have been presented with the opportunity to lead from the front on this, pirate appearance, lisp and all!
2. Get beyond primary school prayer
How do we come before God in prayer?
Another thing we need in prayer is to get beyond our primary school conception of it. Now this may be the time when many people have most regularly taken time to pray, so I’m not knocking that – but in a recent year 2 assembly at Christ Church, Matthew, a big lad, offered this invitation to prayer:
“hands together, eyes closed!” Now that’s useful in trying to help us to concentrate in a hall full of 200 children. But let’s not forget that we can pray with eyes open, hands raised, out walking, with words, without words, or even in the bath. As some wise person said,
‘Pray as you can, not as you can’t.’ We need to find the ways that we can pray – no-one else can do this for us – and use them. Over time they may well change. But don’t limit yourselves, or God, to ‘hands together, eyes closed!’
Second Green Sunday: Preached by John Townsend from A Rocha
February 15, 2009 by Guest
Colossians Chapter 1 verses 15-20
Jesus supreme in all things
Questions for today:
1. How can we make the world a better place? (Keeping in mind things like Climate change)
2. What is God like?
Questions from the Christians in Colosse: (A Town on the River Lycus in modern Turkey. The church was probably begun during Paul’s evangelistic ministry in Ephesus [Acts 19.9-10].) Epaphras has brought good news 1.8 – the church is showing ‘love in the Spirit’ and the bad news is there are influences in the church that seem to suggest that ‘Jesus is not that special!’. Paul’s response is to remind the Christians of who Jesus really is:
That Jesus is both Lord of creation and the new creation.
1. We need to get the big picture about who Jesus is.
a. Supreme in Revelation: v.15 (see Q.2 above) (notice present tense ‘is’) see also v.19
b. Supreme in Creation: v.15 ‘he is the firstborn before all creation – v.16 he is the agent of creation – he is the goal of creation - creation is for him v.16c – he is the origin and sustainer of creation v.17
2. How far-reaching is the Salvation he brings? v.13 Jesus has rescued us (as individuals)
a. He is the head of the church v.18
b. He is supreme in reconciliation through the cross v.20
c. Supreme in all things! v.20 (cf. v.16) (salvation, justice, care of creation) He brings SHALOM.
Conclusion Use this part of Paul’s letter to friends in Colosse to answer today’s questions asked at the beginning.
(For further help see; ‘The Message of Creation’ David Wilkinson & ‘The Message of Colossians and Philemon’ RC Lucas)
See A Rocha website www.arocha.org (see especially the Link to ‘Climate Stewards’).
Recommended for personal reading;
‘L is for Lifestyle’ by Ruth Valerio – IVP www.ivpbooks.com (£7.99). (There is an additional website for this book) www.lisforlifestyle.com
‘Planetwise’ by Dave Bookless – IVP (£7.99)
John Townsend
Welcome to the Lord’s Table - Week 5
February 8, 2009 by James
Welcome to the Lord’s Table – Week 5
Sermon for St Mary’s 10am Sung Eucharist by Revd James Percival, Team Vicar
8th February 2009, 3rd Sunday before Lent
Readings: Mark 1:29-39
Jesus’s friends – following Jesus
1. Jesus’s friends are not perfect, nor are we,
nor do we need to be (key misunderstanding)
- cultural sense of church as place to be ‘good’ – NO
- need only to know our own need
- especially in Mark’s gospel, disciples mess up often!
2. It’s difficult following Jesus
- John 6:66 difficult saying, ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ – many of his disciples turned back – ‘no this is too hard’
- plenty in our world and in our hearts to turn us away from the great commandments (Mark 12:30-31)
- it’s a messy business; we can take Jesus as friend to complain to and laugh with; but also an ongoing search: ‘Everyone is searching for you’ (Mark 1:37 – profound truth).
- many different temperaments in faith, some flat, some more up and down; but sooner or later, almost inevitable that you will be sorely tempted to give up searching. Resist this – because…