Second Sunday of Epiphany John 2:1-11

I wonder when you leave church today if people would mistake you for a wedding guest?  For a party goer?  

Have you seen his glory and believed?

Whilst studying at theological college one lecturer would regularly say: It’s not what the Bible teaches you that matters but what it does to you.  What he was trying to do was to remind passionate students of scripture, intent on squeezing maximum understanding out of every word, which, whilst commendable, actually missed the point.  Because, if Jesus didn’t actually change you then scripture has simply passed you by.  What matters is Jesus is meant to make a difference.  You encounter a different dimension of reality when Jesus is around.  And Jesus is around through the Holy Spirit to enable us to meet him in scripture today, here and right now. Read more

Feast of the Baptism of Christ

Sermon 10 January 2010

(Penny Bird Licensed Lay Minister)

All Saints 8.30 & 10 a.m.

Feast of the Baptism of Christ

Isaiah 43: 1-6

Acts 8: 14 -17

Luke 3: 15-17, 21,22.

May I speak in the name of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

As a child, were you ever given Japanese water flowers? They were all the rage at one time. What appeared to be an unpromising block of card, when dunked in a glass of water would gradually open up into a flower or a pagoda. Keep that idea in mind and you’ll see what I’m going to talk about today.

Or try this picture. The story is told of a little boy who was trying to open a flower bud.  Under his persistent efforts the blossom fell apart in his hands.  In exasperation he looked up at his mother and asked, ‘Why does the bud fall apart when I try to open it, but when God opens it the flower is beautiful?’

Shocked at his profundity, his mother was speechless.  Soon, however, the child exclaimed eagerly.  ’Oh, I know!  When God opens the flower, he opens it from the inside

‘Do not be afraid. For I have redeemed you,

I have called you by your name. You are mine.’ Says Isaiah

‘His winnowing fork is in his hand’ says John the Baptist.

Which do we hear as we come close to God?

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Epiphany: A Year of Prayer & Discipleship

Then entered in those wise men three
Full reverently upon their knee,
And offered there in His presence
Their gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.

A story is told of a priest in Milan. One day, during the course of a parish visitation he found an old woman who was sick.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Not bad,” she answered. “I have enough food and I’m not suffering from cold.”

“You must be reasonably happy then?” he asked.

“No, I’m not”, she said, beginning to cry. “You see, my son and daughter-in-law never come to see me and I am dying of loneliness.

When he had left her the phrase “I’m dying of loneliness” came back to him again and again. And when this priest later became Pope Paul VI, he told the story of this woman at a papal audience. “This shows that food and warmth are not enough,” said the Pope. “People need something more. They need our presence, our time, our love. They need to be touched, to be reassured that they are not forgotten.” Read more