Latest Sermons

I have always loved this opening scene in John’s Gospel part of which we heard read today. Chapter one of John begins as we know, with the Prologue, that epic poem establishing the pre-existent Word at the very beginning of all things.

In the beginning, we are told in Book of Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.

I want to think with you this morning about how we come to be part of God’s family.  And in thinking about being part of God’s family, I want to explore how being adopted is at the very heart of the process.

I wonder how you have arrived at this Christmas Day, grateful for peace because all your visitors have come and everything is ready and you can enjoy one another.

There are two kinds of things: those that abide forever; and those that last for a limited period. The things that abide forever we call essence; the things that last for a limited period we call existence.

My grandson Joshua is two today. It is fascinating being part of the growth and development of a young child, particularly as a grandparent when you can remember what happened with your own children and also see the way in which, in this case, my daughter and son-in-law approach their role as parents.

This week at our neighbours St James Piccadilly, a new installation has been created in the church, to highlight the continuing refugee crisis in Europe and across our world. It’s called Suspended and consists of 700 individual items of clothing of adults and infants, male and female, suspended above the nave of the church.

‘I know you’re in a hurry.’ I wonder if you’ve ever said that, asking for a person’s attention, when it’s clear they’re rushing to something else. And you could simply say, ‘Don’t worry, we can talk about it later, I’ll send you an email, it’s not urgent,’ and permanently or temporarily fade into the background of their life.

If you’re a geologist, you have an extensive vocabulary for circumscribing what the rest of us generally call ‘a very long time.’ For geologists there’s an age, and bigger than that there’s an epoch, and beyond that there’s a period; but that’s not all.