This was my sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent 2020… “Comfort O Comfort my people! The voice crying out in the Wilderness, Make straight the Way of the Lord!” (Isaiah 40.1-11) If any year has felt like a wilderness, surely it must be this year! Since January when the news of the strange epidemic […]
“O Comfort ye my people” says the prophet Isaiah, memorably set to music by Handel in the Messiah, and mispronounced by choirs down the decades as “come for tea, my people”, as many choirmasters will attest. “O tidings of Comfort and Joy!” announces the familiar Christmas carol, sung each year with gusto in carol services […]
Our Gospel reading today comes from a chapter of the Bible (Mark 13) which is full of imagery of the world shaken to the core, of destruction, suffering and war. And perhaps this seems to be a description of today: when we open a newspaper or watch news reports, we could be overwhelmed by the […]
“Look busy, Jesus is coming!” is a popular slogan, often found on mugs or similar gifts, designed to make us laugh. After all, sitting at ease sipping a coffee is not exactly “busyness” – or at least according to business productivity stats. In contrast, I’m reminded of the story about the two woodcutters – one […]
This week, it’s a pleasure to welcome another guest post from my colleague Revd. Jim, who preached the sermon below for us on Sunday 22nd November, the festival of Christ the King. I recently met again with a cousin with whom I played ‘hide & seek’ with in the 1960s, and meeting him I was […]