Sharing some thoughts

Part of the wonderful introduction to John’s gospel that we have just heard says, ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.’ This morning we celebrate the birth of the light of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We join with millions of Christians worldwide as we reflect on God’s greatest gift. I have to confess that I am not a huge fan of Christmas, but one of my favourite parts of the season is Charles Dickens’ novel, ‘A Christmas Carol’. It is of course the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the man who hated Christmas and everything to do with it, until he was visited by three spirits, the spirit of Christmas past, the spirit of Christmas present and the spirit of the Christmases yet to come. This novel is particularly symbolic for Christians as we worship the God who was, and is, and is to come, and at Christmas time many of us will I suspect, if we get chance, stop at some time just for a moments thought or reflection on the past, the pres...

There’s a true story I heard recently about a little girl who had been chosen to place Jesus into the crib on Christmas Day. She had practised hard and she was all ready for the big day – but somehow on the day as she approached the crib, and looked up and saw the minister smiling, she suddenly panicked. She threw the baby Jesus up in the air and turned and ran back to her mother. Incredibly though the baby Jesus landed absolutely perfectly in the crib, and the minister quickly commented that the baby Jesus had arrived by air mail. And that’s a wonderful story for Christmas, because just as the crib scene worked out ok in the end, despite the possibilities of it being ruined by the little girl, so with Jesus in our lives things will work out ok in the end. On that first Christmas night, the angel announced to the shepherds, ‘I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people…’ and that is the message of Christmas today... Every one of us will probably approach Christmas wi...

A man had gone out driving to do some Christmas shopping, and his wife was at home watching the television when she heard the announcer say, "be very careful and watch driving on the M4 today, there is a motorist driving the wrong way"! And so his wife got hold of him on his mobile phone to warn him, and his reply was: "You’re telling me, there are hundreds of them going the wrong way here". Going the wrong way is something that is all too easy to do, particularly at this rather hectic time of year, but our readings this morning give us some guidelines on how we can put things on the right track. This morning we have heard the wonderful words of Paul from his letter to the Philippians (4:4), ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…’ Now just for a moment let’s consider Paul’s circumstances – Paul had been a wealthy man who moved in the best circles, he had power and money, he had influence and probably a lot of friendships and acquaintances that...

Begin by playing through ‘When a child is born’ Some of you may know what I’m going to say about that song, but I just thought it would be nice to play one of the popular Christmas songs, one that you will no doubt hear many times in shops or parties or at home. But… you must have guessed there’d be a but… if you listened in depth to the last verse you will have heard the words, ‘It’s all a dream, an illusion now – it must come true sometime soon somehow…’ the reality is that one of the most popular Christmas songs of recent years, is actually a song saying Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, is meaningless, because that birth still hasn’t happened. And the sad bit is that for many people Christmas is just a dream or an illusion. There will be many people who will work desperately hard to enjoy Christmas because it is just a little bit of light in an often miserable life. There will be many who spend huge amounts of money that they can’t afford to try and bri...

I’m going to begin this address by asking some rather difficult questions – Firstly what is this ?? Orange Secondly what is this ?? Ribbon Thirdly ?? Cocktail stick Next ?? Some sweets And finally ?? A Candle You’re all doing so well that I think if I asked you who the best rugby team in the world are you would probably all give me the right answer and say Cardiff Blues ! Now, one more question : if you put all of these things together what would you make ?? A Christingle As you will probably know the various things that make up the Christingle all represent something : The orange represents the world in which we live. The four sticks remind us of the four seasons of the year. The red ribbon reminds us of the blood of Jesus and the fact that he died on the cross for us. The sweets (??) remind us that God gives us a lot of great gifts in our lives, and of course the candle on the top reminds us of Jesus himself – the light of the world. And when al...

Advent is a time of year when we, looking forward to Christmas, traditionally consider the message of John the Baptist who went out into the wilderness announcing that Jesus was on his way – the long awaited Saviour of the world was coming, and people were to be ready ! Now John was not the most conventional sort of person – he was in the wilderness, wearing wild animal skins, no doubt smelling very badly, and preaching repentance. He wasn’t genteel or polite, he offended all those who he could offend with his message that everyone has done wrong and every one of us needs Jesus to put it right. He was telling his listeners to cut through all of the distractions, eliminate the nonsense in their lives, and stop running away from God, and running after things that actually in the overall scheme of things don’t really matter. Now if John was here today I think there would be many people who would have a bit of a problem with him, not least Church leaders, but today I think John...

Last Thursday was the Feast Day of St Andrew – most of us will know him as the Patron Saint of Scotland, but perhaps some will know him as the Patron Saint of Russia or even Greece . Apparently he became Patron Saint of Scotland because of a legend that his relics were taken there in the 8 th century – it seems that at the most this involved 3 fingers from his right hand, a bone from his arm, one tooth and a knee cap, but nevertheless this apparently inspired Hungus the king of the Picts, to defeat the English, and the cross of St Andrew became the standard of Scotland ! But whatever traditions and legends have surrounded Andrew he has undoubtedly left an example for us to follow today in terms of his service and his commitment to the cause of sharing the good news of Jesus. Andrew along with his brother, Simon Peter, was the first of the disciples to be called – responding to Jesus’ promise to make them fishers of men. He then seems to have remained with Jesus throughout his ...

Once again we have reached the season of advent – the season when we look forward to Christmas – it is the season when some of the old jokes come out such as ‘Why did the little girl change her mind about buying her grandmother some handkerchiefs for Christmas ? Because she couldn’t out what size her nose was !’ or ‘why was Santa’s little helper depressed ? Because he had low elf esteem !’ or just one more ‘Who can you find hiding in a bakery at Christmas ? A mince Spy !’ Anyway that exhausts my supply of awful Christmas jokes so we will just have to be serious right up to Christmas. Advent is a funny time of year though – it is a time in the Church Calendar just as solemn as Lent, although it is rarely regarded as such but, like Lent, it is a time to examine ourselves and our faith. Last week and the week before I went on two separate courses – one was on leadership and one was on Leading the Church into growth, and they were very different. One was very much theory based ...

Just the one sermon today and nothing next week ! If you would like to read another sermon for then have a look at http://mysundaysermon.blogspot.com One day, Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great teacher and philosopher, and his Dominican brothers were gathered for their hour of recreation. They were all talking, laughing, and enjoying one another's company before going back to their work, prayer, and study… Someone asked Saint Thomas , "If the world were to end in fifteen minutes, what would you do?" He replied, "I would continue doing exactly what I am doing right now." Given that question I wonder what our answers would be – would it be to spend time here in Church with our Christian brothers and sisters, worshipping, praying, celebrating God’s love, or would it be rushing off to sort out some problem with someone or to try and resolve some long argument, or perhaps just to go off and be with family… I guess we all wonder whether we would greet a moment li...

Normally Monday sermons aren't put on, but this is especially for Allan, continuing to wish him a good and speedy recovery !! I’m going to begin this evening with two short stories… There was a new Priest at a Parish who was very nervous before preaching his first sermon – and as he got up he could hardly speak. Before his second appearance in the pulpit he asked the senior Priest how he could relax, and the Priest said, ‘Well next Sunday it may help if you put a bit of vodka in your water glass and had some of that to settle you – after a few sips you should be fine.’ The next Sunday the new Priest followed the advice and felt really good, in fact so good he seemed on a real high – however upon returning to his house he found a note from the Senior Priest, which said, ‘Dear Father, 1) Next time sip the vodka rather than gulp 2) There are 10 commandments not 12 3) There are 12 disciples not 10 4) We do not refer to the cross as the ‘Big T’ 5) ...

Today we have just heard the gospel account of Jesus teaching about those who wear the fine garments at the Temple, but who live lives very different to the things they teach, and then he sits opposite the Treasury as money is put into the Temple – many rich people put in large amounts, but one widow came along and put in just two small copper coins. Whilst her contribution would have been almost invisible to the Temple , Jesus recognised that she had given all that she could, and that equated to far more than any of the other people were giving. (Mark 12:38-44) And this is rightly used very often as a text for discussing stewardship in the Church, and for considering what we give to God, but on this Remembrance Sunday it also draws us to consider those who have given everything in wars, wars to bring lasting peace and freedom, wars to end all wars. At a place called Zorgvleit, one of the districts of The Hague in the Netherlands , there is a palace. Round about it are delig...

Yesterday after the The Royal British Legion silence in Trafalgar Square , the following poem was read out : There Lie Forgotten Men They lie there in their thousands The last rays of sunlight Catching the white of the gravestones Lending a poignancy to the moment Numbering in their thousands they lay Deserving remembrance And yet the scarred green fields are empty Nothing remains here The processions of people vanished with the years Their sacrifice all but forgotten She stands there alone At the edge of the silent place And she is shocked New wars brew and these forgotten men Will play no part in them The dead silence warn no ears but hers In great halls, in moments of great decision What they fought for is forsaken And by days end, new gravestones Appear on the blood red ground She finds what she seeks 'Sgt John Malley Age 27' His life brutally ended And she stands by his grave But he can give no answers And she we...

The American evangelist Tony Campolo tells a true story about a time when he was preaching at a Pentecostal College . I’ll quote the story as he says it, ‘Several years ago I was invited to preach at a small Pentecostal College . Before the Chapel service, several of the members got up and took me to a side room to pray with me. I got down on my knees and the six of them put their hands on my head and prayed for me, asking the Holy Spirit to fill me up and use me effectively as I spoke to the students. Pentecostals seem to pray longer and with more dynamism than we Baptists do. These men prayed long, and the longer they prayed, the more they leaned on my head. They prayed on and on and leaned harder and harder. One of them kept whispering, ‘Do you feel the Spirit ?’ To tell the truth I felt something right at the base of my neck, but I wasn’t sure it was the Spirit. One of the members prayed at length about a particular man named Charlie Stoltzfus. That kind of annoyed me. I ...

I was reading some jokes this week about cows – they’re all clean and decent don’t worry ! The question was how, if you owned 2 cows, they would be dealt with under different political systems – for example if you have 2 cows under a socialist system, you give one to your neighbour. Under a communist system you give the government both cows and they give you some milk back; in a traditional capitalist society, you sell one cow, buy a bull, and the herd begins to grow and then you sell them and retire on the profits. In France , you begin with 2 cows, but go on strike because you want 3 cows. Anyway this has got very little to do with the sermon today except for the number 2, and the fact that when Jesus is asked ‘Which is the greatest commandment of all ?’ he comes up with 2 parts to his answer. The first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and the second is to love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus had managed to condense all of th...