Sharing some thoughts

Today as we celebrate All Saints Day our readings naturally concentrate on God’s love, his grace, on the many blessings that he gives to us every day, and ultimately upon the victory which he has already won – the incredible victory over everything that is wrong in the world and in our lives today. In the reading from Wisdom (3:1-9) we are given a picture of that victory – the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God where no torment can ever touch them... And there’s a similar feeling in the reading from the Book of Revelation (21:1-5). The reading from there tells of the new Jerusalem, a city fit for God to live in, a city where mourning and crying and pain are no more. And then in the gospel of John (11:32-44) we have the account of Jesus weeping as he hears of the death of his friend Lazarus, but then performing the miracle of raising him from the dead. These three readings are useful tools as we think of All Saints Day, because I think there are 3 elements to the day – the f...

  The car maker Henry Ford asked the electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn't find the problem. So Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then switched them back on working properly. A couple of days later Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz. Flabbergasted, the rather tightfisted car maker enquired why the bill was so high. Steinmetz replied, ‘For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990.’ Ford paid the bill. Today in our New Testament readings (1 Cor 3:10-15 & Matthew 7:21-end) we’re presented with an issue and it’s an issue that’s fundamental in living our lives and that is the question of ‘do we know what our foundation is? Do we know our rock?’ In the short passage from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians we are presented with the word ‘foundation’ on 4 occasions. The foundation is identified as bei...

  This week the Governing Body of the Church in Wales met and it was one of those occasions where the deliberations made the television news as a vote passed allowing the blessing of same sex couples in church. Of course, some people thought it a step too far, others not far enough… It’s a subject where the church and society have been quite far apart up to now and this closes the gap somewhat.   And that is a great challenge for the church - the balance or meeting of the spiritual and secular is one that, as Christians living in a modern society, we constantly have to be aware of. Just because society does something it doesn’t mean the church should, but similarly just because the church has said something for years doesn’t mean it can never be thought through again and again…   And this conflict is one that has gone back to the times of Jesus himself, as we have seen in the gospel reading today (Mark 8:27-38). Jesus, travelling with his disciples, asks them who peop...

  Today in the church calendar is the Feast Day of St James - James was the Galilean Fisherman who, along with his brother John, was one of those called by Jesus to give up everything and follow him. He seems to have enjoyed a privileged position in the group as one of Jesus’ inner circle. He was one of the disciples chosen to be with Jesus at the Transfiguration, at the healing of Jairus’ daughter and also then at the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus awaited his arrest.   It is believed that James was eventually put to death in the year 44AD on the instructions of Herod Agrippa who believed that by killing off the Christian leaders, he could kill off the spread of the Christian Faith.  How foolish Herod was to think that a faith was just about the people. Had that been the case then I’m sure that Christianity would never have survived and prospered as it has over the past 2000 years. The Christian faith, whilst heavily reliant on each one of us to act as witnesses for Jes...

  Trinity Sunday is one of the notoriously difficult days upon which to preach in the church calendar.   As a final sermon in a church it could easily go horribly wrong, so I’m going to cheat a little bit and whilst celebrating the Trinity, God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God who has and is creating, saving and empowering us, I’m going to think this morning about a different trinity – our diocesan trinity of Gathering, Growing and Going…  Part of the vision of the diocese is that we Gather in God’s name, we Grow into the likeness of Jesus and we Go out, led by the Spirit, to make disciples of others…  And just as the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable, to a degree, in the life of any church, these things must also be inseparable.  Back to the foundation stone of our faith and it is there towards the end of this morning’s gospel reading (John 3:1-17),  ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so t...

  Today is the day that is the reason for our faith.     The miraculous birth of Jesus, his incredible earthly life and of course his death on the cross all help to shape our faith and remind us of his amazing love for us, but today, the day of resurrection is what absolutely gives our faith foundation and meaning.    It is the reason we continue to celebrate an event of 2000 years ago and will do so into eternity… If Jesus didn’t physically rise from the dead, then our faith is hollow… Jesus, the way, the truth, the life, our risen Saviour, is the reason for our faith…    And our readings this morning obviously reflect this great truth…    From the Old Testament Prophecy of Isaiah (25:6-9) we are given a wonderful picture of all people feasting together celebrating the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, celebrating the defeat of death forever, celebrating the end of any earthly sadness or torment or pain.    There, on ...

This is a series of 5 addresses given at Compline in St Mary's Church Swansea through Lent 2021 PRAYER & TRANQUILITY  The reading  from the gospel according to Mark Ch 1 vs. 35.    ‘In the morning, while it was still very dark, he (Jesus) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed…’     When I was in Theological College (and I don’t need you to show how impressed you are by this !!) I was Senior Student for a year – it sounds lot more grand than it was, but one of the achievements that I was most proud of was reducing the time of silence within the morning and evening prayer service – after each of the readings we used to have what seemed like an eternity of silence…. I hated it – I am not good at silence – my mind seems to just wander off in all kinds of directions although most of my thoughts are centred upon my desire for the silence to end soon.    But whilst I was proud of myself at the time, I do actually recognise...