Matthew, Mark and Luke describe the Holy Spirit coming down on Jesus at his baptism. In the New Testament as a whole, the action of the Holy Spirit is an important element in baptism. In the 5 accounts of baptisms in the Acts of the Apostles, the spirit is always comes down, sometimes spontaneously from […]
Sermons
Fr Crispin’s sermon, 2 January
John 1.10-18 ‘HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN DID NOT RECEIVE HIM.’ A week ago we celebrated Midnight Mass. After we had received Holy Communion the priest took the tiny figure of the baby Jesus from the altar and carried it to the crib in the Resurrection Chapel at the east […]
Fr Thomas’s sermon, 26 December
In the calendar of the Western church, the day after Christmas, has been celebrated in honour of the first martyr Stephen. Much has been made of how this feast together with those which follow shed light on the meaning of the Incarnation, something most certainly true but which is due just to happenstance. The happenstance […]
Fr Thomas’s sermon, Advent 3
Luke 3:7-18 John the Baptist tends to get a good press from Christians; he is keen on social justice and puts his life on the line by challenging the morals of loud and shabby ruler and and in two of the gospels he baptises Jesus. as we hear today He announces that there will […]
The Revd Jo Kershaw’s sermon, 5 December 2021
What are you preparing for? That might, especially at this stage of December, or, for those of use who are ordinands or teachers, seem like a painfully intrusive question! But if it is, it’s nonetheless one that is positively forced on us by the liturgy and readings of the day. On Friday evening I went […]
Fr John’s Advent sermon
Fans of the novels of Robert Galbraith (alias JK Rowling) should recognise the cluster of stars known as Messier 54 as a major clue in one of the Cormoran Strike thrillers. It is a globular galaxy some 87,000 LY away (just down the road really. The clue is given to Strike by and Ian Brady […]
Fr George’s sermon, Christ the King
Whatever you might think about living under a monarchy, the British monarchy is very odd. We live in an age which is passionate about equality, equal opportunities, controls and checks on people’s performance in their jobs, a dislike of class difference and deference, and so on. We attempt with great commitment to apply these things […]
Fr Ben Gordon-Taylor’s sermon, 7 November
You might have seen the sketch in Morecambe and Wise in which they do their own version of ‘Singing in the Rain’. Ernie is enjoying himself playing the Gene Kelly role, singing and dancing (and we’re reminded how good those two were at both, having started in music hall), while Eric is a hapless police […]
Fr Crispin Sermon – 31 October 2021
The Fourth Sunday before Advent Deut 6.1-9 Mark 12.28-34 Preached by Fr Crispin Harrison CR The lesson which we heard at Mattins, is part of an ancient Jewish prayer that devout Jews recite daily. ‘Hear O Israel the Lord our God is One Lord.’ Jesus Christ recited it every day all […]
Bishop Mark’s sermon, College Foundation Day
One of the most popular television sagas of recent times – was Line of Duty. It provoked weekly speculation throughout the land as, week by week, the intriguing plot unfolded in twists and turns. The country developed a whole new set of sayings, expletives and abbreviations…. a whole glossary of new terms. You may remember […]