Whether we read the Old or the New Testament, it’s so obviously the experience of the Jewish people, a very small, weak nation, tossed about among the kingdoms and empires of the ancient world. God doesn’t speak to us from thrones of kings or emperors, who placed their own statues on the altar of the […]
Sermons
Zeph 1,7,12-18 1 Thess 5.1-11 Mt 25 14-30
The Bible readings today are all about Judgement Day, the last day when every human must give an account of how he or she has used God’s gifts in this life. All evil will be destroyed by Jesus when he comes in judgment on the Last Day. But traditionally that’s a theme I should leave […]
Wisd 6.12-16; 1 Thess 4.13-18; Matt 25.1-13
There is a new film I should much like to see. “Marjorie Prime” explores loss, grief and memory through the experience of 86 year old Marjorie. In the early stages of Altzheimer’s, Marjorie is given the support of a ‘Prime’ – a futuristic hologram recreation of her late husband – as her companion. From the […]
Letter from Marc – September 2017
From Mark Nov CR: Greetings from a somewhat inclement Mirfield on this feast of St Michael and All Angels. May you know his intercession for strengthening and defence on all sides in these testy days of our time. Things are continuously busy for us at CR but it is sustained by putting on love and […]
Us and Them
When I was a schoolboy, each August my mother would take me and my brother to Smith’s department store in Leicester to buy new blazers. Putting on the new blazer was always magic, but there was another bit of magic I always looked forward to. The store was equipped with a vacuum tube payment system. […]
19th after Trinity
It all comes down to the money. That seems to be the consensus of political commentators this week on the Brexit negotiations after the latest EU leaders’ meeting. The future relations between neighbours sharing one continent and centuries of entwined cultural development depend on ‘how much?’. Later this week we’ll be commemorating the Christian King […]
“And then the end will come.” Matthew 24 1-12
What did Jesus mean by all this talk of war and rumours of wars; of enduring to the end? Over the centuries these verses have convinced many that the end of the world is about to come. This past century has been a particularly rich time for those who like to give this warning and […]
Trinity XIV 2017
This is the third time that I have read these words from this lectern in the past month, I don’t quite know what that means except that I, at least, am familiar with this very Dickensian text, Dickensian because Dickens wrote so much about the poor and afflicted alongside the affluence so abundant among the […]
The Way of the Cross
How quickly the mood changes, the tone darkens. Only moments earlier Peter’s insight has been declared by Jesus to be heaven-inspired, something beyond the capacity of flesh and blood, providing the rock on which the future will be built. But now Peter is sternly reprimanded and firmly put in his place; he is called Satanic, […]
Isaiah 51:1-6. Romans 12:1-8. Matthew 16:13-20
In the modern kingdom of Jordan is a big tourist attraction, the rock hewn city of PETRA, where beautiful tombs are cut out of the living rock: PETER/PETRA. Isaiah says is all: “Look to the ROCK from which you were hewn”, and the reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us about ministries we […]