Hark, the glad sound - the Saviour comes!

Sermon preached at St John the Baptist, Ermine; Trinity 15, 24/09/17 Readings: Jonah 3:10 – 4:11;  Matthew 20: 1-17 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Salvation What kind of a God do you believe in? Now I’m going to ask a slightly different question. What kind of a God do you want to believe in? I think Jonah’s answer to those two questions would have been very different. We’ve heard him talking to God – he says “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” Those sound like good things. But Jonah says that’s the reason he didn’t want to do what God called him to. That’s the reason he ran away (and got into that whole mess with the whale). God is gracious and merciful, always ready to listen to an apology and forgive, no questions asked. And Jonah is not a fan. Jonah wants a...

Sermon preached in Lincoln Cathedral, Sunday 17th September 2017 Matthew 18: 21-35 (The parable of the Unmerciful Servant) Then Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if another member of the church  sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven  times.  ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents  was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-...

Sermon preached at Lincoln Cathedral, 19/02/2017 (Second Sunday before Lent) Matthew 6: 25-end “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink.” Thanks, Jesus, for that helpful advice. Is there anyone at all who finds being told not to worry actually makes them stop worrying? Personally, the more I’m told not to worry, the more on edge I get. Over the last few months, plenty of people have been telling me not to worry – about labour, about becoming a parent, about looking after a baby – and the more they tell me in very specific detail the things I don’t need to worry about, the more worried I get. Sometimes about things I hadn’t even registered as potential problems before. And I don’t think this is just me. Worrying is something we all do – at least at times. Diagnosed cases of debilitating, life-limiting anxiety are rising all the time; and even if our anxieties aren’t bad enough to send us to the doctor, we all know w...