Category Archives: sermon

Year C Proper 21: The rich man and Lazarus

So we have reached the finale of the season of rich man parables. You will remember that in these parables, the phrase “a rich man” is used to indicate not simply someone who has a lot of stuff, but someone … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 20: The parable of the dishonest manager

We all knew, in the old westerns, who the bad guys were by the colour of their hats. These days, if you go to a movie and a smooth character speaks to you in a somewhat refined British accent, you … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 20: Thick as thieves

An extract from tomorrow’s sermon: A man was incarcerated in a high security prison on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England. Whilst there, he had fallen under the wings of one of the most notorious criminal … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 19: God’s unrelenting love

Does anyone think that the scribes and the Pharisees might be just a little bit jealous? For the past few weeks of story, Jesus has been at their house, eating at their tables, messing with their seating arrangements and telling … Continue reading →

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Lost in the department store

Frantic, fleeting moments in the old department store, for each passing second a hundred possibilities; few of them good. Disembodied voices broadcast fear across the floors: “Have you seen this child? Wearing a blue coat with a hood.” Elevators, escalators, … Continue reading →

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Psalm 14 (53)

Psalm 53 is included in today’s Daily Office readings. It is almost exactly the same as Psalm 14, which is included in this Sunday’s Revised Common Lectionary, except for the penultimate verse(s). The text of Psalm 14 is included below, … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 18: One lousy sales pitch

The other day, during a screening of the final movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy – the one where all of the final battles happen and the last-ditch attempts to overcome evil in the face of incredible odds … Continue reading →

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Tomorrow’s gospel

“No one starts a war, Jesus says, without first calculating the chances of winning. Otherwise, they may get drawn into open-ended, unending conflict, with no clear way out, sending life chasing after death as though they hate the lives of … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 17: An ambition for humility

So what happens if the audience at the dinner party follows Jesus’ advice? What if the next time they are invited out, they are falling over themselves and each other to sit at the foot of the table? What if … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 16: Jeremiah and Jesus

The Book of Jeremiah is a complicated document, and there are many scholarly debates about its history and its voices, its purpose and its people. What we read at its beginning, though, is a classic call story. “Here,” says God, … Continue reading →

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