Candlemas 2021 In the past 12 months we have learned much about waiting. Many people are asking ‘when will this be over’? When will life get back to normal? The answer is, of course, that we don’t know. We have some hopes; hopefully the vaccine will make a difference; hopefully warmer weather will bring some…
Epiphany 3 – Mark 1:14-20 At Christmas the fact of the Roman Occupation of Israel is high in our consciousness, especially in relation to the 3 Magi from the East who encounter Herod before they find Jesus and who avoid him afterwards. The slaughter of the innocents was the result. We then tend to forget…
Today’s Gospel reading, John 1:43-51, follows the Epiphany theme of ‘seeing’, ‘finding’ and ‘perceiving’. All these words can have quite mundane meanings: ‘I saw Fred on the bus today’: I found a pound coin on the pavement’: ‘I couldn’t quite perceive who it was because it was foggy.’ But all these words can have heightened…
Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Christ. For us, in the church of the western world, I think it would be fair to say that this feast day has become a bit of a half hearted affair – not as cosy as Christmas and not as exotic as Epiphany. Not as picturesque…
Epiphany 2020 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. It is a quiet feast for us in the UK but in other countries, Epiphany is full of activity. Processions of kings on horseback throw handfuls of sweets to eagerly awaiting children. Children put boxes of straw under their beds for the camels. Holes are…
Christmas 1 2020 Well, it’s the last Sunday of a difficult and extraordinary year. And it looks as if the general chaos caused by Coronavirus is set to continue well into 2021. Even the simplest things have become complicated – nipping out to the shops or seeing your GP, getting a haircut. And things we…
Advent 4 is Mary’s day. We remember the young woman who said ‘Yes’ to God and changed the world. On her ‘Yes’ rests the Christian faith, and 2000 years of art, theology, cultures, moral codes and standards and law. Because of Mary and her ‘Yes’ we are here today. Who knows what would have happened…
John the Baptist is the focus for this, the 3rd Sunday in Advent. Today is also Gaudate Sunday – the Sunday in the penitential season of Advent when we’re allowed to take a break and celebrate a little. This year it’s felt as if the whole year has been Lent and Advent with nothing in…
Advent 2 2020 Today is the second Sunday of Advent. The tradition on this, second Sunday, is to focus on the old Testament prophets – such mighty figures as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, as well as the lesser prophets – Joel, Habakkuk and Zephania. John the Baptist is the last of the great Old Testament…
‘They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ These words from of the prophet Isaiah are also to be found outside the United Nations Building- alongside a powerful statue of a Blacksmith who is in the…