Sermons

28th February 2010

The preacher discussed the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson, in which the author describes his experiences of helping to build schools in a deprived part of mountainous Pakistan, near the site of the mountain known as K2. The author had been helped to recover from a mountaineering accident on K2 by the local villagers. The preacher meditated on how some of Mortenson's experiences were very similar to incidents in the life of Jesus as described in the Gospels, and how the book, without being religious at all, illustrated some of the truths of Christian Spirituality.

7th February 2010

The preacher reflected on how the processes of human healing and growth were greatly helped by being aware of the cosmic processes going on in the natural world around us. He illustrated this by talking about a dying patient he had known many years ago. Between the Christmas season and Lent, there is a special time in the Church's Year in which we meditate on the theme of Creation, and how it is related to the birth of Jesus. It is the fruits of Creation, in Bread and Wine, which show the presence of God in Creation. The preacher related this to the need to take steps to avoid more global warming.

24th January 2010

The preacher talked about St Pauls well-known passage about living as one body, and not as a collection of random individuals. Here, whether in Church or Society, giving and receiving in a group leads to more contented and happy people than in trying all the time to look after oneself. All people need a group to belong to, and sometimes belonging can be more significant for a person than believing. In Christian Tradition, there has always been a sense of coming, working, and sharing together for the purpose of the Common Good. This was spoken about by a preacher, Chrysostom, in the early Church, and then again by Aquinas in the thirteenth century.

25th December 2009

The preacher commented on two types of Christmas narrative. First, the very human stories of shepherds and Wise Men, which describe ordinary human experiences of waiting and watching, of looking at the world outside (the star), and then interpreting it, of going on a journey not knowing what is to be found at the end of the journey, and then of travelling, not alone, but in a little community. Second, the great mystery surrounding the single sentence "The Word was made Flesh". This suggests that for the whole history of the world from the time of its formation, a mysterious God has been waiting to reveal himself in a human form.

These two types of story tell of a God who is deeply involved in deep human experiences, but who, at the same time, is also full of mystery, awe, wonder, and deep silence and stillness. These two together are experienced together in Christian Worship in Bread and Wine at Holy Communion.

11th October 2009

Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood are the stages of ordinary human development.

This also happens in spiritual and religious development. There is the wonder of childhood, followed by the questioning of adolescence, followed by combination of wonder and questioning in adulthood. Some people seem to move easily through all three stages, and become happily content with the mixture of wonder and questioning. Such people almost have some of the characteristics of what is called the spiritual mystic. But others often opt out of the questioning stage, and become either stuck on a sort of fundamentalism, or else give up altogether. These people often cannot cope with the nature of uncertainty.

Natural Science progresses through the combination of Wonder and Uncertainty,and Questioning. This is also true of Sacramental Worship in the Christian Tradition. Holy Communion or Eucharist gives a sense of awe and wonder, but in a context of delighted questioning, in which truth is gradually discovered. This is not just a personal search, but, more importantly, is a group activity, in the same way as is scientific research and discovery.

20th September 2009

The preacher discussed how it is always important to be exploring ideas, and also interpreting one's own experiences of life. Truth is discovered in this way. But, if one is always told what an answer is, then one's own personality never grows and develops. Truth is then expressed in acts of service and self-giving, and this applies both in personal relationships, and in social and political affairs, where the purpose is to establish social justice. This is strongly suggested in the words and actions of Jesus, described in the Gospel narratives. The preacher quoted T.S. Eliot "we shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploration, is to arrive at where we started from, and know the place for the first time".

13th September 2009

The address was about "Being One Body". The preacher mentioned how penguins and honey-bees only survive cold weather by coming together in a group, and sharing in difficult tasks. He mentioned the African saying "I AM because WE ARE", suggesting that we can only be a complete person by being in a group and belonging. This conclusion is is also implied in many studies in Evolutionary Biology, and it is also expressed in economic understandings such as those described by the great economist J.M. Keynes. In Christian Belief, this coming together is expressed in sharing together in Holy Communion at the altar, which Christians experience as creating One Body, out of all those who take part.

9th August 2009

Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus

The presence of Divine Truth is seen as a Cloud. This cloud provides rain to enable life to exist, but also. when one is inside it, can seme cold, clammy, frightening, and making seeing impossible. But the experience of being in a cloud, after the cloud has passed away, can be very positive and bring new insights. It might also give a new vision of glory and brightness, which prepares one for subsequent difficulty and hardship. Christian Tradition finds that we can always have these glimpses of glory, through taking part in acts of Prayer and Worship. These acts and experiences give us a sense of solid assurance that eventually all will really be well. One great support is the sharing in a community which is growing is learning to be mutuallysupportive of all its members.

2nd August 2009

The preacher emphasised the need to look for deeper meanings in the ordinary events of life - such as looking at any underlying causes. It is important not to look for immrdiate solutions, that only satisfy immediate needs. A great mistake is always to want absolute certainty and cast-iron security, whether in religion doctrine or social life. Always be willing to be seekers after truth. In Christian Tradition, Holy communion in the Bread and Wine expresses deep truth about sharing in brokenness, co-operating rather than competing in One Body, and finding lasting peace in mystery and in the nature of Creation.

28th June 2009

In the Gospel story, Jesus asks the disciple Peter a question. True religion is always about being questioned, and is not about being given simple answers. True religion encourages people to put difficult and searching questions, about life and about themselves. But true religion helps people to find answers for themselves, and sometimes those answers are very surprising, and not at all what one might expect. But the whole questioning process turns out to be very enjoyable and meaningful - and it usually includes a strong sense of belonging with other people, who are very supportive and helpful.

21st June 2009

Christian Life is to be seen as a journey or pilgrimage, but it is always a journey with other people in a group or community. The journey includes the discovery of new ideas, some of which may be quite outside those expected in ordinary life, or, indeed, within a traditional religious community. In the community, all people are of equal value, all contribute in some way, and give what they can. On the joiurney, inspiration and hope come from sharing together in the Sacrament, and in the seasonal occasions.

31st May 2009

The play "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestley shows how an individual person suffers through the selfishness and greed of other people, often very wealthy people. But these wealthy people eventually also suffer, and their own lives also fall apart. In the plot, the Inspector makes a speech saying that unless people can co-operate and share, then there will be nothing but blood and anguish.

In the Bible, there is a similar story, the tower of Babel, in which people are so preoccupied with themselves, that they fail to listen and communicate with other people, and their society falls apart. The root cause of this is a rampant individualism, without any sense of social principles and values. In the Christian Belief, this is put right by forming a totally new community, centred on mutual support and understanding and self-giving.

The preacher suggested that the play, and the stories from the Bible, were in many ways a commentary on the state of contemporary Britain. The start of a response was to "come to Comuunion", and build up a new community centred on the sacramental meal of Bread and Wine, in which all people gather round the altar. In this way, people gradually experience the presence of God, becoming more real as time goes by. The meal is called Holy Communion, or Eucharist, and is celebrated every Sunday, and also at some other times.

Thursday 21st May 2009

The preacher spoke of the notion of the whole of life being a journey to a greater truth and a deeper understanding of the mystery of life, through the experiences of the years. The preacher related this to the Christian story of the Ascension of Jesus. This requires both heart and mind, or loving and thinking.

17th May 2009

The preacher meditated on the painting "The Light of the World" by Holman Hunt.

The picture shows a figure knocking on a door without a handle. The figure is holding a lamp, and is waiting to be invited into the house. The figure is also wanting the locked-up people inside the house to come out into the world, in order to share and explore what there is in the world. This world is is painted as cotaining wonderful fruit, but also containing a darkness, which the light will penetrate.

In Christian Tradition, the figure wth the lamp is seen as Jesus, who is to be encountered in both the fruit and also in the pain and darkness of the natural world.

3rd May 2009

The Christian Tradition has the Good Shepherd picture at its centre. This emphasises the importance of religion as bringing joy and fulfilment. It involves being willing to be known as a person, as well as perceiving and recognizing other people for who they actually are. It implies being both in a group as well as being an individual, and recognizing that truth often comes through meeting groups different from ones own group. It also involves some sense of personal giving and sacrifice. But Christianity finds all this deeply joyful, and giving meaning to life. Christians say that all this is expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

26th April 2009

Four characteristics of Christian Believing to-day:

1. Spiritual Depth - finding deeper meanings hidden in ordinary events.
2. Emotional warmth and sensitivity - people need just to belong to an accepting group.
3. Mental creativeness - developing new ideas which develop and extend existing knowledge in new and exciting ways, which probably could not have been predicted.
4. Social awareness - being aware and concerned about social issues, particularly justice, and how society could be made better for all sorts of people.

All this is set in the context of the worship Holy Communion, when the Christian Community gathers together.

12th April 2009

Ordinary life is a series of ups and downs. It seems as if that expresses the whole way in which the world is made, and how it operates.

But the downs may enable us to give help to other people in their downs. Experience is often that a person who gives the most help is a person who is a Wounded Healer, who has been hurt in their own life.

Christian Tradition sees the downs as being part of the Crucifixion of Jesus, and the ups as sharing in the Resurrection of Jesus.

To help to understand this way of seeing life, Christian Religion tells stories and enacts rituals about the life of Jesus. This especially involves the sharing together in the common meal of Holy Communion.

All this deepens belief in Crucifxion and Resurrection. This belief becomes a deep experience.

This belief can never be formally proved. It is like a famous theorem im Mathematics, which says that there exist true statements, but which, although true, can never formally and logically be proved to be true.

29th March 2009

The speaker the positive aspects of the restrained use of anger in relationships, and how it could lead to greater contentment and happiness. Also, how Inequality of Income led to greater incidence of poor mental health.

The central act of Christian worship, of sharing bread and wine, expresses these concerns. The meal creates the local community, all are invited to come and take part, the bread is broken indicating mutual sharing in joys and sorrows, and the emphasis is on people belonging to and sharing in the life of a welcoming community. But it is also necessary to realise that each person is a unique person, with different needs and insights. This last is expressed in Baptism, in which a child or adult is given a unique name, but that child or adult is also received into a community. This whole action is described as "a journey to heaven". Christian Worship thus expresses deep human truths, in a context of ritual actions, offering, moving to an altar, music, and processions, and simple manual acts, all indicating human relationships, in a context of mystery.

21st February 2009

All of the four Gospels begin with stories of Silence. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell of the silences of people, whist John tells of the silence in Creation before people were formed out of the Universe. At the end of the Gospel stories, Jesus himself is silent.

Silence is necessary for people in order to discover who they really are. Silence is also necessary to discover truth, and for people to become aware of what is happening in the world around them, and then to be able to give deeper meaning to what they see and experience.

Many writers such as E.M. Forster or the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein have emphasised the necessity of Silence. Charles Darwin walked round his garden in Silence, when he was developing his understanding of Evolution by Natural Selection.

Christianity has a long Tradition of Silence, going back over many centuries. Silence is seen as the source of wisdom, understanding, and human relationship. Christian Worship must always include Silence, in order to listen to the deepest truths of human existence and God.

15th February 2009

On the three Sundays before Lent, the theme of Worship is Creation. And so thinking of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the closing paragraphs of Darwin's "Origin of Species" were read.

The preacher said that the life and great discoveries made by Charles Darwin greatly increased the understanding and devotion of Christian Faith.

Darwin's researches over many years increased the sense of wonder, joy, and mystery about the nature of the world. It also showed how the constant processes of creation, destruction, and re-creation of new species reflected the traditional Christian view of Joy, Sorrow of the Cross, and then the Glory of the Resurrection of Jesus. The dynamic evolution of the world - similarly shown in Geology and Astronomy - is expressed in the Christian devotion through the belief in a God who is constantly revealing new truth. And the centrality of Chance and Unpredictability in Natural Selection correlates with the idea in traditional Christianity of a God who works through apparent coincidences and chance events.

The preacher also pointed out that many clergymen in England supported Darwin's view at the time of publication of "Origin of Species", and that only a few years after publication, Darwins's discoveries were generally accepted by most English churches.

4th January 2009

Sharing together in a group of people on a journey, seeking for truth wherever it may be found, is an essential part of being human. The journey needs a purpose, and involves a giving of oneself. In that giving, one one often discovers who one really is, and what is really worth while in life.

All this is suggested by the traditional Christian narrative of the Wise Men, bringing gifts together, following and looking outwards and upwards at a star, on their journey to Bethlehem.

28th December 2008

Tremendous crimes of cruelty and genocide can later give rise to new international institutions, which seek to prevent these horrors happening again. It is also necessary to look carefully for the deep underlying causes of atrocities.

Christian belief says that God is on the receiving end of gross injustice and barbarity. He expresses love through through sharing and experiencing human pain. But we do not know why God chooses to act in this way. But often people experience God when they themselves are in great suffering.

Immediately after Christmas, the Christian narrative talks about the massacre of children, the Holy Innocents. The birth of Jesus is already looking towards the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.

25th December 2008

There are two well known Christmas stories - Shepherds and Wise Men.

The shepherds are people who watch in stillness, but also care for their flocks - a reflection on what could be human behaviour at a practical level in life.

The wise men seek truth wherever it may lead them, but also they are willing to offer themselves in what we may call worship, beauty, and wonder. They bring gifts on their seeking journey. That is how they seek and find truth.

They all make journeys. That is how we can come to see our own personal life - a a journey to find truth through seeking and caring.

21st December 2008

A sequence of three events often occurs in the ordinary experience of living.

1. A chance event or meeting may start a re-orientation of the way one is living, or what other possibilities are open to one in life.
2. This process might be quite frightening, and continue for some period of time.
3. But at the end of all this, something new and creative seems to be emerging, and one's life moves in a decidedly different direction. One may then be able to say that the previous experience, although difficult, was of some use. One might even wonder about how chance changed one's life.

The speaker showed how this was related to the traditional religious story of the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary. Story is often the only way of conveying deep truth about life. Story and historical event are closely inter-related, and illuminate each other.

7th December 2008

The preacher considered four points of significance for modern living in the contemporary world, and suggested that they were also expressed, but in a different way, in the writings of the people called "prophets" in ancient Israel, and then later in the Christian Gospel writings.

1. Political events over which one has little or no control should be interpreted to seek for truths about human society.
2. Truth may be seen in the actions of people outside one's own particular national, cultural, or religious traditions.
3. Catastrophe may be a means of revealing new truth, and encouraging a new creativity. This can apply in personal, political, or cosmic events.
4. At the end of all this, the Jewish and Christian traditions emphasise the establishment of a new caring community, expressed in the image of pastoral caring.

30th November 2008

It is important to be able to wait, and to see waiting as a positive experience.

Through waiting a person may gradually discover who he or she really is, and that what one wants is not necessarily what one really needs. Waiting may open oneself up to other people, because in waiting one is not preoccupied with activity. A person is often changed through waiting. Waiting with quiet reflection may make one think about the possibility of going in another direction in life.

Religious devotion can see a God who waits fourteen thousand million years, since the "Big Bang", until the natural processes of Evolution led to the presence of people living on Earth.

The season of Advent - the four Sundays before Christmas - in Christianity is a time of waiting and learning to wait in stillness, until one is ready to receive what is going to be given. That gift may not be what one thinks one needs. The opportunity of just waiting can be a very significant and special time. It is an opportunity for growing in understanding before a new stage in life. Watch and Wait.

2nd November 2008

The speaker discussed how people were happier when they had a sense of their own history, and felt that they belonged to a group which had its own sense of purpose and history. He quoted an example from a personal story, and also said that that the present financial crisis was partly brought about by ignoring the history of economic ideas discussed by Keynes more than seventy years ago. George Orwell's famous novel "1984" also describes how neglect of history and community destroys human society and human relationships.

The religious tradition expressed in All Saints has, as its purpose, the rooting of people in their personal and community history. In Christianity, this tradition particularly arises from its devotional experience of Resurrection, and of regular Sacramental Worship.

26th October 2008

The speaker considered how ordinary things could express deeper truths behind them. He used as an example one of the poems of Michel Quoist, who observed the work of a bricklayer laying a brick. The brick was part of a structure providing shelter, required skill in placing it in the right position, and might be totally hidden in darkness, but required other bricks to support it.

The speaker used this as an analogy of a proper Christian life, enabling a person to be a truly fulfilled person through gradually discovering who one really is - and not wanting to be a celebrity, or constantly propagating oneself. But this Christian life can bring a true deep and inner contentment. This discovery takes place, in the Christian experience, through taking part regularly in Sacramental Worship with other members of the Christian Community.

5th October 2008

The visiting preacher talked about a story that could have been in the Old Testament but is not included.

Moses is in the desert, travelling with a shepherd. At night the shepherd sets a bowl of milk aside and in the morning the milk is gone. Moses asks why the shepherd does this, the shepherd says it is his offering to God and it makes him happy that God accepts and drinks the milk. Moses says nonsense God does not need milk. They stay up through the night and see a fox come to drink the milk.

Moses is triumphant, the shepherd is deeply saddened - it was the only way he had to show his love for God. God appears to Moses and says you are being arrogant - I do not need the milk so I chose to share it with my creature, the fox. Moses realises that that there are many different ways of showing one's love for God.

How do we show our love for God? Many different ways but of equal value in God's eye

28th September 2008

The preacher said that a doctor who tried to use medical practice of say, five or ten years ago, would be totally incompetent, and not allowed to be a doctor at all and in the same way Christian believers must always be developing their faith, in order to take account of modern knowledge and understanding.

But there is always a Tradition of Spirituality, developed over many centuries which can be drawn upon, and always developed and re-interpreted today.

This is what happens with all knowledge of anything,particularly in medicine and in the natural sciences.

Christian believers do not do this on their own, but always within a community of faith & The most important thing is to find out about that community, and see what it is like. Especially important, is to share in the community meal, Holy Communion, gathered round the altar.Then enquirers and believers together,can discover exciting new truths about life and the world.