25 August, 13th After Trinity Readings: Joshua 24. 1-2a, 14-18; Eph. 6. 10-20; John 6. 56-69 Theme: The Holy One of God This week brings to a close our five weeks of reading chapter six of John’s gospel. It is a culmination of all the themes that we have considered over the preceding weeks: bread...
August 18th, The twelfth Sunday after Trinity Readings: Proverbs 9. 1-6; Ephesians 5. 15-20; John 6. 51-58 Theme: Flesh and Blood Some of the most often quoted lines from the poet T. S. Eliot come from the final part of his Four Quartets, from Part IV at the conclusion of the Little Gidding section. Let...
August 11, 11th After Trinity Readings: 1 Kings 19. 4-8; Ephesians 4. 25-5.2; John 6. 35, 41-51 Theme: Seeing is Believing. For the Anglo-Saxons ‘seeing is believing’. This mindset typically does not like big fancy ideas and speculative schemes, it wants to see the money! Such a typically Anglo-Saxon trait of pragmatic, no nonsense evidential...
August 4th, Tenth After Trinity Exod. 16. 2-14, 9-15; Eph. 4. 1-6; John 6. 24-35 Theme: I am the Bread of Life Today we continue a period of five weeks in which rather than work through the gospel of Mark we are taken through the sixth chapter of St John’s gospel. The passage that we...
July 28, 9th After Trinity Readings: 2 Kings 4. 42-44; Eph. 3. 14-21; Jn. 6. 1-21 Theme: Jesus Feeds the People Today we take a five-week holiday with the gospel of St John, resuming our continuous study of the gospel of Mark in September with chapter seven. The adapted version of the Revised Common Lectionary...
Sermon 8th Sunday After Trinity 21 July Readings: Jer. 23. 1-6; Eph. 2. 11-end; Mark 6. 30-34, 53-end Theme: Shepherds’ Rest Today the cycle of readings continues with the gospel of Mark and will then, for the next five weeks, move on to study chapter six of John’s gospel, returning to Mark at the beginning...
7th Sunday After Trinity 14 July Readings: Amos 7. 7-15; Eph. 1. 3-14; Mk. 6. 14-29 Theme: The Beheading of John the Baptist This is surely one of the most grotesque scenes in the gospels outside of the passion narratives. It is gory and salacious in the extreme. It has been famously depicted in various...
6th Sunday After Trinity, 7 July Theme: Prophetic Teaching Readings: Ezek. 2. 1-5; 2 Cor. 12. 2-10; Mk. 6. 1-13. Today St Mark takes us to the home of Jesus, back to Nazareth. Just like the prophets before him, including Ezekiel as we hear in our first reading today, the prophet will be rejected by...
5th Sunday After Trinity 30 June Readings: Wisdom 1. 13-15; 2. 23-24; 2 Cor. 8. 7-end; Mark 5. 21-end Theme: Health and Healing One of the particular things about Mark’s gospel which has always fascinated those who have studied it is the fact that it ends somewhat up in the air. There are no accounts...
4th Sunday After Trinity, 23 June Readings: Job 38. 1-11; 2 Cor. 6. 1-13; Mark 4. 35-end Theme: Miracles How should we understand miracles? Whether we are reading the Old or the New Testaments we are faced by a series of miraculous events that challenge us to form a view of what we are reading....
