Sermon Christmas I, 28 December 2025 Readings: Isaiah 63.7-9; Hebrews 2.10-18; Matthew 2.13-23 Theme: The New Exodus If on Christmas day our Gospel reading from the prologue of St John was a re-reading of the creation story of The Book of Genesis through the advent of the Messiah, Jesus the Word of God, on this...
Sermon Christmas Day 25 December Readings: Isaiah 52.7-10; Hebrews 1.1-4; John 1.1-14 Theme: The Word Became Flesh The readings during Advent have all been probing the identity of the Messiah (Christ). Who is this child to be born? What type of Messiah will he be? On the day of Christmas, we begin to see the...
Sermon Advent 4, 21 December Readings: Isaiah 7.10-16; Romans 1.1-7; Matthew 1.18-25. Theme: Whose Baby? This Sunday marks the final part of the season of Advent. We now enter a transition period between the time of waiting and the time of arrival. It is a little like when we are called for boarding in the...
Sermon Advent III, 14 December 2025 Readings: Isaiah 35.1-10; James 5.7-10; Matthew 11.2-11 Theme: Which Messiah? We Christians sometimes have a quite false image of Judaism at the time of Jesus. We can tend to see it as if it were simply a ‘religion’, in the sense of what people do on holy days by...
Sermon Advent II, 7 December 2025 Readings Isaiah 11.1-10, Romans 15. 4-13, Matthew 3.1-12 Theme: Prepare the Way On this second Sunday of Advent we are especially looking forward to celebrating our annual Carol Service at San Pedro. This activity of singing carols is a lovely tradition that no doubt reminds us of many previous...
Advent 1, 30 November 2025 Readings: Isaiah 2.1-5; Romans 13.11-14; Matthew 24.36-44 Theme: Your Kingdom Come Each year, Advent marks the beginning of the church’s new year. It is the time when we switch from reading one Gospel to reading another, according to a three-year repeating cycle. This year, in our Sunday services, we will...
Sermon, 23 November, Sunday next before Advent Readings: Jeremiah 23.1-6; Colossians 1.11-20; Luke 23.33-43 Theme: Christ the King? At this time of year, as the shops are full of Christmas decorations, we naturally begin to turn our thoughts to Christmas and all that this means for us. It may be a time of getting together...
Sermon Safeguarding Sunday 16 November Readings: James 2. 14-26; Psalm 91; John 15. 12-17 Theme: Safeguarding The question of how to understand what faith is, has accompanied Christian history since its origins. The first reading from James has been a controversial one in the context of Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide)....
Remembrance Sunday 9 November Readings: Job 19. 23-27a; 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-5, 13-end; Luke 20. 27-38. Theme: I Know That My Redeemer Lives This year marks the 80th Anniversary since the end of the Second World War in 1945. There are fewer and fewer veterans from that time who are still alive to tell their...
Sermon 19 October 18th Sunday After Trinity Readings: Genesis 32.22-31; 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5; Luke 18.1-8 Theme: Wrestling with God Prayer is central to the Christian life. If the doctrinal aspect is to be rooted in a lived experience of God, prayer should be the soil in which this cognitive aspect is embedded. And, if our...
