Pick up a stone

Luke 19:28-40 Genesis 31:45-50 1 Samuel 7:12-14 A group of Americans was touring Ireland. One of the women in the group was a real curmudgeon, constantly complaining. The bus seats are uncomfortable the food is terrible It’s too hot, It’s too cold, and the hotels are awful. One of those people who really knows how…

Being there

Psalm 139 Matthew 15:21-28 The last film which Peter Sellers made was Being There in 1980, and I don’t suppose it’s the one for which he’ll be most remembered. He played a feeble-minded gardener whose entire knowledge of life came from watching television. It’s not the content of the film that caught my attention, but…

Faith, not fear

Genesis 15:1-11 Psalm 27 Luke 13:31-35 All of our readings today are about having faith, not fear. “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield,” God says to Abram at the beginning of our reading from Genesis. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the…

Keep calm and carry on

Joel 2:1-2 & 12-17 John 8:1-11 I’m beginning, totally unsuitably for Lent, with an expression of pride. I’m very proud of my collection of the complete set of Carry On films – it’s the earthy British humour of the 1960s and 1970s at its best (or worst, depending upon your point of view!). One of…

Scott of the Antarctic

Luke 8:22-25 Deuteronomy 31:1-8 Colossians 1:9-14 One hundred years ago today news arrived in London of the death of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his fellow Antarctic explorers. Scott and his fellow explorers had set out in a race to discover the South Pole. They arrived there in January 1912, only to discover that the…