1 Corinthians 11:17-22 What a good job Paul wasn’t writing to us! Who does he think he is? He actually wrote to a church telling them they’re worse, rather than better when they come together, their Communion is seriously deficient, people are excluded, and they are most definitely not to be commended. Fancy receiving…
Mark 1:4-11 Cast your mind back to 1966, if you can. If that was before you’re time, you’re almost bound to have seen the repeat many times. I’m not thinking of England winning the World cup – that’s never been repeated. The Frost Report, presented by a fresh faced young David Frost, and that memorable…
John 1:1-14 It was a big day for Farnham when Poundland opened. No more do we have to slip over to Aldershot and use their pound shop, just after we’ve been snobby about how much nicer Farnham is. How wonderful, though, Poundland have the smartest most expensively built shop front in the whole of Farnham….
John 1:1-14 The police have asked me to draw your attention to the Holy Days and Fasting Act of 1551 which clearly states that everyone must attend Church on foot on Christmas Day – so if you arrived here by horse or car and are arrested after midnight on the way home, or tomorrow morning,…
Luke 1:26-38 You are going to have a baby! Years ago young women heard those words from their doctor. Nowadays they usually find out for themselves in a toilet when the second line appears. However one finds out, the news of an impending birth is often a cue for joy, excitement, and intense satisfaction. Perhaps…
Isaiah 61 In 1948, many thousands of Palestinian Christians were forced to flee from homes that their families had occupied for generations, when their country was partitioned, and they found themselves on the wrong side of lines drawn on maps. Most of them still live in refugee camps today. In Bethlehem, far from an idyllic…
Mark 1:1-8 Isaiah 40:1-11 A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and asked his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car. His father said he’d make a deal with his son, “you bring your grades up from a C to a B, study your Bible a little, get…
Meeting Jesus in Mark – from open heaven to open tomb Introduction I begin by asking if you know why we have four different gospels? It’s like four newspapers: imagine an account of one event as reported in The Sun, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. All of them would report…
Mark 13:32-37 Isaiah 9:2,6-7 The bells of waiting Advent ring, the tortoise stove is lit again, begins John Betjeman’s famous poem. If you go into our Church Hall, you can still see the stone slab where the tortoise stove once stood. If you think our church is too modern, at least we kept the slab….
Matthew 25:31-46 So, on this Sunday before Advent we’re presented with this difficult and unpopular passage. The passage is a reasonably well known, if unpopular, one. The gist of the story is that Jesus talks about good things that have been done by people, these he calls sheep and says they will receive eternal reward….