Sermons

The name we give to this particular Sunday is ‘Christ the King’.  This to affirm that, in spite of the mockery of Jesus by the religious leaders and soldiers that we find in today’s Gospel reading and the insult of the inscription ‘This is the King of the Jews’ over...

From II Timothy 3: v. 14 “continue thou in the things which thou has learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them.” And from Luke 18: v.1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not...

There is certainly a lot to remember this year, especially with the passing of HM the Queen, herself a war veteran, and the ascendency to the throne of King Charles III, who has experience in all three services. And it will be to the war in which the Queen served...

From Job 19: 26 & 27 “yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;” And From St. Luke 20: 36 “Neither can they die anymore: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children...

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions.” A story from my first year at university, when I was studying the Book of Daniel. In the room opposite mine a chap was hosting a Christian Union Bible Study. They were getting rather bogged...

I am sure you were all as impressed as I was by the State Funeral of our late Queen Elizabeth II.  Equally impressive were the proclamations that announced the accession of our new King, Charles III.  We look forward to his Coronation in May next year and we all wish...

From today’s Gospel “Destroy this temple and in three days, I shall raise it up.” Words above the doorway of this church, from Genesis 28: 17: “This is none other than the House of God, this is the Gate of Heaven.” 65 years ago almost to the day, the then...

We are keeping harvest today, because I have sense that the late Queen and the King would approve. Not only country people at heart, they and the Duke of Edinburgh have had shared and complementary visions of the need for respect for our planet and the systems which enable food...

John 14: 11 “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted”. 13 “when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” Hebrews 13: 16 “ to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God...

I’m going to reflect on some aspects of the gospel reading first, and then tell you a little about the Lambeth Conference where I served for a week. The conference saw 650 bishops from Anglican churches across the world gather to pray, study and worship together. But I can’t leave...

In the opening sentence of today’s Gospel reading, we learn that Jesus is reassuring his disciples that they need not be afraid of opposition, particularly from the Pharisees, because they have the promise of the Kingdom of God.  No-one can take that promise from them because it does not rely...

I do apologise because you’ve now had me three Sundays in a row, and the plan was for me to be on next week too! But Ros is kindly relieving me of the sermon next week – many thanks! Yet it’s always a blessing for me (perhaps not for you!)...

One of my pet peeves in church is going to happen today, in this service. In fact, I’m going to be involved in leading it. It involves the Lord’s Prayer. I have been attending churches since I was a baby, and I, like many of you, have rattled through the...

Two sisters: Mary and Martha. They are one of the most famous female duos in history. We’ve all heard the lesson “don’t be a Martha, be a Mary”, telling us that Martha was flapping about in a panic but Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening. Mary did the...

Dear Friends,   Today is very special. Fr Glen is celebrating the Eucharist for the first time. Glen remains the curate of St Andrew’s Moscow. In a sense he is in exile here at St Mark’s. Until another posting is agreed, an absentee from his normal place of operation, we...

Naming someone is an extraordinary gift.  I wonder, who have you named? We have three children, and we took much time in naming- what the names meant.  You know that name may shape who they are, how others look at them, and it will play a part on how they...

Recently I watched on television the harrowing drama Cathy come home by Ken Loach.  Written in the 1960s, it tells of the plight of Cathy, who, through a series of misfortunes, is left homeless and separated from her husband and children.  In the last scene we see her trying to...

From Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ. From St Luke 8:39 Return to thine own house and shew how great things God hath done unto...

What a gift it is to be called upon, with one day’s notice, to speak on the unexplainable mystery of the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I might be being a little sarcastic! I spent a few moments thinking “how do I explain the Trinity?”, but...

I’ve lately been reading a book by Iain McGilchrist about how the modern Western world has become increasingly left-brained ever since the Enlightenment. We are obsessed with taking things apart to see how they work, and then trying to build them up again. It’s a very useful skill, but it...

You might have seen in the notices that we have our triennial visitation from the Archdeacon on Wednesday. It’s a mixture of pep-talk, Ofsted and gutter inspection. Archdeacons don’t get the best press in the canon of English literature. Archdeacon Mr Theophilus Grantly, Rector of Plumstead Episcopi is described by...

Today is Rogation Sunday.  In the Christian tradition, Rogation is a time of procession, praying and fasting that looks towards the Ascension of Jesus to be with his heavenly Father.  It is also a time of the blessing of the fruits of the earth. I believe that this blessing is...

Welcome to our patronal festival of St Mark the Evangelist, with First of May greetings to all. Perhaps you also enjoyed Radio 4’s broadcast of the Magdalen Choir singing an Old English air from the vantage point of the college’s historic tower. Across the land and often from a town’s...

This last week I had training in Woking on preaching, and William led the first two sessions. So what I’m saying is – if this sermon is great, well what did you expect from me?; if it’s terrible, blame William😊 Today we will explore the reading from John, and the...