Picture the Jordan River, its waters moving sluggish under a sun that burned the skin and split the stones. Around you, a crowd of dust-worn faces, their eyes hollow with the weight of what they’d seen. There in the shallows stood a man, cloaked in camel’s hair, the sandstorms of the desert etched into his […]
Sermon Topic: Epiphany
Stand Up! The Daystar Dawns!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. We celebrate today, on the Feast of the Epiphany We celebrate today one of the most unexpectedly strange feasts on the calendar. We celebrate the end of the journey of a group of ostensibly Magian priest astrologers Who have […]
Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
The prophecy of Isaiah – our first Lesson today – sets the tone of our celebration of Epiphany: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” What have the Sovereign’s Sceptre with the Cross and a torn bright-red polyester bag have in common? They both contain treasures. The […]
The Wonder of Baptism
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. I fear sometimes—well not sometimes, actually quite frequently— I fear that we, that we the church, have a hard time leaning into wonder. That we’re suspicious of wonder. That we don’t quite trust the wonderful. We don’t really know […]
Arise and Shine!
Life is often like riding a roller coaster. Even in a day, we experience emotions that go up and down several times. I am happy with the joy of being able to start my pastoral life with great priests and parishioners in this church where I can learn so much. But I see things that […]
An Unexpected Wedding Feast
Today we encounter a joyful manifestation of God’s abundant love shared as the ‘Dearly beloved: who have come together in the presence of God’, have gathered to witness a couple’s marriage, and to feast with family and friends. Today’s gospel reading is a familiar story, and one to which the Celebrant always refers as they […]
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
I grew up in a large industrial city on the north east coast of England – Hull. It actually has quite a grand name because of its original charter granted by King Edward I in 1299 which named it Kingston upon Hull. But, it has always been known as Hull – the river on which […]
