Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. For […]
Sermon Topic: Death
Hopeful Living
For many of us it is hard to understand the feelings of those who have lost loved ones in violent circumstances. As we celebrated the mass of Resurrection only a few hours ago, a suicide bomber walked into the children’s’ area of a park in Lahore, Pakistan, where families with children were enjoying their own […]
The Tears of Jesus
Jesus famously wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, wept, to be precise, when he was invited to “come and see” where the body of his friend lay. Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. [Jn 11:34-35] I’m sure every one of you has been there. […]
I may tell all my bones.
We have just heard the story of the events leading to the death of Jesus according to St Matthew. We call it ‘The Passion’ and passion comes from the word for ‘suffering.’ The gospels tell us a great deal about Christ’s passion – his suffering, and the manner of his death. Death is something we […]
Encourage One Another
We live in an age when many funeral customs have all but disappeared in many societies. Gone are the days of washing and preparing the body, gathering with the body and telling stories and even feasting. Many funerals do not even have the body present at all. I want to encourage you as members of […]
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Why is it that the night-time is so very different from the day-time? And why is it that worries and concerns always seem worse at night? I am sure, like me, when something is on your mind you have had those terrible moments in the middle of the night with the same thoughts going round […]
Human Weakness: Divine Power
The two women in today’s bible readings from the Old Testament and the Gospels must have been desperate. The widow of Zarephath and the widow of Nain were already unfortunate women; by being widows they had become part of one of the poorest classes in Israel’s society. What stopped them from sinking into abject poverty […]
Boy Jesus
A man was talking with a friend and their conversation went naturally to his home life when he was a boy. Where did he live? What were his parents like? How was school? These are questions that come up naturally as a friendship develops. They also come up naturally as one gets to know Jesus. […]
Unbind him and let him go.
“Unbind him and let him go”. The story of the raising of Lazarus is not just a miracle. If it were simply about raising the dead then we could feel cheated; it just doesn’t happen that often – if at all – our own loved ones are rarely brought back from the dead. I don’t […]
Babies in the River
There is an African way of speaking about getting to the root of a problem that is told as a parable. If African women, working alongside the river, see a baby in the river they send for the men of their village to dive in and save the baby, and they bring it in and […]
