Simon Says ...

A Sermon for Trinity 4 Isaiah 65.1-9 ; Luke 8.26-39 The late, great theologian Douglas Adams , in the fourth book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy introduces us to the character of Wonko the Sane .  Wonko is a virtual hermit, who lives “ Outside the Asylum ”. Wonko has decided that the whole world is mad, and confined it to the asylum.  As a sane person, he lives outside the asylum.             It is hard, sometimes, to argue with Adams (or Wonko)’s view.  We live in a time of austerity, and yet we are prepared to spend billions on a nuclear weapons programme.  We have been through a financial crisis, and yet nothing has changed, except that bankers continue to draw big bonuses and the poorest have their support cut or removed.  We were told that we were all in it together, but seems that we don’t all need to pay our tax.  Clear thinking seems far, far away.  ...

A Sermon for Evensong Genesis 13 ; Mark 4.21-end Some words from our second lesson this evening: “When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’  And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.”  More than once in St Mark’s Gospel, things seem to be going well for Jesus, he is accruing a good crowd of followers; he’s building a good base for his work of preaching, healing and teaching; he’s gaining a reputation throughout the country.  And then he simply turns around and goes in a different direction, leaving behind all the advantages he’s been building up.  In our reading tonight, Jesus and his disciples leave the crowd behind.  It’s not easy to build up a following of such a size that it can be called a crowd.  Yet Jesus simply leaves them.  Surely now is the time to care for the crowd, to let the people know that Jesus is interested in them, to bu...