Simon Says ...

A sermon for Easter 2. John 20.19-31 Easter can seem a bit like a fairy story sometimes.   We have angels, soldiers who fall asleep at all the right moments, Jesus who is missing, the disciple look here and there for him only for him to appear in disguise as a gardener, or through locked doors.   It can make you want to call out to them, ‘He’s behind you’.   The fairy story has become a pantomime.   (Perhaps Thomas is the Buttons of this pantomime – missing out when the others see the vital piece of the plot and then acting slightly dim.)   But of course, fairy tales and pantomimes are distinguished by the fact that they have a happy ending.   And the resurrection is nothing if not that – Jesus is risen, all is well with the world, we can now all live happily ever after.   End of story, curtain down, time to go home. There is much in this that we should not dismiss too easily.   Easter is a time of great joy, an...

--> A sermon for Easter Day Song of Songs 3.2-5; 8.6-7; John 20.11-18 There is an episode of the cartoon series the Simpsons in which Homer becomes a missionary in the South Pacific.   In the course of this, he builds a chapel for the natives.   When it is finished, he stands back and admires what he has build.   “I may not know much about God,” he says, “but we built a pretty nice cage for him.”   As we mark Easter Day, and hear again the story of the empty tomb, we are reminded that we do not control God.   The empty tomb stands against all attempts to cage or to control God. We do not control God with our minds and our understanding.   The tomb was empty.   It has puzzled scholars and believers ever since.   Mary Magdalene, looking into the tomb, sees that the tomb is empty and doesn’t understand.   Some have looked to the empty tomb to provide proof that Jesus rose from the dead.   But the empty tomb is no k...

A homily for Wednesday of Holy Week Isaiah 50.4-9a ; John13.21-32 “It was night.”    “Now is the son of Man glorified.” It was night when Judas left to betray Jesus.   The lure of the thirty pieces of silver calling him from table. It was night when Peter denied Jesus, the warmth of a fire the only comfort until cock-crow. It was night when Jesus was born, the light of the world come into darkness.   But people loved darkness rather than light. It was night when Jesus died – the sky blackened with cloud, the creation mourning the death of the Son. It was night when the soldiers came, breaking into the house, seizing the women, killing the men.   Casualties of the darkness of the brutal war in Syria. It was night when the young woman lay in the doorway.   A failed relationship, benefits that won’t be received until next week, no council housing available.   A doorway, a sleeping bag and a box are she...

I was very sad to learn of the death of Sue Townsend.  A self-taught writer, who knew life through hard and good alike, she was a great figure in the literary canon.  Her humour was her strongest asset, and through humour she could be touching or deeply political.  Her novel about the royal family showed her republicanism, but the touching way that she wrote about the Queen showed a humanity that underlay everything that she wrote.  The last novel of hers that I read was The Woman who went to Bed for a Year : a satire on contemporary society, a telling comedy of relations between the sexes, and an apologetic for suburban Britain, and just damned funny.  I remember listening to her on Test Match Special, speaking of her love for cricket, her blindness and her writing.  There was no self-pity, but a warmth that shone through all her trials. Above all, Sue Townsend was known for Adrian Mole, and I can't be the only one who will mourn Adrian's death a...

Review of Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer (SPCK, 2014) There are those who complain about Rowan Williams’ writing and suggest that he can’t write simply. Mostly those people are journalists, lazy, reading the wrong stuff, or some combination of these.   This book decisively gives the lie to the complaint.   It is a model of clarity and something to put in the hand of those beginning to explore what it is to be Christian.   I plan to give it to someone being confirmed this Easter. The four chapters each tackle a basic element of Christian life, just as the subtitle has it.   From their origins in talks at Canterbury Cathedral, these chapters have been edited for the page and retain most of their freshness and clarity.   They are full of enlightenment and practical insight. For me the opening and closing chapters (on baptism and prayer respectively) are the best moments of the book.  ...

A S ermon for Passion Sunday Romans 8.6-11; John 11.1-4 “I am the Resurrection and the life.”   These are words of promise and hope.   They are the first words of the funeral service. “I am the Resurrection and the life.”   Here we see Jesus at his most powerful, commanding the dead man to live again.   But we also see him at his most vulnerable, weeping for the death of his friend.   “I am the Resurrection and the life.”   This is a story about freedom, but it is only a story about freedom because it brings us face to face with despair, judgment and death.   “I am the Resurrection and the life.”   Jesus arrives in Bethany at a time of despair.   It is too late.   There was a folk belief that the soul lingered in the body for three days, but four days have passed since Lazarus died.   All hope, even of miracles, has gone.   Did Martha know that Jesus delayed his coming? There might be m...