Simon Says ...

On Wednesday, Radio 3's Choral Evensong came from Derby Cathedral. You can find the service on iPlayer , or it will be repeated today at 3pm. Here are the prayers I wrote for the service.   The readings were Zechariah 7 and Mark 10.17-31 In peace, let us pray: In the evening of the day, we come to you, O God, bringing those we have met, for your blessing, our hurts for your healing, our sins for your forgiveness, our labours as our offering and our lives as our worship; we come to you through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who became like us, that we might become like him. Amen. We pray for the church throughout the world, for Justin our Archbishop, for Alastair, Bishop of Derby, for the church here in this place and wherever this service is heard. Lord Jesus, you give us the gift of eternal life; keep us from the love of riches and all that diverts us from your service; strengthen those who are persecuted

A sermon for the Feast of St Matthew.   2 Cor. 4.1-6 ; Matthew 9.9-13 “Follow me”, said the teacher to the tax collector sitting in the office.   And Matthew got up and followed.   Perhaps Matthew never know why Jesus called him.   Matthew ate with Jesus, laughed with Jesus, cried with Jesus.   Matthew became one of the Twelve.   He ran away when Jesus was arrested.   He hid when Jesus was executed.   He met Jesus when he rose again.   He was filled with the Spirit on Pentecost.   He wrote the Gospel that tells us of his call.   “Follow me”, said the teacher to the tax collector sitting in the office.   And Matthew got up and followed.   About a third of the way through the Gospel that bears his name, Matthew records the day that Jesus called him.   He records it in the middle of stories of healing.   From the middle of Chapter 8 to the end of chapter 9, Matthew records all kinds of miraculous healings.   Two violent demoniacs in the Gentile countr

A Sermon for Trinity 12. Matthew 18.15-20 Let me start with a little quiz.   It’s very easy, simply try and tell whether these statements are true or false.   1.      Christianity is about following the teaching of Jesus. 2.      Christianity is based on God’s love for us, seen in Jesus, overflowing into how we treat other people. 3.      For the whole history of Christianity, Christians have never disagreed with one another. I’m glad you laughed! Christians do, in fact, disagree.   They have done since the very beginning of the Church.   The first major disagreement comes at the beginning of the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, although there are lies creeping already at the beginning of the fifth chapter.   And of course, there are many stories in the Gospels of the 12 disciples, the pillars of the church, disagreeing with one another (normally about who will get to sit in the best seats once the Kingdom of God comes!). Our Gosp