Simon Says ...

Acts 16.16-34 ; John 17.20-26 It was one of those moments when my mouth engaged before my brain.  I was being interviewed for a parish job, and had just been asked what I would do if someone refused to work with the Parish Child Protection policy.  "They can't be allowed to work with children" I said, and almost immediately began to soften it.  "Of course, I would speak with them and try to help them engage with the policy first" and so on.  But knowing what I began to know shortly afterwards, I think it was one of the reasons that I was offered the job. After several days of being followed and spoken about, however accurately, by a slave-girl with a spirit of divination, Paul finally loses his temper.  "Very much annoyed" is how Luke puts this.  He turns round and orders the spirit to leave her.  Those who read Paul's letters carefully might wonder how he managed to last for "many days" without getting cross earlier.  There is, no d...

A Sermon for Easter 5. Acts 11.1-18 ; John 13.31-35 If you want the Gospel in miniature, then we are offered it this morning.   Jesus says to his disciples ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’   ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’   It really is as simple and as hard as that.   Simple, because that is all that the Gospel is about.   Hard, because loving and being loved is not an easy business.   In the next few minutes, I want to explore the simplicity and difficulty of this, and think a little bit about what we should take with us into our lives. We start with being loved, because that is where Jesus starts.   ‘Just as I have loved you’ he says.   The foundation of Christianity in all of its forms is that we are loved by God.   God loves us.   That is the message of Christianity from beginning to end.   Beware of anyone who tells you that God doesn’t...

Acts 10.34-43 ; John 20.1-18 “We do not know there they have laid him”.   If the stories of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection have anything in common, then one of the major common factors has to be that they are all surprises.   Mary is surprised by the gardener.   The eleven disciples are surprised to find Jesus inside a locked room.   The two walking to Emmaus are surprised by a biblical interpreted walking with them.   The eleven are again surprised as they go fishing in Galilee.   And St Paul is surprised (to say the least) by Jesus appearing on the road to Damascus.   Jesus turns up where he is not expected, and that seems to be common to all of the stories of his appearances. When Jesus turns up all kinds of things happen.   There is healing of people and relationships; forgiveness and the rebuilding of community; there are lives transformed by love; and hope and confidence is rekindled.   In the Go...