Simon Says ...

Daniel 7.1-3,15-18 ; Ephesians 1.11-23 ; Luke 6.20-31 Let me begin by offering you greetings on our shared patronal festival Sunday from the Cathedral.   All Saints’ Sunday is a good time to be with you, and I want to assure you that the Cathedral prays for you regularly, and that you are in my prayers also. But let me take you to another church in the Diocese, in the village of Newton Solney.   I know it well, because each year for a week it is used for the pre-ordination retreat.   This is a time for those about to be ordained to spend time in prayer and preparation.   As I have sat in the church, I have spent some time looking at the stained glass windows.   They have been bleached by the sun, so that it has taken me some effort to work out the stories that they tell.   As I worked out what those stories are, it also occurred to me that the windows now tell a deeper story than they did when they were easy to understand. ...

A sermon for Evensong   Ezra 1 ; John 7.14-36 All that I have to say in the next few minutes is contained in a very helpful visual aid that is built into the fabric of this Cathedral.   The Baldacchino, the canopy over the altar, is a sign and reminder of all that I will say.   You could, of course, decide that means that all that follows is redundant, and you would be right to a point.   However, as a Baldacchino is rather uncommon in Anglican architecture, it may be that it would benefit from some explanation as to what it is a sign and reminder of! It was, the Gospel tells us, the middle of the Festival of Booths when Jesus had this rather difficult exchange.   The Festival of Booths is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.   It is a harvest festival at the end of the agricultural year.   It is also an annual reminder of the forty years that the people of Israel lived in the wilderness on their way to t...

Review of Anne Richards, Children in the Bible: A Fresh Approach (SPCK, 2013). This is the third of the shortlist for the Michael RamseyPrize , and wants to provide a new approach to working with children in the church.   She starts by reproducing a child’s question about God – ‘Who invented you?’   It’s an excellent question, which begs very deep and complex philosophical and theological issues.   Richards also offer’s the reply given by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.   She commends Williams for his ‘simplicity, generosity and directness’ (p. ix).   That the Archbishop takes the child’s question so seriously, is important.   That he tried to respond in a way that the child could engage with is equally important. Richard’s contention is that ‘children are worth God’s special attention and … are deeply woven into God’s purposes’ (p. xi).   In particular, she finds that God finds children ‘worthy o...

My copies of this just arrived today.  Very exciting. It was a challenge I set myself to look at what Girard might have to offer those involved in pastoral ministry, rather than great geo-political issues.  I think there is much to be drawn out of Girard at the more personal level.  I tried it out at the Diocese of Derby's Clergy Conference last year, and there seemed to be enough to it to be worth writing up. The writing brought new ideas in using Biblical exegesis and case studies to flesh out Girard's theories.  There are also questions for thought or discussion.  I hope it will prove both interesting and useful. Thanks to all at Grove, who have done a great job with this.  The cover is very pleasing! I will add a link when it is up on the Grove site to buy (it is already available at ubiquitous non-tax paying online retailers). There will be a launch event on Holy Cross Day (14th September) in Derby Cathedral Cafe.  More details to fol...

A Sermon for Evensong   Genesis 41.1-16,25-37 ; 1 Cor. 4.8-13 Only I could see it.   There was a Zubat in the kitchen.   Quickly I lined up my Pokeball and threw it at the creature.   I caught it, and gathered it into my Pokedex.   For the uninitiated, I am talking about the game Pokemon Go .   It is an app for phones and tablets that allows you to see the mystical Pokemon creatures in the real world.   Samuel and I went for a walk yesterday and caught about ten different Pokemon.   The Cathedral, I am sure you are aware, is a PokeGym, and has been welcoming a range of new, younger visitors over the past couple of days.   The Church of Englandhas issued guidelines about this.   More worryingly, so has the NSPCC .   Pokemon Go works with the idea that there are things beyond the reality that we can see and touch and smell.   All it takes is the right software and technology and a new and exciting ...

A Sermon for the First Eucharist of Sarah Dawson Habakkuk 2.1-4; Ephesians 2.19-end; John 20.24-29   It is a great pleasure and an enormous privilege to be here this morning.   I bring you greetings from Derby Cathedral, where I minister.   Thank you to Joabe for the invitation.   Thank you also to Sarah.   I’ve known Sarah since I was 11.   She and I have laughed, cried and gossiped our way together through our lives for a long time now.     It is a real joy and delight to be here when she presides at the Eucharist for the first time. Some words from the Gospel this morning: ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’   Today we gather to celebrate with Sarah, to share bread and wine, which are for us the body and blood of Christ.   And we also gather to thank God for St Thomas, one of Jesus’ first disciples and an apostle of the church.   In the midst of all of this, we...

Luke 7.36-8.3 Some words from the Gospel reading this morning:   Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.   The twelve were with him, as well as some women’. It’s a great pleasure to be with you this morning.   My thanks to Simon for his invitation, and to you all for your welcome.   I bring greetings to the Cathedral of the Peak from your Cathedral Church in Derby, where we pray for you regularly.   I’m here, I think, because one of the roles I have is as the Director of Curate Training in the Diocese.   So I have been involved with Sue, not least as she prepares to be ordained priest at the end of the month.   I want to say a few things this morning to help us all prepare for that new ministry.   At the end of the Gospel reading this morning we hear that Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom...

A Sermon for the Mothers' Union Leadership Conference 1 Peter 4.10-11 ; Mark 10.35-37,41-45 It is a great pleasure and a privilege to be here with you today. I am a proud member of the Mothers’ Union , and what convinced me to join was the work you have done on Bye Buy Childhood .   Thank you for that, and for the many different acts of service that you do, individually and collectively.   I would welcome you to the Diocese of Derby, but since most of you are about to go home, let me instead bring you greetings from the Diocese of Derby, where you have been for the past few days, and especially greetings from Derby Cathedral where I serve as Canon Chancellor. Some words from the first reading: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.”   “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.”   It is truly wonderful that you have spent this time learning about servant leadership.   ...

A sermon for the eve of St Philip and St James Isaiah 40.27-end ; John 12.20-26 “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”.   Perhaps that is the reason that we are here tonight.   We want to see Jesus.   There is no better reason for coming to church than wanting to encounter Jesus.   And here in the readings from Scripture, in the silence, in the music, in the prayers, in the architecture, in one another, perhaps even in the sermon, there are opportunities and pointers to help us to see Jesus.   “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. This is why we gather for worship. But it is not just here that we see Jesus.   It is not just in church or during acts of worship that we can encounter our risen Lord.   We encounter Jesus throughout our lives, in the people, places and moments that make up our days.   The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, ‘I greet him the days I meet him , and bless when I understand’.   “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ...

Review of Benigno P. Beltran, Faith and Struggle on Smokey Mountain: Hope for a Planet in Peril (Orbis, 2012). If all the books on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist are as good as this, then I’m in for a treat!   It is good to have an author on the shortlist who is not from the UK or the US.   Beltran is from the Philippines.   A Roman Catholic priest, and a teacher of theology, Beltran has also been the chaplain to the most notorious rubbish dump in the world – Smokey Mountain in Manilla.   Here around 25 000 people lived as scavengers, and became a symbol of both poverty and the ecological degradation of the world. This is a deceptively short book.   It is both moving and challenging.   It also covers several different genres.   Most obviously, it is autobiographical.   Benigno Beltran was a Pilipino priest who was sent to study in Rome.   He returned to the Philippines to train seminarians.   On h...