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 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...