Category: Sunday Sermons

I wonder whether you noticed a problem with this morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 8 v 27-33)? Quite a serious problem in a way! Did anyone notice the glitch in the reading I wonder?

We have read two passages this morning about the importance of sincerity in what we say and do (from Isaiah 6 and Luke 5) As I read the passages I recognised that both reflect important ideas and words we say within our regular morning worship. I wonder if you noticed.

This week we will celebrate an important event in the Epiphany season. It is on Wednesday we recall the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The moment when Jesus is taken to the Temple by Mary and Joseph to follow the law given to Moses about purification. The child is presented in the Holy place and through the words and prophecies of Simeon and Anna the devoted Jewish worshippers it is revealed that Jesus will be the Messiah whom the Jews had been waiting for. And more than this the two elderly worshippers speak of a wider purpose for the Messiah .. not just to save Israel but the whole world. An important moment which begins to shift the perception of God’s salvation away from the Jewish people and to the whole world. As Simeon declares in what we now know as the nunc dimittis, the final words of many funerals ..

I want you to imagine the scene if you will. A wedding. Your son or daughter’s wedding. A wedding celebration full of your family and friends, neighbours and work colleagues. A celebration you had been planning ever since your child was young. The kind of celebration you had been to at other people’s invitation. A party so large and which would go on for so long that you needed to borrow some large stone water jars to ensure enough water for ceremonial washing during the days of feasting. Because it would go on for days. You would need around 240 gallons of water available. The music, laughter, food and drink would go on for days. .. or would it?

It is the start of the New Year and I wanted to suggest a New Year’s resolution to you this morning which I think would be very worthwhile. It is the resolution to get to know God better in 2022. It is a resolution which I would argue should be the distinguishing mark of every Christian. It is our duty and our joy to be called to be disciples of Jesus. And at the heart of discipleship is the idea of getting to know the one whom you follow. How well then do you know God in and through the person of Christ?