Sermons

John 17:20-26 The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free In the name of God in whom we live and breathe and have our being. Amen. I love learning new words, so you can imagine how excited I was when, doing some reading to try to make sense of today’s gospel, I came across not one, but three new words! Sadly, unlike vituperative or egregious or vertiginous I’m unlikely to use these words in other context. You will remember that three weeks ago I explained that John’s gospel is circular, layered, and repetitive. I failed to mention that the author of the … Read more

John 5:1-9 The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free In the name of Christ who came that we might have life and have it in abundance. Amen. “Do you want to be made well?” The invalid in today’s gospel has been unwell for 38 years – an enormous amount of time in any century, but an extraordinary length of time in a period when the average life span was around 30 years! There is no indication how long the man actually enjoyed good health or what his problem was. Perhaps he was born with an unnamed frailty. Regardless, for 38 years … Read more

Revelation 21:1-6 The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free In the name of God in whose hands is our future and the future of the world. Amen. Can you believe that nearly one quarter of the 21st. century has already passed? 24 ½ years ago the news was filled with stories of impending disasters, in particular that all the computers would crash and with them all of the infrastructure that they ran. Some people were busy building supplies of water and tinned food in preparation for the expected a destruction of the world. Others were predicting the sort of chaos depicted … Read more

John 10:22-30 The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free In the name of God, mysterious, unknowable, unreachable and yet revealed in Jesus. Amen. Our post Easter season is typically divided into two parts, post resurrection accounts of meetings with Jesus and the promise of the spirit. In the middle, on the fourth Sunday of Easter we mark Good Shepherd Sunday. Over the course of three years, we cover most of John chapter 10 in which Jesus spells out what it means to be shepherd and sheep. The imagery is deceptively simple and heart-warming. I suspect that most of us have been … Read more

Acts 9:1-6 John 21: 1-19 Easter 3, Sunday 4 May                                               ©Suzanne Grimmett Jesus: Are you sorry, Peter? Peter: Lord, you know that I am…more than anything… Jesus: Go and try to be a better person Jesus: Are you sorry, Peter? Peter: Lord, you know that I am. I am so ashamed of my weakness, my denial of you… Jesus: Go and try to be a better person Jesus: Are you sorry, Peter? Peter: Lord, I would do anything if only I could take back that moment in the courtyard… Jesus: Go and try to be a better person This … Read more

JOHN 20.19-31              ©Suzanne Grimmett And after the empty tomb when they told me He lived, had spoken to Magdalen, told me that though he had passed through the door like a ghost He had breathed on them the breath of a living man— even then when hope tried with a flutter of wings to lift me— still, alone with myself, my heavy cry was the same: Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. This is a portion of the poem, St Thomas Didymus by 20th century poet Denise Levertov. I love that in the week after celebrating resurrection faith we … Read more

Easter Day 9:30am Eucharist 1 Corinthians 15.19–26 Luke 24.1-12 Sunday 20 April 2025       ©Suzanne Grimmett “Christianity is a live wire, a lightning strike through the world.” (Lamorna Ash) The events of the last few days have taken us through all the emotions. As we gaze at the cross, we might see there the God who suffers with us, not immune from the pain of the world. But if we are content to leave God there- suffering with the rest of humanity and indeed with all creation, where is the hope? In the sermon on Good Friday Richard Browning made … Read more

6am Easter Vigil Homily 20 April 2025                                   ©Suzanne Grimmett Julian of Norwich, the great 14th century anchoress once in a prayer of profound presence asked God, ‘How could all be well, in view of the great harm which has come upon your creatures through sin?’ “But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ “These words,” recounts Mother Julian, “were said most … Read more

18 April 2025 Rev’d Richard Browning Introduction What brings you here? What are you searching for? What do you need, even if you don’t know it? These are important. The question I ask myself is what needs to die this Good Friday? If the stories we tell ourselves hold up a pattern for our lives, then today is not just about memory, but the imagination. We may be recalling what happened, but it is also a telling of what happens. In the presence of Perfect Love the human inclination is to feel judged, not loved, and our place in the … Read more

Maundy Thursday – 2025 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Marian Free In the name of God who breaks into our world, shatters our comfort zones and insists on intimacy with us.  Amen. I like to hold dinner parties. Inviting friends, poring over recipe books, getting out the good china and silver and then of course the meal itself – good company, good food and good wine. I hope that I am a good host and that I have given careful thought to the meal and that I have considered the tastes and the allergies of my guests. I also hope that I … Read more

Luke 22:14 – 23:56, Phil 2:5-11 Marian Free In the name of God who calls us and empowers us and who shows us our true worth. Amen. Paul writes: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,                   who, though he was in the form of God,                                     did not regard equality with God                                     as something to be exploited,                   but emptied himself,                                     taking the form of a slave,                                     being born in human likeness.                   And being found in human form,                                     he humbled himself                                     and became obedient to the point of … Read more

Lent 5 Philippians 3.3-14 John 12.1-8                              ©Suzanne Grimmett Martin Luther has said that “faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace”. Paul’s letter to the Philippians begins with a list of what should qualify him for religious superiority but then points to the meaninglessness of anything that would give status or security outside of knowing Christ and his death and resurrection. Paul aspires to forget all that he has achieved that lies behind and strains forward to what is ahead in Christ with an absolute wholehearted giving of his all. And then we have this Gospel. A bit … Read more