Short Talks
This section of the website comprises short stand-alone talks and articles on different aspects of the Christian Faith, including the teaching of Jesus, the seasons of the Church’s Year and Feasts and Festivals. More talks/sermons/homilies/articles will be added in due course.
The section of the website entitled The Christian Faith provides more extended teaching on larger content areas, such as the Creed and the Sacraments.
Lenten loving
“We love him, because he first loved us” (King James Bible, 1 John 4:19)
Lent is a very special time in the Church’s year. It encourages us to find time to focus on all that Christ has done and suffered for, to reflect on the great love he has for each one of us and to ask ourselves how we show our love for him and we might grow to love him more.
However, there are dangers associated with Lent, in particular it is so easy to make ourselves the centre of our Lenten rule and exercises. We may propose to say our prayers better and to spend more time on them; to make our Communion more often; and to follow a plan of spiritual reading. And we hope by these means to make spiritual progress, and to be better Christians at the end of Lent that we were at the beginning.
Up to the brim
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim” (King James Bible, John 2:7)
These waterpots were of considerable size since their capacity was about 20 or 30 gallons each. They stood near the entrance of the house at Cana where the wedding was being held, and the water they contained would be poured over the feet of guests to refresh them on their arrival after walking along the hot and dusty roads.
Christmas Eve
“All went to their own towns to be registered” (NRSV, Luke 2:3)
Christmas is a busy time, and the first Christmas was no exception. The Emperor Augustus had extended the system of national registration to the vassal Kingdom of Herod the Great. The head of each family was required, in accordance with Jewish tradition, to register in the town from which he originally came and this meant long journeys for those who had moved to other parts of the country.