Live for that day when God’s peace is all in all.Love for that day when God’s light leaves no shadows. These are the darkest days of our lives.December draws a long shadow,and we find ourselves longing for light. These days seem to go on without end. These are the days Isaiah fought through and hoped through3000 years ago:

This Sunday marks the end of the Christian year.Next Sunday we hop on the next liturgical cycle of readings - it will be Year A.Each year focuses on a particular gospel. Next year it will be Matthew’s. This year it has been Luke’s. When I began this preaching year, I wondered what Luke would offer us.I wondered how he might inspire us, challenge us, lead us.

This sermon was preached for the Second Sunday before Advent — sometimes called Kingdom Sunday, and this year also marked as Safeguarding Sunday.It begins with the prophet Malachi’s vision of a day when “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings,” and when God’s people “will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”It’s a vivid, earthy picture of freedom — hope that doesn’t float above the world but thunders joyfully across it.

In today’s world, “feeling blessed” too often means “doing well.” But when Jesus speaks of blessing, he gives the word to the poor, the hungry, the grieving, and the excluded. This sermon asks what happens when blessing is stolen by privilege — and how we might give the word back to those through whom the kingdom of God still comes.

For one day only - my poem Today Here is a play on words,a fundamental question. Is the I a number that marks a beginning,or, is that I me with rather less feeling,as in number with a silent b?Is this a play on words,or, a play on numbers with words,a play for today, November 1st?

Readings: Luke 18:9–14; Ecclesiasticus 35:12–17 The clocks have changed. The weather’s changed.And we stand now on the bridge between seasons. Today is the last Sunday after Trinity.Next Sunday is the first in the new Kingdom season -when we see the darkness of the kingdoms of this world,and pray again for the world to be turned the right way up…

This one’s for all who wrestle in the dark and rise, blessed but limping, inspired by reading Genesis 32:22-31 and Luke 18:1-8 – the Revised Common Lectionary readings for October 19th …

This one's for all who wrestle in the dark and rise, blessed but limping, inspired by reading Genesis 32:22-31 and Luke 18:1-8 - the Revised Common Lectionary readings for October 19th 2025. How shall we describe the state of Israel today? The state of Israel today begins with both our readings —from Genesis 32, the story of Jacob whose name means…

Our politics, like our hearts, are haunted by borders and fear. But Luke’s gospel shows Jesus walking the edge — not to keep people out, but to draw them in. Preached in a week when fragile talk of a ceasefire in Gaza flickers across the news, this reflection on Luke 17:11–19 and 2 Timothy 2:8–15 explores what happens when the unchained word of God crosses the lines we draw, healing what fear divides.

– Sister Itchen and the River of LifeA sermon for Harvest Festival at St Lawrence’s Napton, inspired by St Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures, the Warwickshire River Itchen, artist Ste…

– Sister Itchen and the River of LifeA sermon for Harvest Festival at St Lawrence's Napton, inspired by St Francis's Canticle of the Creatures, the Warwickshire River Itchen, artist Stephen Broadbent's River of Life sculpture in Warrington, the writing of Robert Macfarlane and the indigenous wisdom represented by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It's a thanksgiving for the quiet grace that still flows through creation, and a reminder that we are family with all that lives.

A sermon for September 28th 2025 - the 15th Sunday after Trinity (Proper 21C) All three readings, (Amos 6:1a, 4-7, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16: 19-end) address the issue of wealth. (There is far more in the Bible about wealth and riches than about sexual morality, though that is hard to believe when we listen to the politics of the church).

I had thought that this Sunday was Safeguarding Sunday. It’s not.That’s November 16th.But shouldn’t every Sunday be Safeguarding Sunday?When we look at our readings for the day, (Amos 8:4-7 & Luke 16:1-13), they are all about safeguarding,and they expose our current safeguarding focus as hopelessly inadequate. Safeguarding isn’t just reacting to scandals of abuse,but is the mission of the church.

A reflection for a small church on Luke 15:1-10 and 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Why are we here?We are here to hear Jesus. Our gospel reading introduces us to a gathering to hear Jesus:“The tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear him.”That is the gathering we join,and we do that alongside Paul,who in our first reading names himself the worst of all sinners,

a poem marking the 80th anniversary of the ending of World War 2 Match of the Day camerasfocus their lenses onyoung boys and their disappointmentsin the closing minutesin the dashing of hope.The fingers on their handsgo to the boneof the sockets of eyesto prevent their tearsstaining their faces. After the match, so we’ve heard,

“Britain's better than this.” That was the headline on the front page of The Mirror last week, after Nigel Farage promised mass deportations in the name of “protecting British citizens.” When the flag of St George is waved as a weapon of fear, Christians must remember another banner — the cross of Christ, where pride is humbled and strangers are welcomed as honoured guests.

This Sunday’s gospel introduces us to a woman bent low for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-17), unseen by her neighbours but seen by Jesus. Her story is a story about visibility — about who gets noticed, who is ignored, and how Christ restores dignity to those the world overlooks. In a week when asylum seekers have once again been targeted and made invisible, her story feels all the more urgent.

Sometimes one sermon leads to another. The focus here is Hebrews 11:29-12:2, very much picking up from last week's sermon commending those who never give up and never settle for the way things are, always hoping for justice and love. Here we join the author of Hebrews in looking more closely at who these people are because they really are our cheerleaders.

The scriptures we read this Sunday are not the comfortable writings of a comfortable people. They are the testimony of the beaten, the displaced, the silenced, and the overlooked. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham — each bears the marks of suffering and hope. They lived by faith in what they could not yet see, refusing to settle for the way things were.

There are lessons to be learned about how to pray in both readings appointed for the 6th Sunday after Trinity (Proper 12C). This sermon explores what it means to pray like Abraham and Jesus. The readings are Genesis 18:20-32 and Luke 11:1-13. I want to begin, as I so often do, by saying how much I love preaching that brings the scriptures back to life.

This sermon explores why Luke tell us the story of Martha and Mary. Why did he think it was important for his readers? I always begin my sermon these days by saying how I love preaching that brings scripture back to life, and that I assume those who are listening do too. The gospel for the day is Luke 10:38-42: it's about Martha's resentment (and, maybe, our resentments too).